Rancho Margot

Hello world!

travisday123 — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 15:32:33 +0000

©Rancho Margot S.A.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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Vuelta al Lago Arenal

travisday123 — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:50:04 +0000

©Rancho Margot S.A.

Every year in March we get to witness, just steps from the entrance to Rancho Margot, thousands of cyclists who are participating in the Vuelta al Lago Arenal. This two day ride around Lake Arenal supports a non-profit organization that promotes recreational sport in Costa Rica.

Vuelta al Lago Arenal Cyclists Crossing River at Rancho Margot

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Geodesic Dome

travisday123 — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 17:21:37 +0000

©Rancho Margot S.A.

Just six (6) pieces left to complete the structure of the geodesic dome!

Job well done, gentlemen!!!

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Geodesic Dome Update

travisday123 — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 18:14:49 +0000

©Rancho Margot S.A.

With the help of a volunteer from Spain who specializes in the building of geodesic domes, we’re constructing our first at Rancho Margot!

About Geodesic Domes

A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles (geodesics) on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When completed to form a complete sphere, it is a geodesic sphere. A dome is enclosed, unlike open geodesic structures such as playground climbers.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesic_dome

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Puppy Photo Updates

travisday123 — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:47:18 +0000

©Rancho Margot S.A.

Photos of Roger and Ginger as they cruise around Rancho Margot.

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A Birthday Story

travisday123 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:44:03 +0000

©Rancho Margot S.A.

We just found this WONDERFUL blogpost from guests who were visiting in October 2011 and simply had to share! Please take a moment to visit the blog as well by clicking HERE.

A Birthday Story

What a great weekend! Rancho Margot was even more wonderful than we had anticipated. The only downside was that we only had 2 1/2 days there, I think you might need at least a month to fully appreciate and experience everything the place has to offer. I have too much to write about this weekend, so I’ll start with some brief descriptions and include some pictures of all my favorite things (which was everything).

The Purpose: To help promote awareness and generally make the world a better place. If you visit here you’ll feel the impact they’ve already made in a very short period of time. While they are not currently 100% sustainable, that is the goal (right now they are up to 80%). They make their own soap from leftover oils in the kitchen and flowers from the many gardens, they have their own dairy, chicken coop and wood shop where they make all their own furniture. They have their own hydroelectric dam for electricity and burn the compost from the kitchen and the animals to get hot water. It’s pretty cool.

The Food:
Amazing, all-organic, most everything straight from the garden and the animals in the farm. I have never had such incredible, fresh salads before. The homemade bread, cheeses and brick-oven veggie pizzas were almost too addicting. The fruit was perfect. We ate waaay too much, but at least we now have enough vitamins and minerals saved up to last until we get back to the States. The animals are treated great too and get to live stress-free on a beautiful farm. Did you ever saw the documentary Food, inc. ? It’s nothing like that here.

The Yoga:
2 classes daily at 7AM and 4PM, both are 1.5-2 hours long. We took 4 classes over the past few days and loved every one. The studio is a giant open tree house standing in the woods over a river. All you can hear is the river flowing and rainforest wildlife in the background, it’s like a nature CD you might here in a yoga studio but it’s all real. During the early morning classes you get to see the sun rise up over the tree tops, and in the evening we got great sunsets and then tons of fireflies in the darkness. Their yoga instructor is one of the best I have ever had, and also one of the most inspiring people I have ever met.

The Bungalows:
So private and adorable. One of the nicest, most tranquil places I have stayed in Costa Rica yet. I probably would have been happy just getting to sleep on the hammock on the deck here.

The Horseback Riding:
We got to go up a mountain, down a mountain and through a river in the rainforest. The views were spectacular, and the whole experience was worth walking funny for a few days afterwards.

The Pools:
The cold water pools were almost a little too cold for us, but that just made the hot stuff even better.

The People:
By far the best part. We spent time with everyone from the volunteers to the reception staff to the owner. It’s the kind of place where you feel like everyone is family by the second day. They even made a cake for Ross’ birthday and threw together an impromptu dance party in the bar for him. It was a great night

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My Life Since Costa Rica

travisday123 — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:28:48 +0000

©Rancho Margot S.A.

