Costa Rica 2009

Change of paths

2009-05-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

Whilst in Brazil staying with my friend Daniel, I have for the last week, been catching up with work relating to- clearing the backlog of Transition Towns proposals for Clydebank, Green Party branch tasks, and in between all of that, I was reading about religion, politics and financial news. I was informed that the plug has been pulled on the MSc in Human Ecology. The University of Strathclyde has decided it is cutting budgets to the Geography and Sociology Department, and as a result the courses which aren't obvious money-generating courses are being cut.

So, you can imagine I am disappointed on the last day of my travels. However, over the last 5 months I have witnessed countless landscapes across Central and South America. I have gained experience in ecology, travelling in developing countries, and I have seen many things since leaving Glasgow in January, which make me appreciate Scotland.

This will be my last blog on this outlet, and I will start a new channel to inform readers on what life will bring.

I hope to be able to go through the 1100 photos I have taken, and eventually refine into a slideshow (and raise some money to pay for some of the costs of the trip!).

Signing off from Brazil,

David

End of the trip

2009-04-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

As the sun sets in Quito tomorrow evening, I will be on my way to Brazil, as I begin my extended journey home via Sao Jose dos Campos (a city outside of Sao Paulo). I will stay there for just over a week, before I return to the UK, provided there are no major cancellations because of flu outbreaks. Having a few friends and contacts across the world does help when travelling far away from home!

On the Galapagos Islands, I went snorkelling with turtles, and even saw a very large shark which was below me as I was swimming. Amongst the great geological formations of the islands, the igneous volcanic rock which was formed only 20 to 25 million years ago, has probably been one of the greatest ecology experiences of my life so far. I managed to get a picture of a blue footed booby, one of the most interesting species of birds I have seen so far, which does a sort of dive bomb to catch fish.

I should mention that the Galapagos Islands are under a lot of pressure from tourism, and I was a bit disappointed at the lack of areas we were allowed to enter and the masses of other boats unloading people onto the islands which I also visited. From what I gather, the islands can´t sustain a tourist industry of the 2008 figure of 150,000 people per year (slightly less are predicted to visit this year with the global recession). With all the issues of disposing of waste, and also the number of people trampling around the place, and associated problems of containing invasive seeds, insects and stuff brought over from the mainland - there are limits to how eco-tourism can operate.

One thing I found out, there are scientists who believe everyone should be ejected from the Galapagos´ and the islands solely used as a reserve for wildlife. One reason that won´t happen is the tourism generates a lot of cash for sustaining rehabilitation projects on the Galapagos, environmental protection and control of fishing vessels which threaten to obliterate all marine life if left uncontrolled. So, a balance between eco-tourism, development on the islands and protecting the Galapagos Islands from threats needs to be met.

In saying that, I have visited and if you want to see pictures you might one day find yourself either volunteering on the Galapagos Islands or as a (eco friendly) tourist. I do think the $100 park entry fee should be raised, as there was not enough money to pay for volunteers on the islands this year (which is appauling given the amount of tourists who even stay in hotels on the largest islands!). And maybe in the future a fair system of waiting lists can be devised...who knows.

Anyway, this may be my last blog entry. I will start another blog to update everyone on what I will do from May onwards. In the mean time, I will think of ways to earn some cash to pay for the rest of 2009 and an MSc programme back at Strathclyde University!

Keep updated for my next blog.

Galapagos Islands

2009-04-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, I will jet off to the Galapagos Islands for 4 days, and I will see the magnificent wildlife which the islands have to offer. Although I will be living on a boat for 3 nights, the second phase of my study trip should be a life experience in itself.

But this part of the trip is quite expensive, at over $110 entry fees and more costs associated with air flights and staying on a specialised boat to minimise environmental impacts of the eco-tourism experience.

