Costa RIca: tropical biology
After two years of planning the day has finally come! A group of Jennings CLC students will be heading out to Costa Rica to study tropical biology and environmental science on November 17, 2014. The idea to travel to Costa Rica came into fruition in 2012 by one of our students, but at the time was just a dream. We knew there would be challenges to traveling abroad such as getting passports and vaccines, figuring out how to deal with language and cultural barriers, safely navigating a developing country, and finding a way to finance an expensive trip. None of these obstacles discouraged this student from moving forward. She turned around and solved all of those problems. She and several other students were able to raise about $2,000, and are still raising more. We also posted a project on Donors Choose asking for donations for passports and vaccines. Within a month $800 was donated toward this project by complete strangers nationwide. Our Costa Rica travelers just purchased their very first passports a few weeks ago thanks to the generous donations. All is falling into place. See below for the itinerary and check back the week of the trip for updates!
Pre-Trip Learning Activities and Preparation
- All students will be taking a biodiversity/environmental science course before the trip.
- All students will be working on one project together through the course of the next couple of months. They will be conducting biodiversity surveys/counts in various habitats of MN and then again in Costa Rica. When they return they will put the information they gathered into a map. I will post the final product here.
- Basic Spanish lessons
- Individual biology projects
- Cost Rica culture and history individual projects
- Environmental Action Projects -
1) Primate protection petition - one of the students discovered that monkeys and other arboreal species
are getting electrocuted by telephone wires while trying to get from place to place. The petition asks
The government to consider insulating the wires.
Sign the petition here https://www.change.org/p/rafael-quesada-coordinator-for-environmental-issues-of-i-c-e-implement-policy-that-makes-insulating-wires-mandatory-in-costa-rica
2) Sea turtle protection education brochure - one of our students researched how tourists can help protect
Sea turtles. She put together a brochure and asked hotels in the areas we will be traveling to put the brochure
on their websites and in their lobbies. They were very responsive and grateful for the help.
3) Recycled art - a couple of the students took plastic bags, CD's and other trash items and turned them into
Functional items like jars and art. This trash would otherwise make its way to the ocean threatening marine
life.
Costa Rica Itinerary
November 17 - Fly to San Jose, ground transfer to Arenal volcanoes, check into Hotel Kokoro, visit natural hotsprings
November 18 - Arenal Highlights Tour (canopy hanging bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall, Arenal Volcano and rain forest twilight hike)
November 19 - Boat trip on the Rio Balsa river and cloud forest canopy tour
November 20 - Transfer to Nosara (4 1/2 hrs), check into La Garta Hotel, do the "arribada" beach hike/count (hundreds of thousands of olive ridley sea turtles emerge from the ocean to nest on the beach - "arribada" means the arrival. Only happens with a new moon)
November 21 - Sibu Sanctuary Volunteering (Costa Rican wildlife rehabilitation center), free time (work on projects, walk the town, swim the beaches, snorkel)
November 22 - Palo Verde National Park, Guaitil Town/ Chorotegan town cultural tour
November 23 - Sea kayak and snorkel the Isla Chora coral reef, transfer to Alajuela
November 24 - Fly back to MN
'
Pre-Trip Learning Activities and Preparation
- All students will be taking a biodiversity/environmental science course before the trip.
- All students will be working on one project together through the course of the next couple of months. They will be conducting biodiversity surveys/counts in various habitats of MN and then again in Costa Rica. When they return they will put the information they gathered into a map. I will post the final product here.
- Basic Spanish lessons
- Individual biology projects
- Cost Rica culture and history individual projects
- Environmental Action Projects -
1) Primate protection petition - one of the students discovered that monkeys and other arboreal species
are getting electrocuted by telephone wires while trying to get from place to place. The petition asks
The government to consider insulating the wires.
Sign the petition here https://www.change.org/p/rafael-quesada-coordinator-for-environmental-issues-of-i-c-e-implement-policy-that-makes-insulating-wires-mandatory-in-costa-rica
2) Sea turtle protection education brochure - one of our students researched how tourists can help protect
Sea turtles. She put together a brochure and asked hotels in the areas we will be traveling to put the brochure
on their websites and in their lobbies. They were very responsive and grateful for the help.
