Day 4-Thermo-mania, Soccer, Rain forest/Water, Methane, Container House

Woke up to a very nice sunrise outside my window with the volcano in sight. Decided to take a morning walk and explore the hot springs. Talked to some local Ticos about life, energy, and the country.

Breakfast was typical gallo pinto with eggs and platano but they finally added crema (sour cream). Juice for the morning orange juice!

Decided to check out the mini zoo again and the museum with a couple students from the group and then played a fun soccer game with local ticos, we met the next Cristiano Ronaldo.

Headed back to hotel Tilawa, our home, for lunch red pasta and a salad.

Following lunch we had a rainforest tour to see the water filtration process of the town and how the water piping is done. Then we headed to the pig farm and Boliyo the farmer explained to us the methane project he has going on and the dairy products he make. After that we hiked up to his container home which is very nice and ate cheese with crackers.

Had a capstone discussion where we talked about various projects and had a geothermal review session. After the long but great discussion we ate a chicken soup dinner and white rice with papaya juice! Dessert was amazing fruit with ice cream and chocolate sounds weird but it was excellente!

The night ended with a rain forest dance which was very interesting wish I would have taken my camera to capture the trail we had to walk in the dark anywho it was fun and everyone had a good time.

Life is great...I learn, I meet people and I get to dance!

Pura Vida!

Jessica

Morning walk trail...
Water along the trail....
The sun and flowers, you can barely see the volcano...
more flowers...
Hot springs coming up...
Cleaning the hot springs before people jump in...
....this is were the guys jumped from but in the dark!
The water is clear....
This was the pool, with warm water. Volcano, pretty view!
Mickie Mouse pool for the little ones, we were wondering if Disney had a clue about this.
More Toucans they are lovely....
Ankur petting the cow...
Ankur posing with the fake cow....
Kat posing too...
and well I had to do it too...
Soccer, this was when our team made the first gol!
Do you see the moves of the next Ronaldo!
Both teams united for a group picture, sweet picture under the tree!
As we were leaving I noticed more Wind Turbines, I know I am obsessed!
This picture was to envision the power of the wind.
Going to the rain forest to see where the water comes from...
Fun time going up but scared to see snakes....
Solar panel backups for the water well.
Water storage backup...
Older wind turbines behind the Hotel.
HUGE pigs...they create waste
...which then gets stored in this big bag (methane gas)
the water then comes out it is dirty...
but these plants love it so they take the water,
and then after the plants take all the dirt the water comes out clean and waters the grass around.
Cheese, this is homemade, is being made there in a little barn area.
On our way to Boliyo's house to try the cheese and see his container home.
The bed room inside the container home.
Boliyo's wife and daughter nice ticas that gave us cheese and crackers.
JP telling us about the cheese...it was delicious!
The container house from the outside.

Andrew, Dave and Jarrod getting a coconut. I believe they climb up a tree to get it!

Day 3-Geothermal Plant Visit

Day 3

→ Woke up early since we had to have class early since we were traveling to a geothermal plant visit.

→ Tico breakfast consisted of gallo pinto which is rice, red beans and fruit. The juice for the morning was watermelon.

→ The drive was about an hour an a half when we arrived to the hotel we had lunch waiting for us. I had fry fish, white rice, mixed vegetables and my juice was guanabana!

→ We had some time before leaving to the plant so I visited the hotels small granja which is a small size zoo.

→ Geothermal plant tour was well explained and we were given the opportunity to walk through the process and see how they run the plant.

→ Before dinner some of the group went swimming on the hot springs around the hotel while I took a nice cold shower in the room, very ironic we couldn't figure that one out? Dinner was fantastic grilled fish, cauliflower and green beans, mash potatoes and my juice was passion fruit!

→ Right after dinner I signed up a massage to relax, it has been the best one I've had the oil was coconut, the smell was so good. I was ready for the hot springs which added to my relaxation.

→ The last thing I did for the night was explore in the dark with my flashlight and it wasn't until I heard something move on the ground that I decided to call it a night.

This trip is getting better every day can't wait for tomorrow!

Pura Vida,

Jessica

The volcano, the place we were going to Thermo-Mania was close to the volcano...hot springs here we come!
Not a great picture but you can see the wind turbines....
The wind blows hard...can you tell from the tree.
Toucan...very pretty one.
Beautiful colors on the peacock.
Geothermal plant...cooling tower.
We were given a tour of the entire process...
Control room...
Where the electricity goes to the transmission lines....

Day 2: First official day

Day 2

→ Woke up early to the sound of raindrops and feeling a little cold. Shower was very warm and the view from my room is indescribable. Crazy how the weather went from rainy to sunny in a few hours and a beautiful rainbow appeared.

