Aero: Mary Erb – Costa Rica 2015 – Biodiversity
Aero: Mary Erb – Costa Rica 2015 – Biodiversity
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project
Aero: Mary Erb – Costa Rica 2015 – Biodiversity
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Mary Erb
The facet of Costa Rica I heard about most before going there was its biodiversity and weather. Of course these things were fawned over and applauded, so my expectations were quite high. I had seen many phenomenal photos, but photos can’t always convey the breadth of something fully, and I knew being there would give me a completely different perspective.
When we stepped out of the airport the feeling I had was completely different from a few hours before in the freezing New York weather. It was when my housemates and I rode to our host home that I first got to take in the beauty Costa Rica had to offer. The numerous green trees were a sharp contrast to the snow and barrenness that we left at home. My average appreciation of flowers soon turned into a full bodied love for them. They are so numerous and so present everywhere, and yet they still must be too beautiful for the natives to take them for granted. Bus rides around Costa Rica were never mundane the way some long car rides are in other places. The act of going from beautiful city, to beautiful village, to cloud forest to rain forest, to ocean etc. was something I’ve never experienced before.
ML@FLCC Costa Rica
2015 Flickr Gallery
Every hike we went on had some sort of glorious waterfall or lagoon along the way. One of the remarkable things was how accessible these were made for people to enjoy. The hot springs resort is a fine example that, and the sugar cane farm and the chocolate plantation are also places that are natural and carefully protected but are still arranged for humans to have access to and experience. Something I think everyone on the trip was looking forward to was the animal life there. The day we went to Zoo Ave was wonderful because we knew all of the animals there had been rescued, which is far from the case for many of the zoos at home. Some of the most thrilling interactions we had with animals was when we would stop on the side of the road when we were en route somewhere. This was usually due to things like our friend Diego’s intuition about the whereabouts of frogs and sloths.
The beauty of Costa Rica can be looked at in such a way that certain natural elements that might be looked as bothersome when experienced here, can still only be enjoyed when experienced in Costa Rica. I’m someone who is commonly put off by large amounts of wind for various reasons, but in Costa Rica, it barely dawns on me to think about it. As someone who isn’t used to getting muddy or dirty, the day when we hiked to Rio Celeste and I got exceptionally dirty, instead of being vexed I was oddly overjoyed. But again, it’s hard not to enjoy a weather element that someplace so beautiful brings your way.
Mary Erb
LEAF Contributor
