Último día… Today is our last day in Costa Rica, with a full day of flying tomorrow. It’s honestly a bittersweet ending. Before coming I thought ecotourism was just nature tours, where you would hike and enjoy the nature and spot out wildlife. While we did go on some hikes where we did exactly that, I realized it is so much more. It is adventure activities to help conserve the land, it is preserved waterfalls and poached animals in safekeeping. Ecotourism is everything and anything. The basis is that the focus is to protect and conserve the land.

At the start of the trip, we went to La Paz, which was not the typical nature tour I expected. Instead it was waterfalls and poached animals that they saved. The paths were made without machines, completely by hand as to not mess with the nature. That in itself made me realize that ecotourism is more than nature tours. I realize that it is preserving the native wildlife and allowing others to experience that without causing damage. At La Paz, each decision they made was deliberate, they probably could have profited more if they built it with machines and used non rescue animals. They would have been able to open sooner and have more animals for people to view. However, they prioritized conservation, and as a business student it helped me realize that businesses can be profitable without prioritizing profit and instead sustainability. In the future, I want to go into corporate law, and I will have to help advise businesses. This will help me give better advice, as understanding what a business truly stands for is essential to advising it well. A lawyer that only sees the legal side and does not understand the heart of the business is only doing half the job.

One of the most essential visits of our trip to ecotourism was Arenal Mundo Aventura (AMA). AMA was an adventure activity company where the money from said activities go towards conservation. They have 1,300 acres of forest, with only 10% of it being used for their operations and the remaining 90% is protected. A lot of ecotourism based companies are experiencing over-tourism, so AMA puts visitor caps on their activities to combat this. However, they also over rely on tourists to fund their conservation efforts. This taught me that ecotourism is complicated and you have to find a balance. To be able to keep up the conservation efforts, you need revenue to come in to fund it. To do that you need tourists to fund it, however you don’t want too much that they cause harm to the area. This taught me that in a business, you need to find a balance between profit and harm, although you may want to prioritize profit, you also need to put in policies that stop your company from polluting the world. Whether it’s regarding ecotourism or how much pollution your warehouse is causing, you need to keep this in mind. As a future corporate lawyer, I need to understand sustainability laws and ecotourism regulations. If I do not have an understanding of this, my job is essentially useless. I would be doing nothing to truly help the business. Without understanding the delicate balance between profit and conservation that places like AMA navigate daily, I cannot give meaningful advice. The legal side and the business reality have to inform each other.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve was actually closer to my original idea of ecotourism. At the reserve there were two trails that you could walk on, but you had to choose one. While on the trail we saw white-faced capuchin monkeys and various birds. We attempted to see a Resplendent Quetzal but we were unable to. The park has also been suffering from over-tourism, with visitor numbers exploding and climate change causing the clouds to shift. Their numbers went from 2,700 visitors in 1980 to about 250,000 in 2019. To combat this they introduced timed tickets and restricted trail access. This helped me understand both the balance needed in ecotourism and how policies can be used to maintain it. Our blog prompt for this one was whether or not it was an act of good stewardship, and it was. It taught me what good stewardship was, which is protecting an area not just for visitors now but for the future, and even if it means disappointing some visitors along the way. However, we also learned at Monteverde Institute that good stewardship means including the locals, particularly indigenous communities who are not always asked about projects on their land. True stewardship is not just about restricting access but about who gets to make those decisions. As a future corporate lawyer, land use, conservation policy, and indigenous rights are all legal issues. Understanding what good stewardship looks like in practice helps me understand what businesses and governments are legally obligated to protect and who has the right to make those decisions.

The most memorable part of the trip was Sibö Chocolate, as the owner was very passionate about his chocolate. You could tell that he was not doing it for profit but rather his passion and to make an impact. A memorable quote from him that day was “I win, my customers win, my competitors win, my staff wins, and my suppliers win.” This quote in itself explains his viewpoint, he pays his suppliers 3x the amount, he focuses on reforestation, adds value to agricultural goods, and he packages with cacao husk paper to be sustainable. His business was a perfect example of triple bottom line, where success is measured in the impact the business has on people, the planet, and profit. Although it might not seem like the traditional ecotourism company, it taught me that the principles of ecotourism do not need to be limited to those nature tours I brought up. Any business can adopt these principles, what makes something an ecotourism business is not what they sell but how they operate and who benefits. This taught me that a business’s success is not just profit but also the positive impact it makes. This once again goes into prioritizing the environment and sustainability over profitability. When I am a corporate lawyer, I will have to make sure that the business I am advising complies with laws. This makes sure that they are being held accountable for their claims that they make on their products or for their business. Greenwashing right now is a big problem, and a lot of businesses are being held legally accountable for false sustainability claims. It is important that I understand what sustainability looks like, like what we saw at Sibö, and what is greenwashing and false claims. That way I can ensure the businesses I advise are genuinely sustainable, not just claiming to be.

When I first went to the pre-departure meetings, my team and I did not know much about ecotourism. We thought it was nature walks, wildlife photography, tours, and community conservation projects. After coming to Costa Rica we realized it is so much more. It is Sibö with their non traditional way of ecotourism, it is La Paz and their waterfalls and animals, it is AMA with adventure activities, and it is still, of course, nature walks. I learned that ecotourism is not one thing but a broad and fragile business structure vulnerable to competition, politics, pandemics, and slow seasons, yet all united by the same commitment to conservation and sustainability.

Overall, the trip was really fun, I got to see sloths and coatis, which was my goal for the trip. It definitely put my Spanish to the test and I think I improved over time. Even if I was not the best, pointing and acting stuff out was a huge help. I was also way more active than usual and busy, which honestly helped time go by faster. I feel like after all of the activities we have done, I have more of an appreciation for farmers, the fruits we eat, coffee, and animals. Seeing how hard they work, from waking up before dawn to covering themselves head to toe just to harvest coffee or pineapples, made me think twice about where my food comes from. I also have a huge appreciation for Ticos! Our host mom was so welcoming, and she set the tone for so many other people in Costa Rica. Life here truly is pura vida.

This trip was amazing, and I honestly learned a lot from it. Although towards the end I was exhausted, it was worth it. Thank you to the Go Journey Abroad staff, Ivan, Josue, and Pino along with Ryan and Katie for making this trip possible. Thank you to my parents for supporting me. ¡Gracias, Costa Rica, por recibirme con los brazos abiertos! ¡Filadelfia, ya voy! Buenas noches desde Costa Rica, por última vez.