Costa Rica: A Long Walk in Paradise

During the 2012 Winter Term (January 3-19), Dr. Arcea Zapata de Aston taught a travel class called Language, Culture and Diversity in Costa Rica. Three students took the class and kept a journal for the KWC blog. If you missed any entries, you can go to the aggregate page for a full account of the trip. You can also see a full photo gallery from the trip online (click “recent albums” to see day-by-day photos).

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Day 4

Collin: We walked and walked and walked, endlessly it seemed, but the rewards were great. We saw two birds nested on a branch, a very rare bird from the order of turkeys, many vultures and quite a few insects. Also, we went down by the river and Emmanuel, always with his surprises, showed us how to make “collectibles” from paw prints in the sand. He took flour and water and mixed it together. Then, he placed the mixture on top of the paw print. Later, as it hardened, it took the form of the print, so we were able to see very closely the prints of the certain animal in the region.

Making prints by the river.

Katie: Unbeknownst to us we had spent four hours hiking! I never imagined I could lose track of time so easily, but we quickly got lost in the beauty of the surroundings. As we hiked back towards Tirimbina, something small caught my eye – a tiny movement, which could have merely been a leaf blown off the trail by Emmanuel’s foot. I stopped and stared. No bigger than the size of a quarter, a brown frog had leaped onto a curled brown leaf. ACCOMPLISHMENT! I spotted a tiny frog. *brownie points*

Katie's small brown frog on a leaf -- look closely!

Collin: After our long walk and before dinner, I spent about an hour sitting outside on our porch watching the birds. I saw, and heard, a large amount of Montezuma Oropendolas, a few Golden-hooded Tanagers and another black-throated Trogon. It was so awesome it left me speechless. Sitting on your back porch and watching beautiful birds with a cool breeze is paradise.

Life is good on the back porch.

Alex: Everyday now I see myself thinking more and more about how much importance nature has and how big of a role it plays in the formation of the world. I think that we as Americans – and as humans – need to be more aware and respect our ecosystem a bit more than we do at the moment.

Bonus photo: Headed into the rainforest at night!

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