Author: Sarah Rosa Germann

Location: All over Costa Rica

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

The way I see it, my semester has been divided into four sections. For the month of January, I took a geography class on Central America with Heidi Michelsen, a Valpo professor, at Casa Adobe, the Valparaiso Study Abroad Center in Costa Rica. In February, I took six credits of Spanish at the University of Costa Rica and continued my class with Heidi. For these months, I was with my Valparaiso cohort, the other four students who are studying here and living in Santa Rosa from Valpo with me. In March, I separated from the usual Valpo program. While the other VU students began internships, I joined nine other students from various places across the United States in a field biology research program at ICADS, the Institute for Central American Development Studies. In January and February, those students had taken classes in Geography and Spanish similar to what I had done. This section of the program was called “Block 1.” In March, we began “Block 2.”

The focus of Block 2 was exactly what I had come to Costa Rica for. We traveled all over the country and we studied the environments we were in as they related to human geography, and sustainability of both human society and the natural environment. We traveled to two different places each week, staying 2 or 3 nights in each location, either in a lodge or with a host family. We touched base at our host families in San Jose, or in my case in Santa Rosa, briefly on the weekends. First we went to Longo Maï {Red Arrow on the map below}, a commune made up of El Salvadoran refugees. (Check out my blog solely about Longo Maï!) Second we went to Villa Mills {Orange Arrow}, one of the highest places in elevation in Costa Rica, where we did bird watching. Third we went to El Yuë {Yellow Arrow}, where we stayed in a lodge built for rural community tourism. Here we visited agroforestry farms and Cahuita, a beautiful beach. Fourth we went to Puerto Viejo {Green Arrow} for a couple of nights, which is a common place for many tourists to visit in Costa Rica, with its beautiful beaches and thrilling night life. During our stay there, we visited the Indigenous community of Bribri. Fifth we went to Isla de Chita {Dark Blue Arrow}, which is an island in between the Peninsula of Guanacaste and the mainland. Here we had the opportunity to go into a mangrove and learn how to harvest pianguas by the roots. Sixth we went to the community of Ortega {Purple Arrow}, in the mainland of Guanacaste, where we learned about the sugarcane plantation, what life is like in the community, and community opinions on tourism. Having seeing all these places, I feel like this program has truly given me a chance to see many different places in Costa Rica. What a great way to learn about a country.

The past three weeks have been an intense and exciting learning experience. One thing that greatly impacted the experience for me was the fact that, aside from in Puerto Viejo, I did not have any access to WiFi and very limited cellular connection. This allowed to me to “unplug” and focus more on my experience in the communities I was in. The people in these communities live a simpler life than I am used to. They live more slowly than I am used to, and most need to focus on the land and the local community around them. This gives me a new perspective on my fast-pace western life-style, where it is common for a lot of people to have no interactions with their neighbors. Being in these communities, which I was not used to, and speaking a language that is not my first language required me to be intentional about forming relationships, having conversations, and figure out what my host families rhythm of life was like.

The field experience I gained from my time was also invaluable. I had a chance to dip my toes into many methods of research, both for ecological and social purposes. We analyzed the biodiversity of insects on an agroforestry farm, tree and plant density on the agroforestry farm, the sustainability of harvesting a species (pianguas) from its natural environment, biodiversity of birds in both a region with human activity and in an undisturbed area, community relations with a monoculture pineapple plantation (Pindeco), community relations with tourists, challenges in rural youth education, and we participated in aquatic river monitoring by catching and identifying fish and macroinvertebrates. I have learned so much about conducting research and about the areas we visited in Costa Rica. These past three weeks of March has to have been one of the most influential and educational experiences I have had in college. I highly recommend this program to any Environmental Science or Geography student who is planning on studying abroad.

A view in Villa Mills.

A view of the sunset in Ortega.

Buildings in the Indigenous community of Bribri.

The boat which took us to and from Isla de Chita.

Map of Costa Rica with the approximate locations of places we stayed.

Author: Sarah Rosa Germann

Location: Costa Rica

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

There are three well-known volcanoes here in Costa Rica which stand next to each other in a row, Volcán Irazu, Volcán Barba, and Volcán Poás. So far I have seen two of these, Barba and Poás. Although they stand right next to each other, these two volcanoes are remarkably different from each other, and also provide visitors with very different experiences.

As many people know, when a volcano erupts it often blows away its top and creates a crater. Both of these volcanoes have a crater that is visible to the visitor. The first volcano I visited was Poás, which is reach by taking a short walk along a flat cleared and open path to a wooden platform with differing levels which overlook the crater. Visitors must wear a helmet to protect them from potential debris which could fall on them from the smoke coming out of the crater and the surrounding area. Poás is still a very active volcano. In fact, it erupted the very day after we visited! I admit, we were lucky. The crater had smoke coming out of it, which smelled like sulfur. Some yellow and green could be seen on the floor of the crater as it came out from inside the rock. The walls and much of the surrounding areas were exposed rock.

