Fun!!

By Jamie

In Costa Rica we went to the...

Bat Jungle

We went horseback riding

We did a night tour

We saw monkeys above the road

We went to the Manuel Antonio National Park

We went to a chocolate tour at Cafe Cabure.

We did all this in the past week and a half.

Chocolate
I learned chocolate grows inside a fruit as beans on a tree.  The tree is called a cacao tree.  The cacao tree produces fruit pods that are shaped like footballs.  The seeds of those fruits eventually are turned into chocolate.
How Chocolate is Made:
- First, the wet seeds are fermented.
- After the seeds are fermented they are dried.
- Next, the beans are roasted.
- Then the beans are shelled.
- After that they are ground.
- The heat from the grinding turns the beans into a liquid.
- Last, they put in sugar and milk and other ingredients to make the chocolate.

Jason at Fundacion Corcovado (the turtle place)

By Jason
At Drake Bay, Costa Rica

Jason with Rob James, Director of Fundacion Corcovado

At Fundacion Corcovado we put in turtle nest traps.  The way they work, when a turtle hatches it will hit the trap and stay.  It doesn’t hurt the turtle, but it keeps them in one place, so that they don’t escape and they can count how many turtles hatched.  After they count how many turtles have hatched, they pick them up and put them into a bucket to put them on the sand on the beach so they can go toward the ocean.  Why they put them on the sand is so they have a better chance of reaching the ocean, and they don’t get killed by crabs and birds that might want to eat them.

Why they put them on the beach instead of the ocean is they want them to remember the beach so that they lay their eggs there when they get to be adults.

On the runway walking to the beach where the turtles' nests are

Monkey Bridges near Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

By Jason

1. About the Monkey Bridges
Monkey bridges are blue ropes so that monkeys don't have to walk across the road every time they have to cross. Before, monkeys were either using the power lines or walking across the road. Some monkeys were electrocuted and hit by cars.
2. How the Monkey Bridges Began
Two girls saved up money to buy land. Then they created monkey bridges so that monkeys could cross from one side of the road to another, but still some were getting electrocuted, but none were getting hit by cars.

They raised up the population by more than double the Titi monkeys. Ten years ago there were only 1,200, but since the monkey bridges began, there kept being more and more Titi monkeys. There are now 3,700.

The two girls made an organization called Kids Saving The Rainforest.

The Children's Eternal Rainforest

By Jamie

We're in Monteverde, Costa Rica!
We got here by:

1. Taking a plane to Atlanta;
2. Taking a plane to San Jose;
3. Staying overnight in a hotel;
4. Taking a 4-hour bus ride to Monteverde! 

In Monteverde, we went to the Children's Eternal Rainforest.
Facts and videos about this rainforest:

The Children's Eternal Rainforest has 60 species of amphibians, 101 species of reptiles, 425 species of birds, and 121 species of mammals that represent 50.5% of the total species of terrestrial vertebrates in Costa Rica.  Terrestrial vertebrates are animals that live on land that have backbones.

Here is a video report from Jamie about how the Children's Eternal Rainforest started.

(Note - in the video Jamie talks about kids from Sweden raising one million dollars.  This is what we were told by one of the people we interviewed.  We've since confirmed that the still amazing amount was actually $100,000)

Jason on jaguars

Video of Jason talking about the last pair of jaguars in the rainforest here (Children's Eternal Rainforest in Monteverde, Costa Rica)

(:Our trip:)

By Jamie

My family and I are going on a trip for a year. I have a brother. His name is Jason. My mom's name is Lauri. My dad's name is Larry, (I call him Diddy). I also have a cat. Her name is Lindy.

Here are some things that we will be doing.

• Dogsledding
• Swimming
• Going to language school
• Exploring the rainforest
• Going on a safari
• White water rafting
• Volunteer at a school
• Going to the beach
• Look at glaciers
• Explore ruins
• See lots of animals
• Visit the desert
• Ride an elephant
• Go to museums
• Visit family
• See a castle

Here are some places that we will go to.

• Costa Rica
• Peru
• Galapagos
• Australia
• Vietnam
• Cambodia
• India
• Zambia
• Namibia
• Europe (in Europe, Spain, France, Italy, Holland, and Norway)
• The Arctic (in The Arctic, Svalbard)

I am most excited about going to India because we might get to ride on an elephant, and because my dad has gone there a lot, when he was there, he got me an Indian dress. I am least excited about not seeing my friends for a long time.

I will not be going to school. I will be getting home schooled, so my mom and dad teach me when we are on the trip.

On the trip I will be in 3rd grade, and my brother will be in 1st grade.

I am so excited to go on the trip!

P.S. I will be blogging some more about our trip and posting videos also.  (: :)The End...of my first blog post.

                :)