River in Rincon de la Vieja

This is a view from the middle of the bridge shown in my photos during the past two days. Rincon de la Vieja National Park is a transitional area. Because of the slope of the volcano, the park, the park includes both the coastal dry forest typical of much of the Guanacaste region, and also includes higher elevation cloud forest terrain.

This stream crossing is near the bottom of the cloud forest, and the thick vegetation visible on both sides of the river is characteristic of the cloud forest. There are hiking trails in both the higher elevation cloud forest and the lower elevation dry forest. The fumaroles, or geysers and bubbling, steaming mud pots, that I have shown in the past are in the lower elevation dry forest. You can find those photos by clicking on the index labels for Volcanoes or Rincon de la Vieja on the left side of this website.

This photo offers a chance to discuss something about Costa Rica that I have not mentioned previously. Costa Rica generates about 70% of its electricity from hydro power. The country does not have oil, of course, but its topography gives it the opportunity to develop hydro power because it has a spine of high mountains running down the length of the country's interior. Although Guanacaste is sunny and dry much of the year, it rains in the mountains, and some of the rivers are used to generate electricity.

The growth of the country means that there is a need for the development of more electricity generation capacity. Costa Rica has adopted the goal of becoming the world's first carbon-neutral country -- by 2021. It has also set aside more than 25% of its land for national parks and nature reserves, more than any other nation.

Tomorrow I will show a view of the vegetation in the cloud forest.