Nearing the End

With only seven weeks left until graduation, it seems that I have so many things left to tick off my bucket list, with not enough time to do them!
Exams are just around the corner, and just about everything has become more interesting than reading an IB textbook- even cleaning my room is appealing!

Here are some of the adventures that I have been on, over the past few weeks:

This is a photo from project week approximately a month ago.  I went alongside 20 other students to Hitoy Cerere national park- one of the least explored parks in Costa Rica.  Here, we spent most of our volunteering hours maintaining trails that weaved throughout the forest.  On our second day here, we went for a 2 hour hike up the river in this picture which eventually lead to beautiful, 40ft waterfall.  It was one of the most pretty sights I had ever seen!

It was not long after project week that ten of us went on a hike up to the nearby landslide in the central valley area, which took approximately 4 hours to hike up.  As you can see in the photo-by looking at the wind turbines on the distant mountains- Costa Rica produces most of its energy through renewable resources- mainly hydropower which fuels 70% of the country's energy!  Costa Rica is also attempting to go carbon neutral by 2021!  All countries should follow Costa Rica's example of creating a  more sustainable environment!

This is a photo of another hike that I went on, upon visiting Arenal Volcano 2 weeks ago, during Semana Santa- the national holiday!
We camped beside this lake, which was icy cold, but very refreshing to wash the dirt and sweat off after a hard day's hike!

Arenal Volcano towers above anything else in this picture, at almost 5500 feet high!
It was magnificent to see it, but even better to walk the trails which ran next to it!

Surprisingly, this waterfall is located 30 minutes by foot away from the school.  Although it's difficult to get to, the journey was definitely worth it,  As I sat down on the rocks where I am seen standing in this picture, I saw a large black vulture swoop down the cliff face, and land about half way down.  It appeared to have gone into some large crevice, and did not appear for quite some time, before it eventually flew away.  I wanted to know what was so interesting to the vulture, and so I climbed up the face of the wall until I eventually found the spot where the vulture vanished.  It stank of putrid meat and feces.  I had to refrain from my instinct to gag, as I had no idea what was going to be in the crevice once I peered in.  So I held my breath and looked inside.  It was pitch black in there at first.  But after my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I found that there was a a vulture chick the size of a baby monkey in there- it was all fluffy and seemed well built.  It then all made sense.  The crevice in the cliff was the vulture's nest, and the smell was rotten meat that the mother had fed to her chick!  Overall, it was a really insightful experience.  I hope to visit this waterfall and the chick once more!

In this picture, Hempitera larvae are closely grouped together, on Costa Rica's national tree- the Guanacaste tree.  They are waiting for their wings to fully develop in the midday day sun in order to venture out into a world of mystery and endless possibilities.

Keep reading!

Dilly x