Costa Rica Program

Living Routes Celebrates our Partnership with Monteverde Institute

We, at Living Routes, are very proud to call Monteverde Institute (MVI) our partner for our Costa Rica program. It is this partnership that makes our NEWEST program so highly rated and recommended by our CR alumni. MVI works with our students to provide a perfect blend of academics and research with field studies and community involvement. Students study and conduct research on the 38 acre MVI campus that forms part of the Monteverde Reserve (created to help protect the Tilaran Mountain Cloud Forest), and live in the vibrant and welcoming community of San Luis. Many of the homestay families are not only involved in the cloud forests' protection but in the Quaker-started Cheese Factory and Fair Trade Coffee Co-op. Read more about each of these elements of our CR program throughout the newsletter. To apply to Costa Rica: Tropical Ecology, Development and Social Justice at Monteverde visit our website.

Cloud Forest Highlights

Learn about the Unique Setting of our CR Program

As many of you might know, our program Costa Rica: Tropical Ecology, Development and Social Justice at Monteverde, is located in the beautiful and unique cloud forest setting. But what is a cloud forest anyway? This mini-article covers the "Highlights" of cloud forests!

Cloud forests are not only those woodlands with cloud-cover for a majority of the year, but are extremely rare, unique settings boosting an amazing array of plants, animals and insects. Only 1% of global forests are cloud forests; characterized by frequent cloud coverage (also considered as horizontal mists) at the canopy level and almost 100% humidity year round. They are generally, "tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forests," and can be called "mossy forests" due to the majority of mosses at the ground level.

Orchids, epiphytes, and bromeliads and rule the flora, with hummingbirds, reptiles and a wide range of hidden mammals ruling the fauna. Yet an estimated 80% of the cloud forest's biodiversity has yet to be uncovered, and yet they are disappearing faster than we have time to study them! It is estimated 10 years before they are gone altogether due to pollution drying out the air, clear-cutting, logging and being paved over. Luckily it is partnerships like Living Routes' with MVI bringing students to Monteverde Reserve that can work towards preserving these amazing environments. Find out more here

Watch this video on research at Monteverde Reserve!

Economics Highlights

The Coffee Coop and Fair Trade

The Coopesanta Elena is just one of the ways that the local community is working hard to boost their economy while maintaining a special commitment to the preserving their environment. The 75 small coffee farmers grow coffee beans high in the mountains of the Monteverde Zone. "Enriched by the fertile ecosystem, nourished by the clean mountain rains, shaded by the clouds of the Monteverde Cloud forest, the legendary Café Monteverde grows amidst the wonders of the area," providing 100% pure coffee for local consumption and international export. What is not as widely known is that many of the homestay families are either the coffee farmers themselves or deeply involved in this fair trade enterprise! Find out more through the Café Monteverde website.

Find out more about fair trade at the Coopesanta Elena

Business Highlights

Local Cheese Factory Exercises Environmental Responsibility

The Monteverde Cheese Factory has been an integral part of the local communities development since its conception in 1953. The factory has grown from its small Quaker roots to produce over 17 different kinds of cheese and an extensive ice cream selection made from local ingredients! Their products are now sold all over Costa Rica and are exported to several countries in Central America. In keeping with the practice of environmental responsibility "the factory has established an innovative water treatment facility and waste management system which involves extracting the whey by-product and donating it to the local pig farm to be uses as food for the pigs." (moteverdeinfo.com) Visitors can take a bilingual tour of the factory, local dairy farming, environmentally friendly waste management, and local history. The tour ends with a sampling of various products from the factory (from Gouda and provolone cheeses to caramels and coffee, coconut, mango, or pineapple ice cream). All products are available for sale as well.

Watch a Video about the Quakers who Started the Factory!

Education Highlights

Cloud Forest School

The Living Routes homestay families are not only involved in the coffee co-op and the cheese factory, but have a large presence at the Cloud Forest School! The campus of the Could Forest School is located on 106 acres originally owned by the Nature Conservancy and includes both primary and secondary forest. The curriculum is progressive, bilingual environmental education at all levels. It is an approved site for study abroad and student teaching programs. Students of the Living Routes program get a chance to help their homestay brothers and sisters with English conversation and homework as the brothers and sisters reciprocate with Spanish language. To learn more about the school, please visit their blog, which is frequently updated with news and other goings on at the school

Watch a Video about the Cloud School!

Student Blogs

Our Students Say it Best

Find out about our program from the Student Perspective!

"...Ernesto, (ethnographer slash ninja) our anthropology professor, has opened us up to observing what we remember about experience, what details keep our attention, and how we as social beings take in the world around us. As an ecologist, I’m learning that trying to take in the entire complexity of the cloud forest on a walk fries my cerebral circuitry. This morning we spent three hours getting to know eight gorgeous...READ MORE!"

Click here to read all the latest blogs from Costa Rica.

Jacky's Recipe Corner

Costa Rican Rice and Beans

Costa Rican cuisine does not have the variety and flamboyancy of many other cuisines in the Americas. There is a certain simplicity to the foods but that does not mean they are not tasty. Rice and beans are the most popular items, eaten daily by most Costa Ricans. Vegetables, such as those in the squash family, fresh fruits, and beef are also prepared in a variety of dishes.

The most popular dish in Costa Rica is called Gallo Pinto. It is a mixture of rice, black beans, onions, and cilantro. This dish is mostly served for breakfast but often it is enjoyed for lunch as well. A local hot sauce called salsa lizano is often dashed on top.

Plantains are a popular fruit in Costa Rican cuisine. A plantain is in the banana family but is cooked instead of eaten raw like the typical sweet banana. When the plantain has a green skin it has a texture similar to potatoes yet has much more starch. A fully ripened one has a sweet texture that crosses between a sweet potato and a regular banana.

Costa Rican Rice and Beans ( Gallo Pinto )

Ingredients:

2 cups long grain rice; cooked
1 cup black beans; cooked
1/2 cup onion; diced
1 clove garlic; minced
3 tsp oil
2 tablespoons coriander (cilantro) ; chopped
Salt

Directions:

Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat for a minute. Add chopped onions and saute until they are well browned and translucent. Turn the heat down to medium-low then add the beans and garlic. Cook while stirring occasionally for 8-10 minutes. Add rice and cook for a 3-5 more minutes. When the rice has been added, sprinkle salt until desired taste. Just before serving, top with the coriander and serve!