Durán Sanatorium

Today my study abroad program took us to an insane asylum. Lying on the side of Volcan Irazu in the clouds above the city of Cartago, lies a collection of abandoned buildings claimed to be the most haunted place in Costa Rica. The long-uninhabited Durán Sanatorium was originally a hospital for those suffering from Tuberculosis in 1915. Throughout the years, the Durán Sanatorium eerily functioned as an insane asylum, a prison, and an orphanage. The Durán Sanatorium closed its doors for good in 1973, after the building sustained damage from nearby Irazú Volcano, but people say some of the patients never truly left… Ironically, I found the buildings beautiful with a feel of ancient history. The brilliant afternoon sun on the surrounding green hillsides completed a striking setting with the decaying buildings. It was a chance for some creative photography...

        

La Selva Biological Research Station

A couple weekends ago was my first Veritas field trip to a tropical research station in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. Both my Tropical Ecology class and the Ecological Photography class attended the weekend-long excursion. Before we left for the trip, the two teachers divided us all into pairs: one ecology student and one photography student. Our main assignment for the weekend was to help the photography student take ecologically meaningful photos that could be explained biologically. My topic was, of course, insects. Saturday morning, took road 32 out of San Jose directly into the mountain range on the Caribbean side of the central valley. The air became cool and inundated with thin fog. As we climbed, you could see layers of blue hued mountains rising up in the distance- a resplendent wilderness occupied only by remote fauna and a thick layer of tropical montane vegetation. We crossed a bright rusty orange river gushing over large boulders and engraving a valley in the mountains as we began the descent into the northern Caribbean lowlands. We stopped briefly at a line of fruit stands along the roadside for a rest. From there, it took us less than an hour to arrive at La Selva Biological Research Station. La Selva is a private portion of tropical rainforests and disturbed lands purchased in 1954 for research purposes. It is one of the central research stations for the Organization for Tropical Studies and publishes a scientific paper every 72 hours.

Immediately upon exiting the bus, the humidity engulfed us in a thick embrace of saturated air. The heat made me actually appreciate the wind in San Jose. The research station was composed of quite a few cabins nearby a large open-air dining hall next to a river with a suspension bridge leading to more research cabins and conference rooms. Not exactly rustic. While we were changing into proper clothing, we saw a black howler monkey outside our dorms. I looked at him through my binoculars; he was staring directly at us with deep black eyes.

Gecko

We all congregated at tables near the dining hall for a briefing about La Selva and then lunch. The next couple hours were designated “free time.” Michele, Collen, and I walked into the jungle to explore. We crossed the suspension bridge over the slow-moving river, seeing iguanas basking in the trees and bromeliads overwhelming the upper branches of the tallest hardwoods. On the opposite of the bridge was a labyrinth of primary forest, punctuated by thin concrete paths. We followed one path to the left and down towards the river. Along the way, Collen spotted a pair of toucans perched above our heads! We saw groups of peccaries, terrestrial pig-like animals related to warthogs foraging along the forest floor. They were completely immune to our presence. The vast majority of the other animals we saw were insects, although I did manage to capture a mini gecko nearby one of the river buildings.

Green Parrot Snake

Around 2 PM, the two classes congregated to go on a forest walk. We were supposed to stay with our project partners and take detailed notes on everything we saw. Almost immediately, we spotted a green parrot snake slithering through the shrubs near the dining hall. My miniature teacher, Wendy, walked in the front of the group of almost 40 students stopping every few moments to talk to us about some insect or plant. The highlights of the walk were a pair of chestnut mandible toucans, an oropendola, a golden orb spider, green iguanas, long-nosed bats roosting on a building near the river, and a three-toed sloth. The majority of species we encountered in the forest were, not surprisingly, plants. Fortunately that is intriguing to me. By the end of our walk, we had barely penetrated the jungle and it only took us a few minutes to return to our cabins. 

