Month: June 2022

No Time Limits  I came to Costa Rica in hopes of dropping my love for research and focus only on the MD path I’ve always wanted to do but in reality it has only exemplified my love for research. After joining ASURE and TAing for the genome engineering lab I was certain I wanted to… Read more »

There were a lot of things I expected to gain from this trip. As a young student interested in science, I thought it would cement a love of research. As a lover of nature, I thought it would forge a strong tie between myself and the biodiversity of the tropics. Unfortunately I have found myself… Read more »

Introduction After learning about and experiencing western-led conservation efforts for the past three weeks, I now have mixed feelings about the conservation efforts being done globally— especially efforts imposed by Global North entities upon Global South countries. It can be argued that modern conservation efforts are flawed because they dehumanize local communities and they do… Read more »

One consistent theme that emerged during our third week of travel was that the effects of climate change and greater ecological issues are not felt equally by communities around the world. Impoverished and underserved groups are impacted by the world’s unsustainable choices disproportionately (Levy 2015). Our lectures zeroed in on how these inconsistent effects surface,… Read more »

To start off our third week of travelling through the breath-taking country of Costa Rica, we left the sustainable farm of Rancho Margot and headed to La Foresta Nature Reserve.  Along the way we stopped in the countryside to admire the wind turbines and have a class discussion over the importance of renewable energy and… Read more »

Sorry for the delay on this week’s blog, I’ve been under the weather with sometimes limited wifi access. This week was pretty hectic, but in an exciting way. We’ve been traveling a lot more than we did in the first week! For this week, the course has mainly been focused on studying ecotourism. Ecotourism can… Read more »

Although the first week is incredibly difficult to surpass in terms of excitement and awe, week two provided us with some incredible moments as well. It all began with our first trip away from La Selva. Leaving what we knew as home at the time was a daunting yet invigorating journey. A brief tip for… Read more »

 The second week of my Costa Rican journey was just as exciting, adventurous, and knowledgeable as the first. These weeks have been flying by like a blur, but I’ve been trying to take it all in moment by moment. Everything is so beautiful and all that I have experienced so far including the places I’ve… Read more »

When I was preparing for my month away from home, I knew there would be discomfort in the unknown. I packed my bag knowing I would be leaving behind the lifestyle I had grown accustomed to. It’s a rare opportunity to try something completely new for an entire month, an opportunity I was both excited… Read more »

This past week’s activities primarily consisted of understanding global and local food systems and exploring ecotourism and all its implications, both the good and the bad. Our transition from learning about food systems and globalization to ecotourism was represented by our departure from the La Selva Biological Station to Rancho Margot. Rancho Margot is not… Read more »

  Another week of Costa Rica in the books. This week we began to focus more on the ecotourism side of Costa Rica and considering how it ties into ecological sustainability in the country. In doing this we had a week packed with activities, even more so than last week I think. We began the… Read more »

 Costa Rica is such a phenomenal country that is full of so much biodiversity and so many rare species, which as we discussed during my last blog are crucial for global planetary health. But Costa Rica is also known for other aspects including agricultural production and ecotourism. This past week we were diving into these… Read more »

Costa Rica 2nd Week: Pen Pineapple Apple Pen Time flies so quickly in Costa Rica! My stay here is already half way over, and I am excited to see how the next two weeks will go! The beginning of the second week was spent learning about the IRES projects. Similar to us, the IRES researchers… Read more »

This week of the course has been a little brutal. The schedule alone doesn’t look too bad, each day is relatively manageable. But when you add all of that together with no breaks, and add in the lingering effects of culture shock and the difficult climate, it becomes hard to handle. I’m doing my best,… Read more »

   With the beginning of the second week came the first time my group had left La Selva. As much as I have enjoyed being at La Selva, it was refreshing to remember that all of Costa Rica is not simply a research station. That being said, we were able to travel to one of… Read more »

Moving on from week 1 which was heavily focused on getting to know our research station and the surrounding, bountiful biodiversity, we began learning about the green history of Costa Rica. Through in-class lectures, research presentations, and local plantations we’ve been able to understand the country’s history, but let me tell you – there are… Read more »

Not to sound like a cliché, but this next leg of our trip has been nothing less than awe inspiring.  The past week has opened my eyes to recognize the impressions of ecotourism and how not only ecosystems can be affected, but entire cultures and economies as well.  Moving away from our biodiversity unit, we… Read more »

The theme of the trip this week was ecotourism. I found myself enjoying some experiences but also questioning the ethicality and efficacy of others. There is no better experience that sums this up than the class trip to Tirimbina Biological Reserve.   I was thoroughly enjoying myself. My class has just finished the chocolate experience,… Read more »

My first week in Costa Rica was filled with excitement over seeing all the different animals and biodiversity in the area, but this second week has been a bit different. We have spent a lot of time out of the forest and interacting with more local places. There was a strong focus on agriculture. As… Read more »

Coming to Costa Rica, I hoped to learn about the social and economic systems that exacerbate ecological crises such as climate change. This week, I began to consider how ecotourism may reinforce these oppressive systems. The alleged benefits of ecotourism are quite obvious— jobs are provided for the local community, and foreigners are educated about… Read more »

       Now that the initial fascination and excitement surrounding every experience here has waned a little bit, I have been taking more time to evaluate and discuss with others various systems in Costa Rica. Two systems that have really been on my mind are ecotourism and the country’s food system. I have gotten… Read more »

To start off, the observations here are from visits to a few ecotourism sites as well as some research into the effects of ecotourism on local communities, but there’s still a lot more I’m hoping to learn on this topic. I’ll be doing more research into the effects of ecotourism to further understand its costs… Read more »

The second week marked our departure from La Selva Biological Station and our arrival at Rancho Margo, a popular eco resort. This week’s focus on ecotourism ushered in a lot of questioning and thoughtful criticism about the systems allowing our class to travel and engage with the local communities. Among other things, our class had… Read more »

Howler Census In my last blog post I forgot to write about my experience in the howler monkey census. For those of you reading who aren’t aware, this program is teaming up with local researchers to do a howler monkey census to see how the species population has declined in the last thirty years. The… Read more »

On the 6th day at La Selva, 30 May 2022, we took our first excursion. We went to Organic Pineapple Tour, which we imagine is a side business of the farm itself. We were welcomed with friendly dogs and fresh pineapple juice. It was thicker than other pineapple juices I’ve had, and it was the… Read more »