For those you who know me, you’ve probably heard me talk at least once about how much I appreciate plants.  Gardens and green things make my heart all sorts of happy.

For this (and a whole bunch of other reasons), I’m particularly #blessed to be placed in my current site, San Vito, Coto Brus. To describe it using the words of a fellow PCV, while walking around here, I find myself stopping frequently to look around at my surroundings and mentally narrate the experience with Owen Wilson’s trademark “Wow” playing in the back of my head.

It’s all really breathtaking. Photos I post on here couldn’t ever do it justice.

Never before (and I doubt ever again) will I live in a place that is so unapologetically green.  One of the cool things about living in such a green place is people around the area tend to be aware of the importance of environmental conservation and the fact that we only have one planet, and therefore (not always, but often) actively try to take care of the gorgeous, lush landscapes in which they reside.

On June 5th, my school celebrated El día Mundial del Medio Ambiente. We held an acto cívico (assembly) where students spoke about the importance of protecting and preserving the environment, followed up by planting a bunch of new árboles on the school premises:

 

 

Neither students nor staff are afraid to get their hands dirty at my colegio.

In addition to the excitement generated by El día Mundial del Medio Ambiente, the Wilson Botanical Gardens held a Puertas Abiertas (open doors) event the weekend before. This was an annual event to open the doors of the garden to the entire community to participate in guided tours of the garden and a large range of other activities and charlas y talleres (talks/workshops) throughout the day, from face-painting to local merchants selling their products, to workshops about how to properly use binoculars.

There are over 1000 species of plants featured on the grounds of the garden, making it one of the largest collections in Central America. #Wowza. Here are some of my favourite highlights from the gardens:

The name of these guys escapes me, but this was definitely one of the funnest (most fun? funnest? I’m an English teacher and should know this but neither of these sound right) stops for the kids on the tour (myself included. hehe).

 

They had plant donations at the event where they donated hundreds of plants to local organizations like schools and community centers, as well as local inhabitants looking to increase the green space in their homes (myself included, again).

 

(New plant bb featured above in the lower left-hand corner ^^)

This is Paula. She teaches Italian at the high school that I work at as well as environmental classes at surrounding schools in the Zona Sur. She also gives guided tours at the botanical garden and is an avid bird-watcher. She, for me, is one of the people that comes to mind immediately when I think of the term pura vida. She’s free-spirited and one of the most tuanis (cool) people I’ve met since my arrival in Costa Rica. One of the things that draws my attention about her most is that she cares. She cares a lot about people, animals, and the environment, and the joy that she infuses into her work and everything she does inspires the heck out of me.

The Wilson Botanical Garden is home to the second largest collection of bamboo in the world. Truth bomb: this is also according to a relatively outdated source. Despite the fact that this may no longer hold true, it’s still pretty chiva that it was once indeed the case.

An important part of any and all social gatherings, this event also included food ventas (sales) to raise funds to support the garden and local conservation efforts. This little nido (nest) was too chocolate-y and delightful for me to pass up.

Also quick R.I.P. and shoutout to that Nalgene bottle, which I left on the floor in the airport in San Jose. Que boluda.

These are often referred to as “walking palm trees” because, due to their unusual root system, when they are not receiving enough sun in one location, they have the ability to shoot out new roots to “move” to another location. Despite their name, these trees do not actually “walk” – the whole process is real slow. I still find them nifty though.

 

This is called achiote. It’s used pretty commonly in cooking here. I recently found out that it’s also used as a base in natural lipsticks and lip-glosses that you can find sold at your local fería, which is something I will be keeping my eyes peeled for in the coming weeks.

 

In addition to guided tours of the garden and more plants than anyone would know what to do with, the day included talleres (workshops) about how to properly hold binoculars and conservation, local business stands selling things from books to honeys to artisan cupcakes, and artistic presentations from local dancing groups.

 

 

Any day spent in the gardens is a beautiful day. I can’t help but notice an electric feeling circulating in the air whenever I find myself attending larger-scale community events like Puertas Abiertas. It was wonderful to see so many people from the community come out for this event to support a cause like the botanical garden and learn more about nature and conservation right in their backyards.