I Guess That's Why They Call It A Rain Forest

Me and my roomie, Ellie















Me and Laura












Resort built too close to the beach. Technically there is supposed to be no construction within 150 meters of the beach, but the local government is in charge of monitoring that and it is very easy to sway them with $.















Terraced land directly across the street from the beach.










Where we had our lecture









This week, after three days of classes, we got up at the crack of dawn (literally) to drive to Manuel Antonia National Park. On the way, we stopped on a small beach for a lecture about eco-tourism and sustainable tourism. Then we drove some more and stopped again in a sweltering, mosquito filled oil palm plantation for a lecture on oil palms and biofuels.

Finally, we arrived at Manuel Antonio National Park. Basically imagine the quintessential tropical beach, add about 20 degrees, and you have Manuel Antonio. The park is a peninsula so there is beach on both sides and a forest remnant in the middle. After a third econ lecture, we had dinner in the park ranger's house, had a discussion/briefing on the next day's field experiment and then camped out on the beach. This sounds great but really, it wasn't. Sweltering heat + rain + lots of mosquitoes = not much sleep. Especially when it is raining in your tent, directly onto your face. It was quite the experience. Very opposite from waking up in -7 degree weather and being able to see your breath, which is how my recent sleepout experiences have been.

Besides the rain, the park/beach were beautiful. There was a lot of wildlife - though much of it had been overexposed to tourists and were strangely tame.

Animals I have seen in Costa Rica already-
Three Toed Sloth
Two Toed Sloth
Iguanas
Howler Monkeys
Tarantula
Agoutis (rodent guys that look like big, tailless rats but cuter)
Capuchins (white faced monkeys)
Geckos
Tucan
A bunch of other super cool birds

Animals I still want to see -
Jaguar (haha, yeah right)
Quetzal
Scarlet Macaw

After camping on the beach, swimming in the ocean, getting reeeeaaally sweaty and sandy, all we wanted was to get back to the center and take showers. Ironically, when we got back to the center, the water was broken (again.) No showers tonight.

Highlight of today- While hiking out of Manuel Antonio, I was craving Ben & Jerry's Ice cream and lamenting the fact that I most likely wouldn't have it for the next three months. Little did I know, they have it here! So I ate an entire pint of Cherry Garcia on the bus ride back from Manuel Antonio. :) I was too full to eat dinner. Or maybe I'm just getting really sick of rice and beans. Either way, melon for dinner was just fine with me.