Arenal Rainforest and Volcano Day Trip:
We drove on a two hour bus ride to hike in the Arenal Rainforest and view the Arenal Volcano.
Costa Rica’s Economy:
Along the way to the rainforest we saw fields of sugar cane. We learned that Costa Rica exports sugar, coconuts, pineapple, bananas, and coffee. Costa Rica has a strong economy. They use laborers from Nicaragua to help with the day labor needed to harvest these crops. Costa Rica also uses hydroelectric towers to generate electricity for the country. The power of the hydroelectric towers generates extra electricity to even supply Costa Rica’s neighbors of Panama and Nicaragua. Costa Rica has worked hard at preserving resources. There is a strong recycling program in the country. Wind farms are also used to generate power. We saw several wind farms and learned that about 300 windmills can provide electricity for about 25 houses.
Lake Arenal:
Lake Arenal is a large manmade lake that was created after the last major eruption of Arenal Volcano. In 1968 lava covered two towns at the base of the Arenal Volcano. The towns were Pronadora and Arenal. 87 people died with that eruption. The government decided to relocate the towns along the manmade lake and now they are called Nuevo Pronadora and Nuevo Arenal. (Nuevo in Spanish means “new.”) The lake is the source of the hydroelectric towers, therefore generating power for the country. Lake Arenal is also used for wind surfing, parasailing, fishing, and kayaking.
Arenal Volcano:
The top of the Arenal Volcano is 6, 000 feet from sea level. There are four craters that make up the volcano. The craters are labeled A, B, C, and D. Crater C is the most active and we could actually hear it rumble while hiking in the Arenal Rainforest. There is a large section at the base of the volcano that has grown over the lava with bushes, trees, and grass. We learned that plants grow very fast in the tropical climate. Clouds cover the top of the volcano during most of the rainy season, however at about 4:00 in the afternoon some of the clouds disappeared and we were able to view the top from a distance. We were not lucky enough to see any lava erupt at night time, due to the dense clouds and rain that came our way in the evening.
Arenal Rainforest:
This rainforest has rain at least 200 days of the year and gets about 225 inches of rain per year. It sits at the base of the Arenal Volcano, and active volcano in Costa Rica. This is a tropical rainforest where trees grow 2 inches per year, where it would take 4 or 5 year for a tree to grow that much in the north. The top layer of the rainforest floor has the richest soil because of the decomposing plant materials. This makes the root system lazy because the roots can stay at the surface for their nutrients. There is not very much light on the forest floor. The plants are constantly competing with each other for any possible sunlight to complete the process of photosynthesis. Some of the things we saw in the rainforest were leafcutter ants that actually do a lot of damage to the forest. The ants are very picky about what they eat. We also saw an interesting plant called the Birds of Paradise. These are red hanging plants that can hold the weight of a snake. They hang from trees and hummingbirds are attracted their red flower. Unfortunately for the hummingbirds there are small snakes that will camouflage themselves around the stem and wait to attack.
Lake Arenal is a large manmade lake that was created after the last major eruption of Arenal Volcano. In 1968 lava covered two towns at the base of the Arenal Volcano. The towns were Pronadora and Arenal. 87 people died with that eruption. The government decided to relocate the towns along the manmade lake and now they are called Nuevo Pronadora and Nuevo Arenal. (Nuevo in Spanish means “new.”) The lake is the source of the hydroelectric towers, therefore generating power for the country. Lake Arenal is also used for wind surfing, parasailing, fishing, and kayaking.
Arenal Volcano:
The top of the Arenal Volcano is 6, 000 feet from sea level. There are four craters that make up the volcano. The craters are labeled A, B, C, and D. Crater C is the most active and we could actually hear it rumble while hiking in the Arenal Rainforest. There is a large section at the base of the volcano that has grown over the lava with bushes, trees, and grass. We learned that plants grow very fast in the tropical climate. Clouds cover the top of the volcano during most of the rainy season, however at about 4:00 in the afternoon some of the clouds disappeared and we were able to view the top from a distance. We were not lucky enough to see any lava erupt at night time, due to the dense clouds and rain that came our way in the evening.
Arenal Rainforest:
This rainforest has rain at least 200 days of the year and gets about 225 inches of rain per year. It sits at the base of the Arenal Volcano, and active volcano in Costa Rica. This is a tropical rainforest where trees grow 2 inches per year, where it would take 4 or 5 year for a tree to grow that much in the north. The top layer of the rainforest floor has the richest soil because of the decomposing plant materials. This makes the root system lazy because the roots can stay at the surface for their nutrients. There is not very much light on the forest floor. The plants are constantly competing with each other for any possible sunlight to complete the process of photosynthesis. Some of the things we saw in the rainforest were leafcutter ants that actually do a lot of damage to the forest. The ants are very picky about what they eat. We also saw an interesting plant called the Birds of Paradise. These are red hanging plants that can hold the weight of a snake. They hang from trees and hummingbirds are attracted their red flower. Unfortunately for the hummingbirds there are small snakes that will camouflage themselves around the stem and wait to attack.
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