In the remote village of Tracosco on the lush southeastern coast of Bahia, you’ll find the unique UXUA Casa Hotel. Conceived by Dutch-born Wilbert Das (fashion designer and longtime creative director for Diesel, the hip clothing line), the gorgeously bright and airy hotel took over two years to build using recycled materials in this tribute to the area Das loves so much.

Casa Seu Pedrinho do Quadrado

Six of the nine 1- to 3-bedroom casas or cottages (three are restored fishermen homes) are scattered around beautiful gardens, while the remaining three face the town square. Some are equipped with plunge pools, some with a Jacuzzi, and others nestle in the gardens and on terraces. Each casa has an open living room and a full kitchen where local chefs will help the culinary-adventurous create local Bahian feasts in their own casa. Meals are also served in the restaurant, at the pool, are delivered to your casa or can be taken at the beach just five minutes away. On the sand there’s a scenic lounge whose bar and kitchen were created out of an abandoned fishing boat that washed up on shore.

The Aventurine Quartz Pool

The swimming pool was made by a local, self-taught “mosaicist,” who used over 40,000 unique green aventurine quartz pebbles, well known in this part of the world to be especially healing. There’s also a spa where, in addition to acupuncture, massages, yoga, and Pilates, you can take private classes in capoeira and forro dancing, which is extremely popular at most of the social activities in the village.

There’s plenty to do if lying on endless beaches is not your thing: trek, horseback ride, snorkel, dive, canoe, play tennis, visit the nearby Indian reserve Barra Velha, a national park that 500 Pataxo tribe families call home … or join a local soccer team in the square!

What They Are Doing

To build the lodge, Das recruited local craftsmen to construct eight individual, traditional casas and one treehouse using recycled and organic materials wherever possible, while applying the local building customs to create a lodge that fits into its surroundings. Almost everything was carved by hand, which includes some unique touches in the bathrooms that are made out of fallen trees. Hardwood roof tiles were restored from old farmhouses, local ceramics cover the floors, and recycled woods and irons make up the bathrooms to create the rustic ambiance.

Casa Quintal da Gloria

UXUA has also roped in an area containing native vegetation and mangroves. The lodge owners have partnered up with the local administration and have taken responsibility for keeping the mangroves and the beach clean.

The Spa

Bahia has high levels of illiteracy, and training for luxury hospitality services is uncommon.  Das wanted to employ locals so, two years before the hotel opened, he began a ‘hotel school’ on the property, where locals were given hospitality training by professionals from international hotel schools. In addition, all personnel who had not finished high school were put into classes to complete their diplomas, and those staff who lacked basic literacy skills were given one-on-one instruction.  Every one of the present staff of 45 has either finished high school or is in the hotel’s program to get a diploma. Three of those who got diplomas are now taking university courses in a neighboring town, with tuition and transportation provided by UXUA.

Medical benefits are provided to all staff, something extremely unusual for Bahia. They are also guaranteed employment year-round, also rare in this part of the world, where staff are hired seasonally. The hotel pays the salary of the local professor of capoeira, which guarantees that the town’s children and teenagers can practice this sport even if they can’t afford to pay for the classes.

Produce for the magnificent Brazilian fare served in the hotel is sourced locally.

A Burst of Color Outside the Mediterranean Villa

Who They Are

In the heart of Cantareira State Park, 50 minutes from Sao Paulo, Unique Garden (the English translation of the website is a bit obscure, but can be found in the lower right corner of Unique’s site) truly lives up to its name. Besides being a sought-after spa and health retreat, with 26 deluxe chalets, as much thought has gone into pampering clients as into creating the lodge around them.

The Presidential Villa

Eight agronomists work at rehabilitating the environment, the buildings curve in such a way as to avoid destroying trees, and even waste water is treated well enough to be returned to the nearby lake.

From the Presidential Villa to the Flower Chalet, the lodgings aim to indulge, even down to a ‘pillow menu.’ You can pick your own salad in Unique’s eponymous gardens, pluck your own fruit while walking through the orchards, and know that natural and organic and healthy are key words here.

In a Forest Kiosk

A wide range of exercise classes are offered, from yoga to tai chi, or you can cycle on the grounds or swim in one of two pools. At the spa, treatments are offered in the main building or in five secluded ‘kiosks’ scattered throughout the forest. The organic meals, with a slant towards Mediterranean cuisine, are created by chef Daniel Aquino and an on-site dietician.

What They Are Doing

A Suite Unique

Unique Garden, like the Hotel Unique in Sao Paulo, is owned by the Siaulys family, which is well known for its commitment to the community. Its most famous creation is the Laramara foundation, which cares for people with impaired vision. (Founder Victor Siaulys’ daughter was blind.) Over the course of 20 years, Laramara’s clients, as well as the services it offers, have expanded and diversified, so that today over seventy percent of patients have multiple disabilities (visual impairment associated with, say, cerebral palsy, deafness, or some mental illness).

