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