So far, I have seen quite a lot of Ecuador from the Andes to the Amazon. I have stayed with a group of other travellers in a native Ecuadorian jungle homestay, and even managed to drive up to almost 5000 metres above sea level in a mountain trip a few days ago. I am glad I took the car to the top, as I was struggling to walk even at the basecamp, there was so little oxygen in the air that the car was even struggling to maintain engine torque going up the hill!

One thing I will say about 4x4´s, is they do have their uses. Despite the high fuel consumption, only a few types of these large cars can acutally make it to the altitude I was at - the 15 year old Mitsubishi managed it quite well with a good driver, but probably the designer SUV´s driven around city centres in the UK wouldn´t make it. Still, an interesting experience seeing a glacier just at the equator of the planet.

Ecuador is certainly an excellent destination for an adventurous traveller, and I can see the country doing well in the future. So keep tuned in to my blog for pictures when I get the chance to upload them!

Ecuador

2009-04-17T13:05:00.001-07:00

With the GAP Adventures company, which offers holidays (or in my case study trips) which are sensitive to the needs of local communities and the environment, I am currently in Ecuador on a trip of the areas of the country including the Amazon rainforest, the Andes and the Galapagos Islands.

So far I have done whitewater rafting on a tributary river leading to the Amazon (great fun!), I have stayed with native people in the Amazon jungle (who were all Catholic), and I am now in a town called Baños, which is famous for its volcano and museum.

Travel in Ecuador is made easier having a guide, but still the buses are challenging to say the least, with road surfaces even worse than the potholes of Glasgow! And the poverty in some parts of Quito (the main city) has been also challenging to witness. Particularly as the city of Glasgow has just spent over half a billion pounds on a new motorway, that sort of money could save lives in some of the poorer parts of Ecuador and Peru. Anyway, for more on that see my first blog entry!

My camera just about survived the rain in an animal rescue centre, which is located in a section of former cacao plantation in the Amazon. Again, travel is interesting when on a rickety old canoe going along a river which has rapids on it!

Back from the wilderness

2009-04-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

So, I am back from the Pacuare reserve, and working with the Leatherback turtles was really amazing. For any residents of Clydebank, the Clydebank Post sent me an email asking for an article on my conservation work in the reserve, and I sent them this photo to be printed. They will have to include another picture of a leatherback turtle, as I couldn´t use my camera on the beach due to restrictions on the use of light which causes the turtles to turn away from the beach when they are just about to lay their eggs.

So, I will be going on two daytrips to the Arenal volcano and Irazu volcano / Orosi valley over the next few days. I just looked at my bank account, and I should get a job when I return to Scotland...

So, on April 8th I head off to Ecuador and meet up with someone who I met whilst helping out with the IAESTE (International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience) Local Committee in Glasgow. It´s always good to have contacts..

I had a dream last night I was walking through Sainsbury´s and eating bread with Scottish cheese, then heading for the wine and beer aisle. So maybe it´s homesickness creeping in as I have left the work environment in Pacuare!

Pacuare II

2009-03-20T09:36:00.000-07:00

I actually managed to get on the internet in the nearby town of Bataan, although it involves going on the weekly shopping trip with the people who work for the Pacuare reserve, and spending half the day in the town!

Costa Rica is going well, and I´m getting lots of ecological experience with the leatherback turtles which are currently nesting on the beach here in the Pacuare reserve.

Pacuare is initially a bit of a shock when you actually travel there. On travelling to the reserve from the outpost which is Matina (not a nice place at all), I went through a whole load of banana plantations, and eventually arrived at this big canal, where you get the boat to the turtle reserve. Then after around half an hour on a boat, arriving at Pacuare basically involves beaching the boat and walking up the sand to the site where I´m currently staying.

I am currently living in a wooden hut with 2 bats, but they do eat the mosquitos...facilities are basic, no hot water or electricity, but you can get by with filtered water and the gas cooker which the reserve has.

Anyway, working with the turtles is really amazing. So far I have seen around 15 leatherback turtles, which are critically endangered turtles which have been on the planet for around 100 million years, but now face complete extinction in the wild due to human activity - egg poaching (which I´m trying to help prevent) as well as the turtles being killed for meat and their eggs, or being caught up in trawler fishing lines or being killed at sea from propellers, pollution, or eating waste plastics and getting their stomach blocked up.

