Villas Tranquilas: A Vacation Property Gives Back

Today’s Post in our Giving Back While traveling the World Series comes to us from Courtney and Tom Marchesani.  We are truly loving this series as we are learning about new and exciting ways that people are giving back to local communities as they travel.

Villas Tranquilas is a vacation rental property that is doing absolutely wonderful things for its adopted community. Located in Beautiful Qupeos, Costa Rica, it is an eco-friendly complex built with the utmost respect to its environment.  It has helped to rebuild the local elementary school and has even partnered with the conservation Alliance to protect endangered wildlife.

Please enjoy this post about a business that is not only succeeding in the tourism industry, but giving back to its community and giving travelers a chance to join in on the great work being done there.

Global Travel Slump Won’t Keep Villas Tranquilas Giving Spirit Down

• By T & C Marchesani

Ecotourism.  Sustainable tourism.  Charitable tourism.

Villas Tranquilas supports many eco-friendly practices.

New terms and new ways to combine an exciting and educational travel experience while giving back to the people and terra firma supplying the destination.  Nuances separate these new approaches to vacation travel but their essence appears similar:  an experience borne of mutual respect between traveler and destination and an attempt to exchange, to give as well as receive.  Destinations for such tourism are typically fragile ecosystems and goals include educating the travelers while making a low impact on the environment and local culture.  In addition, such tourism strives, in conjunction and partnership with the locals, to give back to the destination community in the form of time, monetary donations, and infrastructure improvements.

While the global economic downturn may be affecting private aid in terms of total dollars, some travel/tourism businesses continue to offer partnerships with their clients and the indigenous peoples to the benefit of all. Villas Tranquilas, a Costa Rica Vacation Rental Property is one such company that offers adventure travelers several opportunities to practice these new brands of tourism.  Villas, centered in Quepos, Costa Rica, is a collective of 16 town homes built on an old banana plantation site nestled within remnants of the rainforest.  The development was constructed without removing a single tree or clearing any new ground using local materials and local labor.  Villas has put several initiatives in place to reduce their impact on the local ecosystem, to foster endangered species, and to work in partnership with Quepoans on local infrastructure projects.

Attempts to reduce environmental impact include partnerships with Nature Air, the world’s first carbon neutral airline, as well as installation of energy saving appliances and fixtures in the townhomes.  Villas also aims to become certified by Costa Rica’s Certification for Sustainable Tourism this year.  In addition, by joining the Titi Conservation Alliance, Villas is attempting to help restore the endangered mono titi (red-backed squirrel monkey).  These monkeys frequent the villas’ grounds during early morning raids of local fruit trees.  Finally, one VT owner, Penny Williams,  instituted a program to aid the local Quepos School, just down the road from the town homes.

Ms. Williams, a founding member of Villas Tranquilas, set out to give back to the community she joined with the development of VT back in 2006-2007.  Canvassing local residents, she heard of the plight of the Quepos School.  It is a traditional elementary school with approximately 200 children ranging form preschool age to sixth grade.  The school had no books or basic materials, no printer for their computer, broken walls, leaky ceilings, and bathrooms without doors.

Quepos school before

Quepos school before

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Penny, a resident of San Diego, CA, brought together about 50 donors to raise money for school materials and for volunteers to mobilize to Quepos and repair/rebuild the school.  Some of these donors were from local California communities.  Ms. Williams’ team researched what repairs were needed and mobilized the volunteers to effect them.  They brought in four contractors and hired an additional three form local Costa Rican firms.  The teams rebuilt broken walls [old hallway photo & new hallway photo], repaired the exterior roof structure, and gave the entire building a much needed coat of fresh paint.

quepos school after

quepos school after

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But in addition to these traditional fund raising models, Ms. Williams spearheaded a program to combine travel to Villas Tranquilas with charitable donations and, more importantly, investments of time and interaction with the children of the school.  Individuals booking Villas Tranquilas have an option to be part of a cultural experience by going to help the school.  They receive ideas of what supplies the children need as well as an opportunity to meet the English teacher and deliver the supplies.  They may also share a project with the children or spend time with them after delivering the games, books, pens or paper.  Since VT caters so well to family travel, these opportunities often result in interaction between the children at the school and the children visiting from other countries.  The children can play together and learn from peers about life experiences very different from their own.  Such interactions are key to fostering mutual understanding between nations.

Says Ms. Williams, “People don’t really know how to incorporate something like this into their vacation, but when given the opportunity, many people are more that happy to help.” In addition to the Quepos School project and their sustainable tourism efforts, Villas Tranquilas continues to explore ways to partner with people of Quepos/Manuel Antonio for the mutual benefit of Quepoans, the Costa Rican ecosystem, and the travelers anxious to experience and learn about both.

To find out more about Villas Tranquilas, ways that you can contribute or to book an eco friendly vacation to Costa Rica visit their website VillasTranquilas.com

Follow them on twitter at villasmgmt

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Previous Articles from our Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference Series;

• Make A Difference With The Global Volunteer Network byErin Courtenay of Global Volunteer Network
• Nicaragua, A First Time Volunteer Experience by Teresa Wilson of The Wellness is You
• This Global Citizen is Making a Difference by Rebecca Sweetman of The Paradigm Shift Project
• Teaching Monks in Nepal by Shannon O’Donnell of ALittleAdrift
• ARCAS Guatemala – a One in an Only by Marina Villatoro of TheTravelExperta
  
• Support Local Art and Help Communities Thrive Keith Jenkins of Velvet Escape
• Giving Back, Travel the World and Make a Difference