Aero: Ana Northrop – Costa Rica 2016 – Biodiversity
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project
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When on the airplane the thirty minutes before when we were going to land I was just looking out the window in amazement at the mountains and green forests. In the airport you could see that we were in a valley surrounded by those mountains and no matter where we went outside of Alajuela we would end up going up or down some mountain. It was so hot all the time and I don’t think it rained once however there are many micro climates so you never knew how the weather will be going from one area to the other.
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Ana Northrop
At the Volcano Poάs it was really cold and misty because of the altitude. It made it difficult to breathe walking through the damp forest covered in mossy vines and tons of poor man’s umbrellas. As soon as you start going down the volcano it becomes nice and sunny again as you pass strawberry fields and cows.
Anywhere driving I think we passed at least one coffee field, they were everywhere which I thought was amazing to see, especially when far away and all you see is rows and row of coffee along a mountainside. When we went to Turu Ba-Ri Adventure Park it was humid and hot. We walked through the forest and saw many plant species we don’t have here like the tourist tree and a tree that grows spikes where fire ants live. I have never seen that many beautiful butterflies anywhere in my life both inside the sanctuary and in the park or surrounding areas. We also saw where they grow orchids (their national flower) that were rescued from people smuggling them out of the country. This park was next to the river where hundreds of crocodiles live. When we went on that river to see them we saw three scarlet macaw and countless other birds as well as lizards, crocodile, cows, horses, crabs, and iguanas (they’re generally everywhere). These places are protected by the government to prevent further animal extinctions, pollution, and illegal animal poaching which leads to the sale of animals that will be pets and not treated correctly. You could tell in any guides voice how much they love their country and the wildlife that inhabits it. They have passion toward protecting it for future generations.
Ana Northrop
LEAF Contributor
ML@FLCC: Costa Rica 2016
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