Virtual Levin

Well, the second semester ended last Thursday (Aug 3) with presentations on projects from both Semesters. The second project I worked on was a managment plan for a farm that wanted to focus on sustainable agriculture as well as eco-tourism. This was the difficult one out of the two that I had worked on. Mostly because up until two weeks before our deadline, we really werent sure what the client was looking for.

There were four of us working on this project: 2 planners, 2 landscape architects. The farm is located on the Pacific Slope Trail and has a lodge there that can provide lodging to hikers. At this point there is the lodge with 16 bunk-beds, cooking facilities and bathrooms with showers. Our job was to document the existing conditions as well as design ways in which the farm can be improved for sustainable agriculture and eco-tourism.

We designed a trail leaving from the lodge, that would go through a point on the property called the Mirador, then past our proposed coffee plantation, then through the banana plantation to another mirador in one of the pastures. The trail was designed so people can hike it as well as being accessible via horseback. This trail would also serve as a means to move harvested coffee down to the drying locations and off farm property for processing.

We found that language is sometimes a barrier, and that no matter how much spanish you know, you don't know enough. Therefore, our course coordinator was our translator and it was interesting.

Once we got back from our week vacation, all the students that were participating in the Sustainable Futures Program, headed to Finca Amapala via the Pacific Slope Trail for an overnight adventure. We were told the hike would take about 2-3 hours but it really took 5. I think the 2-3 hours was on "Tico Time." And we climbed, and climbed and climbed. Then we took a "Short cut trail" which was really a "Tico short cut" but not really a trail, and our guide (and owner of the farm- Oldemar) used a machete to make our trail. We crossed the banana plantation, and Oldemar cut down some bananas and plantains, rigged them to a log and then proceeded through the plantation.

When we finally got to the lodge, we were smelly and muddy and very exhausted. While the lodge had bathrooms and showers, there was no electricity. So we had an early dinner, then played cards by flashlight and candles. When you are in the middle of nowhere with not much to do, you end up going to bed really early and tend literally be up with the crack of dawn.

The next morning, we were served breakfast and then gathered up so we could be divided into groups for analysis. We worked half a day. Our group of architects took the exact measurements of the lodge as well as measurement of an existing foundation. One of their projects were to design a building utilizing the foundation that would serve as a new dining hall. The foundation was about a 5 minute walk from the lodge, so one of things we had to design and improve was a trail linking the lodge and the proposed dining hall site together. Others took plant samples, GPS points, made sketches, and took lots of photos.

Being the planning student and not having any drawing capabilities at all, I took on the responsibility of identifying the plant samples (23!! in total!!) with a local botanist, looking up all plants and writing on them, as well as writing the report for the master plan. Our faculty member, Scott Shannon, was very helpful in this because there were a lot of things that I did not know would go in the report and help helped me organize, format and edit the report. I ended up buying the plant book, that Willow Zuchoswki wrote, the botanist I had to meet with. I actually met with here twice because we ended up going back up to the finca on horseback to get any and all additional data that we would need to complete the project. That trip was just the 4 or us who were working on the project. So we ended up taking more plant samples that second time.

The report-- I thought it was never going to end (it grew to 50 pages with 3 appendices--and still needs to be translated to spanish). Since the farm was going to be used for eco-tourism activities and there were sections that we wanted to reforest, we needed to know about the plants that were exisitng as well as the wildlife they attract. So the plant research was very important for reforestation. A lot of people come to Costa Rica and Monteverde especially to bird watch, so one morning, I sat down with a book on the area and made a spread sheet of all the possible birds that could be in the zone where our finca was located.

And then there was the research of coffee.... and learning the difference between shade grown and sustainable.

While this project was brutal and we were up the night before presentations until 1:30 in the morning working in the studio, I really learned a lot, not only on writing a managment plan and working with the client, but on Monteverde in general. I will post images of the drawings also.

I will print copies of the Management Plan for Finca Amapala and my first project and keep them at my cubicle for anyone who wants to talk a look at them. I will have to post my cubicle number later, as I might be moving.

Hasta Luego....