All this week, Lost Girl Amanda Pressner will be bringing us reports from her recent trip to Costa Rica with her entire family. Any questions about traveling to Costa Rica or family-oriented activities to do while you're there? Let us know.

Ever wonder where this whole sustainable travel, eco-tourism trend got its legs in the first place? As I learned during my family vacation, it was the formerly impoverished banana republic of that Costa Rica almost single-handedly spawned the concept back in the 70s.

After the price of “yellow gold” crashed back a few decades ago, the nation fell into a devastating depression. Sensing that CR needed to identify an alternative industry—and fast—a few government smarties kicked off the nation’s Green Revolution, reforesting huge tracts of jungle that had once been clear-cut for farming and turning them into protected wilderness areas and national parks. By successfully marketing itself as a nature-lovers paradise, Costa Rica no longer needed to export bananas to survive. They started importing tourists.

And with those tourists came the birth of another trend: Eco-Spas.]]> The Lost Girl 2009-08-26T17:33:44-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/26/1316/96332

Last week Shira Levine spent a few days getting her Turkish Delight on in Istanbul, Turkiye ("Turkey is a bird; Turkiye is the country"). Any questions about what to do in Turkiye? Send 'em to us and we'll have Shira answer them for you.

Going for a hammam experience is something not to pass up when in Turkiye. While a Turkish bathhouse is not for the body conscious, we recommend the body conscious suck it up and go for it. And, to go for the real deal.

While most hotels offer a hammam treatment, they typically are glossy spa treatments and private. In an authentic Turkish hammam, guests essentially lounge together buck-naked on a hot plate in a steam room. Together everyone waits their turn with mostly non-English speaking scrubbers who then randomly beckon for patrons to come to them for their individualized soapy body scrub. Remember: people have been bathing like this for over 500 years. Oh, and men and women are separate of course. ]]> shiralevine 2009-05-27T16:06:31-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/4/22/95359/6508

This week's Bizarre Foods saw host Andrew Zimmern visiting the weirder side of Seoul, South Korea, where the emphasis was on undercooked foods – and by undercooked, we mean still moving.

We're fans of fried octopus, but not when it's cooked just to the point that the tentacles are still squirming around as you pick them up with chopsticks. And no, we're not so comforted by the knowledge that dipping them in sesame oil helps stop the suckers from gripping onto the inside of your mouth. Ack! Once you mention a food item "gripping onto the inside of your mouth," we've pretty much lost our appetite.

The same goes for mudfish, which sound pretty unappetizing already, and don't get any more so when we see they're tossed into the soup still flipping around. We like to eat after the food has lost all chance of jumping out of the bowl.

But one place we were taken with was Zimmern's stop at a charcoal BBQ/sauna. Yes, you can work up an appetite while relaxing inside a steam room, and then order up a tableful of BBQ meats – all barely cooked of course. Now that's more like it. How long before a BBQ/sauna opens in New York?

Related Stories:
· South Korea Travel Guide [Travel Channel]
· Lounging In The Jjimjilbang Is As Cool As It Sounds [Jaunted]
· Drinking Dirt Soup and Banana Beer in Tanzania [Jaunted]

[Photo: Travel Channel] ]]> BS 2009-04-22T12:31:20-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/1/28/35835/3470

Think you deserve a bit of pampering? The Evason Ma’In Hot Springs have just opened an hour out of Amman in Jordan and look like a pretty decadent place to hang out next time you're passing through the Middle East.

These hot springs are pretty special--for one, they're found nearly 900 feet below sea level in a dramatic-looking ravine. The set-up includes natural hot waterfalls that Herod the Great bathed in, or so they say.

While the whole therapeutic spring water stuff should be the focus here, we’ve been distracted by a few of the side benefits. For example, they’ve got a fine dining Arabic restaurant looking over the waterfalls, a herbal tea bar, and (our favorite part) a snack bar serving 40 different kinds of homemade ice cream. Spa treatment or ice cream? We might just take the latter.

Related Stories:
· Evason Ma’In Hot Springs & Six Senses Spa [Official Site]
· Jordan Travel Guide [Jaunted] ]]> amandak 2009-01-28T09:15:56-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/31/55549/803

The Korean Jjimjilbang is even more fun than trying to spell it. Think of it as a 24-hour Peewee’s Playhouse--but giant-size and minus the psychosexual disorder.

Thousands of Jjimjilbang’s fill Korea. They’re large, gender-segregated complexes complete with spas, pools, video arcades, massage parlors, snack bars and play centers for kids. The main draw of the centers are the heated hardwood floors, once a fixture in traditional Korean homes but forced out by the modern high rise and the arrival of the padded bed.

Since most Koreans live in tight quarters with their extended family members, the Jjimjilbang is a wholesome way for parents and kids both to retreat to their own favorite activities and get away from each other. It’s also a place for a foreigner to learn the surprising joys of laying on a hot, hard floor.

Related Stories:
· For All Kinds of Good, Clean Fun, Koreans Turn to Bath Houses [NYT]
· Learn The Monk’s Life In South Korea [Jaunted]

[Photo: IHT]]]> ced138 2008-10-31T11:30:05-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/7/21/174752/777

The AP brings us news today of a promising new trend in spa technology: garra rufa fish. Of course, we've covered these so-called doctor fish before, and YouTube is, uh, stocked with videos of the critters.

The flesh-eating fish first popped up in Turkey, where they'd nibble the dead skin off the feet of spa-goers. The trend then spread to Asia and even Croatia. Yvonne Hair and Nail in Alexandria, Virginia claims to be the only place you can take the plunge in the US.

Related Stories:
· Fish Pedicures: Carp Rid Feet of Scaly Skin [AP, via Google]
· Yvonne Hair and Nail [Official Site]
· Asian Spa Fish Feast on Flesh [Jaunted]
· Former ANTM Contestant's First-Person Review [Elyse Sewell]
· Discover For Yourself If Piranhas Get a Bad Rap [Jaunted]]]> pbb 2008-07-21T17:48:40-05:00 38.7225030 -77.120466 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/20/132044/282

Here's a tip: When you find yourself assuring reporters that the $42,000 bronze monument you've put on display involves "no kitsch or obscenity," your art project was probably a bad idea. The statue in question is a tribute to the enema that was unveiled at a spa in the Russian city of Zheleznovodsk on Wednesday. The Botticelli-inspired monument depicts three cherubic little angles holding aloft a bronze syringe bulb that's used for anal cleansing.

The sculpture was presented to the public this weekend at a celebration featuring models and a banner bearing the charming Soviet slogan "Let's beat constipation and sloppiness with enemas." The owner of the spa said enemas are "almost a symbol" of the Caucasus, dotted as the region is with retreats offering visitors the opportunity to get local mineral water sprayed up their ass. (Hey, Zheleznovodsk does mean "Iron Waters.")

Maybe when the spa gang realizes how ridiculous this makes them look they can change that butt bulb into an onion?

Related Stories:
· Russian Spa Opens Monument to the Enema [AP, via Yahoo]
· Spas coverage [Jaunted]
· Russia Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Reuters]]]> Hunter Walker 2008-06-20T14:00:01-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/