My Life Since Costa Rica

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Visiting Costa Rica for the first time was a very eye-opening experience for me. All the people there were so friendly and full of life, and this is definitely something I have kept in mind as I go throughout my everyday life. I’ve been trying harder to be more positive and look on the bright side of things—something that can be difficult living the stressful college life. But even so, I find myself to be a quite happy person most of the time, so this has not been too difficult of a task.

Through learning so much about sustainability, from Rancho Margot specifically, I have been doing my part to conserve resources and recycle as much as I can while living on the Bryant campus. I have paid more attention to simple things such as turning off the lights in my room when I don’t need them or when I leave the room, taking shorter showers and using less water pressure to conserve water, and even taking smaller portions of food at Salmo to avoid wasting food. I have also let the simple life of Costa Rica have an effect on my eating habits. After seeing and tasting all the fresh foods in Costa Rica, I have tried to incorporate more fresh fruits and vegetables into my diet, while paying attention to how these are grown and whether they are organic or local. Additionally, I have strayed away from overly processed foods that are so common in our country. I have definitely missed the delicious and fresh Costa Rican coffee each morning and have definitely changed my coffee drinking habits. I now pay more attention to where the coffee I buy comes from and look for labels indicating sustainability, organic farming, and Rainforest Alliance Certified. Most recently I have found a Costa Rican Tarrazú coffee from Starbucks, whose package indicates partnership with Conservation International as well as a pledge that the coffee is 100% responsibly grown and ethically traded.

Overall, traveling to Costa Rica was a life-changing experience, and I hope to go back sometime in the near future.

Sarah Cutting

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Bryant University Sustainability Marketing 385

travisday123 — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:27:29 +0000

Bryant University Sustainability Marketing 385

SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2012

Day 5 Rancho Margot

After spending a few hours in the Tabacon Hot Springs recovering from the first four action packed days the group was ready to take on everything that Rancho Margot has to offer. With over four hundred acres of forest and farmland Rancho Margot has is home to a very diverse population of plant and animal life. Not only that, but Rancho Margo is one of the most advanced sustainable eco-tourism projects in all of Costa Rica and the world. The passion that the farmers and workers at Rancho Margot have is refreshing to see. They all care so much about the animals and plants that they are responsible for. Animals including horses, cattle, pigs, and chickens all have the privilege of living on a farm such as Rancho Margot. These animals receive a completely organic and vegetarian diet which is all grown on the property itself. While we were there we saw a calf that was born just hours before!

Nothing goes to waste at Rancho Margot; everything down to the left over kitchen oil from their restaurant and nearby hotels is used in some capacity to help sustain the environment. The oil is used to make soaps instead of allowing the oil to contaminate the water. One liter of cooking oil can contaminate about 1000 liters of water. Leftover pieces of soap are melted down and used as laundry detergent.

Rancho Margot uses coils embedded inside their compost piles to heat the water for their showers. All of the electricity on the ranch is created by two large hydro-turbine generators (8 and 42 kilowatts per hour). The farm’s success is based on careful planning of circular processes. Circular processes are implemented in multiple areas of the farm; this ensures that there are no end products to a certain process. The staff emphasized how they try to be creative and innovative when trying to solve complex environmental problems which involve variables like temperature, humidity, soil composition and plant and animal health.

Aside from being a highly developed sustainable community, the ranch has developed educational and research programs that will allow the further training of its staff and even develop new practices. Rancho Margot has become a center for scholarship, research and sustainable development that welcomes students from all around Costa Rica and the world. It was very exciting and refreshing to experience a completely sustainable community not contaminated with the values of western capitalism. This ranch offers a completely different lifestyle than the one we are all used to. This allowed us to realize how narrow the scope of our lives can be and how other cultures find creative ways to live sustainably.

Fun Facts:

Lemon grass, the root beer plant, garlic, and ginger can be used as natural insect repellent.
Rancho Margot is home to 9 of the 50 species of hummingbird in Costa Rica.
In an effort to be even more self-sufficient, Rancho Margot is working on a project to create their own bio-diesel to power their backup generator.

Juan Aviles, Garrett Byrne, and Mike Moalli

Bryant University Sustainability Marketing 385

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Volunteer Updates January 2013

travisday123 — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:52:05 +0000

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Horseback Tour at Rancho Margot

travisday123 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 18:02:52 +0000

Some great shots captured by our horseback tour guide, Alejandro, of guests enjoying their rides to el Mirador and Lake Arenal from Rancho Margot!

HorseBack Tour

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