The town we stayed in is called Playa Blanca. One of the most interesting things I learned on our trip was that this town used to bring in a lot of money from banana farming, but not anymore. Larger companies have taken over the majority of the banana farming, taking business away from smaller plantations that can’t keep up.

When I came to Costa Rica in 2006, one of the tours was on a banana plantation owned by a globally recognized mega company. At the time I didn’t realize the economic impact that a huge plantation would have on smaller plantations, but it instantly struck a chord with me. This mega plantation was not only taking away business from smaller plantations, but also taking away potential tourist destinations from other towns in the area.

I appreciated staying in Playa Blanca and learning about the culture when not volunteering with Widecast. It is not only beautiful, but quiet and full of wildlife! The place we stayed at, Delfines del Golfo, was extremely accommodating, the food was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone looking to travel to Costa Rica. Though there are many tourist destinations that are closer to the airport, Playa Blanca is a hidden gem worth traveling to.

Today we planted mangroves. It was a very special experience because in Florida the mangroves are endangered and we are not allowed to touch them without risk of a fine.

We started at the mangrove nursery and then went on to find the mangrove pods on the trees. We had to find the pods that were at least as large as a plum. We used a large PVC pipe to knock the pods off the taller branches and placed them in a bag. Afterwards, we went back to the nursery and removed the outer casing of the mangrove pods to expose the seed inside. We packed small bags with sand and dirt from the beach and placed the mangrove seed on top. We measured the mangrove sproutlings that were already planted in the water and then planted more sproutlings.

The mangroves provide housing for fish which provide food for some turtle species. I didn’t know how important mangroves were for the environment until one of the volunteers explained their importance to the bottom of the food chain. Without the mangroves, the food chain would be disrupted and cause a direct impact on the existence of the animals higher on the food chain.

I really hope our work today makes a difference in the future generations of the turtles and other animals of Costa Rica.

Today we reported for our first day as volunteers for Widecast. We didn’t know what to expect, but we were very excited to work with the turtles. Pictured is the sheet we filled out for each turtle. It seemed very overwhelming because it was written in both English and Spanish, but after the first few turtles, filling out the information became second nature.

One thing that was interesting was that because the volunteers come from different countries, the dates can be written and read differently. In America, we typically write the dates in mm/dd/yy format, whereas some of the other Widecast volunteers may write their dates in dd/mm/yy format. To avoid confusion we were asked to write out the month, followed by the day and the year.

Because this was the equivalent to a medical record, it was very important to write clearly and as accurate as possible. We all worked as a team and would call out the information on the turtle so that the record keeper could jot it down quickly. Efficiency was key because we wanted to return the turtle to the water as soon as possible.