Off to my home stay!

Hello! We haven't had a field trip in a while so I haven't posted but I wanted to write something before I head off to my home stay with a Tico (Costa Rican) family tomorrow morning.

Things that have been going on that I haven't had the chance to write about:

-We've met with a group of Costa Rican students our age who are learning English through an intensive (and free) government program twice now. The first time they came to the center and the second time (today) we went to their school. We've been playing games and attempting to communicate but of course, it's rough at times.

-There are a few projects that we're working on here at the center at the moment. The soil here doesn't hold water very well so our lettuce is suffering. To solve the problem, we've been constructing 'organoponic' beds. Basically, they're raised beds filled with dirt in which we can plant veges. Lots of hole digging and hammering together for this one. We're also working on intercropping some of the orange trees here on the farm with bananas. Again, lots of hole-digging for the new trees. In other news, the mangoes on the property are getting to be ripe and soon we'll be able to have fresh mangoes everyday. We already have fresh orange juice from our trees every morning at breakfast. I see mango-orange juice in my future. Also, while we were digging holes for the new banana trees, Don Macho Ernesto (don't ask me why he has so many names) brought us some sugar cane he'd just cut from the cane plants in the garden. I've never gnawed on fresh cane before- it was so delicious. Kind of pulpy and porous and once all of the sugary sweetness is gone you just toss the rest.

-I'm off to my home stay tomorrow. It should be interesting. Here's what I know so far: i'm staying with a widowed photographer, her three daughters (22, 20, and 17), and their perrito. We're going to someone's fiftieth wedding anniversary on Saturday night and apparently to the mountains on Sunday.

-I'm also planning next weekend. We have our first "free" weekend which means we get Saturday and Sunday (but can't leave on Friday night....?). Myself and a few friends are planning to go to the coast and to a 200 m (!) waterfall to swim. We also might go to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio where I'm told you're pretty guaranteed to see sloths.

-Final thought: a keel-billed toucan was flitting around in the mango trees at the center the other day. That makes my toucan count three: a pair of chestnut mandible toucans (one feeding the other in Poas) and one keel-billed. Not bad.

As always, comments are welcomed and encouraged!

El Futbol!

Yesterday afternoon as I was heading to the pool to listen to music and read, my friend Caity stopped me and said, ‘we’re going to a soccer game, get your money, get your stuff, put on some shoes.’ I’m pretty sure I was wearing hiking socks and tevas at the time, not exactly prepared to go out. I nearly ducked out, I was so exhausted after getting up at five to go on our Poas Volcano field trip. But I rallied and made it out the door and to the taxi that took us to the bus station in downtown Atenas.

About 45 minutes later we arrived in Alajuela, Costa Rica’s second city and home to probably its best professional soccer team. After we walked to the stadium we bought tickets for $4 a piece and then we split up to get food and beer. Four of us went to get empanadas at a fast food place and then met back at the stadium to go into the game. La Liga scored in the eighth minute and we were up 2-0 at halftime. After the half, the other team scored two goals to make it 2-2 but La Liga scored again almost immediately. The energy in the stadium was great with all the La Liga fans yelling obscenities at the players that scored on us. One section of the stands didn’t stop singing, waving flags, and beating drums the whole game. We sat in the ‘Popular’ section (aka the cheap seats) but we were right near the field and right near the half line. I was sure the fans were going to get out of control a bunch of times during the game but police in riot helmets kept them mostly in check. People were running up and down the aisles, jumping up on the chain link fence around the field and shaking it, and spitting at the players on the other team. It was a crazy experience and a great time- 'we' ended up winning 3-2.

While we were waiting for the bus back to Atenas a fight broke out in the line but before we even knew what was happening, two CR police sped up on motorcycles and pulled the two men apart. They cuffed one man who had attacked a security guard and when a police van showed up, they tossed him in the back. The whole time, the man was yelling in Spanish “so you think you’re big men?” As the police van pulled out of the parking lot, our bus pulled in and they nearly hit each other head on. Both slammed on their breaks which must have tossed the hand-cuffed man in the back around a bit. Narrow miss. After the bus ride and a quick cab home we finally made it back to the center to end our nearly twenty-hour day.

The Volcano

I’m sitting out by the pool writing the blog with views of the central valley and palms all around. The hammocks are swaying in the breeze and the sun is hot. Yesterday we had another field trip, this time to Parque Nacional de Volcan Poas. This is the most visited park in CR with around 300,000 visitors a year. It was easy to see why, the park was really nice and the Volcano was an impressive reminder that we’re sitting on the edge of the Pacific ring of fire. During our briefing for this trip our Professor told us that the last eruption was… two weeks ago. This thing is alive and massive.

