Tag: rachels522

By rachels522

My favorite thing that we did in Costa Rica was stay in an indigenous Bri Bri tribe.

To get to the remote tribe we had to take a two hour boat ride upstream. Occasionally we had to get out of the boat to help push it up the river because it was so shallow. After the ride we got to a picture perfect community with thatched huts. The buildings were way bigger than I expected and were completely made of wood and thatched palm. There was no electricity, except for one light in the kitchen area. For the full 4 days we were there we showered by jumping into a river. The tribe is in complete isolation and far upstream, so the river water is pretty much as clean as any water coming from a tap. ...continue reading "Indigenous Living"

By rachels522

Last week my group returned from a two week trip along the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. We went to Los Chiles, Nicaragua, which is only accessible by boat. We went on a beautiful ride through the jungle of Nicaragua and Costa Rica where we saw Howler Monkeys, Slider Turtles, Crocodiles, and tons of cool birds. After roughly four hours we got to Los Chiles. It’s a beautiful town. There are no cars. We stayed at a rustic lodge. While in Los Chiles we went on a hike of the Indio Maiz reserve, which was amazing. I had never been somewhere where I felt so secluded (until later in the trip…). While in Los Chiles we got a chance to talk with Minor and Armando, two migrant workers. We were specifically supposed to talk to them about their experiences working on Pineapple Plantations in Costa Rica, but the conversation really branched out. They both work illegally in Costa Rica. They barely get paid enough to survive. It took Minor until he was 21 to finish high school because he kept leaving to go to work to make money. Now he studies agriculture and works whenever he is not in school. It seems like such a hard life. It can be a many hour walk to get to the plantations. While they live in the barracks at the plantations they must work every second they can to make as much money as they can in order to return to Nicaragua with enough money to support the family. It seriously puts into perspective the relative ease in which I live my life and the corrupt way in which food is produced. I’m going to seriously start looking into what is grown in the DC and Boston areas and start trying to make the Eat Local movement something that everybody that I am friends with is aware of and knows about. ...continue reading "Far From Boston….."

By rachels522

It is no secret the global climate change is a major problem. In fact, part of the reason I flew 7,000 miles to Costa Rica was to study ways to decrease global climate change and it’s effect on the environment. It is also not a secret that one of the worst contributors to carbon in the environment is our use of gasoline and fuel. Therefore, it is slightly ironic that I flew all this way in order to study how to reduce the amount of carbon that we put into the environment. My flights to and from Costa Rica are not the only times I am in a vehicle. My program spends a month traveling around the country, often by bus. It is incredible how much a sustainability student can contribute to the problem. ...continue reading "Carbon Sequestration In Costa Rica"

By rachels522

Tonight is the first night of our second field trip. We are staying in a fairly remote town on the Nicaraguan border named Los Chiles. During lecture outside we heard the loudest music. We then decided to go explore what this loud noise was in this quiet little town. We stumbled into a fair! ...continue reading "Cross Cultural Connections?"

By rachels522

I have consistently met great ticos. One thing that I wasn’t fully expecting was how amazing the non-ticos are. I have met awesome adventurers and environmentalists from all over the world.
One of the best parts of this program is bonding with the 20 other students on this program. It’s great because by virtue of being here we all have similar interests. Since we spend roughly 13 hours a day together I have gotten to know all of my peers very well. This has taught me so much about myself. For instance, a bunch of the students are from the Northwest US, where bluegrass music is super popular. I have never really experienced bluegrass music before. I now love it! Also since this is an environmental program there is a ton to learn about different fun environmental things to do in the US. It is truly inspirational to hear about everybody’s backpacking, hiking, and camping trips. I can’t wait to start doing all these things when I get back to the States. I even signed up for a backpacking class for next semester! It is very different than the city people I am used to from Boston and GW. ...continue reading "non ticos?"

By rachels522

This morning I went to my first Quaker friends meeting. The Quakers first came to Monteverde in the 1950s as war protesters. Before my experience today I knew little to nothing about Quakers. From what I understand Quakers are a sect of Christianity. The meeting was one of the most eye opening cultural experiences that I have had.
The first part of the meeting involved signing hymns from a songbook. I thought I wouldn’t recognize any of the songs. However, one of the songs was “Dona Nobis Pacem,” a Latin song about peace that I recognized from my temple growing up. I felt that this song, which is about peace, embodied the Quaker message. The most amazing part of the ceremony was that there was no true leader. Members would suggest songs and then singing would commence. Most songs were broken into rounds. Despite, the lack of an organized leader the rounds were still in-sync and beautiful. ...continue reading "Quakers in Costa Rica?"

By rachels522

The next step in our agriculture unit was learning about the production of coffee. I have been very interested in learning about this topic since discussing it in Professor Benton-Short’s Human Geography class. In my opinion coffee is thought of as a necessity on the GW campus. It is no different in Costa Rica, where I have seen children as young as three years old drinking sugary coffee. Despite the amount that this drink is consumed, little thought is gone into the production. One of the scariest and saddest parts about this worldwide addiction is that the farmers who are working in the fields to produce it are often not getting paid a living wage. Most farmers are currently only making 35 cents per pound, while retailers are making $1.75 per cup. ...continue reading "“Coffee Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz”"

By rachels522

A tale of two farms

This week my Sustainability class began a unit on agriculture. We began the unit today by visiting two farms in the Monteverde region. One was a large-scale farm that produced pork and beef. The other was a small-scale farm run by a farmer and his wife. We evaluated the farms on their sustainable practices.

The pig farm is a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) operated by the local Monteverde Cheese Factory.  In an effort to be more sustainable the farm sends its whey (leftovers from the cheese making process) to the pig farm to be consumed by the pigs. The pigs eat a diet of whey and supplements of corn and soy. The pigs only fully digest 70% of the corn and soy. The 30% is defecated then cleaned by workers and fed to the cows. ...continue reading "A Tail of Two Farms"

By rachels522

One of my favorite parts of my study abroad program is that we spend a month on internship projects. This week we started internships and I could not be more excited about my job. The official title of my internship is Creator and Promoter of Wildlife Passages. Wildlife passages are used to aid animals in crossing human barriers that fragment their environment. Roads are the most common cause of this fragmentation. In Monteverde many sloths and monkeys are run over by cars when attempting to cross the street. These arboreal (tree dwelling) mammals will often try to use wires to cross the road. Wires are often electric and the animals cab be electrocuted. The first sloth that I saw in Costa Rica was unfortunately a dead sloth; it had been electrocuted on a wire. My job is to work with two other interns to create prototype passages for monkeys, monitor sloth passages, and promote and educate the Monteverde community about this project. ...continue reading "Slothing Around"

By rachels522

Tonight I arrived back from two weeks traveling up and down the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. This field trip was amazingly fun. We saw all sorts of different ecology, people, and places. I also got to spend a couple of days relaxing on the most beautiful beach that I have ever seen.
The field trip was by no means just fun and games. The main purpose of the field trip was to explore how Costa Rica produces its energy. Costa Rica is known as one of the countries with the cleanest energy in the world. On the trip I went to a solar, wind, geothermal, thermal and hydropower plant. We were able to speak with energy officials that explained to us the pros and cons of each kind of energy. ...continue reading "Clean Energy?"