Toucan

After another scrumptious meal, we again trooped off into the forest for a night walk. You could hear the sounds of the forest coming alive in the night: insects calling and frogs croaking. We encountered a massive colony of leaf-cutter ants marching across the forest floor transporting pieces of leaves back to their nest. On the rest of the night walk, we found cane toads, poison dart frogs, leaf-litter frogs, lizards, geckos, preying mantises, cockroaches, spiders, bullet ants, and millipedes. All of us were incredibly exhausted by the end of our hike and I crashed in my bed almost instantly.

green iguana

Some students woke up at 5 AM Sunday morning to go bird watching. I couldn’t quite manage to drag myself out of bed at that hour… and so I got up around 7 AM for breakfast. Afterwards, a couple girls and I found Doc walking down a forest path and followed him. Doc is an elderly professor at Concordia University whose real name is Lawrence Meissner, although everyone refers to him as “Doc.” Walking through the rainforest with him was the best part of the trip. He is a biologist who has been teaching field schools around the world for many years and hence he has a wealth of information to provide. His love for the nature around us was contagious and I soon felt entirely captivated by the forest. We kept quiet while walking through the beautiful jungle, observing everything around us—gaps in the forest being colonized by pioneer tree species, strangler figs suffocating their host plants, old hardwood trees decaying into piles of rich nutrients on the forest floor. We could hear howler monkeys calling high in the canopy and eventually I was able to spot the troop of monkeys climbing through the trees far in the distance. On our way back, we saw more peccaries on their eternal search for food.

Golden orb spider

Leaf cutter ants

Before we packed up and left La Selva, we each had to present our photos and describe them in ecological terms to the classes. Each presentation was relatively brief, thankfully, although I enjoyed looking at some of the beautiful photos from the photography students.

Our journey home was somewhat uneventful and we arrived back in the city in the afternoon. I am returning to La Selva this weekend, and hope to see more monkeys this time!

Strawberry poison dart frog

Mariposas

Gram, this blog post is for you! A couple weeks ago, three friends and I went to a butterfly garden in San Jose. It was somewhat secluded and small, but beautiful regardless. Enjoy the photos!

Playa Hermosa

This weekend was my first self-planned excursion. An exotic escapade to some unknown beach in a country I barely speak the language of. Perfect! My roommate, Macey, and I decided last Thursday afternoon to buy public bus tickets and venture to the Pacific coast to a beach named “Hermosa.”    

Playa Hermosa

Friday after my Spanish oral final exam, we took a rickety little bus to downtown San Jose. After some confusion about where we were supposed to get off, we emerged into the chaotic city and attempted to find the bus station for “Jaco,” a nearby town to Playa Hermosa. Our bus was scheduled to depart in a few minutes and time was running low for us to maneuver our way through the cluttered streets. Somehow, someway we found the randomly placed bus station and clambered on our onto the bus with a few moments to spare. The chaos wasn’t over yet as we found the first two available seats, which were then rudely usurped by a large tica woman. Apparently there is assigned seating on public Costa Rican buses. Who knew! Macey and I shuffled towards the back and promptly sat down with obvious commotion as both of us managed to drop some of our things loudly. It only took a few moments to realize we were the only non-Ticos on the bus. And noticeably so, at that. The bus lurched forward at exactly 1 PM (a gigantic surprise considering that this is Costa Rica). The bus took the same route west as we had taken to Manuel Antonio a few weeks ago, and as we neared the coast, it became unbearably hot and humid. A couple guys were sitting on the floor in the aisle of the bus and everyone was crammed in their seats. I felt like I was on some sort of disorganized airplane.

Me turning myself "black" with the sand

Eventually, Macey and I struck up a conversation with a tico named Daniel who was going to Hermosa to surf. The man sitting near him turned out to be a Peace Corps volunteer named Eric and offered to share a cab with us to Hermosa from the bus stop at Jaco. It was a short drive South along the pacific coast to Playa Hermosa. We were dropped off at a little beachside hostel where Eric was staying. The hostel manager came out to greet us, a relaxed American man with sun-bleached blond hair and no shirt. Welcome to the Playa. He unfortunately had no rooms available for the evening and so Macey and I headed to the ocean. 

With a name translating to a word that means more than “beautiful,” Playa Hermosa is stunning. The dark grey sand was glistening in the afternoon sun. The beach extended for 12 kilometers of exquisite coastline with the clear pacific creating a spectacular view. The culmination of the dark sand, turquoise sea, and rows of palm trees lining the shore was paradise. For how lovely it was, I was shocked so few people were to be seen. Maybe that was part of the charm. A black sand 12 km long beach all to ourselves in Costa Rica. After setting our towels on the scalding dark sand and basking in the glorious sun and frolicking in the warm ocean, we called our new friend Daniel to see if he knew of a place to stay. No luck. Instead, we walked up to a nearby restaurant/bar under a roof thatched with palm branches. Another American man with deep blue eyes offered us a little private room for 10$ each. I’ve never stayed in a hostel before, but it was significantly better than I expected. Our room had some steep, sketchy stairs leading up to an almost attic-like space with creaking wooden floors, a steeply pointed roof, and two beds equipped with sheets. After setting our belongings down, we walked back to the beach and sat on a piece of driftwood, watching the surfers catch the waves as the sun set behind them in a magnificent array of yellows, purples, blues, pinks, oranges, and reds. By this point in the evening, there were copious surfers out in the sparkling water. Hermosa is known as the best surfer destination in the country for experienced surfers. It was clear that was true as we watched the men catch wave after wave and flip over their crests effortlessly. The sunset was just as lovely as those in Manuel Antonio and I took a thousand pictures. As the red sun made its way down toward the horizon, we walked to the “Backyard” restaurant and bar—the main hub of Hermosa and set ourselves up at a table where we could see the sun cast deep golden hues on the palms and dark sand. Hermosa is little more than a few hotels and restaurants that sit right on the shore. 

