For our Alternative Health class, we went to the Talamanca Indian Reservation which is on the Caribbean side near Puerto Viejo. It was about a 4 hour drive and then we hiked up into the mountain where the indian reservation is since their arent roads up there. There was an abundance of flora, the main thing was the cocoa trees.. we were able to try fresh cocoa fruit. Once you break it open you take out the seeds and suck on the them. The membrane is very sweet, however you spit out the actual seed because it is very bitter. We also were asked to chew on some leaves from a tree called hombre grande. These leaves prevent malaria and are a natural mosquito repellent. The natives grow up drinking tea made of this and just chewing on it… it tastes horrible though. We had a wonderful lunch with chicken, rice, and beans made Caribbean style (which generally means they use a lot of coconut). There was a watch tower that we hiked more to get to that you could see everything from. We were able to see Panama, the ocean, and the mountains along with some toucans. We went back down to town at Punta Uva and had dinner and went into Puerto Viejo in the evening where we went salsa dancing. Afterwards some people went to the ocean and went star gazing and played in the water. In the morning, we went back to the beach and did a martial arts form called chi gun on the beach. Chi gun is kind of like yoga and creates movement that is supposed to redirect chi flow. Once we got back we had lunch and returned to San Jose. The water in the area we were at was not potable and, even though we didnt drink it, all but 2 people in the class got sick. Despite that, it was a great trip.       Koryn