GEEO Costa Rica Google Earth Presentation

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USA

Today I’d like to share with you a great experience I had over the summer break. I traveled to Costa Rica through a non-profit organization called GEEO that helps educators travel abroad so that they can learn more about different cultures to share with their students. I was joined on my trip by teachers from all around the United States.

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Central America

Costa Rica is located in a part of the world called Central America. Central America is actually part of North America, the same continent with Canada, the USA, and Mexico. Central America is an isthmus, a small neck of land that connects North America with South America. The isthmus includes seven countries. Do you know any of the other countries in Central America? (A: Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.)

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Costa Rica

Costa Rica lies between Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. The Pacific Ocean is on its west coast and the Caribbean Sea on its east. It’s small—roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont (or Maryland and New Jersey) combined.

Despite its size, Costa Rica has incredible biological diversity—many different native plants and animals. There are over 500,000 species of plants, animals, and insects, making it one of the world’s top 20 most biodiverse countries. National parks and conservation areas covering over 25% of the country preserve this biodiversity.

Environmental protection is a top priority. Costa Rica was one of the first countries to recognize ecotourism’s value and promote sustainable tourism in protected areas. This generates economic benefits for local communities while preserving natural heritage.

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San José

We arrived first in the capital of Costa Rica, San José, which has a population of over 2 million people in the metropolitan area. (A metropolitan area is a major city plus its suburbs and nearby cities and towns that have significant economic and social ties. [Can you use your city or a nearby city as an example?])

San José, like many Latin American capitals, is more than just the seat of government: It is the cultural and economic hub of the country and home to nearly half of all Costa Ricans. Unlike many of the other capitals in the region, however, San José is a relatively young city. It was founded in 1738 and does not have as many colonial buildings as other Latin American capitals, because it did not grow into a large city until the late 1800s.

Today, San José is a large, cosmopolitan city, with all the wonderful features of big city life (theaters, museums, and parks), but also the challenges (pollution, congestion, traffic).

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Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica

In the heart of San José is the National Theatre of Costa Rica, which was built in the 1890s. The theater is a beautiful, ornate building and a great example of how Costa Rica capitalized on the coffee industry in the 19th century, which created a wealthy upper class of coffee growers and traders in Costa Rica.

Coffee exports brought economic stability and modernization to Costa Rica. It quickly became a major source of revenue for the country, and a tax placed on all exported coffee helped raise the funds to build the National Theatre. In 1884, San José became the third city in the world to install electric lighting for the public, and the city had public telephones long before many cities in Europe and North America.

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Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica

The National Stadium was built in 2011, financed by the government of China as a gift to Costa Rica. The stadium opened with a two-week-long celebration in March 2011, and the first match was between the Costa Rica national team and China, which resulted in a 2-2 draw. It is the first modern arena built in Central America, and it incorporates sustainable design features, such as rainwater harvesting and solar panels.

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Quepos

After a day in San José, we traveled south to Quepos, a small town on the Pacific Coast. It was originally a small fishing village, and there was a lot of banana production in the area. Today, the town is popular with tourists looking for beach time and outdoor activities, and its economy caters to travelers with hotels, restaurants, bars, art galleries, and gift shops.

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Manuel Antonio National Park

Just outside of Quepos is Manuel Antonio National Park, which was established in 1972. The dense rainforest reaches right up to the white sand beaches and crystal-clear water of the Pacific Ocean. There are several hiking trails that wind through the park, giving you the chance to explore the lush jungle and spot a variety of wildlife, including monkeys, sloths, ocelots, toucans, and many other bird species (more than 350 varieties of birds live in the park). Other outdoor activities include snorkeling, swimming with dolphins, sea kayaking, and horseback riding.

Manuel Antonio is one of Costa Rica’s smallest national parks, but it is one of its most popular, with around 500,000 visitors each year.

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Monteverde

After a couple of days at Quepos, we traveled a few hours northwest into the mountains of Costa Rica to a town called Monteverde. The area is also known for its coffee plantations, and the coffee grown here is known for its high quality and unique flavor profile.

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Monteverde Cloud Forest

Monteverde is famous for its cloud forest, which is a type of rainforest that occurs in mountainous regions and has near-constant cloud cover. The weather in Monteverde is almost always cool and misty, with temperatures ranging from 60 to 70 degrees fahrenheit. The clouds/fog provide a consistent source of moisture that sustains dense vegetation and a diverse ecosystem. Monteverde has more than 100 species of mammals, 400 bird species, tens of thousands of types of insects, and 2,500 types of plants. The Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve was established by the local community in 1992 by locals who wanted to protect the forest while also establishing tourism as a way to develop the community.

