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The adventure awaits you at the Arenal Volcano National Park

We already talked about the many wonders you’ll find in Costa Rica. Not only does it contain the happiest people in the world, but it’s also a paradise for any nature lover seeking to add some adventure to their trip. If you are one of these adventurists, there’s no way you can miss on the opportunity of visiting one of Costa Rica’s most mesmerizing natural wonders: the Arenal Volcano National Park.

This park was founded in 1991 and extends across a total area of 121.24 square kilometers. Because it forms part of a greater conservation area, it contains hundreds of natural attractions, including a lake, two volcanoes, and natural hot springs that lure tourist from all over the world looking to walk its scenic trails and to spot the wildlife that is unique to this region. Just to give you an idea of the biodiversity of the place, is this region you can detect more than 900 different bird species, plus a great variety of snakes, monkeys, and other mammals endemic to Tropical Latin America, like the jaguar, the lowland paca, de coati, and the sloth.

But the main attraction of this national park is mentioned on its name: the Arenal Volcano covers a surface of 33 square kilometers and can be spotted from almost any part in the park as well as from the towns surrounding the area.

The Arenal Volcano was thought to be inactive for a long time, until in 1968 it made its biggest and more damaging eruption, destroying the nearby towns of Tabacón y Pueblo Nuevo and killing more than 80 people. Since then its activity slowed down, and since October of 2010, it has remained inactive.

The Arenal Volcano is around 7500 years old, which is pretty young for this kind of formations, and 1,633 meters or 5357,612 tall. What makes it so distinctive compared to other volcanoes is its almost perfect conical contour with a steep profile, shaped like this thanks to the buildup of several layers of lava and volcanic ash. The word Arenal means ‘sandy’ in Spanish, and the name refers to how the lava has been turned into sand due to wind erosion and accumulated on the base of the mountain, giving our volcano the appearance of a giant sand hill.

But the Arenal Volcano is not the only one in this national park and shares the landscape with the smaller and older Chato Volcano, which has been inactive for the last 3500 years. The Chato Volcano offers excellent opportunities for everyone looking for a challenging but exciting hike up to its 500-meter wide crater containing the Cerro Chato Lagoon inside it.

Now you know the adventure that awaits you at the Arenal Volcano National Park. Just by arriving in La Fortuna, the colorful town known as the main gateway to the park, you’ll find yourself already surrounded by savanna and rainforest. When you see the Arenal Volcano guarding over the town, we promise you’ll want to stay here with us!

Ready to join us on our next adventure to the Arenal Volcano National Park? Check out what our complete tour includes and how you can book 7 full days of soft adventure in Costa Rica with Hamaca Tropical Tours!

 

By Mariana Arámburu

Twitter & Instagram: @m_buru
Born and raised in Mexico City, Mariana graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana with a degree in Communication and Film. Later, she moved to Vancouver, BC, where she currently resides, and studied Creative Writing at Capilano University. Mariana loves photography and to visit new places. She also loves animals and aims to one day focus her work on conservation issues.

Hammock: The icon of tropical rest!

So you’re ready to travel to Tropical Latin America, you got your plane ticket, and now you’re packing your hiking shoes, your sunscreen, and your camera. All you’re missing to make this trip perfect is a hammock. But don’t worry, you’ll find one as soon as you get to your destination, as it is the universal icon of a tropical rest!

There’s no wonder why hammocks are now part of the cultural inheritance of every Latin American country. The origin of the word comes from the Arawakan, a language spoken by the pre-Columbian natives of what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. “Hamaka” means fishing net, but it’s also the name of the tree that provided the bark and roots to craft these fantastic hanging beds. However, this island doesn’t take the full credit on inventing the hammock, as they’ve been crafted for centuries by natives of in all the Caribbean Islands, every Central American country, and most countries in South America. Though each region sourced from different trees to wave their hammocks, all of them were created with the same purpose: to provide a well-deserved rest, undisturbed from any perils on the ground.

It is said that when Christopher Columbus arrived in America, between one of the many treasures he took back to Europe was more than a dozen hammocks. In Spain, the word Hamaka turned into hamaca (hey, that’s us!), and in English, it transformed into hammock.

After the hammock introduction to Europe, sailors realized how convenient they were for traveling. In the 16th Century, they started using them in ships, as they protected them from the dirtiness of the floor, saved much more space than bunk beds, and kept them from being thrown onto the deck with sharp swings from of ship.

Discovery of America: Vespucci Landing in America. MET Museum

Nowadays, hammocks are used all around the world and are loved by everyone for their practicality. You can find them in luxury hotels by the sea or camping expeditions in the rainforest, and many are now factory-made with synthetic fabrics. However, whatever your destination in Tropical Latin America is, you won’t have any trouble finding traditional hand-woven hammocks, which are now typically crafted with wool, cotton, or nylon. The colors and styles of the netting patterns vary depending on the region, but in the end, they all serve the same function and are uniquely beautiful. There are places like Yucatan, in Mexico, San Sebastián, in El Salvador, and Tintorero in Venezuela, where waving hammocks is a cultural heritage, and the craft is mastered by men, women and children alike and passed along generations.

So, now you know. Wherever Latin American country you find yourself, it will always be easy to find a hammock. Mainly when you travel to the coast you’ll see that, from five-star hotels to the most humble of homes, there’s always space for a hammock in the house, as well as there’s always the time to lay down on one, get cozy, and enjoy life.

 

By Mariana Arámburu

Twitter & Instagram: @m_buru
Born and raised in Mexico City, Mariana graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana with a degree in Communication and Film. Later, she moved to Vancouver, BC, where she currently resides, and studied Creative Writing at Capilano University. Mariana loves photography and to visit new places. She also loves animals and aims to one day focus her work on conservation issues.

