Enchanting Beauty

By Corinne Tarantino

You know that moment, where something is so beautiful in front of you that time seems to stand still and feels like the rest of the world disappears? That has been almost every day in Costa Rica. Each day I fail to believe I could really be living in such paradise. Every new location is wonderful, filled with lots of new sites to explore.

            We started at Palo Verde Biological Station located in a wetland area of a tropical dry forest. There we saw the most stunning sunsets,over the wetlands, with migrating birds flying over. The animals were everywhere, howler monkeys waking you up in the night, geckos sounding like little birds, and black iguanas blocking your path to the dining hall. Next, we went to Cuericí Biological Station which was in the mountains, in the clouds, surrounded by oak forest. The organic trout farm we lived on felt like it was out of a fairy tale, as the trout ponds were carved into the mountains with lush grasses around the edges. Then, we went down the mountain to Las Cruces Biological Station, which includes the Wilson Botanical Garden. Each day walking to breakfast took my breath away, because of the beauty of the birds and plants. The garden was also surrounded by premontane wet forest. The forest was filled with thin vines and lianas and you could hear birds off in the distance and hear the hum of the cicadas around you. Despite the wonder of these locations, the most interesting place was yet to come.

            By far though, the most magical place was at Las Alturas. There we went on a hike up the mountain where we witnessed the stunning transition between three types of forest, that was like switching between Disney movies. We started in an old growth forest, where there were huge trees with buttresses that you could stand in and lianas that sometimes were as wide as my head. There it felt like we were in the Jungle Book, a place where you can have a chance encounter with jaguars or snakes. Then, all of the sudden, we were walking into a bamboo forest. It was like being Indiana Jones, looking for the lost temple, with boulders covered in vines with several small hidden caves in the mountain. As soon as the bamboo cleared away, it felt like a whole new upside-down world, with twisted trees and some of the strangest plants I’ve ever seen. It was like being in Alice in Wonderland, exploring the garden. Each different forest was a new surprise, in just a few short hours, I had entered three of my childhood movies. I had crawled through the vines with Mowgli, had braved the boulders with Indiana Jones and then wandered down the rabbit hole with Alice.

            Overall, this trip has allowed me to encounter some of the most magical places I have ever seen. Each day leading to new enchanting adventures, where I can explore untouched wilderness. Every new location leading to more biological questions of interactions between the plants, the animals, and everything in between.  Costa Rica has given me the opportunity to learn about how all of this beauty came to be and how biologists and community members are working to protect it for generations to come.