Costa Rica

Jon and I were fortunate to recently spend 2 weeks in Costa Rica. Check out the slideshow on the right. One of the highlights of our trip was a stay at Rancho Margot. Check out their website: www.ranchomargot.org. Rancho Margot is a self-sufficient, organic farm and ranch in the rainforest. The ranch is dedicated to sustainable eco-tourism and they have become a model for others. Just 6yrs ago the land was completely devastated by overgrazing of livestock. As you can see from the pictures, they have gone a long ways towards reforesting the valley. Here is some of the amazing things they are doing:
- Approximately 70% of the food they serve on the ranch, they grow themselves. They make their own milk, cheese, yogurt, as well as a variety of fruits and vegetables.
- They recycle literally everything except the toilet paper. Animal waste is separated into solids (used in composting) and liquids (which go through a bio-digester that creates methane used to cook in the kitchen).
- They make their own soaps for all the guests. Leftover soaps are recycled into laundry detergeant and dishsoap for the kitchen.
- All of the hot water is heated by running it through coils in the center of the huge compost pile, where it gets really hot.
Besides all of these great things they offer horseback riding, hiking, kayaking, yoga, and opportunities to help out on the farm.

Speaking of hiking....Jon and I decided to take a night hike to the top of the mountain so we could see the lava flows from the nearby volcano. At the top of the mountain we encountered the Bushmaster, Costa Rica's most deadly snake. It is literally the only snake in Costa Rica that will actually chase people. Jon experienced this first hand. Apparently getting bit results in serious nerve damage or death if you aren't to a hospital within 1 hour (which would not have been possible in our case). This snake had successfully killed 2 horses and 1 cow at the ranch over the last few years. When we told the owner of the ranch what had happened, he hired someone to track it down. Rather scary. Probably one of the most entertaining parts of the story was what happened when we returned to the ranch that evening. We went to the small bar to get a beer and told the bartender we had seen a snake. We asked her if Costa Rica had poisonous snake (duh) and she said, "Yeah, this is Costa f&#%ing Rica". We had a good laugh over that.

The other big highlight of the trip was Monteverde Cloud Forest. The forestry dork in me really came out at this place. Such amazing vegetation. I never really understood what a cloud forest was about until this visit. There are so many species that live in the forest canopy, it's almost like a separate ecosystem in the air. We saw an amazing amount of birdlife and even spotted a Quetzal! The quetzal is in danger of becoming extinct but happens to be thriving in the cloud forest. It's such a beautiful bird...check out the pictures!

Overall, a highly recommended destination.