¡Hola!Once my classmates, professors and I landed in San José, we were immediately greeted with a lovely summer-like temperature and a cool breeze. We met our guide (named Madri) and our bus driver. On a drive from the airport to our hotel, we stopped in Cartago to visit La Basilica de Los Angeles--the largest and most important cathedral in Costa Rica. The cathedral was built around the legend of a stone doll and was lavishly decorated with stained glass, sculptures, and gold. There were quite a few people quietly praying within the sanctuary, and our group tried to respectfully observe the decoration without disrupting them. Next, we entered Turrialba and met with a local organic coffee grower named Gustavo. Three words: best. coffee. ever. Gustavo oversees every step of the coffee's production from picking the raw coffee beans to brewing the finished product.
Our first hotel, located in Turrialba, was perched on an enormous hill over looking the valley.
Day 2 was spent at a research station called CATIE (pronounced cah-tee-aye) where we toured a botanical garden, listened to a presentation on blue carbon initiative from Dr. Miguel Cifuentes (learn more about the blue carbon initiative here), visited a dairy farm that uses the cows' manure as a renewable energy source (!), sampled an overwhelming amount of delicious tropical fruits, and even made our own chocolate from cocoa grown on site at CATIE.
Day 3 the whole gang went white water rafting. It was a day filled with adventure and some unplanned dips in the Sarapiqui River! This morning was when I think most people began to relax and settle into Costa Rica as their new temporary home. Other notable events included spotting iguanas, monkeys, and even a sloth while riding in the bus.
Day 4 was spent on privately owned land dedicated to conservation. This particular piece of land acted as a corridor for wildlife, and included the houses of the land owners (divided by a river) as well as an area of forest residing just off a busy highway. One of the land owners, Jaime, showed us a huge variety of endemic plants that could be used for medicinal purposes. We learned a little about the data gathering process by running transects in the forested area of their land.
Day 5 included a trip to La Selva Biological Research Station. It was an exciting day where we were introduced to wild Peccary and howler monkeys as we toured the grounds. La Selva is a really fascinating place where students and professors alike can come to research native flora and fauna living in the tropical forest on site. Afterward, we kayaked down the Sarapiqui.
Day 6 was spent at the spectacular waterfall La Fortuna, the longest zip-line in the world, and hot springs at our hotel.
On day 7 we boated across Lake Arenal, drove up to the mountain town of Monteverde, hiked in a cloud forest, and visited a hummingbird garden! Of the entire trip, this day was my favorite. The cloud forest is a peaceful place where time seems to stand still. The hummingbird garden boasted several different species of hummingbirds, and some of the hummingbirds would perch on people's fingers while sipping nectar from the feeders!
Pura Vida,
Hannah