One of my greatest family travel memories is when the three of us stayed at Lapa Rios Ecolodge on the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica. Sure, the views were stunning and the food was good, but what made it special was the incredible array of wildlife we saw. For the story and photos, see this tour feature: A Wealth of Wildlife in Costa Rica.

It looks like generations to come will be able to have the same experience and the abundant animals will be able to keep moving freely in the area. The nature reserve the owners purchased many years ago now has a permanent conservation easement that will live on through any subsequent sales. Here are some details from the official announcement.

The Lapa Rios Reserve, some 900 acres in size, provides an important buffer for neighboring Corcovado National Park and serves as a wildlife corridor for the incredible array of species endemic to the region. Because of its intense biodiversity, the Osa is one of the last strongholds of the jaguar in Central America, and is home to all four Costa Rican monkey species, including the squirrel monkey, white-faced capuchin, mantled howler and spider monkey. Other Reserve inhabitants include the three-toed sloth, tamandua anteater, Baird’s tapir, poison dart frogs, 350+ bird species, as well as the venomous fer de lance and bushmaster snakes.

The founding Lewises wanted to take something personal and make it permanent and everlasting, regardless of who holds title to the land or owns the ecolodge business. That’s where the conservation easement comes in. Undertaken in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and the Costa Rican land conservation organization CEDARENA, the easement turns the Lewises personal commitment into rainforest conservation with a binding agreement that ensures the Lapa Rios Reserve is preserved in perpetuity.

The easement comes with strict guidelines around land use. It prohibits all extractive activities, such as mining, forestry and hunting, as well as further  building expansion, even putting a cap on trail construction to a maximum of 15,000 metres (there are currently 10 km of trail in the Reserve.) At the same time the easement encourages both scientific and educational activities on the reserve, which fits well within the Lewis’ goal of setting a conservation example and their guiding motto: “No matter how you cut it, a rainforest left standing is worth more.”

See our full review of Lapa Rios Ecolodge and at the end there’s a link to the resort’s website.

I know a luxury travel blog and website will often pretend everything is rosy in the places they cover, but we like to tell it like it is here at Luxury Latin America. So let’s put it out there that if you travel to a hot place to escape the cold or find adventure, you’re probably going to deal with bugs and other creepy crawlies.

I was reminded of this recently on the coast of Panama when I found this now deceased guy in the corner of my suite, right next to the sofa. I’m just happy he made himself so obvious instead of hiding in my shoe.

This is the second time I’ve had such a visit in a nice hotel room, not even counting how many made it into my living space in Mexico. Here’s a shot of one that made my family and I glad we had the mosquito net up in Costa Rica.

Today a scorpion, tomorrow some insect that is as big as my hand. If you go exploring the Amazon, kicking back on a tropical beach, or even just checking into a hotel in the desert of Mexico or northern Chile, you’re seriously outnumbered. Keeping all the animals and insects at bay can only be accomplished by sprayed toxins, innovative design, or an incredibly diligent staff. Most employ a combination of the three. If they’re a true eco-lodge though, forget the chemicals part.

So keep that in mind when you call the front desk about a critter that needs to be dispatched. The staffers are there to help, yes, but please don’t get huffy and act like this should never happen. I’ve heard stories from hotel general managers about guests who checked out early because the geckos were too loud or there was an agoti in their path as they walked to dinner. Sorry, but you’re not in Chicago or Dubai anymore.

We’ve already run two Galapagos tour stories in the past, but though the animals and itineraries may be similar, all Galapagos cruises are not created equal. This time one of our writers went out with the most eco-friendly company plying these waters: Ecoventura.

As a company that’s maintained Smart Voyager certification since 2000, you know that biodegradable shampoos, detergents, and sunscreen are going to be required and the company goes far beyond the norm with community programs and carbon offsets for their (reduced as much as possible) emissions.  While our writer admits that keeping up with all the rules in the Galapagos can inspire a headache, they’re necessary in such a unique and fragile environment. “If not to bring the islands back to the state in which Charles Darwin found them in 1835, then to prevent the archipelago from being further damaged by human impact,” Giannina says.

Not to worry though, here it’s all about nature, animals, and evolution and the Flamingo I passengers see it all in its full glory. Swimming with sea lions, walking past sneezing iguanas, and getting close to Blue-footed Boobies that aren’t a bit bothered by humans—it’s all on tap in the Galapagos no matter who you ride with. Going with Ecoventura though, you know those animals are getting the maximum protection from our presence.

We’ve run a couple luxury travel in Peru tour stories about upscale, small-ship cruises in the Peruvian Amazon, but we haven’t been able to get anyone out to Inkaterra’s Reserva Amazonica lodge there, the best jungle lodge in Peru, if not the whole Amazon region.

I’m happy to say we’ve rectified that. Contributor Ellen Barone, who recently wrote the story on Butterfield & Robinson’s walking tour in Peru, pulled out a machete and hacked her way through the rainforest to Inkaterra’s resort.

No, just kidding. It’s not really all that daunting: a 45-minute boat ride from river port Maldonado and you’re there. Most of the creatures you see on excursions won’t be human though. The lodge is at the heart of a 42,000-acre private ecological reserve. Here’s what’s in store when you get to your spacious cabana:

King-size beds with billowing mosquito netting. Fluffy robes and slippers. Sumptuous towels and signature organic toiletries. And screened decks with comfy lounge chairs and hammocks. They’re also outfitted with practical extras like umbrellas, flashlight, ceiling fan and Kerosene lanterns.

This carbon-neutral resort walks the walk when it comes to eco-tourism though. It’s the winner of both the 2012 Tourism for Tomorrow Award for Conservation and the 2012 Green Choice Sustainable Tourism Award.

See our full review of the Inkaterra Amazon jungle lodge in Peru.

In the middle of the night at Aqua Wellness Resort, nestled in my comfortable bed, I had a dream that I was looking out of a second-floor window in a house and below me was a pack of hounds wailing and howling, foam around their mouths. I awoke and was immediately disoriented because the sound didn’t stop. The noises were real but they weren’t coming from dogs. They were coming from two howler monkeys on a branch right off my deck, sounding like creatures from the depths of hell.

Aqua is not some sanitized concrete resort where nature has been beaten back from the shore. From many units you can’t even see the water because the developers wanted to maintain the feeling of what it would be like to live in a national park. Only the minimum number of trees come down to build a villa and the buildings are spaced out rather than trying to maximize the use of the acreage.

Natural paths of wood and crushed pumice stone lead down to the beach, past scurrying crabs and native vegetation, birds and monkeys moving around in the canopy overhead. At the bottom is a bar with a view, an excellent restaurant, and an area with a brick oven pizza. Walk up a bit past this complex and you come to a spot so heavenly it may people who have never done yoga try it because of the chance to exercise with such a fantastic vista over the bay and small peninsula jutting out.

This is a wellness resort, yes, but here it’s all about balance: good food from good sources and the chance to relax or exercise so close to nature. This is not really a hotel as such: all these treehouse-looking casitas are homes owned by individuals, but all are managed in a central booking pool and it feels like a regular hotel in terms of check-in, room charges, and amenities. More units are coming on line in this pristine natural setting on its own sandy bay if you’re interested in that. But for staying here as a guest, see our full review of Aqua Wellness Resort in Nicaragua and enjoy the villa video tour below.