3) Recycled art - a couple of the students took plastic bags, CD's and other trash items and turned them into
Functional items like jars and art. This trash would otherwise make its way to the ocean threatening marine
life.
Costa Rica Itinerary
November 17 - Fly to San Jose, ground transfer to Arenal volcanoes, check into Hotel Kokoro, visit natural hotsprings
November 18 - Arenal Highlights Tour (canopy hanging bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall, Arenal Volcano and rain forest twilight hike)
November 19 - Boat trip on the Rio Balsa river and cloud forest canopy tour
November 20 - Transfer to Nosara (4 1/2 hrs), check into La Garta Hotel, do the "arribada" beach hike/count (hundreds of thousands of olive ridley sea turtles emerge from the ocean to nest on the beach - "arribada" means the arrival. Only happens with a new moon)
November 21 - Sibu Sanctuary Volunteering (Costa Rican wildlife rehabilitation center), free time (work on projects, walk the town, swim the beaches, snorkel)
November 22 - Palo Verde National Park, Guaitil Town/ Chorotegan town cultural tour
November 23 - Sea kayak and snorkel the Isla Chora coral reef, transfer to Alajuela
November 24 - Fly back to MN
'
november 17 - We made it!
We left for the Minneapolis airport at 10:00 pm last night. It is now 7 pm the next day and we just arrived at our hotel. On the drive from the airport to Arenal Volcano we spotted a large iguana, blue jeans dart frogs and tucans. We also passed through a cloud forest, stopped to check out a coffee bean farm, and ate authentic Costa Rican rice and beans for lunch. We are exhausted, so this will be a short post. But we are excited! Tomorrow will be a long day of exploring the Arenal National Park.
Below is a picture of Arenal (are-en-all) Volcano from the deck of our room. Arenal is one of 7 active volcanoes in Costa Rica. It last erupted in 2009, but was relatively harmless. The last serious eruption was 1968. Tomorrow we will be hiking the base of this volcano. Stay tuned!
Below is a picture of Arenal (are-en-all) Volcano from the deck of our room. Arenal is one of 7 active volcanoes in Costa Rica. It last erupted in 2009, but was relatively harmless. The last serious eruption was 1968. Tomorrow we will be hiking the base of this volcano. Stay tuned!
November 18 - Arenal national park
We all went to bed last night from sheer exhaustion at 8 pm. We awoke at 6 am to the view of Arenal Volcano in the pic above. Apparently there is rarely a lucid view of the volcano. There is usually overcast covering the cone, so we were lucky (so we were told). Today we hopped a bus and traveled to the rainforest to check out the canopy from hanging bridges. It was a three hour hike in which we saw vipers, cutter ants, a sloth, a tarantula, parrots, a montazuma pendulum bird (so cool), howler monkeys and their young, and on top of that the most diverse array of plantlife the girls had ever seen, all from the perspective of an arboreal (tree) animal, since we were up in the canopy. We were able to see organisms that we would have a tough time seeing from the ground. We decided on Costa Rica because it is the biodiversity capital of the world. It hosts 5% of the worlds biodiversity (variety of species) yet is only .03% of the worlds land mass. That is a staggering statistic. Before we left for Costa Rica, our biodiversity class went to Fort Snelling State Park to do biodiversity sampling. In 100 square feet we recorded 5-10 species on average (including plants, insects, etc.). In Costa Rica we did a similar activity. There were too many species to count. Many of the species are endemic, meaning they can only be found in Costa Rica. That is why the biodiversity needs to be protected. Costa Rica is one of the international leaders in land protection, after they became dangerously close to losing it all.
After the hanging bridges tour, we hiked to La Fortuna waterfall in the town of La Fortuna, and then hiked the volcano as the sun set. We were told that the town of La Fortuna did not always have that name. It went by a different in name. In 1968, Arenal Volcano erupted. The main vent for lava to exit the volcano was blocked, so the pressure caused the lava to burst through a small vent in the side of the volcano destroying the towns on that side instantly. La Fortuna was located at the base of the volcano that wasn't effected, so the name of the town was changed to "the fortunate" or La Fortuna in Spanish. Isidro, our guide, explained to us that the volcano is still active and could erupt any time. The locals would be stupid to build anywhere near the volcano, so even the town of La Fortuna is far enough away where the residence would be able to evacuate (or that is the hope anyway). The volcano has been delegated to protected land and is now called Arenal National Park. We ended the day with an awesome view of the volcano at sunset.
