By: Eva Barsness
On a somewhat normal Wednesday afternoon, we all found ourselves about a half a mile’s jaunt from the Panama border. We had come to this region to visit the Loma Linda Field Station, meeting local researchers and scientists, Jason and Gerald, who are both working on experiments throughout the station. In the words of our guide, Gerald, this station acts as a “small ecosystem restoration lab”. This sixty hectares of land used to be a region of degraded farmland. Thirty years later, this land is now used to test different methods of forest restoration in separate plots throughout the property. For example, in one plot they planted a single tree species, in another they planted two, and others with three, six, and twelve species planted. By monitoring the health of plants, animals, and bugs over years at a time, they can find what treatments are most productive. What the researchers have noticed is that planting a diverse array of trees is vital in restoring forest land.
All of these projects are funded by the University of Zurich, with Gerald working with a couple scientists currently living abroad. This really demonstrates the global efforts of forest restoration in the tropics; after all, the health of Costa Rica’s biodiversity impacts the entire planet. Our tour of the station concluded with a celebratory “soil pie” for Joel’s birthday! (And spoiler: this wasn’t the only cake he got today!)
Being as close to Panama as we were, it would be a crime if we didn’t take a little detour. What we found was an unassuming sidewalk in a cute little town, where one step across the pavement marks a step into a completely different country. The only sign we were now in Panama, besides a pillar bearing the flag, was the whole hour that was suddenly added to our phones: Panama time. Besides swinging on the playground, we had some fun splurging some colones in the local market for some good bus snacks. The bread was a big hit.
That night, the time had finally come for the big surprise: Joel’s birthday performance. Little did he know, the group had prepared a rendition of the dance in West Side Story’s “Jet Song” earlier that day, thanks to our choreographer, Alice. As a big fan of West Side Story, I think that Joel was very happy with our mediocre attempt at dancing. And he was especially happy when the triple chocolate cake appeared at the end of the performance. We ended his birthday celebration with a viewing party of his favorite tv show, Severance! It’s safe to say we’re his favorite global group!
As the end of our stay in Costa Rica looms near, our class was tasked with our final project for tropical ecology: our communication video project. Our short videos show how sustainable practices are an effective driver of positive environmental impacts, using Costa Rica as an example. We broke off into our groups and began brainstorming, writing our scripts, putting on our costumes, and got to filming! This was a really fun chance to apply what we’ve learned in a creative way.
That same day, we had our Ethics of Study and Service Abroad class with Professor Leer. In our lecture, we talked about the concept of “colonial students” and the ways in which we related to and did not relate to this concept. According to Anthony Ogden in his The View From the Veranda, there is a new generation of Americans who, like the early colonials,
“yearn to be abroad, to travel worlds different from their own, to find excitement, to see new wonders, and to have experiences of a lifetime” (Ogden).
And yet, these colonial students also “have a sense of entitlement, as if the world is theirs for discovery, if not for the taking.” As a class, we reflected on the ways that we are experiencing life abroad from a “veranda,” and are not fully immersing ourselves in the local culture. While we are going out of our comfort zones in many ways, I think we all reflected on ways that we can try to step further out of that bubble.
For the first night in forever, the skies were clear in Costa Rica. Word spread quickly and we soon all found ourselves outside, under the stars. With the lack of light pollution, we could clearly make out the milky way and the endless array of stars in the sky. I don’t say this often, but it was magical.
That same night, we all piled into the cabin for another movie night. This time, though, we finally agreed to watch a horror movie. However, about half way through the movie, we had a visitor: another bat (our third, actually, but who’s counting?) Unlike the other two nights, I was almost thankful for his presence this time. It really added to the horror movie viewing experience, with him swooping around the living room. And it turns out, trying to catch bats with blankets only makes them mad- don’t do it.
Now that I’m writing this, it’s starting to feel real: we are saying goodbye to Costa Rica tomorrow.
In just one month, our group has shared so many incredible (and sometimes not so incredible) memories together. We’ve learned so much about sustainable practices in order to lower our environmental impact, something we will take with us moving forward. And being surrounded by so much nature, I think we’ve all come to have a greater appreciation for conservation.
It’s going to be bittersweet leaving Costa Rica; while we’re all excited for the next installment of our adventure, we’re all going to miss our professor, Emi, and our TA, Andrés, who we’ve grown close to over this past month. It’s also going to be hard to leave behind the fresh fruit juice and coffee we can confidently find at every time of day.
Wish us luck on our 25 hour travel day tomorrow! See you in South Africa…
XOXO,
Birgitta (Gossip Girl)
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