Surfers

Our hostel room

Back at our hostel, Macey and I attempted to go back to our room and accidentally went to the wrong one. An unnamed tico man tried to warn us in Spanish that we were going to the wrong place but neither of us understood him and just laughed. It was about the fifth time he repeated himself that we got the message and awkwardly walked to our actual room. We sat on our springy beds laughing when suddenly the light flicked off. I immediately go: “So that happened.” That night, we decided to go swimming and clambered down to the beach in the darkness. The sky was perfectly clear and moonless. You could see thousands of bright stars creating a beautiful haze of light on the ocean surface. One of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. We walked along the crashing waves and as each wave receded, you could see the reflections of the stars glistening on the smooth black sand surface. We tumbled through the waves and floated on our backs staring at the stars above. I didn’t have a care in the world in that moment.

Scarlet Macaw

The next day felt like we were on a vacation. It’s hard to believe that I actually live in this country and go to school here and can just take a 2 hour bus ride to paradise for the weekend. Welcome to one of the best decisions I have ever made. I woke up with the sun streaming in through the uncovered screens of our little attic room and immediately rolled over and went back to sleep. Probably the first time in Costa Rica that I haven’t needed to get up early for class or some sort of excursion. When I did decide to emerge, it was only 9 AM. We put on sunscreen and bathing suits and began walking along the sand. The dark grains were already hot in the morning sun. We migrated to the Backyard for breakfast. Surfers were already out riding the waves. What a life. We set our towels up directly in the baking sun and both ended up drenching ourselves in the playful waves to keep cool. Several pairs of scarlet macaws landed in the nearby trees flanking the beach; their blue, yellow, and bright red feathers shinning in the sun. Iguanas lazily sprawled themselves out on tree branches nearby.

Macey and Me

That afternoon, we decided to try another hostel just for fun. We wandered back to the place we had been dropped off at yesterday, called Brisa del Mar. The manager confirmed that he had a room for us. It was not quite as nice as the last place we stayed, although we did have our own bathroom. And again the beds were made with simply one sheet. I guess that’s just what they do here.

We decided to get smoothies for lunch in an attempt to cool ourselves off from the heat of the day. As luck would have it, we walked up to a beachside bar and immediately were given free smoothies! The afternoon was spent watching scarlet macaws, reading in hammocks, and enjoying the sun. Around 4 PM, an informal surf competition began on the beach. The water was saturated with eager surfers, boogie boarders, and skim boarders ready to ride the waves. Macey found a little dog friend she played with while I watched another glorious sunset paint the sky with a mosaic of colors and reflect bright rays on the clear ocean surface.

Pura Vida

The next morning, we planned on spending the day in Jaco before our bus back to San Jose left at 5 PM. Jaco ended up being a significant let-down and was full of tourists, souvenir shops, and filthy water. The waste water from San Jose and the central valley flows into the estuaries in Jaco and then out into the sea. It made for a disgusting sight watching little children play in the repulsive water. The day was so hot, that we were on a mission to find palm trees to sit under. It felt like we walked for hours through the tico families camping under the trees until we found a place to settle down. We rested for a couple hours before venturing to the bus stop and waiting for our transportation back home. It took us a few hours getting back to San Jose due to traffic, but with what a wonderful weekend we had had, it didn’t matter! We reached San Jose around 9 PM. Not wanting to take a taxi and pay extra money, we decided to simply march our way swiftly through downtown to the bus stop that would take us back to Veritas. We barged through the streets like little birds fleeing from some sort of predator and made it safely back to the bus and called mommy to tell her we would be home for dinner soon. She had a delicious meal prepared for us when we got home. This place spoils me in every way. 

