Day 7- Turbines and Tilaran

I woke up on Tuesday full of excitement because it was the day we were finally going to see the wind turbines. Basically every day so far in Costa Rica, we have been able to see the wind turbines from a distance, but it is a completely different experience to see them up close, and to have one of the engineers you about it. To add to the good day, we had eggs with rice and beans for breakfast yum yum. Frank gave us a lesson on wind power, and then we set off for the wind farm. The particular wind farm we visited was built in 1999, and it had 32 horizontal axis wind turbines, which is on the large end of the spectrum for wind farms. The engineer took us all into the control room and told us about the facility. He explained that the turbines begin to generate electricity with wind speeds of 4 m/s and stop generating electricity when wind speeds exceed 25 m/s for safety purposes. He also explained to us that the turbines undergo maintenance three times per year. The overall life span of a wind turbine is approximately 20 years, so the facility we visited will need to be replaced in about six years. After the engineer finished his presentation, we took some group pictures and got onto the bus. Reuban drove us along the road that circled the wind farm. We returned back to the area outside of the control room for more pictures and snacks compliments of the wind turbine engineers.

For lunch we went into downtown Tilaran, and had some free time to shop and eat lunch on our own. We all split up to scope out the lunch options, and settled on a tiny cafe a block or so away. This cafe actually had a buger with fries on the menu, so of course I ordered it for lunch. When it came out, the burger was not a traditional beer burger. It had a chicken nugget patty with a slice of actual ham and cheese on top. It was not what I was expecting at all, but I still enjoyed it. I spent the rest of the time in Tilaran checking out the little shops and buying souvenirs to bring home.The pool area at Volcano Brewing Hotel was still pretty sunny when we returned from town, so we all went outside to get some sun. Once the pool area was overcome with shade, I took out my notebook and finished some work poolside. Another GREEN group met us for dinner at Volcano Brewing. We all had a big bonfire with some more Costa Rican Smores for dessert.