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Goodbye Costa Rica

A group photo of both CSUCI and UNA staff at La Playa Grande  Wednesday The 10th day is here. We have spent 10 days of adventure-filled and educationally compacted activities in Costa Rica. From short to long hikes, hot to cold weather, dry to wet forests, we traveled miles and miles of Costa Rican scenery,… Read more »

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Rafting and La Selva Biological Reserve

Tuesday It was the last full day for us in Costa Rica and we were making sure to go out with a bang. We started our day off bright and early, traveling outside of La Fortuna to a roaring river where we were planning to go white river water rafting. Once we arrived, we were… Read more »

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Exploration

Monday With some of us beginning the day with a peaceful session of yoga, conducted by our generous tour guide, everyone was excited for the day ahead since it was our free day of the vacation. We were allowed to go off on our own and decide what to do within the city as we… Read more »

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Arenal Volcano

Sunday Today we left yet another location in beautiful Costa Rica and headed to Las Fortunas and the Arenal Volcano. We traveled through the rolling hills of Monteverde which consisted of lush green pastures, grazing cows and horses, and rivers besides quaint towns within the valleys. We finally arrived to our next destination which was… Read more »

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Trail Restoration in Monteverde

Saturday After spending the night in the El Bosque Hotel, we woke up to a windy and rainy morning. We ate a delicious breakfast of traditional gallo pinto (a black bean and rice mixture) and then drove a short distance to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. There, armed with rakes, we helped with trail restoration by… Read more »

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Cave hike

Friday Today was a very long but adventure-filled day. It was our last morning in Playa Grande and we all had to say goodbye to the friends we had made with the UNA students. After sharing one last breakfast and packing out luggage back onto buses, we headed on to the Barra Honda National Park…. Read more »

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Ecotourism in Tamarindo

Thursday We were all excited for the day, anticipating the fun we would have in the tourist town of Tamarindo during our free day. Fun doesn’t come for free though, so we still had fieldwork responsibilities before lunch. After taking a group picture in our matching tshirts, we split into groups to either survey the… Read more »

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Continued Field Work

Wednesday Today was an early day for all, with each group finishing their last field work rotation. These past few days have been filled with service learning activities that, although hard work, have been proven to be quite fun and educational. Let’s take a look at some of the student’s favorite activities these past couple… Read more »

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Field Work Begins

Tuesday And the hardwork begins….Today we got down and dirty, beginning our fieldwork activities bright and early in the morning. The classes were divided into 3 groups and would be fulfilling different activities throughout the day: bird monitoring, mangrove monitoring, and (vegetation curtain light pollution). Those who were bird watching left at a crisp 7:20am…. Read more »

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Second Day of Costa Rica

Monday The class was eager to get the day started and hoping to catch a glimpse of the sunrise on the beautiful Costa Rican Pacific Coast. We were welcomed with a nice low tide, exposing some infaunal species and gorgeous colors in the early morning sky. After breakfast we met with our new UNA biology students… Read more »