This weekend I visited the area where the 6.2 earthquake occurred earlier this year (January 8th to be exact). Wow it seems like it was longer ago than that! I am talking about Vara Blanca, and specifically, the Peace Lodge. Other than Cinchona, which was virtually wiped off the map and still unreachable, these were the areas hardest hit by the quake. We toured the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which has always been one of my favorite cloud forest locations in the country. The Peace Lodge (and La Paz Gardens) is another creation of Florida hotelier, Lee Banks (I recently posted about his newest hotel, The Springs Resort and Spa in La Fortuna). The Peace Lodge has historically been a place where we have sent many of our Package Costa Rica customers and 100% of them have found it enchanting (fortunately, we had no one there at the time of the quake). The hotel is still under construction for repairs to damage done by the quake, with about half the rooms open and ready for occupancy. The La Paz Gardens are fully operational and as beautiful as ever. The falls trail, which takes you on a scenic look of the four connecting waterfalls ending with the La Paz fall, did suffer extensive damage and while still beautiful is not quite what it once was. You can no longer get to the point where the bus would take you back up the mountain, so, yes, you have to make the trek back up on foot. Not too strenuous, but those seriously out of shape, or with health problems or disabilities, may be precluded. Golf metaphors aside, what really impressed me about the trip was the amazing amount of “ground under repair.” I am referring to the construction that has been done to clear the roads leading from Vara Blanca to the Peace Lodge and also to Heredia. This was the first time I had seen this area since before the quake. The landscape is still gorgeous, but in many places, it is as if the entire mountain came tumbling down onto the road. And somehow, in what I would consider a relatively short time-frame, they have been able to move that same mountain back into place. This entire area is a real gem and it was very good to see that so much work has been done to restore it. Sometimes, sitting back and reading about government restoration efforts in La Nación, which is often very critical of the Arias administration, you get the idea that they have just forgotten about this area. That couldn’t be further from the truth. I saw literally convoys of earth moving equipment ready for action. And by the looks of the improvements that have already taken place, they have seen plenty action over the last nine months. Hats off once again to Oscar Arias, who has proven time and time again that he is someone who knows how to get things done. We can’t always agree with our leaders and I certainly don’t with Arias. A specific case in point is his granting of “public interest” decrees to allow certain foreign corporations to move forward with projects that could damage the environment. However, when it comes to infrastructure, this guy has made miraculous gains for the country. My prediction is that tourism in the area of the Peace Lodge will come back full force. Obviously, by thy sound of the wailing hammers at the Peace Lodge, Lee Banks thinks so too.

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