monteverde

So Monte Verde is epic. This you probably already know. But seriously, every place we go to gets cooler and cooler. A week from Thursday we leave for Nicaragua for 10 days. Which is going to be sick.

But Monte Verde. Cloud Forest. So epic! To get all scientific on you, cloud forests are these rainforests that are basically always engulfed in clouds because of the topography. There are a bunch of mountain peaks and valleys and the clouds form these little patches at the top of the peaks and so there are all these little separated niches for lots of animals to inhabit. So tons of species diversity and plant diversity and it's temperate and cool and wet and beeeeeautiful. It just felt good to be there.

Day one, we had a drive to the national park and went on a hike. This is the hike crew:
It was cloudy (go figure) so it was hard to see the beautiful view (at the top of the mountain is the continental divide, so you can look off one side and see the Atlantic Ocean, and look off the other side and see the Pacific Ocean) but we got the idea. The clouds moved so quickly and were so beautiful. Then it started to pour rain, and it’s basically been pouring rain since. Apparently, it’s been a really dry dry season. I woke up this morning to rain for the first time, which is apparently much more common than we have experienced. Anyway, our visit was cut short because it was pouring, so we went to the cheese factory on Monte Verde. Which apparently produces the best cheese in the country. Well, basically it’s the only place that has normal cheese. Like, not queso fresco. They have cheddar and goat cheese and provolone. And also ice cream. I ate some delicious ice cream. Which still really wasn’t as delicious as any ice cream back home. I really really miss ice cream.

We stayed at another little field station, similar to Tirimbina and had classes and did a field lab project… Ours was measuring insect herbivory on native plants versus nonnative plants. This is the flower we were studying:
Then we had a 32938749823 hour long car ride all around Lake Arenal. We stopped at a wind energy farm which was cool. Learnin about energy supply in Costa Rica. Did you know that 90% of the energy that Costa Rica produces itself is renewable? Fancy that.
I thought this looked a lot like Scotland.
After the wind farm, we got back in the van and it just started POURING rain. We went to dinner at this place that was inside but the roof was leaking because it was raining so hard. So we were wet. The entire town of La Fortuna was out of power and water for a while. We stayed at a motel with TV and hot showers though which was cool. Unfortunately, it was so cloudy and lightningy that we couldn’t see the Volcan Arenal (which is supposed to glow red magma and spew) or hike up it to some waterfalls.
However, the next day instead we got to go to these “hot springs” as a class. Well, nothing was hot because it had been pouring rain. Like, torrential scary rain. But there was a sweet water slide. This was a weird excursion because we were at a resort that kind of exemplified “conventional tourism” which is basically all we’re learning about. And how bad it is. And yet we invested hundreds of dollars in it? Conflicting ideologies, I’ll tell you. But it was beautiful, and really fun.
That night, we bussed into San Jose to see this free concert in a park that Dayla told us about. The bands were two popular Costa Rican bands, Sonámbulo and Son de Tikizia. Good music but, alas, go figure, it was pouring rain. So this was fun for a while. And then we were really wet. And it just kept raining and there was no way to get dry so we fell asleep in the bus. The music was cool though and it was nice to be in a city for a while.

Sunday and Monday have been lazy days… Back into the swing of school. We leave for Nicaragua a week from Thursday! Then we are gone for ten days, come back for a week and then have our break. And then we will be more than two thirds of the way done. All that will be left is directed research and travel… crazy. Can’t wait.

I posted a bunch of pictures on facebook if anyone wants to see more...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38461&id=1456470019&l=61fb2c4272

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38352&id=1456470019&l=0800a49730

If any of you are inclined to write, my address is on the sidebar and my email address is alexis.johnson@coloradocollege.edu . I would love to hear from people back home. Missing you all.

And the Alexis dance sandwich: