By Amanda Schoenberg Tico Times Staff

Rows of vanilla vines, musky all-spice, sweet cinnamon trees, medicinal plants and brightly-colored bromeliads dot the expansive Villa Vanilla property in tiny Villanueva, 17 kilometers east of Quepos in the Central Pacific region, where owner Henry Karczynski is intent on starting a one-man farming revolution.

Karczynski, who has lived and worked in Costa Rica for the last 26 years, started his farm 15 years ago with what he calls "tunnel vision:" planting row upon row of vanilla plants. After several mid-1990 years of wetter-than-usual weather, hurricanes and finally a spate of fusarium (fungal disease), many local vanilla farmers, including Karczynski, lost it all.

by Ellen Zoe Golden
photo by Sean Davis

Quepos and Manuel Antonio have a lot more to offer than gorgeous beaches. In this fertile eco-tourism destination, it is worthwhile to learn about the conservation efforts by local residents, dedicated to rehabilitation of rainforest animals and the recuperation of the once-endangered edible vanilla orchids flourish in this bountiful region.
Janine Licare, age 16, co-founder of Kids Saving The Rainforest (KSTR) shares her thoughts, “I feel the earth belongs to the animals and we are crowding in on them.”

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by Frontier Natural Products

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