Tarcoles River Basin:
1. Went on the 'Crocodile Man Tour' in the morning. We all filed onto this tourist pontoon boat and travelled up stream in a tropical mangrove forest. We saw tons of birds and cocodrilos; but, due to the salinity of the brackish water and constant flooding of this ecosystem, there is actually a relatively low biodiversity compared with flora and fauna rich tropical forests elsewhere in CR. The primary fauna in this location are invertebrates. There are many species on crabs, clams, and mussels that florish here. In the muddy clay banks of the mangrove shores, there are tons of little peeps holes where the crabs hide in low tide! Cool stuff.
2. After our tour, we went to the beach at the base of the river and had a discussion on water and waste management. A fitting site, considering this beach was absolutley riddled with trash and waste from upstream. We discussed the importance of a collaborative approach for ecosystems protection because in this case, the polluters are not the ones heeding the problems. This is especially so in the Tarcoles River because 70% of Costa Rica's industrial output feeds into this watershed.
El Sur y Carara National Park:
1. After our time in Tarcoles River Basin, we drove about an hour more to Carara National Park. In this backside of the park, a small town named El Sur runs an eco-tourism, education and volunteer program.
2. We had a tour of the town which included a tour of the traditional sugar mill. They squeeze the sugar cane through a grinder powered by two oxen and boil down the extract in two large vats, fired by the remains of the cane plants. Very cool and a long, labor intensive process. Julie almost fell into the vat of boiling sugar water because the oxen kicked in her direction. WOAH!
3. We also got to see the honey suckle and bee hives of a local town member. The honey was so good and our professors bought some for us to use with tea and coffee at the center.
4. In the morning we went on a 3 hours hike through the JUNGLE. Definitely what you picture trekking through the amazon to be like. It was awesome. Leaves as big as people, grasshoppers as big as your hand. What an amazing hike.
Poas Volcano:
1. This was Saturday morning. Poas is the most visited park in CR. We visited an active volcanic crater which is huge (400 m across) and smells distinctly of sulfur. Luckily we got there early enough in the morning for a clear and perfect viewing.
2. Then we hiked for 30 min to the even more breathtaking Lagoon Botas, an ancient crater with crystal clear blue water and surrounded by dense, lush vegetation. There was a small beach on the side of the lagoon, looked perfect for camping. If only...
3. We also had our Economics Field Exercise, which consisted of accosting tourists and asking if they would fill out a park survey for environmental services. It was a good way to practice Spanish, but I didn't like bothering people.
Other week highlights:
1. I am officially the bug lady/ exterminator. There was a red and black spider BIGGER than my hand that I caught and removed from Jesse and Ruby's room. Their roommate was freaking out. I felt proud of my feat.
2. Spanish class has been frustrating. It is all conversation and our professor never write anything down for us to see or tells us what tense we are going over so it is hard to follow what she wants us to be doing. Grr.
3. We played a soccer match with spanish kids that were learning english. My foot-to-ball contact rate was about 50%. Haha, I really do stink at soccer. But it was still fun. I am good at laughing at myself.
4. Started planning for the weekend away at the Arenal Volcano. We have a great group of people and I'm really excited!!
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