la puesta del sol

 

The picture on the top is a view from our dorm room door looking out at the sunset.  The picture on the right is of the pool that is located here on campus.  It feels more like a bathtub than a nice refreshing pool.  The picture on the left is of the gym where students play basketball, volleyball, and many other activities. 

Today we were in the classroom for the entire day.  This morning we were divided into groups which were dairy farm, pineapple plantation, and pepper farm.  I am in the pineapple plantation group so here in a week or so I will be living with a Costa Rican family who has a small pineapple operation.  I am really looking forward to this experience.  Today in class we researched some of the environmental impacts of these activities so when we go to the farms we can talk to the farmers and see how "sustainable" they are.  In the afternoon we learned a lot about the global carbon market and I learned a lot about how carbon trading works and what it is.  This evening some of us went for a walk around campus after dinner as the sun was setting to see what campus was like after dark (at ~6:00 pm)!  Tomorrow we will be once again working with EARTH students at various farms and then will be back out into the forest reserve learning how to measure carbon in a forest.  We were also informed today that the Turrialba volcano which we can see from our rooms has been upgraded to a yellow alert status due to increase seismic activity in the area.  We are a long ways from the volcano and they are not expecting an eruption just have called in some specialists to assess the situation...but it would be cool to see a volcano eruption!