MSU Department of Horticulture

Day 9 of HRT 475 in Costa Rica continued at Las Cruces biological station, home of the Wilson Botanical Garden.

Highlights included a tour of Wilson Botanic Garden by the resident biologist, more bird watching, enjoying a magical misty afternoon hike, and another trip up the 100' observation tower.

Day 8 of HRT 475 in Costa Rica took us to Las Cruces biological stations, part of , nearly at the border with Panama. Today was a "free day" full of optional early-morning birding, guided hikes, and ending with a birthday party for one of our students.

Highlights included the diversity of flora and fauna, climbing the 100' observation tower, and laughing until our stomachs hurt during our pinata party.

One full week in Costa Rica as part of HRT 475! On day 7, we left Savegre in the cloud forest and traveled further south, visiting Aviva Gourmet/ Aviva Organic on our way to another one of Organization for Tropical Studies biological stations, Las Cruces.

Highlights included early-morning birding at Savegre (alas, no quetzal sighting), our brief stop at the sub-alpine forest with unique flora, smelling the fetid aristolochia flower, the delicious homemade lunch at Aviva Gourmet/ Aviva Organic made from many of crops grown at their own permaculture farm, and settling for our next three nights at Las Cruces.

One full week in Costa Rica as part of HRT 475! On day 7, we left Savegre in the cloud forest and traveled further south, visiting on our way to another one of biological stations, Las Cruces.

Highlights included early-morning birding at Savegre (alas, no quetzal sighting), our brief stop at the sub-alpine forest with unique flora, smelling the fetid aristolochia flower, the delicious homemade lunch at made from many of crops grown at their own permaculture farm, and settling for our next three nights at Las Cruces.

Day 6 in Costa Rica with HRT 475 was a long, but exciting travel day. After leaving the biological station at La Selva (our home for the previous three nights), we traveled south and up into the mountains of San Gerardo de Dota. Along the way, we stopped for a delicious lunch at Miriam's Quetzals, a popular roadside bird-watching spot. Eventually, we made our way to Savegre Hotel Natural Reserve () located in the cloud forest, and home to the resplendent quetzal. Upon arriving at Savegre, we took a short 4-wheel drive further up the mountain and went on a hike in the cloud forest.

Highlights included being the clouds of hummingbirds buzzing around at lunch, seeing many mushrooms and moss-covered vines on our magical hike, and our fancy 3-course dinner at Savegre.

Day 5 in Costa Rica was jam-packed, taking us on a tour of .ecoorganica.sarapiqui, an organic farm, which served a delicious farm-to-table lunch, a Zip-lining canopy tour with , and finally a demonstration and chocolate tasting .

Highlights included the welcoming family and wonderful tour and lunch at the organic farm (which had incredible vistas and bats!), using human power to extract fresh sugar cane juice, the water and fresh fruit waiting for us after braving the Zip-lining tour, and using bicycle power to grind and taste cacao!

Our fourth day in Costa Rica as part of HRT 475 brought us to EARTH University () and Orocosta Tropical Flowers and Foliages (). EARTH University offers 4-year undergraduate degrees in agricultural science with an emphasis on hands-on learning. Orocosta produces both un-rooted houseplant cuttings (which are exported to propagators around the world) and tropical cut flowers and foliage for floral design.

One major highlight was getting a tour of the university from EARTH undergraduate peers and comparing and contrasting student experiences in Costa Rica vs. Michigan. We also tried the flesh of fresh cacao, which is surprisingly fruity, saw our first sloth of the program, and did another night hike!

Our third day in Costa Rica as part of HRT 475 took us to a seed production facility run by Ball Horticulture, and the station at La Selva.

Highlights included seeing the top-secret seed sorting and packaging facilities at Ball, an incredible lunch, a surprise roadside tasting of tropical fruits, and a guided night hike at La Selva where we saw our first venomous snake!

Our second day of HRT 475 in Costa Rica took us to and Innova Plants, both greenhouse production facilities. At Innova, we also toured the grounds of adjacent botanic garden, . To end the day, we stopped at an oxcart factory in Sarchi.

Highlights included sweating it out in our lab coats and hairnets, learning about stock plant and cutting production, walking the hidden and winding paths at Else Kientzler, and seeing the world's largest oxcart.

Our first full day in Costa Rica as part of HRT 475 took us to , a coffee plantation, and a botanic garden and farm-to-table restaurant, .

Highlights included a coffee cupping/tasting, trying the fruit of Monstera deliciosa, trying dozens of other tropical fruits and medicinal herbs, and a surprise 6-course lunch!