Day 9: fun day and environmental justice

Hiiii! It’s Sophia Inverno and Andrew Wong and we were the LDDs of today! Today for breakfast we had Gallo Pinto, eggs with sausages, fruit (watermelon, papaya, apple), cheese, and tortillas with butter.

After breakfast, we brainstormed questions to ask our guest speaker on the bus with a partner. We took a twenty minute bus ride to our destination, the Trillizas Waterfall. To get to the waterfall we had to take a small hike on a thin and windy dirt trail. At the waterfall we stopped and gazed at the scenery, before dipping our toes into the cold water. At the waterfall, we jumped into the water and swam for around two hours. The water was pretty cold so not many people actually stayed in the water for long. While in the water, Colin attempted to save two dragonflies; however, he could only save one. After a quick dip in the water, we dried off and hiked back up to the entrance.

We ate lunch at the resturant at the entrance of Cataratas Las Trillizas. Lunch consisted of four options; Casada con carne en salsa, Arroz con pollo, Fajitas de pollo, and Arroz y frijoles con pollo. Once we finished eating our super yummy lunch we got back on the bus back to the Base House and sang along to fun music on the way.

Back at the base house we had about an hour to get ready for the guest speaker. People were in their cabins sleeping or showering. At 2:30 our guest speaker Fofo came and spoke about enviernmental justice. He talked about sustainability and the justice system in Costa Rica which allows him (and other Costa Ricans) to protect and maintain their environment. He had us split into three groups and did an envienrmental justice case study. The case study was based on how tourism affected the local community and how the government controls external busniss affairs. One group was the developers of a five star hotel who wanted to build on the Peninsula de Osa, one group was a community group who represented the local population and was against the development, and the final group was the government and they were in charge of hearing our cases and propositions and making a decision on what to do. The discussion quickly became very spirited between all groups and glimpsers continued to argue with eachother during freetime.

After saying adios to Fofo we had an hour and a half of free time where everyone played games and made freindship bracelets. Then we had dinner which was Paste de Yuca and a squash soup. After dinner we did the nightly meeting and passed the torch, but that was not the end of our wonderful day! We had a suprise activity planed for after nightly meeting which was karaoke and / or sitting around a bonfire making smores.

This is Sophia and Andrew signing off! Adios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :p

Link to photo drive: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Btbj68EeDnc9G4DS6