3 Reasons Why We Prefer Sustainable

As a traveler, you’ve probably heard the word “sustainable” a lot. There’s almost no destination, tour, or hotel that doesn’t label itself with this word, and there are hundreds of new sustainable travel practices that have become popular in the last decade. If you reject plastic bags when shopping, use non-pollutant sunscreen, or decide your hotel’s sheets not to be washed every day, you might think of yourself as a sustainable traveler, and in part, you are.

But it turns out that being eco-friendly is only a small fraction of what sustainable truly stands for. Practicing sustainable tourism means to take in account how we, as visitors, are making an economic, social, and environmental impact on the places we are traveling, and find a way to turn those actions into helpful resources for the host environment.

Sustainable tourism is still developing, and is not perfect yet when solving every specific problem that traveling brings. However, in Hamaca Tropical Tours we do our best on being socially and environmentally friendly to the places we take you. That’s why today, we bring you three reasons of why we prefer to practice sustainable tourism.

It benefits the economy of local communities

Tourism is one of the primary income of many countries in the world. Though it is essential to the economic growth of several places, it can also be harmful to either small communities and big cities. Eating at an international fast food chain, for example, will not give many resources back to the area you are visiting. But when you choose to eat at a local restaurant or book your accommodation in a locally-owned hotel, you’re helping the money to flow into the community.

It preserves the native cultures

Every place in the world has different values and customs. When tourists arrive in a destination expecting to be entertained instead of learning from the site they’re visiting, neither the guest nor the host benefit from the experience, and people will prioritize the economic growth over the preservation of their culture. By visiting historical monuments, dressing accordingly to the social rules of the place, and participating in local activities, you are promoting a cultural exchange that aids both sides.

It protects the natural environment

Above, we talked about the eco-friendly practices we all know. But there are much more habits to be done to preserve the natural environment. When taking seashells as souvenirs from the beach, for example, or eating an endangered fish, tourists are taking valuable resources from the ocean and coastal life. Just as money, keeping the natural resources where we find them benefits the natural cycle of the habitat we are visiting.

So, now you have the main reasons of why we encourage you to go sustainable with Hamaca Tropical Tours. Sustainable tourism helps us to preserve the natural and social environments of the places we visit while promoting more stable economies. It also gives you a unique opportunity of stepping in someone else’s shoes and learn more about the world through different eyes.

 

By Mariana Arámburu

Twitter & Instagram: @m_buru
Born and raised in Mexico City, Mariana graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana with a degree in Communication and Film. Later, she moved to Vancouver, BC, where she currently resides, and studied Creative Writing at Capilano University. Mariana loves photography and to visit new places. She also loves animals and aims to one day focus her work on conservation issues.

Welcome to Hamaca Tropical Tours!

We’re delighted to have you here today. We are looking forward to giving you everything you need for your next tropical adventure. First of all, we would like to introduce our company and tell you some useful information about who we are and what we do.

Our company’s origins trace back to 2004 when Peter Rodríguez-Pontón founded Hamaca Tours, a tour operator that assembled the best tours for travelers to the Ecuadorian coast.

Peter, born in Toronto from Ecuadorian parents, was raised in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s main port. Growing up in the center of the tropics and in a coastal city, there’s no wonder why he grew such a love for this paradise and decided to build a career as a Tropical Expeditioner. Even though he leaves far from Ecuador now, he still remembers how his grandmother used to nestle him in her hammock (or hamaca, in Spanish) to help him fall asleep as one of his most cherished childhood memories.

With Carol Villao, our Chief of Operations, added to our team, Hamaca Tours was dedicated to offering the Ecuadorian coast and the Galapagos as a travel destination for American and Canadian tourists for years. It was in 2018 when we decided to take the next step and expand our company outside Ecuador, adding more Latin American Destinations, starting next summer with Costa Rica and its wonders to our list of paradises. With this in mind, the name Hamaca Tropical Tours was created now offering a broad catalog of tropical vacations all across Latin America. To fully immerse you in these places, we provide with tours combining soft adventure, wellness, cultural and local experiences, and of course a hammock: the icon of a well-deserved tropical rest!

Hamaca Tropical Tours is committed to the conservation of the environment and the local communities we visit. That’s why we partner with companies and operators who share our same values. Some of our partners include:

  • Specialized local guides. Tour guides experts on different fields and native to the place, to teach you about the costumes of the community and make you feel like a traveler more than a tourist.
  • Naturalists. Biologists, zoologists, conservationists, and environmentalists, between other expert fields, to guide you through our wildlife adventures.
  • Reiki Masters. Expert practitioners in alternative medicine that focus not only on your body but in your mind’s well-being.
  • Yoga teachers. Certified instructors to guide you through our yoga retreats, teaching you how yo practice this ancestral Indian discipline to unify the mind and body.
  • Soft Sports Instructors. Skillful and talented surfers, bikers, divers, and other adventurers to take you in unique  and daring recreational activities.

So, here you go! Whatever path you choose for your adventure, we have over 14 years of experience to help you plan your perfect vacation. Whatever your interests are, we’ve got you covered in putting together the trip of a lifetime for you!

Now it’s your turn: Who are you, and what do you envision as the perfect tropical destination?

 

 

By Mariana Arámburu

Twitter & Instagram: @m_buru
Born and raised in Mexico City, Mariana graduated from Universidad Iberoamericana with a degree in Communication and Film. Later, she moved to Vancouver, BC, where she currently resides, and studied Creative Writing at Capilano University. Mariana loves photography and to visit new places. She also loves animals and aims to one day focus her work on conservation issues.