Although I am back from Costa Rica already (sadly), I still
want to recap the events that occurred during my trip.
After the last events that I had
previously posted we embarked on our first weekend trip to Manuel Antonio
National Park.
The trip was fantastic!
On the way to our destination we
stopped at a bridge and saw crocodiles that were lounging in a river.
The sight was one that I have never
encountered before and it felt like a glimpse into a prehistoric world.
I felt lucky to see such creatures in
the wild because who knows how much longer they will be around on this
planet.
In fact, these wild
crocodiles are being impacted from humans everyday as more and more tourists
visit the area, throw down food and other trash and disrupt the crocs natural
habitat.
Upon arrival into the Manuel Antonio area we stopped at our
hotel to have a personal meeting with the owner to discuss sustainable
tourism.
The conversation was
quite enlightening because he shed light on the issues he faces as a small
business owner trying to compete with larger hotels while enforcing sustainable
tourism policies and programs.
Costa Rica has a leaf rating system that ranks hotels based on their
environmental, socio-cultural, and economic policies.
This program is called CST or Certification of Sustainable
Tourism.
Although it is beneficial
that Costa Rica has such a program, we learned that it impacts both small and
large hotel operations in many different ways.
That night we went and had a fantastic dinner in Quepos, a
small town near Manuel Antonio.
After our meal we walked down to the beach and found out that walking
around without a raincoat or umbrella was not such a good idea.
The next day we got up early and headed to the National Park
of Manuel Antonio. Walking through
the jungle was quite nice but after spending our time in such a small village
(Turrialba) it felt odd being around so many tourists. We learned that Manuel Antonio hosts
thousands of tourists each year and that it is one of the most popular Costa
Rican destinations. This makes
sense as the park was beautiful and the beaches pristine. However, you could see the impact that
the guests had on the area, such as the monkeys on the beach who acted very
aggressively towards people, steeling their food. This human-wildlife interaction has many implications. The monkeys have started eating a diet
of human junk foods they gather in the park. These foods are not even healthy
for humans, let alone our for our primate relatives.
My favorite encounter in the park was seeing the sloths. These creatures are remarkable and yet
very lazy (which is probably why the Spanish word for them is the same word for
‘lazy’). I also enjoyed spending
time at the beach, breaking open my first coconut, and seeing iguanas sun
bathing.
Later, we went and participated in a tour of the Arenas Del
Mar Hotel with the Sustainability Director. This was very interesting for me because I did similar work
for a property in Washington State last year during an ‘Environmental Internship’
with Aramark Parks and Destinations.
This property demonstrated that a hotel could be both a five-star and a
five-leaf (the highest leaf rating in the CST) property simultaneously, despite
the myth that luxury and sustainability counteract one another. It was interesting to hear that they
encountered many of the same challenges that I faced while in my internship,
such as employee engagement, public interpretation and education, and
infrastructure investments. It was
really interesting to hear how the sustainability program saved the hotel a lot
of money, created positive relations with the local community, and assisted in
environmental preservation.
The next morning we got up and tried our hands at surfing,
which none of us had done before (except for our instructor Eric). The waves were very large though and
all of us pretty much walked away feeling like the ocean had beat us up. I absolutely loved it though and I am
so glad that we tried it. I cannot
wait to try again under better circumstances. One word of advice – do not take any money or credit cards
with you unless you have a pocket that zips as my Velcro failed and I lost mine
: (
Overall, it was a superb trip to a very different part of
Costa Rica, one that differed greatly from the Turrialba region.
On our second Wednesday we took a joint field trip to an organic farm outside of Turrialba near Cartago. This was another opportunity to see how small farms can incorporate tourism into their operations. The field trip involved us working on the farm, which was actually really great because we got to see what life is like on a small family-owned farm in Costa Rica. The trip also allowed us to witness first-hand some of the things we had been discussing in class related to food production and non-organic monoculture vs. organic farming methods. We had discussed the problems of just planting one crop throughout an entire farm, such as susceptibility to disease and crop loss (i.e. potato famine in Ireland). Planting several different types of crops greatly reduces such widespread disease and better supports the natural ecosystem. After arriving at the farm we participated in a short tour and then we started making compost. The compost was a Japanese recipe called Bokashi (I won't go in to detail what we put in there ; D). 
After making compost for a while the instructor decided that we should quit an we went out on the farm and started planting crops. We developed a system with all of us students to efficiently plant lettuce and green onion. It was great! I love getting my hands dirty and in the soil - it really makes you appreciate the food you eat and take for granted everyday! 
