Day 2

Itinerary

Day 2: Don Juan: Inspirational Teacher of Sustainability; La Fortuna - Thursday, April 23

Don Juan is a visionary former school teacher who now shares his passion for teaching organic agriculture with everyone who visits his farm.

This morning we head up to La Fortuna and the base of Arenal, Costa Rica’s most active volcano. Upon arrival we have a chance to compare different strategies for sustainable and organic agriculture with a visit to Don Juan’s Farm. His farm is a model for community involvement and successful solutions to sustainable living. After lunch, we head to the Arenal National Park to do a LAVA Hike!

Important Themes:

-Strategies for sustainable food production

- Advantages and disadvantages of monoculture versus sustainable farming

- How you can share positive solutions with your community as Don Juan does

- Geology of La Fortuna and Costa Rica

Overnight: Don Juan, La Fortuna Area

Reflection of the Day

Journal Entry

On Day 2, our Costa Rican advernture was in its beginning stages. After a pleasant breakfast at our hotel, we ventured to an all nature, and self-sustainiable farm called Don Jaun's farm. There we ate organic, fresh food, experienced a style of life reducing the carbon footprint to a minimum, and even got to taste and experience exotic fruits and vegtables like a hot pepper, starfruit, and the cacao. We even saw a nest of bats in the organtic and beautiful farm.

We also we ventured to Arenal, and hiked up the lava flats. We hiked up a lava flat decimated by an eruption in the 1990s, and learned about the rehabiliation of the habitat, and the reforestation process occuring. (Sugar cain dominant vegitation because it can survive in the minimal nutrients in the sand. ) We learned a lot, and experience the thrill of climbing a mountain many others don't even do in a lifetime. All in all it was a very busy day.