Irazu, Cartago, Orosi Valley, and Heredia

Every moment here continues to be an adventure. I would say that by now I feel entirely settled in my new home in San José. I haven’t necessarily developed a “routine,” but that is how I like things. Leave it up to spontaneity to create the best adventures.

            Although my study abroad program only had a single day of excursions planned for us, this past weekend turned out to be full of exhilarating escapades to markets, cities, volcanoes, and churches. 

Irazu

            On Saturday, CEA had planned a trip to the Irazu volcano, Cartago, and the Orosi valley. I had an incredible time exploring parts of the central valley of Costa Rica and learning more of the history of this country. Our bus exited the city around 9 AM and began to climb into the nearby mountains. The morning was cool and cloudy and as we ascending into the highlands you could see the valley below. The clouds came closer and closer to us and as we winded through the roads, water began to condense on the windows of the bus. Volcano Irazu erupted almost exactly 50 years ago this year and showered San Jose and the surround area in volcanic ash. The resulting rich soil has created a haven for farmers and their crops. Our bus passed copious agricultural fields as the vegetation opened up into the mist. The ascent was gradual and by the time we reached the top of Irazu, the flora had transitioned into a montane wilderness with herbaceous plants and shrubs growing out of the opaque volcanic ash. 

the Main Crater of Irazu

Poor man's umbrella plant

            We exited the bus at the highest point in the Irazu National park, about 11,260 feet above sea level. Irazu is the highest volcano in Costa Rica and has 5 craters. From that viewpoint we were higher than the clouds. Initially, we could see the main crater of Irazu that is almost 1000 feet deep and 3,500 feet in diameter. It looked like a strange rocky peak piercing the endless field of white clouds. We watched as the clouds began to cascade down the crater edges, eventually obscuring it entirely from our view. We were left standing a cloudy wilderness and 

so we began to walk down the primitive road to get a closer view of the crater. The vegetation was dense and rich. Many of the plants were in bloom and the brilliant reds, oranges, purples, and yellows of the flowers accented the deep emerald green of the surrounding leaves. My favorite plant on that mountain is commonly referred to as “poor man’s umbrella plant” (Gunnera insignis) and has gigantic circular leaves about twice my size. Walking through the volcanic forest made me realize that my favorite places on earth are montane forests; whether it is the afroalpine jungles of the Virunga volcanoes in Rwanda, the alpine tundra of the Rocky Mountains, or the volcanic montane vegetation of Costa Rica, I am in love with the peaceful and mysterious mountains of our world.

Coati

Soon, we reached a large flat volcanic plain that overlooked two of the craters of Irazu. Over the steep edge, you could see straight down into the main crater where a small strangely green and red colored lake resided. Since it is the dry season here, the lake looked more like a puddle stagnating at the bottom of the rocky precipice. I won’t even attempt to describe the view, for it is something that you must see for yourself. On our way back to the bus, we encountered two curious coatis wandering around the parking area in search for tourist leftovers. They were quite adorable little creatures.

Orosi Valley

Back on the bus, we descended the mountain. On our way, we stopped to take photos of the valley beneath us where you could see the city of Cartago sprawled out against the green hills. It was nearing lunchtime and we drove towards the Orosi valley, a picturesque small town. We veered off onto a dirt road and climbed up a hill to a small restaurant with large windows that boasted a spectacular view of the valley below. I ate typical arroz con pollo with mushrooms and bacon mixed in and papas fritas and Fanta roja for a drink. After our meal, we stepped outside to marvel over the view. A distant river wound through the center of the valley and was surrounded by rolling hills covered in orange flowering trees.

Iglesia de San Jose Orosi

We drove through the small town to the Iglesia de San Jose Orosi, the oldest church still in use in all of Costa Rica, dating back to 1743. It was a small building painted white with a simple bell town and red tiled roofs. A wedding was going on in the church while we explored the gardens. The interior of the church was wooden and modest, save for the elaborately painted and decorated pictures and artifacts that all date back to the 18^th century. A painting of San Francisco holding a skull was depicted next to a sculpture of Christ at the front.

