Today we visited the rainforest in Arenal and took a hike through it and across a plethora of hanging bridges. The rainforest here in Arenal has many similarities to the cloud forest we visited previously in Monteverde along with having some distinct differences. Firstly, to discuss the similarities both the cloud forest and rain forest have very similar species living there with Monteverde having a few more that are endemic to that region. Furthermore, the plants and the environment of the hike seemed very similar besides the difference in their weather and how their weather operates. In the cloud forest we were in such high elevation that the clouds would blow in through the forest. This made it so during the hike we were walking through a mist and fog since we were in a cloud; however, in the rainforest it was a rainfall that one would typically experience on a daily basis. The rainforest also gets their rain from evaporation from the trees rather than how evaporation would usually take place in other parts of the world. This would mean that the rain is more common since it can’t move as far before it becomes too heavy and turns into rainfall.

Besides the hanging bridge tour in Arenal there are also plenty of other tourist destinations that draws people to Arenal. Firstly, a big part that draws people in is Arenal’s ecotourism which makes adventures like zip lining to be much more appealing as one can see the tops of the canopy. This part of tourism where one can see the beauty of nature is what really draws tourists to Arenal rather than somewhere on the coast or the city of San Jose. Due to this large reliance on tourism in Arenal COVID-19 has caused a large decline in revenue during the peak time of the pandemic. Although, now the economy in Arenal is recovering as restrictions are being lifted many of tourist companies in Arenal had to alter their business. The biggest part that these companies had to alter is who they market to. Tourism had to alter their business model to appeal to more of the people in Costa Rica whether that is people in Arenal people from a separate region such as the central valley. Therefore, the biggest supply chain problem that these businesses faced were the supply of customers drastically decreasing.