At the Unique Garden, there is a conservation facility that is run in conjunction with the Brazilian Environmental Protection Institute, where wild animals that have been hurt or dislocated by human intervention are rehabilitated and released.  A community center looks after ‘the personal and professional development’ of its staff and their families, offering them courses in computers, English, music, recycling, yoga, and even bread-making.

In Their Own Words

“For us, social responsibility is not a fashion.”

U-Bikers Outside Hotel Unique

It is an audacious plan for any country, let alone Brazil and indeed São Paulo. Lincoln Paiva wants to put U-Bike, or Urban Bike, in 200 of the city’s hotels.

Some U-Bike Routes

Unlike Velib and similar schemes in Europe and other parts of the world, where you rent a two-wheeler for 30 minutes or so before you have to return it to a nearby station, U-Bike is an organized way to get visitors around green-ly. And along the way, you learn something about where you are.

With U-Bike you don’t rent bicycles separately but as part of a group of anywhere from one rider ($100) to 10 or so ($30 per person). The more participants in your group, as you can see, the less it costs. For your money you get a bicycle, a helmet, a padlock, a guide – who could even be the CEO of a business who is giving up his time to partake in this green scheme – as well as an assistant and breakfast. There are four routes to choose from. Any income is plowed back into bike maintenance and other sustainability programs.

Atop Hotel Unique, the Crimson Pool

Paiva is president of the Green Mobility, which has launched U-Bike as part of a green initiative leading up to the 2014 World Soccer and 2016 Olympics. The U-Bike project in São Paulo is a collaboration between the city, bike manufacturer Caloi, and, for the first time, a hotel.

Hotel Unique is a boutique property in the garden district of Moema that boasted innovation before taking on the U-Bike program. From its copper façade to its porthole windows, it rises like a modern ocean liner, with the wood floors in its stern and bow rooms taking the shape of the ‘ship.’ Topped by the Skye restaurant overlooking the city, it has a crimson pool above, a stunning statue of St. George slaying the dragon in the lobby. There are 85 modern rooms and ten suites.

A River Runs Through the Amazon

Who They Are

The Cristalino Jungle Lodge is nestled in the middle of a private rainforest reserve in the southern Amazon, with more than 46 square miles – that’s twice the size of Manhattan – just beyond the borders of the Cristalino State Park (another important conservation area, with 456,800 acres).

The Cristalino River, with clean and beautiful water, lies just in front of the lodge, which offers three types of en-suite accommodations – private bungalows (with both indoor and outdoor showers), superior rooms, and standard bungalows.  The lodge has a friendly restaurant serving delicious regional dishes and a bar serving the best Caipirinhas.

A Private Bungalow at the Lodge

The number of species, exceptional even by Amazonian standards, makes this one of the best places in the region for watching birds, mammals, butterflies, and orchids in a primary forest environment.

The Floating Dock at Cristalino

What They Are Doing

Conservation

In 1999, the Cristalino Ecological Foundation (FEC), based in Alta Floresta, was formed as an environmental non-profit  to promote conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, as well as the development of sustainable livelihoods.  The foundation works in three main areas:  environmental education, research, and landscape planning.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-9IwNQ-zpEThe educational programs (e.g., Escola da Amazônia) focus on activities that create a positive relationship between student and  forest. More than 2,000 people from primary and secondary schools in Brazil and abroad have already participated.

The research programs gather important information about the flora and fauna of the Cristalino region, a place with enormous biodiversity but little scientific research. Many initiatives have been started, including a study being done in partnership with the British Royal Botanic Gardens that has already recorded more than 1,370 species of plants.

Color Everywhere: A Curl-Crested Aracari

The landscape planning programs cover issues such as the restoration of degraded areas, the management of protected areas, and the planning of urban spaces that stimulates sustainable use of natural resources.

People

The lodge is committed to employing and supporting people from the neighboring communities. The local guides know the region well and are trained to lead birdwatchers, tourists, photographers, and families.  As they speak only Portuguese, an English-speaking interpreter joins the groups.

The View Down from the 50-Meter Canopy Tower

In Their Own Words

“The Cristalino Jungle Lodge is a unique destination … where guests learn about the flora and fauna in a very personalized way.  Our strong commitment towards conservation and responsible tourism is now inspiring others to develop sustainable initiatives in our region.  By visiting Cristalino you are helping the conservation of the Cristalino region and the local communities.”

(Photos by Will & Gill Carter, Jorge Lopes, Katia Kuwabara, Edson Endrigo)