Wildlife and living wild

This weekend my office shifted to the caribbean rainforest at Braulio Carillo National Park, and to the contrasts of a sustainable farm and an industrial farm. I found an eyelash pitviper, saw 3 species of toucans, hummingbirds, and neotropical birds. I got to see the many cyclical uses of native medicinal plants on farms, how to make compost, how to properly rotate crops and how modern day slavery exists on America's favorite banana and pineapple farms. 

My boss, Dr. Gerardo Avalos

Yellow Eyelash Pitviper (Bothriechis schledelii)

Pitviper pictures taken by Dr. Gerardo Avalos

Once this guy matures fully, he will be bright yellow

Perched on the leave of a heleconia, this viper is likely waiting for a hummingbird.

The farm we visited the next day was a family owned property which practices sustainable land use.  They learned about the plants that grow naturally and their medicinal purposes.  They use the naturally occurring flora to feed their animals, populate resting fields with local plants that replenish the soil, create compost naturally instead of buying chemical fertilizer, and use produce for the household instead of purchasing them. They used leaf litter from the forest floor to create nutrient rich compost combined with the excrement of the farm animals in lieu of chemical fertilizers on their farms. They planted wildflowers on fields while they are resting between crops to fix the nitrogen and replenish the soil. They used everything on the farm and were essentially off the map. They taught us about their practiced and fed us an amazing meal from their farm.

Collared Aracari (Pteroglossus torquatus)

The fruit of the cacao plant (Theobroma cacao) has a smooth, slightly tangy flesh around the seeds, which are also toasted to make the cocoa used in chocolate.

Strawberry Poison Dart Frog (Oophaga pumilio)

The industrial banana farm was a complete opposite, wasting plastic and other resources essentially only to prevent bruising bananas because when you go to the super markets you refuse to buy them. Spraying agro-chemicals that run off into nearby streams corrupting the water supply for nearby neighbors and polluting the air exposing underpaid workers to airborne contaminants. There were workers in the packaging unit wearing masks and spraying chemicals to stop the latex from leaking out of bananas but they were working right beside everyone else with no protection from the fumes. Overwell it was a stark contrast between the two methods of farming and the treatment of workers and the land as well as the driving motivations. The sustainable farm was interested in long term survival of the land and using it the best way they could and learning from it, while the banana plantation was interested in profit.

Early morning class mist-netting small birds before 6 AM

Benito, the resident dog at our home for the weekend loyally following the class

We got back Saturday night to no power. I took a cold shower in the dark and washed some clothes once the power came back. I tried to use the only dryer on the property but smelled smoke so instead my room was covered in clothes laying out to dry overnight. I think I stuffed the load too full, with only a week of clothes, and am probably going to have to re-wash most of it tomorrow morning.

Life back at the center has been a difficult adjustment but an important transition to learn after seeing the positive impact we can have on the natural world around us.

This past weekend has definitely been a wake up call to this wild and rough life I will be living for the next year. I witnessed some amazing aspects of wildlife intertwined with sustainable living. I also witnessed the horrible living, working, and environmental conditions of an industrial level mono-crop farm.

I guess we don't really realize what is really worth it though, for you to have the most perfect straight, unbruised banana for 30 cents at the grocery store. I never realized that those choices would reflect all the way back to the source and the overuse of plastic, agrochemicals, and pesticides, all of which end up in the streams and local waterways of your favorite place to vacation: Costa Rica. It's time to start making more conscious decisions. It's time to start living wild for wildlife.