All posts by Darby McCracken

The culture and lifestyle of Costa Rica

DSC00009This was not my first international trip so I was not in complete “culture shock” once we arrived. It was however, very different from what I imaged. My only preconceived notions of Costa Rica was what I would see on t.v. advertisements for vacationing and what one of my co-workers had told me about it. I did no research on the country prior to entering because I really just wanted to be surprised and open minded, but I didn’t want to have too many expectations. Upon arrival in San Jose, I thought that the country seemed well developed and was not too far off from what America was like. But once we began our journey Playa Blanca, I quickly learned that I was wrong. Costa Rica is a beautiful tropical country where most of its natives make their homes out of natural materials. Many of the establishments such as gas stations, businesses, and restaurants are not completely closed off and have large openings to the outside environment. One of the things that I enjoyed the most was that families always seemed together. There was a sense of community there, where almost everyone had a companion of some sort with them, especially during meal time.

 

Education while in Costa Rica

DSC00187The in water project at Playa Blanca began in 2010.  They began this organization known as LAST (Latin American Sea Turtles) in an effort to learn more about the Hawksbill sea turtle’s habits, including foraging sites that they will use for the majority of their juvenile life.  When a sea turtle is caught, it will be brought aboard the boat or to shore so that the researchers can document all the necessary information. First they will perform a lavage in order to collect samples of what the sea turtle has in its digestive tract. Then blood will be drawn from the jugular vein. Tissue samples will be taken from at least one, if not multiple sites. If the turtle is not already tagged, a tag will be applied to the sea turtles flipper. Measurements of the carapace, plastron, tail will be taken to determine the sea turtles gender and age. If any parasites are seen on the turtle, they will be noted as well. The turtle cannot remain out of water for more than 4 hours max, so it will be released as soon as this process is over. Another important part of the program is to ensure that the mangroves in which the sea turtles forage are sufficient for them. We help plant growing mangroves in areas that are receptive.

 

The activities in Playa Blanca

DSC00202The main activity for this day was involving the mangroves. In the morning we went to the garden where the baby mangroves were being kept, and picked out the most developed mangroves (54 I believe) to move to the test plot later in the day, when the tide was lower.

We returned later that afternoon around 3pm and then moved the plants to the test plot area. We had to cross the water to get to the location. It was about a 10-15 min walk away from where the garden was located.

Once all the plants were at the test plot location we broke into 3 groups and began to plant the mangroves as directed by the research assistants. Once they were planted we then measured them and documented the number of branches, primary and secondary, and the number of leaves, if any were present.