Bats at Reserva Playa Tortuga

Picture this: you're a fruit bat in Costa Rica, hanging from the holes in the center of leaves from a invasive banana tree. At night, you fly though the air, searching for insects and delicioso fruit.

Birdwatching at Reserva Playa Tortuga

Time flies by so quickly- today is already our day 3 volunteering at the reserve! In the morning, when it is still not too hot outside, we went for a birdwatching walk. Josue, a worker here took us on the walk and taught us a lot about the birds. Starting from 7 am, we went on a trail surrounded by plants and animals. 

We each got binoculars to observe closely at the birds, and Josue brought a camera to take pictures of birds. 

As we were walking, we could hear a tweet-tweet sound of Chestnut-Backed Antbird. They are small and black, and they usually stay in couples. Josue told us that sometimes if we copy their tweet-tweet sound, the male Antbird will come out to check the sound. 

We walked past a river where some rocks and logs are, to find some more birds. We were able to see some bigger birds: Tricolored Herons, Little Blue Herons, Snowy Egrets, and Bare-throated Tiger-Herons. Tricolored Herons looked mostly grey except for their beaks and legs. Little Blue Herons looked a bit similar to Tricolored Herons, but their feathers will change to white in winter. Snowy Egrets on the other hand are white at all times. Bare-throated Tiger-Herons are interesting because when they are kids, their feathers are brown, but once they grow up, their feathers will turn grayish-blue. We also saw some Kingfishers, which were small green birds.

Although we couldn't take any pictures, we were very lucky to spot a toucan flying. 

Later, we walked down to the beach. I found some footprints on the sand which would likely to be from a Heron. We were also able to find a Masked Tityra on a tree nearby the beach. It was mostly white, but had some black parts, and some pink around its eyes. 

We didn't see any on the birdwatching walk, but I saw two Macaws earlier in the morning on a high tree. 

I was surprised by how Josue knows so well about birds. And in the conversation during the walk, he told us that he was a local, and had been watching the birds since he was a kid. So, whenever he heard a sound of a bird or see it from far away, he knew what species it was.

I really enjoyed today's birdwatching. It was an amazing experience for all of us in Costa Rica. I never really had a chance to look closely at birds before, so I am very glad that we had such a chance. 

Thank you, Josue, for sharing your knowledge and time with us!

By Rika

Butterflies in Reserve Playa Tortuga

Caligos

As one of the activities today, we went to the butterfly garden. We cleaned the cages of the larvae, changed the plants that they eat, counted the larvae to make sure they were safe, and learned about the butterflies, their eggs, and their babies.

Sara, a worker at RPT, told us about the three types of butterflies in their butterfly garden: Morpho, Caligo, and Siproeta.

Morphos are blue, and their eggs are big. Their pupae are green, and the caterpillars have yellow spots.

Caligos have patterns of an eye on each wing. Their pupae and larvae look like dry leaves. Their eggs are white and small.

Siproetas

Siproetas have orange and white wings. The larvae are black with orange spots. Their eggs are really small and look like watermelons. Their pupae are light green and also have orange spots.

We petted the larvae, and they were soft. But the babies were delicate, so we used a paintbrush to move them while cleaning the cages and changing the leaves. We also gave the butterflies some fruit because they haven't planted enough flowers for them yet.

Every afternoon, the volunteers pick up the eggs. The eggs are very small and hard to find. Some of them are behind the leaves or between the leaves.

I really enjoyed taking care of the butterflies and larvae.

~ Yumi ~

Siproetas eggs

Gift Sharing

When we were staying with the Borucan people they shared so many gifts of knowledge with us about their culture and life style. We had less opportunities to share our knowledge and culture with them so we gave them physical gifts. 

Each of us scouts chose one thing that either we enjoyed or thought represented us. Yumi made origami for them, Rika made bracelets, Devon brought Legit Buildable fidgets, Steven brought a craft for them to make, Huy brought Rubix cubes for them to learn to use, and I brought Anmore stickers. 

As a group, before we left home we asked what there village could use and they said school supplies. We started raising money and collecting school supplies just a couple weeks before leaving and got more supplies than we could have imagined! We left for Costa Rica with a 70 pound suitcase of school supplies and almost $1000 Canadian dollars to give them. We were all very happy with the exited faces we got when we handed over the gifts and supplies. 

They also gave us some handmade coin purses made by a scouts mom. They are made by weaving hand-spun cotton thread, often dyed with natural materials, into small, pouches. We were very happy to leave with memories and knowledge but the keepsake coin purses and masks we got to paint ourselves were so nice. After all we did with them from learning how to make tamales, to swimming in a waterfall, we hope they had as much fun as we did.

