Purpuseful Travel Please enjoy this stunning preview of the upcoming installment of Richard Bangs' award-winning se-ries: Adventures with Pur-pose. Featuring Costa Rica and the quest for the meaning of Pura Vida (Pure Life) mantra as it re-lates to the country's re-cord-breaking happiness levels and green soul. You may try to spot several Is-lita locations in the teaser. The full episode is to be featured on American Pub-lic Television this coming September. Pura Vida to all! Watch it here.

Paint the Sky! The Macaws are Coming! One of our latest and most exciting conservation partnerships is about to make Hotel Punta Islita’s blue skies more colorful. The Ara Project is a non-profit organization dedicated to the breeding and reintroduction of Costa Rica’s beauti-ful, yet endangered Red (Ara macaw) and Green (Ara ambiguous) species. This successful initiative was jumpstarted in the 1980’s by a retired expat American couple. Their vision is currently carried on by a dedicated group of scientists, administrators, and volunteers who have successfully bred and set free close to a hundred speci-mens in three wildlife release sites. These efforts are helping to bring back streaks of colors to the skies of Costa Rica! Hotel Punta Islita is thrilled to have been selected as a 2011 release site for Red Macaws and we look forward to having our surrounding tropi-cal cloud forest repopulated by these brilliantly hued creatures. To learn more about Ara Project, please click here.

FLASHY CAMOUFLAGE Although their plumage may seem conspicuous, the Macaws’ bright colors blend quite well with the leaves, tropical fruits, and shadows of their habitats. (San Diego Zoo)

Photo courtesy of The Ara Project.

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Inspired Respiration, an Office Tip Our Casa Spa Director and wellness expert, Adri-ana Leiva reminds us to take a little piece of vaca-tion with us back to the office. Prolonged time in front of a monitor can truly wear us out due to eye fatigue and shallow breathing. Adriana recom-mends taking a two-minute break at least every couple of hours for a little eye yoga and inspired respiration. Close your eyes and picture your last vacation’s favorite relaxing spot. Take at least 20 deep, slow breaths while gently rolling your eyes

to the left and right, up and down. If possible, finish by looking at a faraway object to vary the focal distance and help prevent blurriness.

like tomatoes, citruses, and colorful flowering ornamen-tals like roses, azaleas, and camellias. According to our landscapers, coffee grinds even help repel slugs and other pests. And if you compost, be sure to toss in the grinds for odor absorption and ex-tra pep!

Garden Java Next time you enjoy your favorite cup of coffee (we hope Costa Rican, of course), pause before you toss away those grinds. What is most of the time destined to the garbage can is actually a nutrient-rich fertilizer! To use, simply sprinkle a bit around the base of your favorite acid-loving plants

Coffee to the rescue!

Artful Notes Fill the Islita Night

New Museum Amphitheater As art takes hold of Islita village, we celebrate the pre-inauguration of the community amphitheater, an al-fresco space to host concerts, plays,

and other performance arts. Set be-hind the Islita Art Museum’s Casa Museo Gallery and Studios, it prom-ises to further ignite our neighbors’ love and talent for diverse forms of

expression. The inaugural event was sponsored by the Spanish Cultural Center and featured a concert by the Costa Rican Guitar Quartet. The eve-ning was a fun suc-cess, enjoyed by Ho-tel Punta Islita’s neighbors, staff, and guests. We look for-ward to further de-veloping the venue.

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Payless Pays it Forward Hotel Punta Islita had the pleasure of hosting an in-centives travel group for Payless Shoes Executives. As part of their activities, the company graciously donated shoes to local

community school children. During an informal, but meaningful gift-exchange event, the elated young-sters rewarded the Payless representatives with hand-made thank-you notes fea-turing original art.

Think Green Travel The current edition of Think, Global Issues in Per-spective features an in-depth article about ecotourism. Citing the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards as an effective way to incentivize sus-tainability in the tourism industry, the piece by writer Lisa Vincenti highlights Hotel Punta Islita as a 2010 winner. Asked about the dangers of “green washing”, Hotel Punta Islita’s Director, Carlos Bolaños is quoted: “As con-sumer awareness and demand for sustainable products grows, there is certainly increased pressure on the supply side. I would not go as far as saying that ecotourism is a victim of green-washing. The ideal remains strong. Nevertheless, there is a dan-ger of falling into least-effort compla-cency. Hotels must understand that turning off the lights, or forgoing daily towel laundering is not enough. The commitment must go beyond basic efforts. The costs are significant but the rewards are manifold.”

Hotel Punta Islita in the Amazing Race It was fun to be featured in the March 6th episode of the Amazing Race. As contestants Zev and Justin crossed the finish line, they were greeted by host Phil Ke-oghan with the news that their accomplish-ment would be rewarded with a compli-mentary stay at Hotel Punta Islita. We were proud to feature Costa Rica as a des-tination for winners and look forward to hosting Zev and Justin for a well-deserved relaxation getaway! In case you missed the episode, you can watch it here.

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Costa Rica is in high demand and now is a great time to learn about its full tourism offerings. Ex-potur, the largest travel event in Costa Rica is a great place to meet representatives of the best of the country’s hotels, wholesalers, and tour opera-tors. We look forward to meet many travel profes-sionals from all over the world! May 11th—13th. We will be at stands 176 & 177. For more infor-mation and registration please visit Expotur’s site.

Traveler’s Philanthropy Conference The Washington DC based Center for Responsible Travel and the Costa Rican Monteverde Institute are celebrating the third edition of their Trav-eler’s Philanthropy Conference. This event gath-ers some of the world’s leading experts to out-line and discuss groundbreaking sustainable strategies and how to implement the industry’s best practices. Runs from July 20th through 23rd. For more information, please click here.

Hotel Punta Islita’s sister property, El Silencio Lodge & Spa is a natural immersion wellness destination set in Costa Rica’s Central Volcanic Valley. Featuring sixteen premium Suites, a forest-trimmed Esencia Spa, yoga, and private hiking trails.

www.elsilenciolodge.com

Colors are A-Changing! The yearly weather-pattern transition brings stunning colors to the Costa Rican tropical dry forest landscape. With the arrival of the first rains in late May, the reddish browns of the driest season give way to brilliant greens and blooming flowers.

Expotur 2011

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