Anyway, it´s worth putting up without home comforts to work with these beautiful creatures. They are amazing just to watch when they arrive on the beach, work their way slowly up to the nesting site, dig their hole into the sand and then cover everything up by doing a sort of turtle tapdance, then leaving the eggs there on the beach until they hatch. I´ve now got some experience in how to collect eggs once the turtle starts laying - that is a surreal experience, as they are in a sort of transe state whilst they lay the Q-ball shaped white eggs, which are sort of rubbery and usually covered in mucus! I´ve also dug a few relocation nests, placed the eggs into the nests and then helped with camouflage of the beach to prevent poachers locating the eggs. The ecologists then tag the turtles for scientific records, record data on damages, and let her go back into the sea.

The situation with leatherbacks is really touch and go whether they will be extinct in the wild, and unfortunately they are likely to be extinct within the next decade. So it´s a bit saddening watching all the work of the ecologists being destroyed, and eggs washed up on the beach with erosion due to sea level rises (yes, the sea level has risen by 2 metres due to heavy rainfall over the last 6 months!) and the unsustainable fishery policies of fishing fleets and Governments across the world.

I´ve gone off eating tuna and other cheap seafood, because a large part of the destruction which is happening in general, is caused by fishing trawlers, long line tuna fishing and the ´dolphin friendly´ fishing lines which kill a lot of turtles...so that´s another supermarket product added to my list of things not to buy!!

The weather is warm, and I am rarely using my sleeping bag at night time. I´m starting to miss the home comforts of hot water, clean beds, and the food and drinks which you are all taking for granted!

Panama

2009-02-28T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well, I left the Tirimbina Biological reserve today. It was a good experience, and I will miss all the people I have met so far. So on Monday I will go to Panama with Ingrid (another Outreach volunteer, from Norway) and get the overnight bus there. Despite being "executive" class I think it will be a bit tough travelling on a bus for 15 hours. And then back again to Costa Rica for my turtle conservation placement!

So far I´ve had highs and lows during my voluntary work, and cooking in kitchens without cookers is something I am keen to avoid in the future. It is a bit strange being back in San Jose where I´m writing this, as it´s not the countryside, and just an average city. But then I will be back in the middle of nowhere, as the Pacuare reserve involves a boat ride through a canal. I will be there from March 9th until 31st March - so there won´t be a blog until April!

Quetzal photos

2009-02-20T18:19:00.001-08:00

This is a Quetzal, I think it's a male although I can't be sure. Even my Sony SLR can't take close ups from 70 meters away, so this image is actually from quite close up.

And the field station where we were staying. It was a nice place to stay for a few days, and I got some time to relfect over what's been happening in my life over the last 18 months.

From wasting time blowing air into a 2-metre water tank filled with sand in November last year, to analysing contaminated sediments in 2007, to now being in the rainforest and getting ready for a turtle conservation placement. I had a lot to think about!

This is a picture of the cloud forest, although it's more of a dry forest at 2800 metres above sea level. I got tired really easily at this altitude, which probably tells you something of my level of fitness at the moment!

Feb 21st

2009-02-20T08:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it was really good to visit a different part of Costa Rica. Myself, Nina and Ingrid (all volunteers staying in Tirimbina) all went with some of the staff who work here at the reserve. It was a godo experience, because Costa Rica's leading bird expert was on the trip with us, so we spotted around 8 Quetzals (distinctly green coloured birds with a beatiful crown on their head).

Pictures will follow when I get a change to upload.

I'm just reading on BBC News that my MP John Mc Fall is giving all the idiot bankers a grilling. And he's also giving the Prime Minister a hard time from what I hear. My bank has decided to start charging me money for using my 'interest free' overdraft, so John - Give em hell!

