Santa Elena

Today we woke up in Santa Elena and decided to go on a hike/climb up a mountain (Cerro Amigos) from which we could get an amazing view. The trail was very steep and it was difficult to go uphill with the heat but it was definitely worth it. Most touristic activities in Santa Elena and Monteverde cost money but this was the only thing that was for free. That shows how the community is taking advantage of the natural environment (the mountains, the cloud forest, etc) in order to attract tourism that contributes to their economic development. Monteverde uses the cloud forest and the adventure activities (zip lining, hiking, etc) as a way to market the community to tourists. 

Spiritual paint

When we got to the area where the pain was we had to keep quiet since it is some sort of sacred area for the community members. We took some of the paint and painted ourselves and each other. 

Green beauty

San Vicente, Guanacaste

San Vicente

On day 3 we visited San Vicente, a rural community in Guanacaste. Their main activity is pottery. We spent the night with host families and got to experience the real rural lifestyle. We saw where they get the clay from and we went on a spiritual walk/hike to the top of the mountain and the area where they get the paint for the pottery. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous and full of life.  

mangos, arroz y caña de azúcar

We saw some of their farm animals, including a GIANT pig (not pictured). 

This was one of the rice fields. They use a system called SRI, which improves their efficiency. It allows them to collect more rice with less manual labor and less water.

This is one of the tractors that we saw the workers use. This one has the red container which is where the other tractor offloads the harvested rice. 

On the first day we took a tour of the finca. We saw plantations of mangoes, rice, and sugar cane. All of it is grown with organic practices (no pesticides or chemicals). They can't say that they're an "organic farm" because to be able to do so, they would've had to start with organic practices, which they didn't. 

Tuanis

Today was the official first day of what's most likely going to be one of the best experiences of my life. I'm doing a program called Consortium for Sustainability in Earth University (located in Costa Rica). I'm participating in the Session II of the program which consists of two courses: "Rural Tourism: Searching for Sustainability in Rural Areas" and "Community Outreach, Leadership and Engagement: Finding Solutions for Rural Communities of Developing Countries." We will be in Costa Rica for four weeks learning about these two topics with a hands-on approach. If you want to know more about the program, go to this link: http://www.consortiumearth.org/

I've wanted to come to Costa Rica for so long--I cannot believe I'm already here! The ride from the San Jose airport to the Finca La Flor (one of the Earth University's campuses) was already breath-taking. I was amazed by the beauty of the physical environment (so much green!). I am so excited to be here and I can't wait to see more amazing landscapes and to get to interact with local communities as I learn about two areas of study that deeply interest me. 

The title of this post (tuanis) is a word that I learned today. In Costa Rican slang, it basically means "coolness."