After the hanging bridges tour, we hiked to La Fortuna waterfall in the town of La Fortuna, and then hiked the volcano as the sun set. We were told that the town of La Fortuna did not always have that name. It went by a different in name. In 1968, Arenal Volcano erupted. The main vent for lava to exit the volcano was blocked, so the pressure caused the lava to burst through a small vent in the side of the volcano destroying the towns on that side instantly. La Fortuna was located at the base of the volcano that wasn't effected, so the name of the town was changed to "the fortunate" or La Fortuna in Spanish. Isidro, our guide, explained to us that the volcano is still active and could erupt any time. The locals would be stupid to build anywhere near the volcano, so even the town of La Fortuna is far enough away where the residence would be able to evacuate (or that is the hope anyway). The volcano has been delegated to protected land and is now called Arenal National Park. We ended the day with an awesome view of the volcano at sunset.
november 19 - adventure day
I told the girls that they could plan one tour that is more adventure than education. They chose zip lining and white water rafting. We did those today. They really enjoyed zip lining and water rafting, it was their first time doing both. When we got to the zip lining company, we all got geared up and got in the back of a pick up truck and went up to our first platform, they were all super nervous. They got used to it after the first couple of cables. We did 12 different cables through the jungle in the rain. I was so proud of everyone. They were so brave and excited. A couple of the girls were afraid of heights, so doing this was an incredible challenge for some of them. From there we went white water rafting on the Rio Balsa. We jumped right in and just went for it. We weren't the greatest paddlers at first, but about 15 minutes in we were doing great. One of the girls in our group fell in, other than that we had an amazing, exciting day. After the tours we went to eat lunch with group at a traditional Costa Rican spot. We ate rice and beans (shocking), fried plantain, beef, potatoes and topped it off with homemade Costa Rican fudge and coffee. They use a specific strainer to make coffee here to get the most flavor possible. They demonstrated the process and the coffee was amazing.
Unfortunately we will not have pictures of the white water rafting and zip lining until we return. I hope you'll check back then. Tomorrow we will be packing up and leaving Arenal, and heading to the coast. Mostly driving, but tomorrow evening we should be checking out the "arribada", arrival of nesting sea turtles to the beach. Conditions have to be just right though, so cross your fingers.
Unfortunately we will not have pictures of the white water rafting and zip lining until we return. I hope you'll check back then. Tomorrow we will be packing up and leaving Arenal, and heading to the coast. Mostly driving, but tomorrow evening we should be checking out the "arribada", arrival of nesting sea turtles to the beach. Conditions have to be just right though, so cross your fingers.
november 20 - which way to the beach?
Today we woke up, ate a quick breakfast of fresh Costa Rican fruit, beans and rice (yes, beans and rice for breakfast too) and French toast. We packed up all of our things and hit the road, heading to the Pacific Coastal region of Guanacaste. Costa Rica is sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. We went to the Pacific today. The girls slept for most of the drive, but had a pleasant visit with seven howler monkeys on the way. Costa Rica has four monkey species including howler monkeys, spider monkeys,squirrel monkeys and white-faced capuchins. We have seen howlers and spider monkeys and hope to see capuchins in the next couple of days.
The drive was 5 hours, which was a bit taxing, but there is no way around that in Costa Rica. There is not an established highway system in Cosat Rica. All of the roads are single lane (if you'd even call them lanes) and are very curvy, so our maximum speed the entire day was probably 40 mph. It's hard to find straight roads because of all of the volcanoes. There are over 100 volcanoes in Costa Rica.