Friday 13th

2009-02-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I will go to the Costa Rican Highlands with some of the staff here who work at Tirimbina. I have been asked to move to ´the research station´which is around 3 or 4 km inside the rainforest, away from any roads or indeed internet access. So I thought I´d write this just now, as I won´t be able to get to a computer probably until the end of next week.

Today I went back into the stream I´m trying to map, but I encountered a lot of obstructions in the water. I did video record it, so if I can figure out how to work the camera I could upload it to a You Tube channel.

Guilt trip to Galapagos?

2009-02-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

The UN has released a report that tourism is damaging the Galapagos islands to a point where the ecosystems are at risk of severe damage. If I knew this before booking my trip to the Galapagos Islands, maybe I would have resorted for somewhere remote and untouched by industrialisation in Costa Rica. The BBC have been reporting on the threats to the Galapagos Islands caused by tourism, so I thought I would make a few comments on the issue.

Now, I have thought this through. I will visit the Galapagos islands for 5 days, and I will stay on a boat and only physically be on the islands for perhaps 8 hours a day. The environmental impact of human activity on the islands, is mainly caused by the increase in population in the towns, the illegal fishing on the islands, and the invasive species of plants which have been introduced by human settlers. There is also the plastic waste which poses a threat to wildlife, and persistent pollutants which may cause havoc with aquatic life.

So apart from the aircraft emissions, there shouldn't really be much more of an impact from me paying a visit? Still, I will probably give a donation to the Darwin Fund when I get back, which promotes conservation on the island. I originally intended to stay for 3 months on the Galapagos promoting recycling and educating the locals on conservation, and helping to remove the blackberry bushes which have infested the natural vegetation. Still, I imagine some of my blog readers are skeptical about the ethics of tourism to a fragile ecosystem!

So, all this thinking of deep ecology has inspired me to apply to do an MSc in Human Ecology, in the University of Strathclyde, once I return to Scotland. Human Ecology is the study of the interaction of humans with our natural, social and created environments. Essentially, I think the academic area of human ecology and related areas, are the only way which we are going to deal with the environmental problems in the future. So I will keep my blog updated on that.

So that's my rant for today!

Snakes and Summertime

2009-02-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

I was just on the phone to my grand dad today, and he was telling me of the weather in Scotland (-7C outside with snow and he still manages to sit in his conservatory at 25C). Well, it finally stopped raining, and the weather has improved considerably. It reached around 32C today, but the humidity makes it feel warmer in the rainforest. Today I did some more sampling in the streams in Tirimbina. Today was a bit less productive than the previous 2 days where I collected GPS points of an unmapped path, and also an unmapped stream. I spotted one dark black snake with large scales, and it was quite frightening just noticing it 2 metres away from me on a fallen tree.
Today, I stepped on a rock in the stream and then realised there was a small venemous snake around 2cm from my foot! So after swearing, I moved quickly back to get out of its way.

I think it was a very small Fer-De-Lance, as it was curled up just like the adults do. Despite being a juvenile, the venom is concentrated enough to cause a lot of pain..although it didn´t even move despite me almost standing on it.

Anyway I will look closely where I step!

In addition to the snakes, I saw an impressive green lizard, a large woodpecker, a tarantula (although it was in the water, so maybe it was another spider) and of course the monkeys.

This weekend is the Quetzal trip, so more photos will be on the way. I found out that according to Visa requirements, I need to travel to Panama for 72 hours at the start of March. So I will pay a visit to the Panama Canal and some nice places around Panama City.

February 09

2009-02-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Time has gone by fairly quickly, although the last week has been quiet because of the constant rainfall. I have a project to do, basically to map out a stream and a trail which needs GPS co-ordinates taken, to make a nice map to hand out to tourists and the research staff. The picture has a Poison Dart frog, with a tour guide holding it. I hope he washed his hands afterwards, as the poison can kill if it gets into the bloodstream!

