On November 27 we travel to Sarapiqui where we will be staying for the next three days in the middle of the rainforest at Selva Verde Lodge. The guides are very specific about NOT stepping off the trails-- especially at night. We have to carry flashlights with us any time we leave our rooms at night.
On the 28th we visit Tirimbina Rainforest Preserve. Our guide at Tirimbina is Willy Pineda Lizano and he gives us a lecture on biodiversity and the geography of Costa Rica. We learn that biodiversity exists on every continent except Europe. Costa Rica isn't on the list of the countries with the most biodiversity. That is due to its small size. If you compare species diversity in Costa Rica to other countries per square kilometer Costa Rica is more diverse. Willy explains that in temperate climates you have an abundance of individuals but low diversity of species, but in tropical climates you have a low abundance of individuals but a higher diversity of species.
Threats to biodiversity include global warming and climate change,direct persecution such as poaching, deforestation (in Costa Rica for different reasons such as banana plantations, pineapple fields or to secure bank loans, pollution, and habitat loss (thanks to people.)
We also learn that Costa Rica has several regions:tropical dry forest which gets only 3-6ft of rain/yr, Central plateau (valley) usually about 68 degrees and containing volcanic soil, cloud forest,and Caribbean lowlands or tropical rainforest which gets 8-12 ft of rain per year.
After our biodeiversity lecture we are taken on the chocolate tour.
Chocolate plantations, amazingly enough, have to be located in the middle of a rainforest. Our hike to the plantation literally takes us over the river and through the woods. We go over a suspension bridge in two groups because only 15 of us at a time are allowed to cross. The trail is long and very narrow in places.
Chocolate comes from the cacao plant. The cacao plant is native to Latin America. It takes five years for the cacao plant to produce fruit.
It needs rain, shade, humidity, a latitude of between 25 degrees north to 25 degrees south , and low elevation (less than 800 feet above sea level). Each tree will produce about 60 fruit. Originally people only ate the pulp and threw away the seed. Chocolate was the only caffeinated drink central Americans had because coffee wasn't native to this area. To make chocolate the cacao fruit is gathered, broken open, fermented, dried, and roasted. Beans are dumped in the the fermenting box which is lined with banana leaves where they can attract fruit flies, the flies have yeast on their feet which produces methanol that kills the baby bean and , through a chemical reaction, dries out the inside of the bean. By the fourth day of fermenting the chemical process has caused a reaction so hot it can burn your hands.
When the beans are ready -after five days- they are ground with other substances, such as sugar, to make chocolate liquor. Then the chocolate is ready to be turned into the bars and other products we love so much.
On the 28th we visit Tirimbina Rainforest Preserve. Our guide at Tirimbina is Willy Pineda Lizano and he gives us a lecture on biodiversity and the geography of Costa Rica. We learn that biodiversity exists on every continent except Europe. Costa Rica isn't on the list of the countries with the most biodiversity. That is due to its small size. If you compare species diversity in Costa Rica to other countries per square kilometer Costa Rica is more diverse. Willy explains that in temperate climates you have an abundance of individuals but low diversity of species, but in tropical climates you have a low abundance of individuals but a higher diversity of species.
Threats to biodiversity include global warming and climate change,direct persecution such as poaching, deforestation (in Costa Rica for different reasons such as banana plantations, pineapple fields or to secure bank loans, pollution, and habitat loss (thanks to people.)
We also learn that Costa Rica has several regions:tropical dry forest which gets only 3-6ft of rain/yr, Central plateau (valley) usually about 68 degrees and containing volcanic soil, cloud forest,and Caribbean lowlands or tropical rainforest which gets 8-12 ft of rain per year.
After our biodeiversity lecture we are taken on the chocolate tour. 
Chocolate plantations, amazingly enough, have to be located in the middle of a rainforest. Our hike to the plantation literally takes us over the river and through the woods. We go over a suspension bridge in two groups because only 15 of us at a time are allowed to cross. The trail is long and very narrow in places.
Chocolate comes from the cacao plant. The cacao plant is native to Latin America. It takes five years for the cacao plant to produce fruit. 
It needs rain, shade, humidity, a latitude of between 25 degrees north to 25 degrees south , and low elevation (less than 800 feet above sea level). Each tree will produce about 60 fruit. Originally people only ate the pulp and threw away the seed. Chocolate was the only caffeinated drink central Americans had because coffee wasn't native to this area. To make chocolate the cacao fruit is gathered, broken open, fermented, dried, and roasted. Beans are dumped in the the fermenting box which is lined with banana leaves where they can attract fruit flies, the flies have yeast on their feet which produces methanol that kills the baby bean and , through a chemical reaction, dries out the inside of the bean. By the fourth day of fermenting the chemical process has caused a reaction so hot it can burn your hands. 
When the beans are ready -after five days- they are ground with other substances, such as sugar, to make chocolate liquor. Then the chocolate is ready to be turned into the bars and other products we love so much.
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