Touring Costa Rica

Sarah: David continues to be extremely busy, so I'll do the reporting for him. For 3 weeks, David took our crew of 10 students and teamed up with the Latin American Studies Program with their professor Trevor, 3 LASP students, and our former boss from California, Scott Smithson, who also served as a professor. The entire group traveled together on an ecological and sustainability tour of Costa Rica. This is easily (and obviously) one of the major highlights of the whole semester for our students. It doesn't come without work though; all of them would agree that the 3 weeks are strenuous both physically and educationally and with little sleep. Yet again - totally worth it!

The group started off their travels by heading to Earth University, where they learned that the mission of the university is to equip their students with the knowledge of sustainable agriculture and environmentally-friendly practices. The university is open to all countries in a tropical setting. From there, the group headed to La Fortuna, where Arenal Volcano is located. Naturally, they studied volcanology and were excited that they had incredible views of the volcano (see picture) and were able to see plenty of lava rocks rolling down the volcano during the night. Here they also had a close encounter with an eyelash pit viper (next picture), and many were very excited about that. :)

From La Fortuna, they traveled to Palo Verde National Park to study the dry forest. While everyone was skeptical showing up to an incredibly hot, dry location, they were reluctant to leave in the end because of all the wildlife they saw - agoutis, howler monkeys, white-faced cappuchins, deer, crocodiles, anteaters, and jabirus (the largest stork in the world). The first week of the trip wrapped up with a couple of nights in Ostional, where they studied sea turtles nesting on the beautiful beach and all got to see this process in action.

After a night in San Jose for a chance to take their first test, the group headed out here to QERC to study cloud forests. They got some great looks at quetzals (picture) and our students in particular enjoyed being "home" for a few nights. (I was personally happy to have David back for a short time - Adele is good company, but I also like to have some 2-way conversations once in a while!) During their time in the cloud forest, the group hiked over to the next valley over and spent some time with our friends, a family who runs a large organic farm. The group harvested bananas, helped in the coffee-making process (picture), ate a lot of vegetables, and milked cows.

Finally, the group spent the last week down on the Osa Peninsula, one of the highlights of the trip (as if the whole trip wasn't a highlight...). They were at Campanario Biological Station and got to do some hiking around the station, collect bats at night, hike in Corcovado National Park, and do some snorkeling around Caño Island (picture). As if this wasn't enough, the remote location they were at allowed them to spend their free time playing in the waves in the water right outside the station.

The group came back from their travels just in time for Easter Sunday. The visiting professor this week, Marty Michelson happens to be the religion professor and pastor, so he led our group in an Easter morning fellowship time. This week he is here teaching a class on Biblical Theology and Global Stewardship. It's a great follow-up to their travels, where they learned all about sustainable practices and now are able to talk about how it all applies to their faith. These pictures are of Marty and Adele, and Adele dressed for Easter.