Trip Report: Alternative Winter Break in Costa Rica

Posted on December 21, 2013 by Kevin Bogle

UT COE Students in Costa Rica — The 2013 Alternative Winter Break engineering group and friend visit the overlook at the Parc National Volcan Poas (Poaz Volcano National Park), elevation 8,882 feet. From left are Carl Cheng, Jonathan Skinner, international coordinator Judith Mallory, Christopher Daffron, Amber Bassett, Payton Smith, and Courtney Humphreys.

The College of Engineering had its first Alternative Winter Break December 13–20, 2013. Six students made the trip: Jonathan Skinner, Kangmin (Carl) Cheng, Christopher Daffron, Payton Smith, Amber Bassett, and Courtney Humphreys. Students stayed with non-English speaking host families in the rural town of San Miguel de Sarapiqui, located in the Heredia Province close to the center of the country.

The service project consisted of construction of concrete seating for an outdoor performance area at a local elementary school. Students got first-hand experience in third-world construction; there were no power tools available and concrete had to be mixed by hand. Rock and sand were brought in by the students one wheelbarrow at a time. A bit of design work had to be employed on the front end, as the row of seating was to be constructed in an existing hillside.

Students Excavating Hillside — Students prepare to excavate the hillside at an elementary school in San Miguel de Sarapiqui, Costa Rica. Left to right: Amber Bassett, Jonathan Skinner, Courtney Humphreys, Payton Smith, Christopher Daffron, and Carl Cheng.

The first two days were spent excavating the slope and leveling it out. The local citizens had been saving filler material in anticipation of the project; in the US it would be customary to use gravel as filler. The Costa Ricans collected large soda bottles and stuffed them with wrappers, paper, and other materials destined for the landfill. The bottles allowed for less concrete to be used, while lessening the amount of waste for the school.

The students used large soda bottles filled with other discarded materials to add filler to the concrete construction project. At right is how the finished product looks.

COE Students Mixing Concrete — The team mixes concrete by hand at the school. From left: Amber Bassett, Christopher Daffron, Payton Smith, Courtney Humphreys, and Carl Cheng. Local guide Chris, far right, looks on.

In addition to the service project, the students got to visit several sites of cultural significance. The first was a private tour of Mi Cafecita, a coffee plantation/co-op. A complete presentation was made of the process of obtaining coffee, from planting, to harvesting, peeling, separating, drying, and roasting. The tour included a hike to an overlook of the Maria Aguilar waterfall, as well as a swinging bridge over the Canon del Rio Sarapiqui. The plantation also raises tilapia and sugarcane.

Another point of interest was La Tirimbina Biological Reserve. Their primary means of support is a “chocolate tour,” so the students heard an extensive lecture on the history and development of chocolate, beginning with the Cacao tree. Average annual rainfall in Tirimbina is 4568.98 mm, or 14.99 feet! Tirimbina is home to over 1300 species of plants, as well as the longest suspension bridge in Central America, at 800′ in length.

Students also got to visit the Poaz National Park. Poaz is one of two active volcanoes in Costa Rica, and is at an elevation of 8,882 feet. The volcano itself was shrouded in fog, but the nearby extinct Botos Crater was visible from the overlook.

Other visits included a natural hot spring and watering hole.

Look for more opportunities for Alternative Breaks through COE, including the upcoming Alternative 2014 Spring Break in Mandeville, Jamaica. For information, contact COE International Coordinator Judith Mallory at jmallory@utk.edu or 865-974-9234.

COE Students at Costa Rican Watering Hole — From left: Carl Cheng, Jonathan Skinner, Judith Mallory, Christopher Daffron, Courtney Humphreys, Amber Bassett, and Payton Smith visit the local watering hole at the Rio de Sarapiqui.