Cuerici

I spent the past six days in Cuerici, which is a field station and farm located in the Talamanca Mountain Range.  The station was a bit more rustic than Las Cruces in the sense that there was basically no heat, no phone service, and no Internet.  The station's elevation is around 2800 meters, so we definitely felt the effects of elevation.  The weather was much, much cooler than the other parts of Costa Rica I have experienced.  Nights were spent huddled around the wood stove before stuffing ourselves into our sleeping bags to keep warm.

The station has a rather interesting setup because Don Carlos, the man who manages the station, also has a farm at the site.  I think that Don Carlos would just run the station and manage the forest if he could, but from my understanding, the farm is necessary for Don Carlos to make money.  He is part of an association of seven people who have protected 200 hectares of primary oak forest.  Although he makes some money from the researchers and students who stay at the station, it is not enough income to live comfortably.  This may be an indication that small scale private reserves are not a financially sound investment in Costa Rica.

Our first day there we had a short tour around Don Carlos's property.  I can't provide much information because I slipped and pulled a muscle in my leg 20 minutes into the tour.  I had to sit out a hike the next morning, and injuring myself negatively influenced my experience at Cuerici for the first couple of days.

Nonetheless, I still had an enjoyable time and got to go on some great hikes.  We did several hikes through the forest, where I got to spend some quality time appreciating the beauty of nature. 

We went to a paramo ecosystem, which is a high elevation grass and shrubland (similar to a tundra, but in the Tropics).  It is characterized by harsh and unpredictable weather conditions (rapidly changing temperatures), intense sunlight, strong winds, and fog.  When we went, the area was covered in fog so visiblity was quite low (perhaps 50 to 100 feet).  Plants have developed many adaptations to survive the paramo, so most of te plants have a low stature to avoid the wind, small and hairy leaves, and upward-pointing leaf orientation.  Most animals only migrate into the paramo during the day to feed and then go down the mountain at night, or burrow in the vegetation.  I really didn't see many animals at all, including insects.

Example of plants typical to the paramo

I also hiked up to a lookout point in Cuerici's forest one night to camp out with a couple other people to watch the sunrise over the mountains in the morning.  We left around 9:00PM, so we needed our headlamps to help guide us through the pitch black forest.  We huddled around each other and tried to keep warm for about an hour before going to be in  shack that was open on two sides.  It was so cold!  However, the view the next morning was well worth all of the sleepless shivering the night before.

Obviously, my camera couldn't capture how stunning the sunrise was, but the view was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  One of the things I find so fascinating about being in the mountains is how quickly the clouds move.  Fifteen minutes later when we started hiking back down for breakfast  clouds had completely covered the entire view and we couldn't see anything.

Finally, on our last full day we did a six hour hike where we got to see a 1000+ year old oak tree and a nearby waterfall.

 Cuerici was overall a great trip and very different from the warm, tropical rainforests that most people imagine when they think of Costa Rica.  I'm so glad that I got to experience the diversity of Costa Rica's ecosystems, although I am glad to be back in warm weather and away from the cold!