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Arenal

Next, we traveled through the mountains and rainforest to Arenal Volcano, a young, active volcano that formed about 7,000 years ago. The volcano was dormant/sleeping for nearly 400 years until it erupted unexpectedly in 1968 and buried three neighboring villages in ash. The eruption killed 87 people and destroyed crops and homes. Since then, locals have started building their homes and farming fields farther away from Arenal. Until 2010, the volcano was very active, sending out smoke and lava almost every day. The constant activity turned the volcano into a tourist highlight for over forty years.

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Arenal 2

Costa Rica has 6 active and 61 dormant volcanoes, including Arenal’s neighbor, Chato Volcano. The volcanoes are part of a region of the Pacific Ocean known as the Ring of Fire, which includes many of the world’s most active and dangerous volcanoes. The Ring of Fire stretches from the western coast of North and South America, through the Pacific Islands, and around to the eastern coast of Asia. The Ring of Fire is a result of the movement of tectonic plates, which causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. As the plates move, they create friction and pressure, which can lead to earthquakes and volcanic activity.

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Lake Arenal

Lake Arenal sits at the base of Arenal Volcano. This man-made reservoir was created in 1979 for a hydroelectric project to meet Costa Rica’s growing energy needs. It’s Costa Rica’s largest lake and a popular destination for windsurfing, fishing, kayaking, and boating.

The dam’s hydroelectric plant initially generated 70% of the country’s electricity, driving Costa Rica’s green energy policy. Costa Rica now generates over 99% of its electricity from renewable sources—hydroelectric, wind, geothermal, and solar. Today, Lake Arenal generates about 10-15% of the country’s electricity.

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La Fortuna

La Fortuna is the closest town to Arenal and a great base for hiking around the volcano. The area has hot springs and a 230ft (70m) waterfall with chilly water at its base. Adventure seekers can rappel down waterfalls, zip line through the rainforest canopy, go white water rafting, mountain biking, caving, or horseback riding.

Like other parts of Costa Rica, the area has incredible biodiversity with over 600 bird species. Bird-watching tours and canopy walks help visitors see birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, and plants.

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Sarapiquí

After a couple of days, we left La Fortuna and traveled into the Sarapiquí (pronunciation) river valley.

We spent the next two days in the rainforest of the Sarapiquí valley. It is home to countless species of animals, including hundreds of types of birds and butterflies. We were able to go hiking, swim in the river, or learn to make empanadas.

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Tortuguero National Park

Next, we traveled to the village of Tortuguero (pronunciation) along the Caribbean coast. Tortuguero National Park was established in 1975 to protect sea turtle nesting sites. The area was once a shallow marine environment with coral reefs and mangrove forests. Over time, sea level changes and sediment created sandy beaches ideal for turtle nesting.

Female turtles leave the ocean, dig holes on the beach, lay 80-120 eggs, cover them with sand, and return to the water. Eggs incubate for about two months before hatchlings emerge and rush to the sea. Four of the seven sea turtle species nest here: green sea turtles, hawksbills, loggerheads, and leatherbacks.

The park has diverse habitats including beaches, mangroves, rainforest, lagoons, rivers, and swamps. These support incredible biodiversity: three-toed sloths, iguanas, spider monkeys, poison dart frogs, basilisk lizards (called Jesus lizards because they run across water), toucans, parrots, jaguars, and kinkajous.

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Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

Our final stop on Costa Rica was further south on the Caribbean coast to the town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. The town and nearby area was once a hub for the cultivation and export of bananas, but Puerto Viejo is now popular with tourists for its beautiful beaches and coastal ecosystems. Snorkeling is very popular, and surfers in particular like Puerto Viejo; the biggest and reportedly best wave in Costa Rica, called the Salsa Brava, is found here, and surfers from around the world come to tackle it.

Puerto Viejo has an Afro-Caribbean culture. Workers from Jamaica and other Caribbean islands were brought to the region to work in the banana industry in the early 20th century. Dishes such as jerk chicken and rice and beans cooked in coconut milk are popular. The music of the region is heavily influenced by reggae and calypso and features traditional instruments such as the steel drum and the marimba.

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Snorkeling

While snorkeling off the coast of Puerto Viejo, you can see beautiful coral of all different kinds and colors, as well as tropical fish and shellfish. Just north of Puerto Viejo, Cahuita National Park was built to protect one of the only living coral reefs in Costa Rica. Visitors are able to snorkel in the protected marine area and see 35 species of coral and 123 species of native fish, as well as molluscs, crustaceans, and occasionally marine mammals like orcas.

Does anyone know of other places in the world where snorkelers can see different types of coral? One of the most famous is the Great Barrier Reef off the east coast of Australia.