The girls were pleasantly surprised by our hotel. The picture below is the view from our deck. Unfortunately the minute we arrived it started storming. We got some bad news today. The "arribada" or arrival of nesting sea turtles, happened last week. The reason we chose this town and this time of year was to see this happen. Unfortunately that will not happen this trip. We are pretty heartbroken. Tomorrow we will be going to visit the old Mayan town, Guaitil, to see them make traditional, hand made pottery. We are really excited for that one.
A room with a view
The drive was 5 hours, which was a bit taxing, but there is no way around that in Costa Rica. There is not an established highway system in Cosat Rica. All of the roads are single lane (if you'd even call them lanes) and are very curvy, so our maximum speed the entire day was probably 40 mph. It's hard to find straight roads because of all of the volcanoes. There are over 100 volcanoes in Costa Rica.
The girls were pleasantly surprised by our hotel. The picture below is the view from our deck. Unfortunately the minute we arrived it started storming. We got some bad news today. The "arribada" or arrival of nesting sea turtles, happened last week. The reason we chose this town and this time of year was to see this happen. Unfortunately that will not happen this trip. We are pretty heartbroken. Tomorrow we will be going to visit the old Mayan town, Guaitil, to see them make traditional, hand made pottery. We are really excited for that one.
A room with a view
november 21 - guaitil pottery and palo verde river tour
Today we drove to Palo Verde where we did a river tour. We saw capuchin monkeys, iguanas (currently mating season, so the males turn from green to orange at this time), howler monkeys, crocodiles, and hundreds of different migratory bird species. Many of these birds were likely in the Midwest a few months ago, like great blue herons for example.
After Palo Verde we drove to a small Mayan town called Guaitil, where the Choretega people make pottery the same way they did hundreds of years ago. These are the native people of Costa Rica. It was an amazing experience to watch them make the pieces. So much time and meticulous detail goes into each pot. Everything from the wheel to the paint to the fireplace was primitive and traditional to the original natives. Each pot is made on a small, manual pottery wheel. Not electric, no foot pedal, they just use their hands to spin it. The first phase is making the pot on the wheel with clay. They use sharpened rocks to cut the clay and leaves to smooth out the clay on the wheel. Once the desired shape is achieved, they leave it out in the sun to dry. Then they polish the piece with a stone. Next, a layer of white paint is put on it. It dries, and they polish it with stone again. Then a layer of black paint, dries, polished again. Then they take what looks like a crayon, and draws designs on the pot. All of the symbols they use represent something. Monkey's symbolize luck, butterflies symbolize beauty, and so on. From there they polish the piece one more time with a stone, and let the pot bake in the sun for 4-5 days. Finally they put the piece in a homemade oven to bake. It sounds like a challenging process, but the natives make it look easy!
After Palo Verde we drove to a small Mayan town called Guaitil, where the Choretega people make pottery the same way they did hundreds of years ago. These are the native people of Costa Rica. It was an amazing experience to watch them make the pieces. So much time and meticulous detail goes into each pot. Everything from the wheel to the paint to the fireplace was primitive and traditional to the original natives. Each pot is made on a small, manual pottery wheel. Not electric, no foot pedal, they just use their hands to spin it. The first phase is making the pot on the wheel with clay. They use sharpened rocks to cut the clay and leaves to smooth out the clay on the wheel. Once the desired shape is achieved, they leave it out in the sun to dry. Then they polish the piece with a stone. Next, a layer of white paint is put on it. It dries, and they polish it with stone again. Then a layer of black paint, dries, polished again. Then they take what looks like a crayon, and draws designs on the pot. All of the symbols they use represent something. Monkey's symbolize luck, butterflies symbolize beauty, and so on. From there they polish the piece one more time with a stone, and let the pot bake in the sun for 4-5 days. Finally they put the piece in a homemade oven to bake. It sounds like a challenging process, but the natives make it look easy!
november 22 - sibu sanctuary
Today was an incredibly educational and emotional day. Two years ago, Dion dreamed up this trip. She wants to work with monkeys in some form or another in the future, and learned that Costa Rica is a great place to study them. We found a place on the Guanacaste coast called Sibu Sanctuary, a large, protected, dry tropical rain forest. This 50 acres of land was bought by a couple of North Carolinans in 2009. On the property they built a sanctuary and rehabilitation center for orphaned and injured arboreal (tree) species like monkeys, particularly howler and capuchin monkeys that are treated, cared for and eventually released back into the wild. Today we got to visit this sanctuary and get a behind the scenes glimpse of the ins and outs of such an operation.
