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Our philosophy
is to provide guests and visitors with intimate contact with nature
and wilderness, while using resources responsibly and causing
minimal environmental impact. The majority of the world population
lives in densely populated areas under stressful conditions, distant
from nature and wilderness. We want to bring our guests in close
contact with nature, to savor its sounds and flavors, look at
starlit skies, become aware of nature's rhythms, and thus relieve
your stress. This is why the Ecolodge is in the forest, off the
main road, has no vehicular access, no radios or television, and
no telephones in the rooms.
In the construction we have used eco-friendly and recycled materials
as much as possible. For example, decks and staircases are made
of Trex Wood Polymer® manufactured from reclaimed
plastic and wood waste. The siding is Hardiplank, a product made
of cement, sand and recycled paper. For the structural components
of the buildings ACQ pressure treated lumber was used as an alternative
for the toxic chromated copper arsenate lumber. ACQ lumber contains
an alkaline, a fungicide and 100% recycled copper as an environmentally
safe wood preservative.
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All buildings
are equipped with solar panels for a 12V lighting system. The
cottages have Texsport® sun showers, heated by
solar energy. Most cottages use Sealand low-flush toilets connected
to SunMar non-electrical composting units, producing odorless
and pathogen-free compost. Two cottages are equipped with SunMar
waterless non-electric toilets. Kitchen and garden waste is also
composted.
Pure rainwater is collected off the roofs in cisterns. A solar-powered
pump pumps the water into a cistern at the high end of the property,
providing for gravity flow to all cottages and the restaurant.
Wash basins are equipped with water saving spring faucets.
About 70% of the vegetables served in the restaurant and all herbs
are organically grown in our vegetable and herb gardens. We also
have guava, papaya, avocado, lime, bitter-skin orange, wild raspberries,
Surinam cherries, and passion fruit vines on or near the property,
as well as medicinal plants such as "headache bush",
leaf of life and cilantro.
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