Dear San Jose,
Some of your streets are filthy and dangerous. At first I was scared of you...terrified actually. It took nearly two months and some courage to get to know the real you, but now that I have, I feel like I'm ready to take our relationship to the next level.
Love,
Gringa
San Jose is actually awesome, there are always people in the streets just going about their business. The streets are so alive, I love the chaos. The market place is so colorful and looks like a patch-work. There is awesome people watching (not in a creepy way) and time doesn't seem to matter here, almost no one wears watches. The bus will take you just about anywhere and its a great way to see the city. The thing I love about it most is that I've never had to sit next to a sketchy bum like in L.A., just everyday normal folk ridin' the bus and doing their thing. I found a really awesome rock climbing gym about a 45 min bus ride into San Jose with two transfers. I have a lot more exploring to do!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Hangin' Out With the Sea Turtles
Imagine a magical place where stars glow in the water and sea turtles line the shore, the moonshine glistens off their shells. It's almost midnight but your eyes have adjusted to the dark, the white sea foam dances in the tide. You run as fast as you can, free as ever, each footstep lighting a burst of luminescence in your wake. You splash kick the water, rearranging the constellations of aqua glow-bugs - they spark, sizzle and fade away into the sea.
This is Ostional, a small beach community on the pacific side of Costa Rica in Puntarenas. It is the nesting site for millions of sea turtles yearly. The turtle eggs are valuable and are extracted by the locals for sales and consumption. A large part of the economy of Ostional is based on this activity. Before you go judging this as 'tragic' as I did before actually seeing it for myself, it is important to know the whole story.
The turtles come to nest monthly in waves of mass arrivals known as 'arribadas' in Spanish. Over the course of about five days, the females will leave as many as 10 million eggs buried in the sand. Due to overcrowding, scavenging animals, fungi, fishing nets, hungry fish and other environmental conditions in and out of the water, only about 1% of all those eggs will mature into surviving baby sea turtles. On the first day of the arrival about 20,000 turtles will come ashore to lay eggs, the following day 30,000. The stretch of beach they come to is only 7 km long, the eggs laid the first two days only have a 15% chance of making it to the last day. The community members only extract eggs on the first two days, each family in the community’s association (about 200 members) is allowed just 200 eggs. In reality, the community has done more to help the turtles then harm them, as seen by the increase in population since Ostional became a community 100 years ago.
A beautiful afternoon, watching the surfers
An "Arribada" of sea turtles
I got to see this turtle dig a hole, lay her eggs, discretely cover them up and then wiggle back into the sea
She laid about 150 eggs in 40 minutes
A local showing his family's artisanal craftwork 
The turtle eggs can be consumed in a variety of fashions, one way is by taking a shot...
As you can tell, it didn't go down quite as smoothly as I had hoped
This is Ostional, a small beach community on the pacific side of Costa Rica in Puntarenas. It is the nesting site for millions of sea turtles yearly. The turtle eggs are valuable and are extracted by the locals for sales and consumption. A large part of the economy of Ostional is based on this activity. Before you go judging this as 'tragic' as I did before actually seeing it for myself, it is important to know the whole story.
The turtles come to nest monthly in waves of mass arrivals known as 'arribadas' in Spanish. Over the course of about five days, the females will leave as many as 10 million eggs buried in the sand. Due to overcrowding, scavenging animals, fungi, fishing nets, hungry fish and other environmental conditions in and out of the water, only about 1% of all those eggs will mature into surviving baby sea turtles. On the first day of the arrival about 20,000 turtles will come ashore to lay eggs, the following day 30,000. The stretch of beach they come to is only 7 km long, the eggs laid the first two days only have a 15% chance of making it to the last day. The community members only extract eggs on the first two days, each family in the community’s association (about 200 members) is allowed just 200 eggs. In reality, the community has done more to help the turtles then harm them, as seen by the increase in population since Ostional became a community 100 years ago.
A beautiful afternoon, watching the surfers
An "Arribada" of sea turtles
I got to see this turtle dig a hole, lay her eggs, discretely cover them up and then wiggle back into the sea
She laid about 150 eggs in 40 minutes
A local showing his family's artisanal craftwork 
The turtle eggs can be consumed in a variety of fashions, one way is by taking a shot...
As you can tell, it didn't go down quite as smoothly as I had hopedSaturday, November 6, 2010
The Jungle Ghost
This entry is rather overdue, so a very very belated ‘boo!’ to you!
