Part II

Sarah: I’ll help pick up the story from here since I got to join the group for the last week of the travels. (See entry below for David's Part I.) After a day of rest and recuperation (and laundry!) in San Jose, we traveled to Ostional, a beach on the Pacific Ocean to learn about environmental and community impacts of nesting sea turtles, and also about conservation done by the local community as well as national organizations. Ostional is one of the two beaches in Costa Rica where an arribada occurs on a fairly regular monthly basis. An arribada, meaning “arrival”, is when thousands to hundreds of thousands olive-ridley sea turtles come up to nest on the beach over the period of only a few days. The reason these particular sea turtles take part in this ritual is unclear, and this phenomenon has only been occurring in the past 60-70 years. For the first 48 hours during an arribada, the community is allowed to harvest the turtle eggs, since these eggs have no chance of surviving with the thousands of sea turtles who will come after them and dig their eggs up in the process of digging their own nests.

Though we tried to time it right, we missed the arribada by only a few days most likely. However, we did go out with a local guide at night and were able to see the entire process an olive-ridley nesting. Two highlights for me were the sunsets on the beach (and David surving while the sun went down), and the howler monkeys right outside the window at the house we were staying. The family David and I were with had a bunch of mango trees, and the monkeys would sit in the trees all day, lazily eating mangoes. Every morning we were woken up by their loud roar, sounding as if they were inside the bedroom – which wasn’t too far from the truth!

From Ostional we went to a place called Casa del Sol for a day/night. This place is incredible the way they do all their cooking by use of solar ovens (good food too!). We learned a lot about being good stewards of the Earth and how to go about doing so. In the afternoon we were taught the ins and outs of composting, and were able to spend a couple hours helping build and turn compost piles. All of the dirt made from the compost goes toward their own gardens, where they grow their own foods and herbs.

Our last leg of the trip was spent in northern Costa Rica, on a volcano chain called Rincon de la Vieja. We stayed at an eco-lodge, with no electricity in any of the rooms. Here we studied volcanology, complete with a rough but very cool hike to the brim of an active volcano. When we finally reached the top and were looking inside the volcano, it was like looking at a fake backdrop. The lava was a bluish color, and we were only allowed to stay at the top for 15 minutes because of the sulfur gases. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life! During all the hiking we did over the course of a few days we were lead by a mountaineer who had lived in the area all his life, so he was able to teach us about specific plants and what medicinal or other benefits they had. We also got to see two eyelash pit-vipers up close and personal, and spend some time sitting in hot springs, where the heat is produced by activity from the volcano underground. And though we were all excited about our travels and everything we saw and did, everyone was thrilled to make it back to the comforts of home at QERC at the end of the class.

Whew!

David: Sarah and I just finished a game of 7 up-7 down with some of our students and this afternoon we watched some episodes of L ost. I know that this may not seem that exciting but it sure felt great. I have been going strong for over a month now and things are finally settling down a little bit.

The main reason for the busyness has been the Environmental Science Concentration. SNU’s eight students joined four students from LASP for a three week course studying tropical ecology and sustainability. I co-lead/co-taught this course along with Scott Smithson and Natalie Villablobos from LASP. I took part in this course last year and was thrilled to be a part of it again this year. The goal of the course is three-fold: 1) expose the students to the diversity of life throughout all of Costa Rica’s biomes (give them some “WOW” experiences in God’s creation 2) visit and observe several different and diverse approaches to conservation and sustainability 3) challenge the students to integrate their faith, personal life choices, and global environmental stewardship. It sounds like a big task but in reality Costa Rica makes is a perfect place for this purpose.

We started the course here in San Gerardo de Dota and QERC studying cloud forest and paramo ecology and looking at the Chacon family’s attempt at sustainability through forest conservation, ecotourism, trout farming, and agriculture. We left from here to south central Costa Rica in the San Vito area on the border with Panama. Our purpose was to visit a forest restoration research project being conducted by a researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her project is attempting to look at restoration ecology for tropical forests in the attempt to aid forest regeneration. One reason her project stands out as different is that she includes a social aspect in partnering with local sustainable coffee farmers.

From the San Vito area we left for almost a week to the Osa Peninsula to study the lowland tropical rainforest. This was my 4th time to the wild Osa Peninsula and my 3rd time visiting Campanario Biological Reserve. Campanario is a special location where rainforest meets ocean and you think you can’t find anything that looks more like paradise. On the other hand it is hot, humid, and full of insects. Those are some fun things that come with some of the best tropical forests. There is some give and take. In fact, one our students was actually bitten by a boa constrictor. Talk about having a good story to tell the parents. Our time at Campanario was inspiring as always and for me was highlighted by having a very close and prolonged encounter with a sea turtle while snorkeling.

Before leaving the Osa we spent a night at Sirena Ranger Station in Corcovado National Park. Our main goal was to see wildlife since this particular spot is well known for an abundance of it. It lived up to its reputation. We saw all four monkey species, one sloth species, two species of peccary, crocodiles, coatis, an opossum, and three individual tapirs. And that doesn’t even count the birds we saw.