About a week ago E and I particiated in an astronomy course being offered by the Organization of Tropial Studies or Organización de Estudios Tropicales (OET). We both enrolled for a weekend-long course that included transportation, meals and entrance fees to several national parks and a pit stop at a popular beach.
The trip was AMAZING! I enjoyed it very much, and I have always been interested in astronomy and learning more about the position and names of those celestial bodies visible only on clear dark nights, and I was very excited to be able to learn more. The course was taught by a well known professor, astronomer and physist who E has heard of before and who has impeccable credentials. He has a real knack for explaining things and a genuine enthusiasm that is downright contagious! We had a wonderful time learning about the constellations and names of stars, as well as information about how to orient yourself looking the sky, important times of year (or day, or night!) when you can see more or less, about the rotation of the earth and sun and moon...! E took some really wonderful pictures, we even got to see Saturn and it's rings clearly defined and hovering in the sky through E's telescope! I went to bed before E did, my enthusiasm wasn't enough to keep my eyes open. But then we got up at 4am, the hour when you are most likely to see more shooting stars. I saw about 7 in the 20 minutes we stood out on the beach! In total my count was 13, while E's was much higher. Guess I should have been wearing my glasses???
The following day we left Reserva Absoluta Cabo Blanco (where we stargazed and spent the night at a research station) and hiked back out to our little bus, seeing monkeys and almost getting pooped and peed on on the way (there were 15 participants in all) and drove to Playa Santa Teresa. This was however, a Sunday at 8am and there was nothing much to do or see. E and I hung out on the beach and watched the surfers fighting to get waves through our binoculars before going into town and stoping at a bakery to get some cappucinos and a chocolate pastry and get online to check our mail. Then we all got back on the bus and drove to Reserva de Vida Silvetre Curú, a private nature reserve where we had way too much free time and the tide was up on the beach. We ate lunch there and afterwards E and I decided to go hiking and find a beach called Playa Quesera, which is accessible by a winding cattle trail through the reserve, an estimated 2 hour hike away. Wanting to make the most of our time we booked it up and down the cattle trail, up a little winding hill and through open pastures until a little over an hour later we reached the sandy and pristine shore of Playa Quesera...and fell instatly in love. After such an intense hike we threw ourselves into the waves and then walked right back out, putting on clothes over our wet swim suits and booking it back to the bus to leave on time (we made it in 55 mins). When we arrived I was BEAT, and with 10 minutes to spare and the rest of the group waiting on the bus I went and rinsed off all the sweat and sand before changing into shorts and flip flops and collapsing into my seat on the bus...but E and I were both so glad that we had decided to do that hike, exhausting as it was, and so excited at discovering this pristine and completely tranquil bit of beach. From Playa Quesera you can see Isla Tortuga, and a thought E and I had was to rent sea kayaks or maybe a small boat and come by sea to the beach, bringing things to camp and picnic. (see my next blog entry!) In any case, if my family comes to visit at some point we decided that taking them to this beach is an absolute must.
Once back on the bus we arrived to Paquera in time to catch the ferry back to Puntarenas. As soon as we reached the Puerto the sky opened up and it started to rain...the kind of rain that had been waiting to fall for days, huge fat drops that when flung into the wind feel like needles on your skin. I had left my raincoatin the bus, and all E had was a flimsy rain poncho and his WINDBREAKER which I ALWAYS thought was a RAINJACKET! So we put everything into E's water resistant backpack and made a run for it down to the bus after most of the other passengers had gotten off...the bus dropped us off at our bus-stop for Esparza where miraculously there was a bus waiting to leave and we jumped on, hauling wet gear and jackets behind us, and sat down wet and tired but elated in the bus. By the time we got to Esparza we realized that there had been no rainfall there and we looked like such tourists toting our backpacks and now non-essential raingear, and we made it home and hung things out to dry and showered properly.
What an amazing trip! I now can recognize (with names in Spanish):
-la cruz
-el cuervo
-el escorpion
-gemini
- el león
-la joyera
-Saturn
It also helps that I installed an app called SKY MAP on my android phone, which helps me to recognize direction and costellations. Now on a clear night I won't feel so lost and insignificant looking at the sky...! Instead I will be able to point out some of the constellations and tell thier stories.
E and I hope to do another course with OET, which for the total cost did include quite a lot of activities. If only there had been a little more information about astronomy, maybe a talk or two given by our leader. It would have helped me to get much more out of the trip, but it was still worthwhile...!
PURA VIDA
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