The viewing deck overlooks the caldera, a pretty rare perspective and awesome to be able to look down into the middle of an active Volcano. From edge to edge it’s over a km wide but it’s the kind of situation where what you’re looking at is so huge that you can’t really conceptualize its size. At the bottom there’s bubbling, steaming, highly acidic water. The kind of thing what would burn your flesh. We didn’t get to go any closer than the viewing platform but Achim, our Natural Resources Management professor had been down to the pool with some park rangers and told us that the vents are so loud you can barely hear someone speaking next to you and that the steam is so harsh that it burns your eyes and you can't breath. From where we were, the only sounds we could hear were the tourists (“I thought a volcano was a big cone with red stuff coming out the top” –courtesy of an American girl on a trip with her high school class) and the wind moving clouds across the ridge of the continental divide and sweeping away the acidic steam.

While we were here we had our second research project asking guests of the park in Spanish and English to fill our a survey about their experience. Most people were really patient with our Spanish and with filling out the survey. I did have one couple who started making out when I was 5 ft from them… “hola…oh…” I awkwardly turned around and walked away. Still don’t know if I was intentionally spurned…

I'll be posting another about the La Liga futbol game we went to last night later on.

leaf cutters!

edgardo and the snake.

gator

wader in the rio grande de tarcoles

crocs.

Parque Nacional Carara y el Rio Grande de Tarcoles

Hello! We just returned from a field trip to yet another amazing National Park called Carara and a boat trip on the Tarcoles River to the delta where it drains into the Nicoya Bay on the Pacific side of the country.

First, the Tarcoles River delta. SFS hired a river tourism boat to take us to our destination. It would stand to reason that tourism in this area would be really successful considering the natural resources. However, because of the massive amounts of pollution, opportunities are actually really limited. Despite the problems, the area is host to an amazing array of wildlife. Amongst the garbage, we saw a variety of birds, crocodiles, and cayman. The river is so polluted because the watershed originates in the densely populated Central Valley region of Costa Rica (this is also where Atenas is located). Only 25% of solid waste in the entirety of CR is disposed of properly in managed landfills. The majority is sent to illegal dumping sites or just tossed out; almost all of this unproperly disposed of waste ends travelling down the watershed to the bay and out to the ocean. During the rainy season, the situation is so bad that the massive garbage dams can cause flooding of municipalities. Costa Rica is still a developing country but many of the citizens have adopted 1st world consumption habits without the infrastructure to support them.

So, the beach on which we had our lecture about the watershed was littered with bottles, tires, dead birds etc. It also had crocodiles, living birds, and crabs scuttling around. Definitely a pretty stark contrast. On a local scale, for the people living here, the land has become almost entirely useless. The fisheries which were once the livelihood of these people are too contaminated to be legal for the market, the area has become undesireable for tourism, and the river can no longer safely be used for irrigation of crops. These facts rule out any kind of commercial investment but the citizens are still stuck living on this land, eating contaminated fish, and watering their gardens from the toxic river.

The effects are felt elsewhere as well. Across the bay, the beaches of the Nicoya Peninsula are often littered with garbage and much of the trash makes it out to sea. The pollution causes red tides, levels of heavy metals are extremely high, and the biodiversity of this area is decreasing.

After the first lecture with Achim, our Natural Resources Management professor, we got back on the boat to go to the mangrove forest for a lecture with Edgardo, professor of Tropical Ecology. We learned about the physiology of the mangrove trees growing in the forests here. I didn't know this but mangroves are not actually a taxonomic family. Instead, the name mangrove refers to species in 16 families which all share the ability to grow in extremely high-saline environments. In a case of convergent evolution, these species have adapted independently of one another. Normally, high saline content is fatal to plant life hence the lifeless salt flats found around the world. However, mangroves are able to either filter out salt, excrete it through their leaves, or send it to aging leaves which are close to dying. These are the three mechanisms by which they are able to survive the high salinity and they are specific to mangroves. I could go on and on about these incredible trees but I'll spare you. I would love to learn more about them and do research on them at some point.

After the lecture it was back to the boat and then off to Parque Nacional Carara by bus for a hike. Carara is where Edgardo has been working on a 'directed research' project with SFS students for a few semesters. Directed research is the portion of the semester at the end when our time is devoted to one of a few ongoing research projects at the center. Edgardo has been working on the effects of anthropogenic noise (i.e. roadnoise in Carara) on bird populations. We hiked in two groups and were able to see some really great wildlife and experience this new forest environment. Every forest I step into here is so unique since there are so many microclimates in this country due to the dramatic topography.

