I love the desert, but I’m biased because I grew up in it. Still, it is beautiful in its own way. I like its big open spacious valleys and that you can see for miles and miles. It’s big, mostly bare mountains tat are dark blue in the morning, gray in the afternoon sunlight, and purple in the sunsets. The big, open sky helps too contrasting with the mountains. This time I was crossing it to get to Costa Rica.
Everyone wishes they could fly; I love to fly, and when we do is it still the scene is still awing. And the fact we created the knowledge to do so is incredible. But we aren’t talented enough to harness the freedom of the birds. We are 30,000 feet in the air and not amongst the people and their doings, experiencing them like the birds. I started to think about this in the air, jealous of the people the birds meet and the things they get to see and experience.
I think everyone should travel abroad, to learn what you and what you don’t have. To experience the different lifestyles and know there is more than one way to do things. We can learn from the unknown and don’t have to fear it if we can take the time to understand it.
We had three destinations, UGA, San Gerardo and Caño Palma, with a couple stops in between at Alajuela and Arenal Paraiso. If you were to ask me which place was my favorite, I don’t think I would be able to answer that. I think each place for different reasons.
UGA
UGA is a branch of the University of Georgia Costa Rica. As you probably guessed lots of students from UGA come to visit. It was a nice campus, like a comfortable cabin lifestyle. The thing that was most impressive about this place was their range of food source and a recycle system called the bio-digester.
The range of source wasn’t impressive because of how big it was, but because of small, it was. They grew 20 percent of the own food on their farm, bought 65 percent of it from farms within a 10-mile radius, and the rice and beans from a little farther for the rest of the 15 percent. And this feeds all the people they need to accommodate. While we were visiting there probably was about 100 people at one time. I thought it was cool they only sourced from local farms and has definitely inspired me to buy locally more often at the farmers market and get involved with Bountiful Baskets.
The more impressive was the poop recycle system. Most, if not all, the pipelines went lead downhill to a center hole in the ground and in this hole lived bacteria that ate our waste. The byproduct of the bacteria was methane, which is even worse the atmosphere than carbon, but instead of releasing the methane into the atmosphere it rises into a bag. This bag was connected to more pipes that lead to the kitchen, and the methane was used to cook our food. This recycling system was dumbfounding because it takes feces and makes it into a resource that is reusable other than fertilizer. It is also valuable because it fits into the scheme of our culture of plumbing as well. This recycling system isn't efficient for individual households but is doable of neighborhoods. Also, you haven't to be consciousness of the amount of soap, shampoo, conditioner and etc. you use, because the bacteria can handle too much of it. Regardless, it could become a recycle system that becomes quite popular.
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| This was the test version of the biodigester when UGA first started doing research. The bag below it contains the bacteria and the bag above it will capture the methane. The methane bag isn't full in this one because they have a bigger one for the whole campus now in a different location. |
Eternal Children's Rain Forest
The Eternal Children's’ Rain Forest was even deeper into the rain forest. We have to walk down to the San Gerardo Station in the mud on a fairly wide road and eventually forked off into the trees. We were led there by our wonderful guide Alexia, who is an American who visited Costa Rica and never left.
Like UGA, this place had very accommodatable bunk room, and these ones sat on top of an extremely long back porch included with hammocks, a rocking chair and an incredible view of Arenal volcano. We were taken care of here, by a lovely family who lives there and whose job is to host visitors as they come and go.
The husband, Giovani, had grown up in this part of Costa Rica but knew it when it was covered in farmland not forest as a little boy. Looking at the forest now that leads all the way to Arenal, it is amazing to think that anybody made this land into a farm. The even more incredible thing is that grew back to become a forest again with the help of some children and funding in a foreign country.
I reflected on driving through the rolling green mountains to get here and seeing all the farmland there. I know farming is necessary, but Costa Rica has taught me that farming isn’t the greatest thing for the land and that the agriculture era may have done more damage than good in some cases.
I already use reusable bags, ride my bike when I can, and actively recycle for me and my roommates, but again this inspired to start seeking more local means of food resource instead of relying on food in the grocery stores that has been shipped from miles and miles away.
Caño Palma
Caño Palma was along the coast and had some local people not too far from it, but still pretty deep into the forest. It sat next to a river as black and freshly brewed coffee and was probably the most diverse in people.
Researchers bunk out here from all over. While we were there, there was one researcher from Scotland, one from Germany, one from France, two from Mexico, three from the Netherlands, and three from the United States. It was so fascinating to hear how they had gotten here and to help them with their research. They were doing all kind of surveys; sea turtles, macaws, snakes, otters, caimans, butterflies, and even community work at the nearby school.
It was rejuvenating to hear their stories and even more empowering that they were doing these amazing things and research and were all around our own age.
All three of these places in Costa Rica were very awe inspiring.
