09/02/09 - San Gerardo de Rivas Field Trip

Hello all,

It's nice to see that I have multiple species following this blog. For all of those reading, I returned yesterday from the program's first field trip. We went to a pueblo situated near the base of Costa Rica's tallest mountain, Cerro Chirripo (3,820 m), called San Gerardo de Rivas.

The bus the ACM chartered left from San Pedro around 7:40 am and it took us only a few minutes to escape the concrete jungle and transition to a greener version. After about an hour of driving we took a rest stop at a small roadside restaurant. I can't imagine that they were thrilled to receive us as we were only interested in using their bathrooms and the toilets didn't necessarily flush.

After getting back on the bus, we drove for about another hour through clouds and rain. I'm sure the surrounding landscape (paisaje) was extraordinary but the fog made it impossible to see. As we lowered our elevation a bit, the rain and fog immeadiately disappeared and we took a right for a stop at Sol Colibri, an organic, (previously) shade-grown, fair trade coffee farm owned by Arturo Seguro. This man helped to create an alliance for the benefit of organic, fair trade coffee farmers. When we got there, Arturo gave us a small tour to demonstrate how coffee farms (specifically organic coffee farms) operate. After that, he put us to work and we took to the forest with baskets wrapped around our hips to collect coffee berries. It's hard work. Luckily the farm is a shade-grown operation so we were, for the most part, shielded from the intense sun. I collected about half a basket of berries in an hour. Rumor has it that tico workers get only $1 for collected an entire basket (which, when full, must weigh around 45 pounds).

When the work was over, we were rewarded with a fabulous lunch made entirely with organic, fair trade ingredients. They also treated us to some coffee made from the beans collected on the farm (which Arturo roasts himself instead of shipping the beans to the US for roasting as do most coffee farms). By cutting out the middle man but still charging the same amount, Arturo makes more profit from each bag and with this money he invests in other Costa Rican organic farmers who are "doing the right thing." The coffee wasn't too bad either.

After the meal, Scott (the director) got us back onto the bus so we could continue our journey to San Gerardo (we still had about 3 hours to go). On the way, we passed through a point called Cedro de Muerte which is the highest point on the Interamerican Highway (which goes from Mexico to Colombia). The temperature there is much lower and at night there have even been reports of snowfall. I hear it is a good place to find the Resplendant Quetzal this time of year.

We reached the highest point and then we began to descend rapidly out of the clouds. At one point we overlooked an incredibly lush valley with a rainbow on top that screamed "postcard." Didn't take a picture, but I think one of the students did. A little more driving and we made it to our rustic lodge in San Gerardo. Our meal orders were taken and then I went for a short walk down to the rushing Rio Blanco to sit on rocks and contemplate stuff. We went back up, ate dinner, and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and getting to know each other better. The next morning we ate breakfast at 7 and were on the bus by 8 for a 4 hour hike. The hike that was originally planned had to be scractched because strong winds blew over some big trees making the trail impassable. Instead we took another pretty sweet hike and learned a lot about the local culture/environment from our guide for the day, Denis. After the hike, we returned to Denis' house and he gave us a tour of his garden while his wife made us a very large and savory lunch. We petted his 20 year old dog who still had his wits about him (though I don't think he could hear).

After lunch, we returned to the hotel for a short swim and then we were back on the bus and we headed into town for a game of soccer against a local women's team. A bunch of younger tico boys supplemented our group and we had a really good game out of it. There was one older tico boy who had problems with passing the ball so I had little choice but to level him. He learned his lesson and passed from that point on.

After the game, we returned to the hotel for another swim and then we showered and had dinner. After dinner, we had more "getting to know each other time" and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

The next morning, we went to the house of the famous philosopher and birder Alexander Skutch. After getting the tour, our guide Andres took us for a walk through the rainforest surrounding the house and we saw: a chameleon, bullet ants, parrots, a flying turkey, and many other interesting things. We stopped at a picturesque creek running through the forest for a breif respite and then the tour was essentially over. We got back on the bus and began our bus ride back to San Pedro.

You would not believe it, but on the way back , we passed a three-toed sloth (oso perezoso) trying to cross the Interamerican Highway. The driver stopped the bus and our fearless leader, Scott, quickly exited the bus and signalled for traffic to stop as he picked up the poor little guy and brought him to the other side of the road. The sloth seemed pretty pleased that he made it across unscathed.

We made it back to San Pedro and I returned to my house exhausted. However, my host brothers were rearing to go and I "taught" them how to skateboard and then we went to play a little bit of soccer. I read for a while, ate dinner, did my homework, and then decided that it was time to go to sleep. The entire group here loved the adventure and we plan to go on an unoffical field trip to Dominical (a beach on the Pacific side) this weekend. We'll be camping on the beach for $5 a night. It should be pretty awesome. This is better than normal school.

Scott