Things have been ticking along, apart from just trying to use software and reading a few books I took along with me. I found out that I will go to the Turtle reserve (Pacuare) on March 9th, and that should be interesting. So, next week I will go to the Costa Rican highlands to seek out Quetzals (bright green birds with a distinctive crown) and the week after that, probably rafting somewhere. Then the next weekend I would like to go to the Pacific coast, although its sometimes difficult to get around. Then after that, I think I go to the capital and then onward to see the turtles!

The picture is of the river, although I´m not sure why it´s loaded up sideways. Maybe click on it and turn it around if you are viewing it.

Living with other volunteers has its ups and downs, although this week it seemed to be more downward. The volunteer house was burgled, and one of the rucksacks was stolen from Nina (poor Nina with all these things going wrong!). Nothing else taken apart from a cellphone, but still its always a shock when something like that happens. One of the others has a short temper and occassionally lashes out swearing at me...sometimes a bit strange when I am sitting reading a book and he starts swearing about me buying fruit which is not yet ripe. How odd!

So, provided I get 5 days of work in next week, things should start picking up.

The Clydebank Post did an article on my volunteer work here in the rainforest. They titled it a ´missionary´project which I thought was nice of them.

The picture is of the rainforest just after a heavy downpour, if you look you can see the rays of light getting through the tree cover.
So, I am looking forward to seeing more of Costa Rica. The turtle project won´t have any electricity, so my portable solar panel I have (on loan from Martin Bartos) will come in use.

Photos

2009-01-24T14:08:00.000-08:00

I finally got to a computer which can upload photos. So hopefully you will enjoy browsing through some of the more interesting photos which I´ve taken so far. A thought did occur to me - maybe I can sell some of the photos once I get back, to maybe pay for the costs of everything. Any suggestions for venues anyone?! The above photo is a view from a small restaurant near Turrialba, called Cafe Dominica. It was just at sunset, and there were little hummingbirds eating from the nectar.

This is the restaurant owner showing a group of us his garden, which has loads of plants growing in it. He is cutting a piece of sugar cane for us to taste it raw - it tastes a bit like candy floss.

And on a visit to a serpent centre, I got to see a snake. It didn´t really move much, but it is a very poisonous snake. I think it´s a fer-de lance, but it might be another sort of viper.

Anyway, hasta llugo

No pictures yet..

2009-01-21T15:57:00.000-08:00

The slow internet connection in this part of Costa Rica is making it impossible to upload images. However, I have been assigned a task of improving the map given out to tourists who walk on the various trails in the nature reserve. I´m working with GPS and Geographic Information Systems, for any of you who know what that means. Basically walking in a stream, trying to track where it goes, then get a computer to create a nice map of everything.

January 20

2009-01-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

Today is the inarguration of Barack Obama, so I suppose January 20th 2009 will be a historic day, if President Obama does fulfil promises to clean up the US environmental record, and deal with all the economic issues which we are all now facing.

The pound has dropped to under $1.40, which makes it more expensive to be here in Costa Rica. However, things are cheap here in comparison. The diet of rice, beans, and tropical fruit is quite nice when you get used to it.

Anyway, I´m going to try and upload some pictures...

Biological reserve

2009-01-17T13:02:00.000-08:00

Well, the airline returned my luggage, and I'm now in the biological reserve where I will spend around 2 months, provided my next project becomes available in the turtle breeding zone. The reserve is located in the Heredia region, which is close to where the earthquake hit. The Sarapiqui river which runs through the area has turned a sort of dark brown colour, from the mudslides and slope failures from the earthquake. Apart from that, the Tirimbina reserve looks a bit like a mini version of the start of Jurassic park, with the tourist walkways and straw roofed buildings. Except without the velociraptors..

So, I had a wander around the large walkway today, and I located a pair of toucans, so I already have something like 100 photos waiting to be put onto some sort of storage media thingy. Yeah, I should really have thought of that before I came here...I will try to find some sort of backup device.

The Tirimbina biological reserve seems to have a lot of snake species, some particularly poisonous ones, search for ''Fer De Lance'' on google, and that's what I have to look out for.

