Justin Lotak sent this about a recent trip he made to Costa Rica’s Rancho Mastatal, for a Renewable Energy in the Developing World workshop:
The workshop was through Solar Energy International (SEI), if anyone’s interested in attending, and they have several other topics besides renewable energy. Over the course of a week, we installed a 40W solar panel with three LED lights, put a methane biodigestor in the ground, put up a 45ft bamboo pole with an anemometer at the top to measure wind speed, put together an electric bike, and built a solar oven. We were busy from 8am-10pm every day except one free day – and we learned a ton. The food was all vegetarian, but some of the best food I’ve ever eaten in my life (the two owners of the ranch, Tim and Robin, used to work in 5 star restaurants in Seattle, so they brought a lot of food knowledge
down with them).Overall it was probably the best vacation I’ve taken – the small community of volunteers and the owners of Rancho Mastatal really have created something special down there, and I would highly recommend a visit to anyone.
Here’s the link to my photos (there are a lot):
Hope you enjoy!
Justin
Thanks for the story and photos, Justin. Looks like this was quite a trip.
Justin – Absolutely awesome. I was totally blown away by the slideshow, and thoroughly enjoyed all 236 pictures…wish there would have been more!
Great “vacation”…I’m soooo jealous!!!
Cathy
I’ve heard lots about sustainable development initiatives in Costa Rica and actually have a friend who is building eco-service projects with the Costa Rican government. I always poo-poo people who tell me to use my Spanish in finding a job, but do they need any help at the ranch??
Sounds great, thanks for sharing.
-e