→ Tico breakfast consisted of gallo pinto which is rice with red beans and cilantro, cheese, scramble eggs and toast. The juice for the morning was melon.

→ Went to a place called Libano which is an old gold mine town to see the waterfalls and a hike in the rainforest. Very nice but painful.

→ Headed back to the hotel for lunch which consisted of white rice, chicken, salad and red beans.

→ First class on Electricity and efficiency, we had many great discussions and future aspirations were inspired.

→ Got a ride with a guy, who is staying at the hotel and is friends with JP the owner of the hotel, to the newer Wind farm to see if we could catch the sunset (very beautiful!)

→ Dinner consisted of a delicious stew, white rice and and a salad. We had dessert which was to die for, round slice of pineapple with ice cream on the top and then a sweet sauce covering it which was homemade (orange, lime and sugar).

→ Had a coffee discussion on many things dealing with energy consumption and energy produced and then ended the night with a nice dance workout.

So far I am having so much fun while I learn things that make me happy!

Pura Vida,

Jessica

This was the view from my room, beautiful scenery to wake up to....
So many different native plants...
Lake Arenal infront of the room too...
After eating breakfast we noticed a rainbow, I have never seen vivid colors on a rainbow until this day!
On our way to the waterfalls...cow traffic!
Finally the waterfalls after the hike this was the first picture I took, had to catch my breath!
Representing TEXAS, Britney from Denton-Ankur from Sugarland-me...
The guys having a blast jumping into the water...

Finally made it down to get full pictures of the waterfall...BEAUTIFUL!

So this man Luis, crazy insane person, teased me that I could not cross to the other side by walking on a tree branch over rocks and water...proved him wrong!
These are the interesting things we did to look at the old gold mine cave, crossing over slippery rocks!
Ended the day by checking out the turbines.....

The sunset was not one I was expecting but the view of the turbines was great!

Day 1 Pictures...

I forgot about the pictures...It was foggy so I did not get any good one of the landscapes and then it got dark but will take some soon!

View from the plane, San Jose looks pretty from above.

One of the volcanoes not sure which one, do you see the clouds?

Traffic...I thought Houston had it bad, I was wrong.

ESTRELLA de Flores, when we stopped for lunch at El Jardin this was the view. Isn't it lovely...

On my right of the Star there was a clock and a pelican (or some type of bird)all made with flowers.

To the left of the star was an imprint that read COSTA RICA made with flowers too.

Close up of some of the flowers.

I wasn't kidding about the land slide, Caterpillar to the rescue!

Hasta Luego!

Jessica

Day 1: Getting to Costa Rica...Guanacuaste

Going out of the country is my new hobby this time the purpose is to get educated on renewable energy in the beautiful paradise of Costa Rica!

The journey will be 12 days long and each day I will let you know what adventures I participated in and what I learned so the trip starts a little bit like this...

Dia 1: 3 hour drive more like a 5 hour drive (Are we there YET?)

--> As we where ascending on the plane I noticed all the green vegetation and then a beautiful rainbow, that should be a good indication to a good trip in CR! (I assume) "We have landed 20 minutes early, " said the pilot over the intercom.

--> Getting around the airport was no problem, immigration at CR didn't even ask me why I was there. Found my counselors fast and then we where on our way to sign insurance papers. 2 p.m.

--> The insurance paper work took longer than expected but it is good to know that if anything happens to me on this trip they got me covered!

--> We headed out for the 3 hour trip to Guanacuaste where our Hotel was waiting for us with dinner. The road view was great and encountered a wide range of things such as a land slide, car break down traffic, and something the guys think was a drug bust...

--> We stop for a late lunch (we were really hungry) at around 4 at El Jardin and for the first time ate a first Costa Rican meal which consisted of rice, fish, chick peas with chicken, fish and a passion fruit drink. There was a nice view of a beautiful garden with many different types of flowers, which lunch was always like this!

-->We continued driving by this time is was getting really dark, the sunset was beautiful which I couldn't get a picture of it but trust me really beautiful.

--> Finally we made it to Hotel Tilawa, where we will be staying most of our nights, close to 8:30 p.m. and where shown to our room which let me tell you are REALLY nice. The Hotel is very SUSTAINABLE. We ate dinner, chicken, rice and salad with a nice glass of white wine, by the way the chicken is straight from the farm of the Hotel, and a chocolate cake/ice cream with a strawberry for dessert. Nice way to end the night and head to bed for a long journey ahead.

Ciao and Pura Vida!

Jessica