I had my first snake siting on this trip. I'm not sure of the name but he was a non-poisonous snake probably about three meters long which feeds on the fer-de-lance, a highly poisonous variety also found here. With some prompting, Edgardo grabbed him by the tail to show us. We were able to see his defensive mechanisms; he puffed up his head and mouth and excreted a bad smell from his skin. Later, I spotted a pair of Keel Billed Toucans. They were high up in the trees but really neat to look at through binoculars and I managed to get some pictures as well. We saw hundreds of leaf-cutter ants, one of the most fascinating animals I've ever come accross. They actually cultivate a mushroom in their nests as a food source. Using leaves which they gather from trees (they can carry up to 50 x's their weight!), saliva, and feces, they create a substrate on which the funghi grow. Pretty incredible. We also saw lots of termite nests, tons of interesting plants, too many things to name.

Being in these forests is so great especially with Edgardo as guide and teacher. He knows so much about the rain forest and is really excited to share his knowledge. It's funny, I thought I was doing a pretty good job of learning the plant species in north american forests but then I come down here; nearly everything's new and the number of species is amazing. I have to start learning from the beginning again but it's great.

Pictures soon to come!

almost got stung by this guy while field working...

taking data for our study

the view from the continental divide

made it!

beetle

the underside of a crazy leaf in monteverde

a strangler fig

Monteverde and the Continental Divide

Last post, I mentioned that we were at the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve for a few days this past weekend. The day after our visit to the Aero Energia plant, we had an early, 6 am, breakfast, and then headed out to Monteverde by bus. Upon arriving, we sat down on logs or the ground beside the trail for a field lecture with our Tropical Ecology professor, Edgardo. After the lecture, we split into three groups and began the hike to the Continental Divide where we were all to meet up to eat our 'emergency' sandwiches (packed for all field trips) before heading back down the trail.

Along the way, we talked about the Cloud Forest, a unique environment existing in damp areas over 3,000 ft. Here, the trade winds sweep across the Central American isthmus, gathering moisture as they cross the warm Caribbean Sea. As the air crosses onto the land of the Central American, Caribbean slope and begins to climb in elevation towards the Continental Divide, the water is released in the form of rain creating the ideal conditions for a lowland tropical rainforest to form. On the other side of the divide, a rain shadow is created and the climate is much drier (this is where I live).

However, as the air is pushed up over the mountains, the clouds pass through and settle in the forests at the top, creating what is known as a Cloud Forest: extremely moist, extremely verdant, and extremely biodiverse. On our hike we saw a variety of hummingbirds and tolomuco (tyra in English), a member of the weasel family, playing amongst the trees. We also saw an amazing variety of plant life including tens of thousands of epiphytes, plants which live on other plants, completely disconnected from the forest floor and obtaining their nutrients from particals suspended in the water caught in the trees.

To hike in this forest was incredible, unlike any other place I've ever been. As we neared the top, the canopy opened up since the high winds don't allow for tall tree to grow here and the undergrowth became even more dense. At the very top, the trees looked as if they were combed over the scalp of the ridge. The wind was strong and the view was breathtaking.

The next day, we all broke up into pairs and completed a field research exercise. My friend Ethan and I measured the percentage of moss cover on leaves and compared it to the amount of canopy cover. Our research allowed us a great opportunity to explore the Monteverde forest on our own.

Pictures soon to follow!

WIND Power!

We just got back from a big field trip to Aero Energia (a wind-power company), and the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. In Costa Rica, the vast majority (about 90%) of electricity consumed is renewable. Only about 30% of total energy is renewable, however, accounting for the use of fossil fuels in transportation and other non-electricity-related demand. The distinction is that Costa Rica does a pretty good job of powering the country (electrically) through renewable but is still almost entirely fossil fuel-dependent when it comes to transportation.

Of renewable energy in CR, 80% is hydroelectric, 15% is geothermal, 5% is wind, and less than 1% is solar. The topography and abundant water resources (of the Caribbean side) make CR ideal for hydroelectric but the technology isn’t without its problems. Disruption of ecosystems and displacement of people as massive lakes are created to power turbines are two of the many problems which hydro power presents to CR. On the first day of our trip, we visited Lake Arenal, the largest lake in CR and also the largest hydro project, providing 32% of total hydroelectricity production in the country. In order to build this massive reservoir, two towns were flooded and still sit at the bottom of the lake. Over the course of the year, with the fluctuation in water levels from wet to dry season, the depth of the reservoir changes drastically. Some people said that during the last droughts in CR, the top of the cross of the church in Arenal was visible just below the water.