When we arrived we got a tour of the grounds from Steve, part owner and operator. He educated us on a variety of plant species in this type of forest (dry tropical forest). He had a lot of interesting tid bits up his sleeve, like the fact that the plant yalangyalang is the secret ingredient of Chanel No. 5. Or the pichote, a type of mahogany tree with very sharp spikes on the trunk, was used to punish criminals in the past. They would strap the criminals to the tree. We touched the spikes with our finger tips, and it's not pleasant. This adaptation protects this tree from predators. He also explained to us that Sibu was the native peoples diety, which is how the sanctuary got its name.
When we arrived to the center we met Vicki. She explained to us the purpose for the center. Costa Rica is generally a conservation conscious state. They believe in conserving resources. For example, we learned from Vicki that 93% of Costa Rica's energy comes from renewable resources like wind and solar. They have also protected 25% of the land from destruction and fragmentation. However, they are not specifically wildlife aware, said Vicki. This sanctuary was established specifically to rehabilitate monkeys that have been electrocuted by electric lines. This is very common, but electric companies and the government look the other way, and the locals aren't aware that it's an issue. The sanctuary took in 200 monkeys last year alone with horrific injuries that often times resulted in amputations or death. Mothers are often electrocuted with infants in tote, leaving the infants orphaned.
It is currently illegal for electric companies to run uninsulated wires through jungles, but unfortunately it still happens due to lack of enforcement. It is not possible to insulate existing wires. It is possible to put up new lines that are insulated, but it costs the electric companies $9 per yard vs. $3 for uninsulated. Electric lines can also be buried, but is expensive to do so. Neighbors of the Sibu Sanctuary buried their lines last year and it cost them $900,000. The trick Vicki says, is to help the electric companies understand that it is in their best interest to do this. It makes them look bad to ignore it. Electric lines have a hot line above, a cold line (grounded) below and transformers. If a monkey is holding a tree branch, and grabs the hot line with its tail or other hand, she creates a circuit and gets electrocuted (I hope I'm getting that right). So one thing that goes a long way is making sure those branches that hang over the lines are kept trimmed back to prevent the monkeys from trying to use the lines to get through fragmented forest. Boots to shield the transformers are also helpful. Education is the most crucial component to change.
There's unfortunately a lot of convincing that needs to take place. Vicki is interested in getting into the politics of making big changes, but needs someone in the center to care for the injured animals that will eventually be released. They threw out the idea of getting some of the girls back for 1-3 months to volunteer with the day to day work like feeding the captive monkeys, cleaning the cages and caring for the animals, collecting leaves from the forest for the animals to eat, and eventually helping transition them back to the wild.
Earlier this year Dion put together a petition asking the electric companies to start taking this issue seriously. The link to sign this petition is above. This issue is incredibly important to Dion. She was crying almost the entire visit. Please sign it if you support this cause. Check out the video titled "baby monkeys of Costa Rica" on YouTube to get a better idea of what goes on inside the sanctuary.
After we left the sanctuary, we went to the beach for the first time this whole trip. It was a great way to end a great day. Tomorrow we will be checking out Costa Rica's marine biodiversity in the morning and will transfer back to San Jose in the afternoon to catch the plane Monday morning.
When we arrived we got a tour of the grounds from Steve, part owner and operator. He educated us on a variety of plant species in this type of forest (dry tropical forest). He had a lot of interesting tid bits up his sleeve, like the fact that the plant yalangyalang is the secret ingredient of Chanel No. 5. Or the pichote, a type of mahogany tree with very sharp spikes on the trunk, was used to punish criminals in the past. They would strap the criminals to the tree. We touched the spikes with our finger tips, and it's not pleasant. This adaptation protects this tree from predators. He also explained to us that Sibu was the native peoples diety, which is how the sanctuary got its name.
