Neverland Sunset

Hello blogosphere.  During this past week, my afternoons have been consumed by hours and hours of Espanol, but the mornings have been devoted to a wide variety of internship presentations by several people who are doing cool stuff in Monteverde in the realms of native plants, conservation, environmental design, alternative building methods, eco/agrotourism, and sustainable agriculture.  We had a few hours this morning to select our top three choices and write a preliminary proposal/application.  The internships I chose were:

1. Working at a nearby hydroponic greenhouse, experimenting with "worm tea" (i.e. poop) in an effort to create the right balance of nutrients so that it can be substituted for the synthetic fertilizer the farmer is currently using. (note: most beautiful/organized greenhouse I have ever seen, saw the biggest and most incredible beet I have ever encountered)

2.  Working with an engineer to learn a new construction technique pioneered in Iran called SuperAdobe in order to build a big retaining wall at the Study Center in order to prevent erosion into a nearby stream/eventual property damage.

3. Working with same engineer to design and implement a rainwater harvesting system for the roof of the Study Center.

I should find out tomorrow which I'll be working on for four weeks later in the program.  The engineer, Ayal Bryant, is super cool and I'm thinking about asking him if he has any upcoming builds/other projects this summer he could use a hand with.  We'll see...

In other news, I saw a great sunset the other evening.  In a fortunate set of circumstances, the roadside directly across from the CPI language center where we take Spanish classes is one of the best overlooks in Monteverde and we leave CPI just before sunset every day.  Consequently, several of the past days have found most of us gawking and snapping photos for ten minutes after class.  Two days ago the coloring in the sky and the view of the Gulf of Nicoya and its islands to the west looked like something straight out of Peter Pan.

This coming Saturday we have an all day hike up to/in the Cloud Forest Reserve, our first Costa Rican Natural History class session.  It should be great, since I've been looking forward to the chance to do some hiking and actually get in the forest to explore.  Then on Sunday several of us are taking a walk on the more touristy side of things and doing a Zipline Canopy Tour, which should be awesome.  Well, the mountain evening chill is blowing in through the door of the Study Center, so I'm headed home to some warm beans and rice.