ECO RESORT. I was out surfing the other day when I was so excited to meet another girl in the lineup and as I was introducing myself she asked me what makes our place an Eco Resort? "Amiga...great question." I said, and "...we're going to need a lot more time than you have before that next wave comes and crushes us." It takes more than just one great beer brewed by Ryan to answer that question as well. So, belly up my friend. It's not so much as what makes us an Eco Resort, it's really just a way of life and depending on your resources, where you live, and your surrounding environment is what guides you to create an Eco Resort. Simple yet crazy complicated. Coming from Colorado, I had some pretty straight forward rules that helped guide us when creating our place here but in reality they changed a lot once we got here. Over the next weeks we will dive in to some of our practices that define us as an Eco Resort but here are our guiding principles and what we tell our team when they are making decisions.
SEIS Share Educate Inspire Stoke
Who doesn't love a good acronym!? It's a spanish word that means six and pretty well crosses over in Spanish too. It's how we make decisions on what we do here, our guiding lights. If we can come up with something that does all these things for our guests, it essentially creates and fosters an Eco Resort philosophy. We have so many examples but here are a few:
Share: Here's Florencio or as we all know him - Abuelo. Like all Panamanians, he loves to share his world with our guests, his guests, and anyone that will come visit. He and his family are genuine, kind, and the epitome of friendly hospitality. He shares his world and in turn we all share ours with him and his family. It's an incredible cultural experience for everyone that fosters happiness and peace.
Educate: Though there are a myriad of ways to learn here, our biggest focus is Sea Turtle conservation. Here is Jacinto Rodriguez who manages the Sea Turtle Conservation Center here in our wee bitty town. With a Masters Degree in Marine and Coastal Resource Management as well as the perfect disposition, he is just the person to educate our guests on the importance of their amazing conservation programs.
Inspire: Hands down the best part of this Eco Resort is inspiring a new idea, a different way of thinking, and inspiring a change in someone's life, especially the kids that stay with us. Countless times, the families that have stayed with us have commented on the experiences the kids have had and what a profound affect it had on them. I'm not saying this will change their lives completely but it will change them in some way, I promise you and that is one of our greatest measures of success.
Stoke: Hands up, surfing delivers the greatest stoke here. A recent guest just said to me: "This was a truly transformative experience, and the least likely thing I thought I would do at 50 years old - learn to surf." Hell yeah! Also, his three kids learned as well and so I said "You know what? You just learned something new you and your kids can do together for many, many years to come."
If these are the kinds of experiences you think you and your family and friends would enjoy while also making a difference in the world, we would love to host you here in this magical place and share our world with you again, and again, and again.
Your Friends in Morrillo,
Cari and Ryan Mackey
Owners and Hosts
Morrillo Beach Eco Resort