When we arrived to the center we met Vicki. She explained to us the purpose for the center. Costa Rica is generally a conservation conscious state. They believe in conserving resources. For example, we learned from Vicki that 93% of Costa Rica's energy comes from renewable resources like wind and solar. They have also protected 25% of the land from destruction and fragmentation. However, they are not specifically wildlife aware, said Vicki. This sanctuary was established specifically to rehabilitate monkeys that have been electrocuted by electric lines. This is very common, but electric companies and the government look the other way, and the locals aren't aware that it's an issue. The sanctuary took in 200 monkeys last year alone with horrific injuries that often times resulted in amputations or death. Mothers are often electrocuted with infants in tote, leaving the infants orphaned.
It is currently illegal for electric companies to run uninsulated wires through jungles, but unfortunately it still happens due to lack of enforcement. It is not possible to insulate existing wires. It is possible to put up new lines that are insulated, but it costs the electric companies $9 per yard vs. $3 for uninsulated. Electric lines can also be buried, but is expensive to do so. Neighbors of the Sibu Sanctuary buried their lines last year and it cost them $900,000. The trick Vicki says, is to help the electric companies understand that it is in their best interest to do this. It makes them look bad to ignore it. Electric lines have a hot line above, a cold line (grounded) below and transformers. If a monkey is holding a tree branch, and grabs the hot line with its tail or other hand, she creates a circuit and gets electrocuted (I hope I'm getting that right). So one thing that goes a long way is making sure those branches that hang over the lines are kept trimmed back to prevent the monkeys from trying to use the lines to get through fragmented forest. Boots to shield the transformers are also helpful. Education is the most crucial component to change.
There's unfortunately a lot of convincing that needs to take place. Vicki is interested in getting into the politics of making big changes, but needs someone in the center to care for the injured animals that will eventually be released. They threw out the idea of getting some of the girls back for 1-3 months to volunteer with the day to day work like feeding the captive monkeys, cleaning the cages and caring for the animals, collecting leaves from the forest for the animals to eat, and eventually helping transition them back to the wild.
Earlier this year Dion put together a petition asking the electric companies to start taking this issue seriously. The link to sign this petition is above. This issue is incredibly important to Dion. She was crying almost the entire visit. Please sign it if you support this cause. Check out the video titled "baby monkeys of Costa Rica" on YouTube to get a better idea of what goes on inside the sanctuary.
After we left the sanctuary, we went to the beach for the first time this whole trip. It was a great way to end a great day. Tomorrow we will be checking out Costa Rica's marine biodiversity in the morning and will transfer back to San Jose in the afternoon to catch the plane Monday morning.
november 23 - last day
Today we went kayaking and snorkeling in the coral reef. It was all of the girls first time kayaking and most of their first times snorkeling. We saw a tiger snake, eels, a blow fish, sea urchins, crabs, an octopus and more. The girls got to see some of the adaptations at work that have evolved in these animals to help them survive and reproduce, which they learned about in our evolution unit earlier this year. We accidentally got really close to a blow fish because it blended in with the sand, so the blow fish inflated as a defense mechanism that has evolved over time. It was beautiful, with spikes coming out. The guide told us that they used to bring the snorkelers toward the blow fish on purpose so they would inflate because that's what the tourists wanted to see. Now he doesn't do that because biologists have found that they can only inflate so many times in their lifetime. It's harmful to the animal to purposely threaten it. The question then is why would that trait have evolved? Maybe that trait will select out over time if it isn't beneficial. Or the benefit may be that's it's an energy saver. Who knows. Either way, it was very cool to learn about Costa Rica's marine habitat. It was a great way to end the trip.
Adios Pablo, Isidro, Moses, Jason, Raymon, Vicki, Steve, Regina, Javier, Alex, Catalina with CR Referrals, Sibu baby monkeys, and all the rest of the people that made this trip so amazing and memorable for us!
PURA VIDA!!!
Adios Pablo, Isidro, Moses, Jason, Raymon, Vicki, Steve, Regina, Javier, Alex, Catalina with CR Referrals, Sibu baby monkeys, and all the rest of the people that made this trip so amazing and memorable for us!
PURA VIDA!!!