I found the coolest thing I saw in nature this week when I went hiking at the Braulio Carrillo National Park here in Heredia. The Braulio Carrillo National Park is only a 45 minute bus ride from Heredia Central where I live. However, due to human civilization, I do not get to see the same biodiversity that lives within the park when I am on my way to school. In order to experience the wilderness of Costa Rica, I must travel a bit outside of the city. This weekend, I decided to go hiking at Braulio Carrillo to see some cool things in nature. This national park is both a tropical lowland wet forest and a tropical highland forest, also known as a cloud forest. Because this park was built around an inactive volcano, it has a varied altitude, with a range of over 9,800 feet between its highest and lowest points. That is equivalent to almost seven Empire State buildings! While hiking, I saw a variety of birds and insects, as well as footprints left by wild tapirs and even jaguars! But the coolest thing I saw was the crater at the top of the volcano. Because the volcano has been inactive for so many years, the crater has transformed into a lagoon. According to my smart watch, I hiked over 17 miles today!
A fun fact about Costa Rica is that Costa Rica has over 137 identified species of snakes, of which 22 are very venomous. While I was hiking this weekend, I almost stepped on a very large snake known as a lora. The lora is a large slightly venomous bright green snake that usually lives in trees. She must have slithered down looking for a snack! Luckily, the snake and I were both safe.