We also visited Aero Energia, one of four subsidiaries of EcoEnergia. EcoEnergia is certified under ISO-14001 environmental management standards, which ensures that the company is employing best practices for low-impact management and continually improving upon its environmental standards. All around Aero Energia, the hills are covered with wind turbines. The wind here is intense and nearly constant, averaging around 10 m/s. Trees on top of the hill are bent over by the constant battering. The nine turbines at Aero Energia are

44 m. high but others in the area stand about half that height. A lot of the turbines in sight are operated by Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the major government-run Costa Rican energy company. ICE has regulations which act as barriers to entry for private firms. Private companies like EcoEnergia produce 13.2% of Costa Rica’s energy but according to the Costa Rican energy law, no single company can produce more than 20 megawatts a year. All energy produced by private firms must be renewable and must be sold to ICE which then adds it to the grid.

As compared to the United States, CR is doing an excellent job making use of renewable resources to power its economy. However, it still has a long ways to go. After rolling black-outs affected much of CR a couple of years ago, the government approved an emergency plan to build a new thermal electricity plant (i.e. running on oil). Before a renewable project can begin, companies must go through up to ten years of environmental and social-impact assessments. Requiring minimal time to plan and build, the thermal plant was a quick fix. The government’s partial abandonment of renewable electricity is dangerous since it sets a bad precedent for future growth. It is projected that CR must double its electricity production by 2015 in order to meet demand. On the other hand, only 25% of potential renewable are currently in use in CR so electricity growth could be sustainable if the political will is present in the Costa Rican government.

In any case, it was great to be able to see the wind-power plant and to learn about a developing country which is so far ahead of the U.S. in terms of sustainably meeting its energy needs for the future. Enjoy the pictures, more soon to come!

wolf spider missing a leg.

chiquita banana.

machete chopping banana plants.

smokey jungle frog.

waterfall in Atenas with friends from the program, a 45 min hike from campus.

coatimundi, a relative of the raccoon. check out that tail.

learning to handle birds and use mist nets.

hummingbird in flight

In the beginning...

Well, I've been in Costa Rica for a full week now and it has been a whirlwind. I spent the first two days with my Mom at the beautiful Villa Blanca in the Cloud Rainforest. We did yoga, went on nature hikes, and had some really nice time to catch up. Definitely a good transition before starting the craziness of this semester with SFS.

The School for Field Studies operates programs in Mexico, Turks and Caicos, Kenya, Australia, and Costa Rica. Each field station focuses on a different topic, all loosely related to the environment. I'm at the Atenas field station, one of two in Costa Rica. Atenas is a town of about 8,000 people in the central valley region of CR. In 2004, National Geographic rated it the place with the best weather in the world. Not a bad place to spend a semester. Both of the centers in Costa Rica focus on Sustainable Development. We take classes in Tropical Ecology, Natural Resources Management, Economics and Ethics of Sustainable Development, and Culture and Language of CR. We also have a lot of field trips including one to Nicaragua to contrast practices and we end the semester doing research with one of our professors here.

So far, Costa Rica has been absolutely beautiful and incredible, the other students share a lot of my values and interests, and the program is shaping up to be very academically engaging and very rewarding. I would love to go through everything I've done thus far but instead I'll just provide a list of top six events of the past week, in no particular order.

6. Hiked to a 70 waterfall near the center to go swimming with friends from the program and a tico (Costa Ricans dub themselves ticos) guy who has been friends with SFS kids for the past couple of semesters.

5. Visited a Chiquita plantation and got to try carrying a bunch of bananas. They weren't so heavy but the pickers carry around 150 bunches per day. We also learned about Corporate Social Responsibility and Chiquita's efforts in Costa Rica to give back. I'm sure I'll write more about this at some point but note that Chiquita's income for 2010 was estimated at $80-90 million in their 2010 Q3 earnings report. The operating budget of the project which we visited (called Nogal) was $150,000 and that was in partnership with two other organizations: GTZ and Migros. It's a meek effort at best.

4. Saw hummingbirds on a hike in the Cloud Rain Forest (high elevation Rain Forests), learned that they eat about every 45 minutes.

3. Saw lots Coatimundi, a cousin of the raccoon.

2. Went mist netting to catch birds early in the morning at the Tirimbina Nature Preserve. Learned how to handle birds and how to use mist nets.

1. Visited the Demasa Heart of Palm plantation. Learned about their efforts in organic composting and microorganism fermentation. Got the perspective of a farmer who is working under the pressure of the company to which he sells his product. Of course, they're concerned about short-term profitability rather than the sustainability of the production chain.

I hope that this blog will become a great way for friends and family to keep up with what I'm up to as well as a way for me to keep track of this experience. Comments are always welcome and pictures will be coming soon!