Over Halloween weekend, my Tropical Ecology class took our first fieldtrip into the jungle and it was most certainly a memorable one. We went to ‘La Selva Biological Station’ in Sarapiquí on the Caribbean side of the country. The trip was an incredible learning experience and gave me the chance to apply what I have learned about ecological processes in a real world setting. I even got to see one of the world’s deadliest snakes!
A bit about the biological station:
My class spent two days and one night at the research facility and our job was to observe and learn as much as we could. The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) is a non-profit organization that runs the La Selva as well as two other stations in Costa Rica; Las Cruces and Palo Verde. La Selva is the second largest reserve (4037 acres) and was founded in 1963. The topography of the southern region is extreme; La Selva sits at approximately 35 meters in elevation and quickly jets up to approx. 3,000 m at its southern border, Braulio Carrillo National Park. Over 61 km of trails run throughout the reserve and are used by scientists, students and faculty daily. So basically…biologist Disneyland! A collection of every piece of research ever conducted in La Selva is on reserve in the station’s library, that place rocks. During my short time there I really only got a small taste of what La Selva has to offer.
In the evening we went on a nocturnal adventure into the jungle. The forest is as alive as ever at night and feels completely different from the day time world. Equipped with nothing more than some flashlights and nerves of steel, we followed one another down the dark path. Our guide would shine his light into the vegetation and we would all look for the reflection of animal eyes. This reflection was key in finding various species of frogs, bats, birds and bugs. As we walked along, I couldn’t help but feel a ghostly presence tracing along behind. It was probably just my imagination running amuck but the deeper we went into the forest, the closer we came to booming muffled bass drum, BOOM.BOOM.BOOM - Much like the one from Lord of the Rings when one of the dumb hobbits awakens the troll in the Dwarf cave. It could have been a group of biologists have a 'field day' (literally) or something that I never care to find out. All I know is that it all too suddenly just...disappeared.
Over Halloween weekend, my Tropical Ecology class took our first fieldtrip into the jungle and it was most certainly a memorable one. We went to ‘La Selva Biological Station’ in Sarapiquí on the Caribbean side of the country. The trip was an incredible learning experience and gave me the chance to apply what I have learned about ecological processes in a real world setting. I even got to see one of the world’s deadliest snakes!
A bit about the biological station:
My class spent two days and one night at the research facility and our job was to observe and learn as much as we could. The Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS) is a non-profit organization that runs the La Selva as well as two other stations in Costa Rica; Las Cruces and Palo Verde. La Selva is the second largest reserve (4037 acres) and was founded in 1963. The topography of the southern region is extreme; La Selva sits at approximately 35 meters in elevation and quickly jets up to approx. 3,000 m at its southern border, Braulio Carrillo National Park. Over 61 km of trails run throughout the reserve and are used by scientists, students and faculty daily. So basically…biologist Disneyland! A collection of every piece of research ever conducted in La Selva is on reserve in the station’s library, that place rocks. During my short time there I really only got a small taste of what La Selva has to offer.
In the evening we went on a nocturnal adventure into the jungle. The forest is as alive as ever at night and feels completely different from the day time world. Equipped with nothing more than some flashlights and nerves of steel, we followed one another down the dark path. Our guide would shine his light into the vegetation and we would all look for the reflection of animal eyes. This reflection was key in finding various species of frogs, bats, birds and bugs. As we walked along, I couldn’t help but feel a ghostly presence tracing along behind. It was probably just my imagination running amuck but the deeper we went into the forest, the closer we came to booming muffled bass drum, BOOM.BOOM.BOOM - Much like the one from Lord of the Rings when one of the dumb hobbits awakens the troll in the Dwarf cave. It could have been a group of biologists have a 'field day' (literally) or something that I never care to find out. All I know is that it all too suddenly just...disappeared.
Thursday, November 4, 2010
A State of Controversy
My previous posts have really been more about me having 'fun' than anything, but now I want to talk about some underlying issues in the agricultural industry. I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I boarded that plane about six weeks ago, honestly I was rather naive. In the states, you always hear about the 'gravity' of the situation in Latin America but it’s not until you come and talk to the people that you gain perspective.
