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    Turrialba Volcano

    March 28, 2016

    Costa Rica Blog Post

    Taking the global Ecosystems Costa Rica class at Le Moyne is something I have wanted to do since I visited Le Moyne my junior year of high school. I have thought about studying abroad before but I don't think I could spend a whole semester away from home so this short term class trip abroad was a perfect fit. Throughout these ten days we stayed at a variety of hotels and traveled from one side of the country to the other. Costa Rica is located in the tropics and is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. As I was getting ready to go on the trip, I was most excited about seeing the hundreds of different species of birds and animals. The first day of our trip we went to Irazu Volcano National Park the Irazu volcano that is dominant. Also we saw the Turrialba volcano which in 2015 was active and currently still is. After we saw the volcanoes we went to Magmatica which is an earthquake simulator and museum. This earthquake simulator helps to inform citizens and visitors about the earthquakes in Costa Rica. I have never experienced an earthquake before so it was interesting to see what it would feel like and it was actually quite scary to experience it. After the simulator we had our very first lunch and it was delicious! The next morning we woke up early to drive to where we got on the boat to go to Tortugero which is a town only accessible by boat. We spent two days here and the second day we had an early boat ride to see what animals we could see. We saw so many different species of birds, howler monkeys, and even a camen. Tortugero was one of my favorite places we went to because we saw so many different species of birds and animals. Our hotel was also located right in the forest and there was a sloth and monkeys right outside our door! The next stop we made was to La Selva Biological Station. This place is the place you want to go to if you want to do research in the tropics. Here we took a tour and hiked some of the trails with a guide. We saw many different species of animals including an Iguana, a turtle, a Mot-Mot, and a Toucan. This place was truly amazing and I would love to go back some day. Another one of my favorite parts about Costa Rica was learning about the country's renewable energy. The country runs on ninety-two percent renewable energy. I was amazed when our guide told us this. Their renewable energy consists of wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, and solar energy. We saw the Cachi hydroelectric plant and we saw wind mills on our drive to Monteverde. Our guide also told us that Costa Rica extended their school year so that they can incorporate environmental science into their education system. I think that this is amazing because they are teaching their youth to be environmentally friendly. Costa Rica is an amazing model of an environmentally friendly country. I really enjoyed my trip to Costa Rica and I learned so much while being there. I hope to go back one day and maybe even study in the tropics!
    Category: Global Dolphins