Anyway, I have an article to start thinking about writing for the local paper in Clydebank. I might start with, ''Do you know where your coffee comes from''? The group of volunteers who are here in Costa Rica, were given a guided tour by a local, who showed us his large garden where he grew food for his restaurant. There were coffee plants, pineapple plants, sugar cane (it tastes a bit like candy floss when you eat the raw cane), various plants which are medicinal, and a few others like lime trees, cocoa plants and probably some others which I missed the english translation of.

Snow, Air travel and More

2009-01-13T13:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I am finally in Costa Rica. I´m afraid I don´t have any photos as yet because the airline lost my luggage which has the cables in it, but so far Costa Rica is a very beautiful country. On 9th January, I got a flight from London to San Jose but infortunately it was snowing in Madrid where the connecting flight was cancelled. It was a bit bizarre landing at Madrid whilst the snow was falling, and apparently this was a 1 in 30 year occurrence to be so deep. but this meant there were no snowploughs to clear the runways. So, after being stranded in Madrid for 2 days I finally managed to get a replacement ticket to Costa Rica via Miami (well, I got to walk around Madrid and being in the USA, that´s another country added to my list of places visited - positive thinking!).

When I got to the airport in San Jose (the Capital of Costa Rica), it was really nice finally being here in tico country (ticos is the informal term for Costa Ricans). but then the baggage conveyor belt stopped and I didn´t have my rucksack! Anyway, I´ve contacted the airline and they should be sending it out to the host family I´m staying with. I am so grateful that they are putting me up whilst I complete the Spanish language course. However, it´s difficult speaking Spanish when I don´t really know anything. time to start learning some more!

On Saturday I will be going out to the Heredia region of Costa Rica, and by that time I should be able to upload photos of the rainforest. I will be in tirimbina for around 2-3 months, so I´ve stocked up on mosquito spray. I´m going to visit a snake breeding centre tomorrow with the other volunteers who are here, as we have decided we need to know what to do if we see a snake.

Adios

2 days before

2009-01-06T09:51:00.000-08:00

It is 2 days until I head off down to London and start my journey to Costa Rica. I am getting nervous now, and I am actually realising just how much of a leap it will be going from Scotland to Costa Rica. I have stayed in Poland before (in summer 2006) and that involved going abroad into unknown territory, but this is different somehow. I suppose it will be easier to learn Spanish than the impossible Polish language, and the nature reserve I will be working in will be a very interesting place to take pictures of. I will be posting them on the blog provided my camera doesn't get stolen. So, all going well I will survive being bitten by a lethal snake/spider/scorpion or catching Dengue fever (the only thing I don't have a vaccine against since there isn't one) or the small chance of contracting malaria...

Enough of the bad things which could happen. Apparently the greatest danger is road traffic!

Anyway, I'm off to pack my bags

Pre-Departure 2008

2008-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my first 'blog' or web log. Basically it's a diary with links to pictures and websites. I can upload images taken on my trusty camera which I will be bringing with me on my study trip to Costa Rica, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and Brazil in 2009. My thanks go to my parents for part-financing my trip abroad, and also St Stephen's Church in Dalmuir who kindly gave me a donation.

I will be in Costa Rica for 4 months, doing voluntary conservation work in the Tirimbina biological reserve. I will hopefully be going to a turtle reserve on the Caribbean coast, which is a 5-mile stretch of protected coastline where the leatherback turtles will start laying their eggs on the beach in mid-March.

After that, I'm going on a trip in mid-April to see Ecuador, the Amazon rainforest, the Galapagos Islands and then finally stop off in Brazil and fly back home to Scotland.

So all going well, I will be posting regular commentary on what's happening. I leave on January 9th from Heathrow - and my emissions will be offset by a carbon management scheme operated by Outreach International (the organisation who are arranging my voluntary work). Although I will have to plant some trees of my own when I come back in May 2009!

- David, December 2008