In this blog, Sophie Winfield shares her incredible journey through Costa Rica and Panama during her 5-month internship with The Cayuga Collection.
From learning about sustainable tourism practices to exploring the natural beauty and culture of these unique destinations, Sophie’s first-hand experiences offer valuable insight into responsible, unforgettable travel.
Join her as she reflects on the people, places, and lessons that shaped this adventure.
Meet Sophie Winfield, pictured here at El Tigre Waterfalls.
"Green in nature, green in principle, and green in practice.
Authentically green in every single way."
I am a student studying International Tourism Management in Manchester, England and have recently finished my incredible 5-month internship with Cayuga before returning to complete my final year of studies.
Starting my journey in Senda, Monteverde, next moving on to Kura, Uvita before crossing over into Panama to be in Finca Lerida and finally finishing at Isla Palenque. Each place is uniquely beautiful, really capturing the essence of the culture of their particular area and province, yet all while keeping the heart of Cayuga ethics and values central to their operations. Cayuga really takes sustainable luxury into a league of its own here.
During my time I was learning about the operations across each department and how they work individually and collectively within the hotel. Through this, I really specialized my focus on my passion for sustainability during my time here, and what better place than with Cayuga who are already trailblazers in sustainability.
A huge part of this was learning about the complimentary sustainability tours offered to guests and helping work on this experience for guests. These incredible tours really help to bridge together the gap between tourism and sustainability in such an interesting and transparent way and is something I believe anyone who is visiting a Cayuga property should experience in order to truly see for themselves the behind-the-scenes work and commitment that goes into making their sustainability commitments an everyday reality.
Whether this be in the subtleties that lie in the designs of the properties, using eco-friendly cleaning products, supporting local businesses within their supply chains, or the more overt practices, such as abolishing single-use plastic. This, for example, may seem more of a basic standard within sustainability, but plastic remains a huge problem in today’s world as a full 32% of the 78 million tons of plastic packaging produced annually, leaks, is mismanaged, or dumped into the environment and flows into the ocean, equivalent to pouring one rubbish truck of plastic into the ocean every single minute! So, every step such as this really does have positive knock-on-effects and models the importance of small efforts by everyone which is vital to sustainability.
Cayuga has an incredible commitment, conscious understanding, and vision of how important it is that sustainability be at the forefront of how to operate as a business and that by doing so, this, in turn, creates and delivers unique, authentic, and honest tourism that speaks for itself when guests arrive.
Getting the opportunity to visit these two incredible countries that are unlike anywhere I have seen or experienced before was so magical.
Captivating flora and fauna of cloud forest canopies and coastal rainforests that are home to sloths in trees, crocodiles in lazy lagoons, howler monkeys (that most definitely live up to their name as it’s safe to say you will hear them before you see them!) and hundreds of exotic birds, these countries are the embodiment of tropical paradise.
Beyond the stunning surrounding nature lies beautiful cultures and histories. One key part of this is undeniably the coffee culture, which acts as an integral part of the landscape and lifestyles of Costa Rica and Panama and has changed me from an English tea lover to a coffee aficionado with a much greater appreciation of the skills and work that goes into crafting the best tasting beans.
Above all, my most cherished memories will be the many lovely people who I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet and learn from during my time and will never forget.
This truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that I am incredibly grateful to Cayuga for providing me with, and if you ever get the chance to visit these properties just like me, you will have an incredible experience you will never forget.
