The last few days of the trip have been bittersweet. I have enjoyed every part of the trip so I hate leaving but I’m also excited to see my friends and family back home again. After we left Tortuguero it started to set in that we only had a limited number of days left together. When we arrived in Arenal the first thing I did was go out on the balcony to view the volcano. The scale of it made me think about life and how powerful nature is. In Arenal, we went to the hanging bridges walk nearby. This made me think more about ecotourism due to the large amount of people in a small area. It also made me think about how disruptive humans are in an environment in a normal environment. I think the hanging bridges are probably a good example of how ecotourism can be done correctly with minimal disruption, however, the noise from a large amount of people and construction probably disrupted the nearby animals in a negative way. In Arenal, we also went on a hike near the volcano. I thought this was super cool and it reminded me of hikes my family used to take when I was younger. I think this is the best use of ecotourism I have seen. The path is very minimal and made to go with nature, not against it. It also allows people to see the volcano from a distance and enjoy a nice view.
In Arenal, we also went to a waterfall. This was my favorite part of the trip. I love swimming and watching waterfalls so it was super cool to go swimming by a waterfall. I found it surprising that there were fish in the nearby stream. The waterfall place was an interesting part of ecotourism to me. It was very touristy near the top but after the 500 steps, it wasmuch less so. The waterfall place felt like it was out of a movie.
After we left Arenal we went to the Monteverde field station. This was a lot smaller than La Selva but it was super cool seeing how it was built into the environment in minimal disruption. During the day we spent a lot of time working on our final presentation and other projects. I didn’t get a lot of time to explore the area but on the final morning, we went on a hike to a small waterfall which was super nice. It was interesting to see the trails in a smaller place. This is also where we learned about one of the saddest things about Monteverde: the extinction of the golden toad. Due to climate change, the pools of water in the cloud forest were diminishing reducing the available areas for the toad to lay eggs. This resulted in their decline and eventual extinction. I found this horrifying because as climate change continues more and more species will go extinct.
After we left the research station we went to our homestays. This was the part of the trip I was most nervous about because I didn’t know what to expect. I was terrified about potentially being by myself in an unfamiliar place. Luckily it was me and 3 other people who really helped my experience. The family we were with was very nice and made sure we were happy. On the first day, we had pasta and took a walk into town. It was really cool seeing the town from a different view. The next night we went to their family farm and they showed us the different plants and let us smell them. My favorite was the lemongrass but the basil also smelled really nice. They also had a cat named Missy which reminded me of home. At this point, we were about 3 weeks in and I had started to miss my cats a lot so Missy helped me a lot. It was super cool to see their lifestyle and how they reduce waste to help the environment. They collected their organic waste and also tried to use water as little as possible in order to help the environment.
While we were at the homestay we spent the days working at a coffee farm. The first day we just did a basic tour of the place but the next two days were a lot more exhausting. We started out the morning by digging a trench for water flow. This was supposed to help with potential flooding during the rainy season. In the afternoon my group helped make fertilizers for the farm. We started out by digging 210kg of forest mulch. Then we made a “fertilizer lasagna”. It started with a bag of the forest mulch, then a few shovels of protein, then a drizzle of molasses. We repeated this process until all the ingredients were gone. After this, we mixed the entire pile and added it to barrels. We compacted the dirt in the barrels and then we were done because it had to sit for 22 more days. The next day we started off by shoveling dirt in between the crops. This was to help remove weeds and aerate the dirt. We then started to clear the corn and remove weeds from that area. After that, we used rakes to clear the weeds from the dirt. We then ate lunch and did an art thing. I drew a tree that we were able to swing on and climb during our first day on the farm. When we finished the art thing we went to a new hotel for our final night.
Although we only spent one night at this hotel, it had to be my second favorite behind the one in Arenal. It was very nice and had trails and hammocks. I started off by taking a hike and then I took a nap on the hammocks. I found this to be very relaxing. The trails were super cool because they overlooked a large valley. After dinner, we watched the stars before going to bed for an early morning. Overall I loved this trip and would do it again if I could. I found it interesting to view the world from different perspectives and what Costa Rica does to help the environment.
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