Our next stop was Cartago and the Basilica de Nuestro Senora de los Angeles, the same church I had gone to on my Spanish field trip. As an interactive activity, Leo (one of the CEA directors) split us into pairs for a scavenger hunt around the basilica. We had one hour to complete 20 questions both about the church and community, and all in Spanish. I was paired with Hayden, who speaks relatively well in Spanish and the two of us set off around the church to find all the clues. Some questions pertained to history of Cartago and the Basilica, while other required that you take pictures or obtain random objects such as a newspaper from yesterday and a packet of sugar from a nearby restaurant. We asked several people in Spanish to help us answer the historical questions. I drank the holy water (fortunately I found out later that it is safe to drink, although not formally purified) and somehow got a taxi man to awkwardly shake my hand. It was pretty hysterical. Hayden and I ended up coming in second place—so close…

Basilica de Los Angeles

By the time we were finished at the church, it was nearing 5 o’clock. We drove back home and almost immediately Diego (my host brother) marched into my room proclaiming that we were going to a movie. We looked up the schedule for the Multiplaza theatre in the Zapote neighborhood and discovered that the next showing of "Life of Pi" in english was in 20 minutes! Michele hopped out of the shower and Gustavo (another host brother that lives in a nearby neighborhood in the city) drove Macey, Michele, Diego, and I to the large mall. We got in a long line and paid for tickets. Apparently when you purchase tickets in cinemas here, you choose your exact seat in the theater. We ended up sitting in the front row, however the movie was lovely. Diego (who we have nicknamed "Diegs") even bought us carmel and butter popcorn. When we got back home, mommy made us a delicious dinner of papas, arroz, pollo, and copious verduras. 

Shaking the taxi driver's hand

On Sunday, Anita, Lainey, Michele, and I were planning on going to a famous coffee plantation in Barva called Café Britt with Graham, a friend I met through my cousin Matt on my second day in the country. Leo had helped us figure out the bus system to Heredia, where we would take a taxi to the plantation. Sunday morning we woke up around 8 to discover that the plantation was full booked in tours for that day. We decided to take the risk and head down to Heredia anyways and hope that they would open up spaces for us. We walked downtown (I actually can find my way around here…fancy that!) and after some confusion found the bus station where we climbed onto a red and yellow charter bus called “Busetas Hereditas” that cost only a dollar. On the drive to the third largest city in the country, Graham called to inform us that the possibility of securing a tour at Café Britt was highly unlikely. Since we were already on our way though, he agreed to meet us for the day in Heredia. The bus stopped downtown in the city (which really felt more like a town to me) right by the central market. The market was quite similar to the one in Cartago with rows and rows of stalls and restaurants and fruit stands, although since it was Sunday only about half of the cubicles were open. We wandered through the maze of vendors until Graham found us and we set off to explore the city. We went to the central park which is adjacent to the main cathedral. Many ticos were simply sitting on the benches and talking or relaxing in the warm summer air. A group of cheerleaders were practicing their routines in front of the church and we decided to sit and relax tico-style. After a woman kindly told us to move because a coconut could fall on our heads, we found a lovely bench in the park. Apparently many ticos do this on Sundays, it is their day for rest. We then walked through the town to a small soccer stadium where teams of high schoolers were playing. We then meandered to a Caribbean restaurant Graham recommended called “Mami.” The food was excellent and I ate some of the typical Caribbean cuisine, including “rice and beans,” squashed and fried plantains, and “frogwater” (which is really a lime and ginger flavored drink). After our meal we went to a tico ice cream store and tried a typical ice cream slushy concoction composed of fresh fruit, powdered milk, flavored crushed ice, and some sort of sweet sauce topped off with ice cream. We went back to the park to enjoy the afternoon. I felt like I was really experiencing the tico culture, despite the fact that the coffee plantation had not worked out. What a relaxing day!
           When we arrived home, Diego took Michele and I with him to his church on Sunday evening. The church was a short walk up the hill in the direction of my university. A pentecostal church, it was fascinatingly different than what I am accustomed to. It was quite a large sanctuary and when we arrived, there was a band playing loudly on the front stage with flashing bright concert lights. They sang songs for almost a half hour. I actually recognized some of them... although they were in spanish. I found it quite fun to sing in Spanish. I am coming to love this language. Strangely, the preacher that day was a guest pastor from the Copenhagen that spoke in english! How convenient. Diegs wore earplugs and it didn't take long for me to realize why. The pastor worked himself up into such excitement that he was yelling and people were collapsing on the ground and yelling back at him. The chaos was immense and it was hard for me to understand what in the world was happening. At the end, he gathered anyone who wanted healing to the front and people were shaking and dropping to the ground every time he touched someone. Interesting to say the least...
          On another note, if you asked me what my favorite part of Costa Rica is, I would immediately answer my host family. Of course I love the culture and the beauty of this country, but I can't get enough of my host mother. And my uncle Jose and brother Diego are equally interesting to live with. I don't know how I am possibly going to leave here, but when I do, I am certain that I will come back.