Volcán Barba, by contrast, seemed as if it must have been a very long time since it has erupted. In order to reach the volcano, I needed to hike on a narrow trail in dense forest and uneven terrain for a number of kilometers. The walls of the crater and surrounding areas were covered by dense trees and ferns like the rest of the forest, and the crater itself was filled with water, forming a lake.

Before visiting Costa Rica, I had never seen a volcano closely before. I was even more impressed when seeing Vocán Barba after having seen Volcán Poás because Poás gave me a perspective, or some context, for seeing Barba. The volcano craters were different because they formed at different times and in different ways. They are similar to each other because the basic shape of them started out in the same way, with an eruption from rock in relatively the same geographic area. But, they are different today because of what they have been exposed to. I think this concept can be applied to people as well. We are all people, with the same basic form.

But, we are different from each other because of our stories. The craters are very similar shapes, and so when I saw Barba I could imagine that it once looked dry and empty like Poás. I imagine it must have taken a lot of time and a number of geomorphic processes for Volcán Barba to become what it is today. If I had not seen Volcán Poás first, I am not sure I would have understood what I was looking at. I wonder how often I look at something without a context for what I am seeing. Having context allows a person to have a greater appreciation for what is in front of them. I hope that, in a much larger way, living for a semester in Costa Rica will give me a context to see the United States when I come back home.

Author: Sarah Rosa Germann

Location: Longo Maï, Costa Rica

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Longo Maï is a rural community in Costa Rica. The community was founded by Nicaraguan refugees in the 1980s, but is currently comprised mostly of Salvadorian refugees. Longo Maï is a commune, as the community functions in a self-sustaining way. Most of the food which the people eat is grown in Longo Maï, and each neighbor shares what they have with the other so that everyone has a variety of foods on their tables. I was very impressed as my host grandmother showed me the property around her house with plant after plant of edible foods; trees with pipas, limes, cacao, and more were only a few steps from her door.

I have visited Longo Maï twice so far during my semester in Costa Rica, once in January with my Valpo Cohort, and once in March with my group of fellow environmental students and the organization ICADS. During my time there, I learned from the community members about their way of life. The community members follow a life style of simple living in peace and harmony with people and with the earth. They admit that their way of life is counter-intuitive to the way the rest of the world lives, but it is a good way of living, and it seems to work very well.

During my January visit to Longo Maï I interviewed a number of individuals who were witnesses to violence during the war in El Salvador during the 1980s. Their experience has given them an exceptional abhorrence to violence which extends to an abhorrence of any amount of greed and/or spite for other people. They not only dislike war, they dislike the mentality of capitalism. This is because capitalism causes people to work against others or exploit others instead of working together and sharing. If everyone were to share what they had and live in harmony with others, there would be much less suffering in the world. The people of Longo Maï live in harmony with each other by sharing the food which grows in their yards so that everyone has plenty, and by sharing wisdom and knowledge about farming techniques so that everyone can produce their crops efficiently and well.

The people of Longo Maï live very simply. They do not live a consumerist life-style because they have everything they need right where they are in Longo Maï. On my second trip I spent some time on the farm of Wade More. He showed us his land and the way he grows his crops. As it turns out, the government makes it very hard for farmers like More to produce organically, trying to impose standards on them which they have found do not work for their specific farm. For example, in his vegetable garden Wade uses chicken manure as a fertilizer. He needed to use a different kind of fertilizer in order to obtain an organic license. But, when he switched, his vegetables did not grow. The farmers of Longo Maï know their land, and what works to make their crops grow. In this way they live in harmony with the land.

Wade also talked to us a lot about the concept of perceived needs. This is when a person believes they need something, or wants something, that they do not actually need. He said than many times people believe they need something even though they do not, especially in our western societies. Consuming more than we need is wasteful and harmful to the earth.

The people of Longo Maï invite tourists and visitors from Northern countries into their community so that we may have an opportunity to learn from them and gain a new perspective on our own lives. After my visit, I will remember to evaluate what I need versus what I think I need, consider where my food comes from, and remember that living peacefully with others is better for me and for the environment than living in contention.

I found Longo Maï to be a very neat and beautiful place. Please enjoy some of my favorite photos which I took in the community below.

Just upstream from a popular swimming spot.

A horse in a yard near my host family’s house.

Baby ducks and their mother in a little stream near a foot path. (Ducks in Longo Maï do not mind people being near them very much.)

The porch at Edit’s house. (Edit is the woman who takes charge of organizing the tourist who come through Longo Maï.)

The wood burning stove Edit cooks tortillas on, in her house.