Students travel from rain forests to volcanoes

The Buena Vista University Interim travel class to Costa Rica and Nicaragua winds its way on through the jungles this week.

On Thursday, the students got their first chance to leave the wild areas behind briefly for an urban exploration in Granada - taking part in an open market under a roof of patched-together scrap tin and garbage bags. This is the first place that really struck me as genuinely different on this trip. Meat was left out uncovered on the peddler's wood tables, buzzing with flies and handled by all the passing shoppers.

The students reflected on American sensibilities compared with what they are finding. "We are quite the compilation of hypochondriacs," one blogged of the laboratory-like attention to food preparation in the U.S.

"This experience also made me think about how we often, in the United States, we try and separate ourselves as much from nature as possible, to such a point then when we make it a point in going out in nature just to experience it (hiking, camping, boating, etc.). It is considered a sign of a poor house to have openings to the outside that can't be sealed immediately and completely. In Costa Rica and Nicaragua, even the hotels (which are very very extravagant for the areas in which we are staying) have gaps between the ceiling and walls on purpose to let natural heat and cool into the house or room. The only thing that separates the occupant from the outside world is a screen," he wrote.

The students quickly learned not to call the United States "America." America comprises two different continents and multiple countries, and South Americans may be offended by the use of the term.

Earlier in the week the students made a stop at Mumbacho volcano to hike along one of the rims of a crater. The rim was in a cloud forest, which is a rain forest at higher altitudes so clouds actually float through the forest regularly. "It was a really interesting experience walking along a forest trail surrounded by clouds," a student blogged. "There was also a section of this hike where we had the opportunity to walk through a fissure in the ground about the width of a man and a half. There is apparently some debate about whether or not this miniature canyon was man made or a seismic fissure."

Their tour guide, Roberto, had enlisted into the revolution for the Sandinista at age 17. During that time he went from combat to medical training. At 120 pounds, he often carried 250 pounds of gear over long distances in rough terrain, and watching many friends die. After the war, he studied in Bulgaria and now owns an electrical engineering consulting firm and continues to lead tours on the side.

On Tuesday, the students were troubled as they visited a turtle refuge to witness baby sea turtles make their way to the ocean. There, tourists were allowed to handle the wild turtles - earlier in Costa Rica, the students had been made aware of the delicate situation with the turtles' survival, and taught that they could not be touched or disoriented with camera lights. A baby turtle's shell can actually be somewhat soft and if not handled with proper care there is the risk of actually breaking the turtle's shell, and in the process breaking its back.

"When the turtles were released onto the beach, many simply sat still disoriented and tired from being handled by us. Afterward we walked around the beach looking for some that were being freshly hatched or a mother coming to lay her eggs. We returned to the sight of release to see that three of them, which is about half of the batch, had not moved from the spot we placed them on the beach. These turtles have an almost negligible chance of surviving the night," a student writes.

Last Saturday, the students traveled from Costa Rica to Nicaragua, a tiring and time-consuming process. "We sat on our bus while our tour guide took our passports and sent them through customs. We were on the bus for over three hours waiting to get out passports back and everyone was on edge. We weren't fans of handing over our passports, since that is pretty much our whole life right there," a student wrote.

Prior to that, the students spent a day on Ometepe Island, formed between two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. There was not a lot of swimming, as bull sharks that populate the ocean around the island have made their way into the interior lake as well.

Unfortunately for the students, some were showered with vomit as the rough, 90-minute ferry trip caused a young passenger to get seasick. Some of the BVU'ers didn't feel much better.

"It is amazing to see the way people live here. Most of their houses dont have running water and to go to the bathroom you take water in with you. You use the bathroom and then pour the water out of a milk carten with the top cut off into the toilet to make everything go down. Most of the houses dont have carpet or tile floors they are just dirt, and they are very tiny houses with huge families living in them. Seeing all of this makes me value my life and everything I have in it so much more," a student wrote. "We all have seen those commercials of kids in countries that need help. Well, seeing how these people live is like being in one of those commercials. Even our bus driver was talking about how he was working for a stronger house, Not a better house but a house that is stronger and better put together for his son so he can grown up in a safe home."

Student Kelsey Fredericks finds that the Nicaraguan dialect of Spanish actually use words from both the Inca's and the Aztec's language, and so is not pure Spanish.

The students have been able to hike the tropical-dry forest, view Inca petroglyphs etched in Volcanic stone, swim in warm-water natural springs, go snorkeling in the ocean, ride towering zip-lines in the rain forest undergrowth, hiked up a volcano's base, and go white-water rafting on up to class 4 rapids (on the 1-5 scale).

* To follow all of the BVU interim adventures, see the website http://bvu-travel.blogspot.com