TROPICALISIMO........

Hi Everyone,
A warm hug from these TROPICAL lands....
I am in Caño Palma Biologial Station located in the northern coast of Costa Rica

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It takes 5 hours, 2 chicken buses and one boat to get here.

The Canadian Organization for Tropical Education & Rainforest Conservation (COTERC) is the host organization. The station is located in the lowlands close to the Caribbean coast home of a dense tropical rainforest. Canals and Caños dissect this sandy area which is the main communication system between local communities.

San Francisco is the closest small village (3 min by canoe or kayak and 10 min walk) and Tortugero village (8 kilometers, by boat) which is the entrance to the Tortuguero National Park.

The Place

The station has all the facilities you need to conduct your research. So far so good.

Cabins
There is enough room for more than 30 people on this station.

My suite
All inclusive! Cockroaches and mosquitoes are your uninvited and loyal guests. Humidity is extremely high and my bed sheets are wet all the time. No worries, the sand in my bed and body will distract this wet sensation.

Dinning, working and chatting table
This is the main area of the station where important (and non-important) things happen such as meetings, dinner, chatting, music, and much more.

We are so lucky to have internet in this are. Three computers with wireless is a miracle. It will be more complicated when more volunteers arrive to the station but for now we have fair enough access.

Daily schedule
There are many domestic things to do in the station. (cooking, gardening, raking, and cleaning). All people are encouraged to volunteer in all these activities.

Kitchen
Vegetarian! This is the paradise for you. Our diet is basically vegetarian. Good for me. I would like to lose these extra kilos that I gained in the last two semester sitting in front of a computer.

My research and activities

Sea Turtle Monitoring Program
This is a conservation program of the sea turtles that nest in this area. We walk 9 miles all nights on the beach. Starting at 10:00pm and ending up at 2:00am. However, it might be extended if you have an encounter. Tagging and measuring turtles, counting eggs, locating and relocating nest are some of the activities during these nightly walks. The director of this program is training us as sea turtle patrol leaders. Next weeks we are expecting more volunteers and we have to lead these groups.

We are so lucky, after one month we have seen 3 Leatherbacks. This is a massive animal! Prehistoric! These animals are carrying the evolution itself!
Just to get some context. Once females reach maturity and mate somewhere in the ocean they come back to these beaches to nest. It might take 25 years or so, after hatching, to come back and nest. They have to survive endless natural and anthropogenic threatens. But they are survivors. They are committed with life.
We are not allowed to take pictures so I stole one from internet. Just imagine. We spent 1 ½ hour watching (of course taking the scientific information required) this majestic animal nesting.
Remarkable and unique experience!

Mammals Monitoring Program
This program has some delay in its implementation. Instead, I am walking (twice a week) the trails around the station. The purpose is recording all mammals’ tracks on these trails. Collared peccaries (pigs) and coatis are the most frequent visitors to this area.

In addition, I have installed a camera-trap which uses an infrared sensor to capture elusive and nocturnal animals. I will post photos and clips as soon as I have them.

Community engagement

We will be working with the school board of San Francisco village in conservation, environmental and educational projects. Some of the ideas we have so far are:

• Zero plastic bags: we are promoting fabric shopping bags in this community. We have purchased fabric and hired local women to saw these bags. We will be distributing fabric shopping bags within the community.
• Donate your binocular and guides for children: we have asked a local lodge to put a donation box in its common areas. It will allow international tourists to donate their binoculars and field guides (i.e., birds’ guides). Donations will be directed to local schools to support education in natural sciences. We would like to promote the appreciation and protection of wildlife in this area.
• Bird watching and extracting: we are planning to have bird watching and extracting (using midst nets) activities with children.
• Others: we will have a formal meeting with the school board of San Francisco to identify conservation and environmental projects where COTERC and York internees should participate and support.


Biodiversity

For those who like biodiversity here is a bunch of photos that I have taken: next blog