{"id":4935,"date":"2019-07-05T11:52:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-05T15:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/?p=4935"},"modified":"2019-07-05T11:52:03","modified_gmt":"2019-07-05T15:52:03","slug":"head-in-the-clouds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/2019\/07\/head-in-the-clouds\/","title":{"rendered":"Head in the Clouds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Over halfway through our study abroad trip in Costa Rica we entered my favorite ecosystem I had seen so far: the cloud forest. We stayed at Monteverde, which aptly means Green Mountain. There fog is trapped among the canopy, and despite Costa Rica being a tropical country, the temperature didn’t leave the 60’s (F). This location was a travel hub for tourists from all over the world, and rightly so. Rare wildlife lived in this delicate ecosystem, chief among them being the resplendent quetzal, a red-breasted bird with glossy green feathers and a great, flowing tail. We were also able to see emerald toucanets (basically cute tiny toucans), Capuchin monkeys, and the three wattled bell bird, which makes a machine-like sound that echoes through the forest. Spider monkeys played in the trees outside as we ate breakfast, and a coati foraged for food just a few feet away. The amount of vegetation covering every square inch of landscape was remarkable; ferns, orchids, and mosses hung from every rock and tree.<\/p>\n

Over the next week, we traveled to many other locations, each providing new wildlife, scenery, and experiences. I saw crocodiles fighting in the river at Ca\u00f1o Negro, and came face to face with the highly venomous fer-de-lance<\/span><\/span> viper at La Selva Biological Reserve. Eventually, I found myself in the capital city of San Jos\u00e9, getting ready to board a plane that would take me back to the US. There I looked back at the exciting time I had spent in Costa Rica over the last two weeks. I had seen beautiful and diverse wildlife, learned about an entirely new culture, and gotten out of my comfort zone by meeting new people and exploring new places. Looking back, I know I’ll never forget the time I spent in Costa Rica. Now I’m grateful for the opportunity to look forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over halfway through our study abroad trip in Costa Rica we entered my favorite ecosystem I had seen so far: the cloud forest. We stayed at Monteverde, which aptly means Green Mountain. There fog is trapped among the canopy, and despite Costa Rica being a tropical country, the temperature didn’t leave the 60’s (F). This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":609,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,33,35,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avian-biology","category-costa-rica","category-faculty-led","category-maymester"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/609"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4935"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5035,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4935\/revisions\/5035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.caes.uga.edu\/studyabroad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}