Dispatches
Maquipucuna Foundation – Ecuador (“Conservation in the Clouds” – Part II)
April 24, 2009
Santa Lucia Ecolodge & Resort actually has its beginnings in another project we’ve documented, the Maquipucuna Foundation. Former Maquipucuna employee Francisco Molina and local community members were able to save an area of Ecuadorian rainforest and create income for their community through hope and hard work.
High on a mountaintop in the cloud forest sits Santa Lucia Lodge. The trek up there is almost a rite of passage in itself–you ascend 500 meters, but do so over 2,000 meters of fairly steep switchbacks. For guests who can’t make the journey, mules are available to carry them and their luggage.
The facility has one main house that sleeps 20 people and includes the lodge’s kitchen, office, and main dining hall. There are also 5 individual bungalows available for families or those who desire more private quarters. Each bungalow has an entire wall of windows facing a gorgeous vista of misty mountains enshrouded in clouds.
Many of the eco-projects at the resort, like the composting toilets and organic garden, were started by volunteers who stay at Santa Lucia for a small fee. The composting toilets have been a very successful project and in just a few months time, they create compost for the garden and trees. Volunteers are also working on a reforestation program, which currently includes 20 hectares of planted trees. The property itself sits on 700 hectares (80% of which is primary forest and 20% is pasture for cows and coffee plantation).
One source of income for the lodge is ecotourism. The people of Santa Lucia needed to earn income without cutting the forest down, so 12 families pooled their land and funds together to create an eco-lodge. They teach the local kids that ecotourism can be sustainable and earn income without a flashy hotel and big swimming pool; that an eco-lodge can fit in with the surroundings and still be beautiful.
The lodge also promotes community development. It provides jobs for locals to manage the lodge, cook meals, lead tourists on hikes, and bird-watch. Local farmers realized the terrain was degrading and wanted to protect the land, so they banded together and found ecotourism to be the best way to keep their land and still make money. The food prepared at Santa Lucia is a blend of local food (popcorn on your soup, anyone?) mixed with international fare. Ecuadoreans who come here for vacation don’t want to eat the same stuff from home, so the lodge creates a blend of new and old dishes.
The lodge itself is run mostly by a few solar panels. On evenings when the batteries run low, guests are given candles and flashlights to get around.
Conservation is very important at this lodge. School children from the area are taken up to the lodge and shown all of its eco-friendly features. They recognize the need to keep this place in good working order because if it does not succeed, members of the co-op will be forced to find other means of work. This would more than likely mean a return to previous jobs in logging or agriculture. Ecotourism isn’t just a way for people near Santa Lucia to protect their land–it’s how they sustain their community.
