After months of preparing, the day has finally come for Costa Rica! I set my alarm for 4:15 pm as Marta (the other faculty member on this trip) and her husband Alberto were picking me up at 5 am to drive to the airport. Many of our students arrived at the airport at the same time, and we all made our way pretty seamlessly through security and to our international gate. All but one of our students would be joining us on the direct flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. It was a pretty short flight (about 4 hours) and I passed the time watching a free inflight movie and reading my Costa Rica travel book. We arrived at 11:50 am Costa Rica time (about two hours ahead of EST - think Mountain Standard Time) and spent a long time in the immigration, custom, and baggage lines. Finally, we have all our luggage and our people, and we begin the long trip to San Luis, where the UGA Costa Rica campus is located. It took us about four and a half hours to make the 130 km trip, mainly because the last 30 or 40 kilometers were some very bumpy, steep, and gravelly roads. We did a short break to grab a snack right along the Pacific Coast. Our first taste of the local grub - rice, beans, and fried plantains! We arrived on campus with just enough time to put our bags in our rooms and head to a dinner of, you guessed it, rice and beans. I am sensing a trend here. After a short orientation about the campus here, we all retired pretty early after a long day of travel. As one of the instructors, I get a room to myself. It's pretty nice - there is a double bed, a twin, and a set of bunkbed. So many choices!
Day 2: 5/20/15
With the time difference, I awoke at 4:15 am and couldn't go back to sleep. That's alright, because there is much to explore. I went for an early morning walk (yes, it's already light here by 4:30 am) to try and find some of the capuchin monkeys that Costa Rica is famous for. Didn't find any of those, but did see a ton of neat birds, including the blue mot mot, a bird that looks like it has a tennis racket for a tail. Our first scheduled activity was a tour of the stable which including milking the resident milk cows and learning about the biodigester. The milk that we harvest is used to make cheese and for probably the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever had. We have it nightly and there is almost a fight every time over who gets it first (there are several other student groups here on campus with us). They flash pasteurize the milk to make it safe for consumption. The biodigester is a system designed to convert human and livestock waste into methane gas to use for cooking. Pretty neat! There are similar systems used in the U.S., but only in places that have a pretty tropical climate to keep the bacteria/microorganisms happy. The Costa Rica campus produces 15% of it's food right here on campus, and get another 20% from the immediate vicinity. The remaining percentage all comes from within Costa Rica. We Americans have a lot to learn. After breakfast, we headed down the road to Cafe San Luis, a working coffee farm that also grows fruit trees. We learned all kinds of interesting facts about coffee plants and how coffee is made, but I'll spare you all the details. Ask me when I get back if you really want to know. After sampling and buying up almost all the coffee in the place 
Day 3: 5/21/15
Today is Monteverde Cloud Forest day, yay! This is one of the places you just cannot miss when you visit Costa Rica. This forest is way up in the clouds (imagine that) and almost 6,000 feet in elevation (The UGA campus is around 3,800 feet). It houses 2.5% of the world's biodiversity. That is crazy when you consider that the entire country of Costa Rica is about 1/3 of the size of the state of Georgia. You can also step on the continental divide, where one foot will be on the Pacific side and the other on the Caribbean side. Also pretty neat! We drove up to Monteverde and went on a morning guided hike with two awesome guides - Manuel and Oscar. They were super knowledgeable about everything and we saw all kinds of plants, lizards, one snake, several birds (including the illustrious quetzal), one aguti (looks like a giant hamster), and one coati (looks like a raccoon with a long skinny tail). We learned why the cloud forest holds clouds on the mountain (has to do with the northern tradewinds and the position and altitude of the mountain) and how/when the Monteverde area was settled (same Quakers mentioned above that were looking for a different life). After a quick visit to the hummingbird garden, we were on our way back to campus. Then it was an afternoon of earthquakes. I took a few minutes to explore on of the longer trails here on campus where I discovered a view and some really neat trees. After dinner, we went on a hike with a resident naturalist and some a tiny venomous snake, a large green lizard, and these crazy leaf cutter ants that made the forest floor look like it was alive. Whoa! 
Day 4: 5/22/15
This was the best day yet! Up early per the usual and off to Santa Elena for a zipline canopy tour with SkyAdventures. As someone that knows a little something about the zip line industry, I wanted to make sure this place was well above board. They did not disappoint! The equipment was all in great shape and the guides were professional and super fun.j They ended up showing off a lot towards the end of the tour. We had a practice zip line at the start, then a tram ride high up in the cloud forest. We were up at around 5,200 feet and went on 7 zip lines down (varying in lengths and heights). The longest was
2500 feet long and the highest was 328 feet above the forest. We even rode on some of them with a parent. The last part of the tour presented a choice. Ride one last zip line back to the base or take a vertical drop/bungee down to the ground. We guesstimated about 100 feet down. Every single student chose to drop, even the ones who were afraid. It was pretty scary, but super fun too. An initial free fall and then it quickly lowers you to the ground. So proud of all the students! These moments and these study abroad experiences make such a difference in their lives, even if they don't notice it just yet. After we got back, we had a quick lesson on ground water, and then headed to Rancho de Lelo, a tilapia farm just down the road. They also have a soccer field and neat restaurant space. We played a pretty rowdy game of soccer, then ate a delicious whole tilapia dinner caught right there. After dinner, Lelo's wife Elvira gave us some Costa Rican dance lessons. What a workout! I think everyone else will sleep well tonight.
Day 5: 5/23/15
Another field trip today, this time to the Cabure chocolate factory in Monteverde. We met Bob, the owner (a former Massachusetts resident) and he walked us through the history of chocolate in the area and the steps in which you make chocolate from the cacoa beans. It was really neat, especially since there was a lot of sampling along the way. He uses the most basic process and it tastes so good. After the chocolate lesson, we were treated to lunch at the restaurant on site. Probably our best meal yet. I had a grilled wrap made of curried vegetables, salad with an Asian dressing, and a chocolate brownie (made on site) with ice cream for dessert. OMG. It was a good thing that we were dropped off with the understanding we would walk back down to campus, we had some food to walk off. It was a beautiful day out for a (mostly) downhill walk. There were views all the way to the Pacific Ocean and lots of interesting rocks along the way (we are here to study geology after all). The students spend the afternoon studying for their second exam (and then taking it). I spent the afternoon catching up on a few things and enjoying the beautiful weather. 
Day 6: 5/24/15
Today, we are spending most the day on campus getting ready for the next phase of our journey. But, of course we did some learning with the Costa Rica faculty and naturalists on water quality and macro invertebrates. At lunch, several other programs came back to campus, including the Advanced Spanish group, in which another Outdoor Rec trip leader (Kim) was on that trip. What a nice reunion (Katelyn is a UGA trip leader that happens to be on my trip). Tomorrow we head to Arenal Volcano, more adventure stories later!! Pure Vida!
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