The final step in the sugar making process.  The hardened sugar from sugar cane makes brown sugar-like blocks.  They sell two stacked for 1.000 colones.

The Outdoor Classroom where we have class when at home in Atenas

Week 3

17 de febrero-23 de febrero
We spent Monday and Tuesday at the center.  Class was focused on water and waste management in preparation for our upcoming field trip.
On Wednesday we left Atenas at 7am to head to Carara National Park, located near the Pacific Coast.  During this field trip we spent some time near the Tarcoles River.  We took a boat tour of a Mangrove Forest on the river's edge and saw a lot of crocodiles, crabs, and birds.  The topic of this trip was Waste and Water Management and pollution problems in the country.  Costa Rica is struggling with waste management because most of the trash from the center towns and cities ends up polluting the Tarcoles River Basin and eventually the Pacific coast of CR.  We had a field lecture on the beach at Playa Azul.  Here tourism can not thrive.  In addition fishing is not an option because of the mass pollution.  The town is struggling to make profit due to the effects of pollution.  The Costa Rican government has not tackled this problem appropriately. We hiked the western side of the park in the afternoon.  Carara National Park is a transitional forest between a tropical and montane.  After our hike we drove to El Sur.  The smallest town I have ever seen!  We stayed here Wednesday night and Thursday night.  The people of the town were very welcoming and were happy to share their culture with us.  There was one little church, one town room where we had meals and class.  While in El Sur, we played a soccer game with the locals, milked the cows in the morning, learned how to make sugar with sugar cane, and went on a night hike.  There is more to elaborate on, but the night hike was amazing. We walked in our rubber boots down to the rivers and streams with our headlamps.  We saw many frogs and toads, ginormous spiders, a snake, and a fluorescent scorpion that glowed under a black light.  There was also a very interesting pack of ants crossing the river on a log carry eggs from a nest that they invaded.  It was fascinating to watch these creatures work together in the night.  On top of all this there was a full moon. I felt like I was in a dream. We hiked the eastern side of the park on Thursday.  It was a much steeper hike and very humid.  We had a guide lead us.  This side of the park is less         visited by the public.  On friday before we left we hiked to a beautiful waterfall and got to cool off! The hike somehow managed to be uphill both ways!
On Saturday morning we left for Volcan Poas National Park. Here we were each responsible for giving out 8 surveys  4 in Spanish and 4 in English to help the park learn more about its visitations and how it can improve its service, as well as if natives and foreigners value Eco-tourism.  The park is struggling financially as well as with gaining ownership of private land in the park, illegal hunting, and visitation to high risk areas of the park (not enough employees to monitor all grounds of the park). During our visit it was very foggy and we did not get to see the volcano so I didn't take any pictures :( As a whole group, we compiled our data onto an excel sheet and created a power point that the park will use.
We think that the water at El Sur contained a lot of bacteria because many of us had severe stomach pains after our visit.
On Sunday a bunch of us took a bus to go white water rafting at Rio Pacuare!! It is claimed to be one of the most beautiful rivers to raft in the world.  It was such an awesome experience.  Although because it is the dry season here the rapids were not as intense as in the wet season, we still hit some class 4 rapids and got to get out and swim in waterfalls.  I had such a great time.  Some of the pictures I put up were from Sunday. That was about it for last week. I am having such an awesome time here. PURA VIDA

More pictures to come, getting these up because I have a free moment

Hola! I’m sorry for not getting to this post sooner. We have been very busy here with travels every week and on top of that internet access is very weak. I have so much to share with you. These past few weeks have been amazing and I am so blessed to be able to have this opportunity.  Here’s an update of what I have been up to! I am going to bullet some of the main activities we did because there has been so much I do not know where to begin.

Week 1: Feb 4-9^th – After being picked up at the airport we had about a forty five minute bumpy ride to our center in Atenas.  The facility is gated with tangerine, orange, mango, and trees.  There are also chickens where we collect eggs and we just received two new piglets. There is also a netted soccer field, pool, and hammocks for relaxing. And because it’s the dry season here we have class in the outdoor classroom when we’re not on the road! We spent the first week getting to know the place, exploring town, and starting classes.  On Thursday we left for our first field trip to Braulio Carrillo National Park. My first experience in a tropical rainforest! Here we hiked and then went to El Zota Biological Field Station, where we were staying for two nights.  In the morning we left for El Progreso Agro-ecological farm.  Here we learned how agro-ecosystems can work to protect biodiversity while continuing agriculture production. We also learned how they make their own liquid fertilizer with yeast, molasses and soil fungus from around their farming property (It is almost like a beer making process).

Their beautiful property was located in the rainforest, with deep monkey calls continuously heard in the distance. These generous people did not even have electricity in their home, yet they live with a understanding of coexistence I have never seen before. The next day we went to a Dole Plantation to compare the farming styles. We learned the complicated process of how the market has created a demand for a “perfect banana.”  This was a 200 hectare farm that felt more like a factory.  If you go to this website, www.dole-earth.com, and type in code 10265 you can see the exact plantation that we toured.  I have much more to tell you about the skewed perception of large scale tropical farming.

We arrived back at the center in Atenas on Saturday night, with plenty of time to explore town!

Week 2, 10 de febrero-16 de febrero: Each day we begin with breakfast at 7am.  This was our first week of chores and I was on kitchen prep so I arrived with 5 other students to cook breakfast at 6 am each morning of this week.  The food here, I forgot to mention is amazing.  I have tried so many new foods, including two new fruits. And of course I am enjoying gallo pinto, a famous dish here.  Rice and beans make an appearance for all three meals J I am also learning to play soccer here. It is such a huge sport here and they often have staff vs. student games at the center.

 The rest of the week we had class at the center until Thursday when we headed off to Monteverde Cloud Forest. This is an amazing place.  Ah I am frustrated writing this now because I am tired and my emotions on paper are not doing this justice but you have to go here and experience the cloud forest before it is no longer a possibility.   As deforestation continues in the tropics and species diversity decreases, cloud forests are declining.  We got to spend the next two nights in very nice hotel like rooms right in the park! Because Monteverde is a high tourist attraction area, we had warm showers as well as ate our dinners at a local Italian restaurant.  We spent much of our day time between classes working on research in the park.  We designed our own research project with a partner.  Our specific research tested the effects of elevation on moss growth.  We spent time along the Chomongo trail measuring the percentage of moss coverage on 20 trees at two different elevations. If I seem to be speaking rubbish I probably am but I’m just trying to get it all down as fast as I can with limited time to spare here haha. We have to get up at 5:30 tomorrow for another field trip to Poas Volcano National Park, but I’ll tell you about that later.  Anyway, during our trip to Monteverde we went on a hike in Bajo del Tigre, the Children’s Eternal Rainforest of Monteverde. Here on this hike we saw a sloth sleeping in the tree! And a monkey!! The sad thing about the monkey was that he was following us around because so many people (possibly even tour guides looking to make more money from tourists) have fed him.  It was still a highlight of the day! At night we got to go explore town- it is a very tourist friendly region of Costa Rica.  

In the classroom- we learned about “Eco-tourism”.  This is such an interesting concept to me, and it is dominating the Costa Rican economy today.  

I will write more later, time for bed.