Bananas are the one cash crop in Costa Rica, followed by pineapples and then coffee. Since the 1970’s Costa Rica has produce over 1 million tons of bananas. The crop is not native to Costa Rica; it was brought over in the mid-1800s by the Spaniards and later commercialized by an American entrepreneur.
So what does a banana look like? Is it perfectly crescent and brilliantly yellow? When you walk into a supermarket, does where the fruit came from make a difference, or is it all the same? Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte...whatever. I don’t know about my friends in the states, but at least for me, I never thought about where any of my food came from, it all just looks so pretty in the store!
The demand for cosmetically attractive bananas by European and North American markets has turned the commercial banana into an agrochemical machine. Within the growth cycle of the plant (6-8 months), fungicide application can occur between 45-50 times via airplane fly-by chemical sprays. In addition, herbicides are used to keep out unwanted ground vegetation and fertilizers are used to replenish the nutrient stripped soil. American's make such a huge fuss over pesticides that most of them are completely illegal in the states. But who sells the chemicals to our importers...we do! These chemicals have created chronic illnesses, sterility, and even death in agricultural workers. Keep in mind that these workers make less than 5% of the total annual income of these companies.
Locally grown bananas are much smaller, around 4" - 6" in. and almost completely spotted black. The black spots however, don't mean that they are spoiled or rotting or that they will go bad any quicker than the perfectly yellowed variety. The flavor is richer and has become a staple part of my breakfast, along with papaya and lime.
Tomorrow I am going to visit ‘The Costa Rica Institute of Technology’ and see the soil science laboratory. I’m lucky enough to have met a Soil Scientist grad student through only the most amazing community in the world – Ultimate Frisbee. I met Jeff at a pick-up game of Ultimate and he’s invited me to come and check out his research. Jeff is interested in sustainable farming practices, I hope to learn a lot from him and his colleagues.
Friends and family – support your local farming community and buy organic, farmers markets are where it’s at!
Pura Vida
Newsflash: This morning Costa Rica declared a state of emergency due to a deadly landslide in Escazú caused by torrential overnight rains, 20 people have died and 10 are missing. Escazú is about 30 minutes outside of San Jose. Flooding has devastated the region; there is damage to a main bridge and dam as well as major coffee growing areas. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
Bananas are the one cash crop in Costa Rica, followed by pineapples and then coffee. Since the 1970’s Costa Rica has produce over 1 million tons of bananas. The crop is not native to Costa Rica; it was brought over in the mid-1800s by the Spaniards and later commercialized by an American entrepreneur.
So what does a banana look like? Is it perfectly crescent and brilliantly yellow? When you walk into a supermarket, does where the fruit came from make a difference, or is it all the same? Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte...whatever. I don’t know about my friends in the states, but at least for me, I never thought about where any of my food came from, it all just looks so pretty in the store!
The demand for cosmetically attractive bananas by European and North American markets has turned the commercial banana into an agrochemical machine. Within the growth cycle of the plant (6-8 months), fungicide application can occur between 45-50 times via airplane fly-by chemical sprays. In addition, herbicides are used to keep out unwanted ground vegetation and fertilizers are used to replenish the nutrient stripped soil. American's make such a huge fuss over pesticides that most of them are completely illegal in the states. But who sells the chemicals to our importers...we do! These chemicals have created chronic illnesses, sterility, and even death in agricultural workers. Keep in mind that these workers make less than 5% of the total annual income of these companies.
Locally grown bananas are much smaller, around 4" - 6" in. and almost completely spotted black. The black spots however, don't mean that they are spoiled or rotting or that they will go bad any quicker than the perfectly yellowed variety. The flavor is richer and has become a staple part of my breakfast, along with papaya and lime.
Tomorrow I am going to visit ‘The Costa Rica Institute of Technology’ and see the soil science laboratory. I’m lucky enough to have met a Soil Scientist grad student through only the most amazing community in the world – Ultimate Frisbee. I met Jeff at a pick-up game of Ultimate and he’s invited me to come and check out his research. Jeff is interested in sustainable farming practices, I hope to learn a lot from him and his colleagues.
Friends and family – support your local farming community and buy organic, farmers markets are where it’s at!
Pura Vida
Newsflash: This morning Costa Rica declared a state of emergency due to a deadly landslide in Escazú caused by torrential overnight rains, 20 people have died and 10 are missing. Escazú is about 30 minutes outside of San Jose. Flooding has devastated the region; there is damage to a main bridge and dam as well as major coffee growing areas. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.
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