EARTH and all its goodness

Day 3 of costa rica was as interesting, if not as exciting, as yesterday.

We visited a place called EARTH university. It's an acronym for something in Spanish but I don't know what!! This university was in place of our tour of the local primary school. All the schools have ha their holiday extended by a week because of swine flu!

The university was nice. It's a four year with about 400 or so students coming from many different backgrounds: many Latin America countries and the islands and Africa. Most students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have to pass a rigorous admissions process. They are looking for leaders who are going to change the world through (mostly) agriculture. They are very passionate about preaching tolerance and understanding between individuals of different backgrounds. I felt that a lot of the things that the director was saying were things that we face and try to teach at the high school level.

After the director was finished speaking, we went to see some of the projects that the students were working on. They work on major projects for the four years they are there. The two we viewed were growing crops or vegetation in urban areas and their organic farm. Both were fascinating. It made me wish I were teaching bio again or maybe an environmental science. Everything they teach is very hands on, which is something we're obviously trying to do as well. They have a lot of resources here.

Today was super hot and humid! We are definitely in the rainforest now! You could stand outside and be dripping with perspiration! In fact, we were eating lunch and when you looked outside nothing was moving!! There was no breeze!!

We made it to Selva Verde, which is the lodge where we'll be for the next few nights! It's definitely in the forest with the river right outside and frogs and birds making lots of noise. Here we listened to a very passionate speaker, Paulo. He is a costa rican who is fighting for the conservation of his country. His information was wonderful, all about the rainforest and biodiversity and conservation. He used to be a greenpeace activist and if you saw him, you'd see that he looks like one! His speech was very interesting, but it was his passion that did it for me!

Now Susie and I are getting ready for bed in the middle of a true thunderstorm! It is the wet season here or, as they call it, the green season because evreything is so green and lush! The highlight of the storm so far is that Susie and I have discovered a leak (make that 2) in our ceiling!! Our garbage cans are now doubling as buckets!!