Except for bungee jumping tomorrow, today was our last trip while we are here. We travelled early n the morning to the Poas Volcano, which is northwest of San Jose in a cloud forest. It rained, of course, and we were not sure whether we would be able to see the top of the volcano or not. It is supposed to be a rare event when it isn't too cloudy up there that you can actually see anything. Incredibly, the clouds cleared right when we walked up to the viewing platform. We were overlooking a huge crater with volcanic smoke spewing out of a pool in the middle. It gave off a strong stench of sulfur, but it was worth it to be up there viewing something as gorgeous as this, even in the rain.
After leaving the volcano, we travelled to La Paz Waterfall Gardens just 30 minutes away. (La Paz means peace in Spanish for anyone who doesn't know.) This was definitely a huge form of ecotourism for the country, as it was place to view exotic species of birds, frogs, snakes, butterflies, hummingbirds, and plenty of other animals. We saw gorgeous toucans with rainbow colored beaks, small green macaws, and parrots that liked to climb on Peter's back. In the butterfly room we saw hundreds of different species of butterflies, including the well known blue morpho butterflies. Next was the humminbird are, which was so much fun because you got to be as close as you wanted to a bunch of hummingbirds flying past your face so quickly. As you can imagine, is was pretty difficult to get pictures because they move so fast! We also saw a number of different kinds of snakes, frogs, and monkeys. After viewing all of these wonderful animals, it is easy to see why Costa Rica wants to conserve its rainforests and protect its species diversity so badly. By letting tourists view these animals, they are hoping that we will feel the same way. How could you allow the destruction of all of these animals' habitats to continue after viewing them so closely and seeing how really magnificent they are? In this way, ecotourism in Costa Rica is helping to promote environmentalism, conservationism, and the protection of species diversity, as well as creating new jobs and stimulating the Costa Rican economy. As I have said before in past blogs, ecotourism is now the number one source of revenue in the Costa Rican economy. Thus, it seems as though ecotourism in Costa Rica is a win-win situation, for both people and the environment.
After the animal gardens, we walked down a bunch of stairs to view the waterfall, which was stunning and seemed to flow with extremely clean, clear water. Throughout our hike, we saw a number of waterfalls and took pleanty of pictures. (Unfortunately my camera battery died in the middle of the hike but I still have a few good ones.) At one of the locations, we got to see why they call one of the falls "white magic." The trick was to look at the rocks over which water was pouring for about 20 seconds, and then look to the right of the waterfall slowly. What we saw was some sort of optical illusion, as it looked like the rocks next to the waterfall were moving! It was really cool and I think I did it a few too many times because I was pretty dizzy for a while afterwards. The waterfalls really were a great sight to see, and once again they really made its visitors appreciate nature.
Ecotourism in Costa Rica is one of the new trends in economic development. It has brought much revenue and many jobs to the country, as well as benefitting and protecting the natural habitat. Hopefully other countries around the world will be able to follow Costa Rica's lead in this great industry. They too can protect their own environments and bring in tourists to view what makes their country beautiful. If this is done sooner than later, maybe the world can save hundreds of species from extinction and preserve the natural beauty that the earth has given us for free, which we so often take for granted.
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