How often on the way to the North Pole did I think about the Pacuare jungle lodge in Costa Rica? Every day.

Now the wait is over, we are here. And what a truly amazing and beautiful place it is. Just to get here, we had to raft down the Pacuare River and class III and IV rapids. The scenery was incredible. Lonnie is here (in Costa Rica) now as well and we had some really great laughs on the trip down river.

The Pacuare Lodge itself is hard to describe. Imagine small cluster of bungalows with thatched roofs surrounded by an incredible vastness of tropical rain forest. It is a surreal setting to say the least and we were all infinitely impressed. Of course, owners Roberto Fernandez (his wife Luz) and Jack Loeb (who was not able to attend) gave us the five star treatment and far surpassed our Arctic Ocean imaginations. Between lunch and dinner, we participated in a canopy tour zipping tree to tree nearly 100 feet off the ground.

While we relaxed away most of the afternoon, Lonnie and I were there to actually do a bit of work. We spent part of the evening talking about our expedition to the North Pole and Global Warming. It seemed a bit odd to talk about Global Warming in the middle of a tropical rain forest; however, even here the evidence is clear. Several frog and toad species have already disappeared. Equally obvious is the important role of the rain forest in acting as a carbon sink. Nowhere in my life have I seen such an incredible amount of vegetation.

One single tree can absorb one ton of carbon over its lifetime multiply that by the 750 trees that may be present in one hectare (2.5 acres) and you can begin to see the vital role that trees play in regulating world carbon dioxide levels. In fact, the Amazon Rainforest has been called the 'Lungs of our Planet' as it produces nearly 20% of the world's oxygen.

Our time at Pacuare was too short. We were excited about the upcoming raft out, but we were hesitant to leave. In one last symbolic gesture Roberto asked us to do a last favor. Lonnie and I planted one small warrior to the fight against Global Warming. A tree.