Today was another beautiful day in Costa Rica. We made a wet landing in Playa Blanca and were welcomed by a Hoffman two-toed sloth! We started by visiting a gold mining site that is no longer in active use. Juan, the miner, now shows people how gold mining works in an ecological way. We even found a nugget of gold! Next, we visited Johnny and Noemi at the sugarcane mill. Johnny shared his life story and how he accomplished his goals.
In the afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious barbeque on the beach with a performance from a local dance group. The students performed a typical Costa Rican dance that showed off their beautiful dresses. With a full stomach, we made our way to the palmitos (hearts of palm) plantation, and we learned from Luis, Eida, and Yorleni about how palmitos are harvested. Our visit ended with tasty empanadas and ceviche.
We returned to Playa Blanca to witness the Latin American Sea Turtle Group release a recently rehabilitated hawksbill turtle into the sea. Eduardo and his team educated us about how they treated the turtle and how they monitor rehabilitated turtles.
The Costa Rican people we had the pleasure of meeting today showed us an in-depth, beautiful side to their country we won’t soon forget.
