Costa Rica 2010-day one!!!

So technically, our trip started last night for most people. Everyone who was not from Houston stayed with JJ or Jessica to gather all the supplies and to do any last minute preparations. Some people packed a little too much, so we made sure that everyone's bag met the requirements for the airlines. The next morning, everyone met at the airport very early....830! Luckily, there were no issues getting through security or getting back to the gate. The flight, however, was shall we say...interesting. Starting out an adventure on a broken plane... not the best idea. It turned out being fine, but once we were boarded there was an announcement saying that we were going to have to switch planes due to a dent in one of the fan blades. About ten minutes later, they decided that we were going to stay on the plane and assured us that the problem had been fixed. Other than some turbulance, the flight was good! We arrived in San Jose a little after three and met Alberth, one of the assistant directors of the center. He is awesome! He was very energetic and fun and extremely knowledgable about the wildlife and the country of Costa Rica. Even though the bus ride from the airport to the Texas A&M Soltis Center was around 4 hours, the beautiful scenery and Alberths knowledge of the rainforests made the time fly by. One word to describe the drive was definitely "colorful". Costa Rica is so different from the places that we are used to not only because of the obvious differences in enviornments, but also in the homes and buildings that make up the towns here. We drove through a few small towns, but during most of the drive, we were surrounded by thick rainforests, winding roads, mountains, and rivers. The buildings were very colorful and close together, and despite some of them being kind of run down, they each were unique and had a lot of character. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. There was no part of the drive that was flat. The land was completely covered with trees and plants with many vibrantly colored flowers. The land was very lush with tons of different species of plants. Near the airport, the land was termed a drier environment but as we got closer to the center we entered more of what they called rainforests. There were more mosses and ferns as we got closer, due to the wetter environment. One thing that we noticed was that the people of Costa Rica live with their environment, not in it. For example, some of the roads that we were on had very sharp turns or curves. Instead of changing the environment to make the roads more convenient for travelers, they left the turns to preserve as much of the areas around the roads as possible. (by sharp we dont mean dangerous, just not paved or as wide as roads that we are used to.) They truely care about their enviornment and value the land more than Americans do. Alberth talked to us about how the main goals of the center are about sustainability and being ecofriendly. They have gardens here at the center where a lot of the food that they serve is grown.

Speaking of food, our dinner tonight was fabulous! We had a traditional Costa Rican dinner of rice and beans with chicken along with salad and gellatin that was made from the rinds of pineapples. We also had freshly squeezed juice and coffee. yuuummmm. The center is very nice, everyone has their own bed in very clean and well kept rooms. We are so excited to begin our adventure here and cant wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

Until tomorrow,

Rachael, Drew, Kevin, and Matt

ps, it is hard to write when there are moths and other insects flying around our faces. haha.


pictures coming soon!