  -Hunter

Visiting Boruca - Day 4 and 5

Stephen:

The Boruca are some of the most welcoming people ever. Upon arrival, we were met by the host of the place we would stay for the next two days. He greeted us with a warm welcome in Spanish, which we understood little of. Luckily, David, another person from the village was able to translate for us.

After setting up our bags and beds, we met the Boruca scouts troop. The scout leader, Diego, and the Boruca scout members were able to welcome and communicate with us with the help of David. They then offered us a delicious lunch made only with ingredients farmed in Boruca. Diego was very kind, and taught us the Boruca scout traditions, which in a way was similar to ours - the oath being spoken and repeated by everyone, and the left hand shake. 

Something I noticed about the Boruca scouts is that a lot of their activities could be accessed by just walking a few minutes. They had everything in the village - a museum, a place to make traditional food and collect fruits, and a waterfall. In Anmore, where we are, it would require a lot of driving and changing towns just to get to places, while in Boruca, they had everything walking distance away. 

A lady from the village taught our scout troop how to make traditional Tamales. We wrapped some raw, salted rice and some pork in large leaves. The end result looked like a small rectangular present, and although we never got to try them, the pork smelled delicious.

I also saw how well the traditions were preserved and how good the conditions were. The village had special jobs for mask carvers and people who make textiles. The museum was also full of information on the history of Boruca. The taps also had clean drinking water and the sewage system with the toilets was great. I did some research and compared this to the Canadian reserves. The reserves here in Canada also have some tradition preserved, but a lot of it was lost. The conditions can also be difficult, with bad sewage systems, and unclean drinking water. I was surprised about how good the conditions were in Boruca.

The people were very happy. Everyone seemed to be busy doing something. I saw some performers singing songs, people cooking food, and some families taking walks by the river. The hospitality coming from the Boruca scouts and our airbnb host was great. David was muy fantastico!. We were able to learn a lot about the village and Costa Rica. Our host, despite knowing little english, was willing to ask us questions and talk to us. The Boruca scouts also joined us to wish Rika a happy birthday and cracked an egg on her head. Overall, these are some of the friendliest and most welcoming people I have met. 

Huy:

When met with the people from Boruca, they seemed a lot more grateful about what they had. Everyone seemed to be super happy and were super friendly to us and waited patiently when we didn't understand something that they were saying. When comparing this to people back at home, there are a lot of times where people aren't the nicest about things and probably has more things than the people over here at boruca.

Devon:

There were a LOT of dogs there. Each person had 12 dogs and were responsible for taking care of each others' dogs.

The community was very healthy and have a good lifestyle. Hospitals, schools, and other community services are mostly free for civilians who have a job and support the community. 

 One of the things that Diego said that stuck with me was that although there was the language barrier, the language of a scout is universal.

It was truly a great experience for both parties.

¡Muchas gracias!

Written by: Stephen Jiang, Gia Huy Pham, Devon Mitten

Costa Rica Day 2 / 3

Costa Rica Day 2 / 3                           Author: Huy Pham

So, it’s been 2 days so far in Costa Rica, halfway through the second day here. Currently we have traveled to Uvita from San Jose on a 4-hour car ride (I slept through most of it). There were 2 times though where I got off and took some photos: The first one was where a river was, and we were able to spot some crocodiles; The second stop was at a big “Jaco” sign, and we met the person who oversaw the shuttles.

We shopped at a big local mall for food supplies that have been planned so that the scouts would cook it. Once we had gotten back with our supplies, we went back to where we going to be sleeping for the next 2 nights and started making some pasta with alfredo sauce. The food in-fact was quite good even when it was made in 30 minutes.

After we had eaten our dinner, we practiced campfire songs that would performed to the Boruca people. The songs that we chose were: “Hermie the Worm”, “2^nd Story Window”, and “Ging Gang Gooli”

.

Today we all woke up at around 7 in the morning (although I wasn’t woken up) and had milk and cereal for breakfast. The first thing we were going to do today was waterfall repelling. There was first getting the taxi ride there, where we would get on some more cars to drive up to the river and waterfall we would be repelling down.

Once we hiked to the waterfall, we first got to see our guide go up and down the waterfall, but we would only be going down. We first hiked up to the top of the waterfall and I was sent down the dry side of the cliff first. It wasn’t that scary since I knew that the rope was secure, but it didn’t mean that it was easy. Some parts of the cliff were quite slippery and hard to get a foot on, but everyone made it, with a little bit of trouble. (And we were dropped into the water below, so we all got wet)

The second attempt at the waterfall repelling, we were given the option of repelling down the actual waterfall part I decided to go down that way. Yes, it was scary at first, but once you got the hang of it, it was quite easy to get down. In fact, I kind of just sat in my harness and slid down which a lot easier to do that the dry area. This time we didn’t get dropped down, but I did get a mouth full of water.

After the waterfall repel, we went down a nature slide in the river connected with the waterfall. It was actually quite fast, but very short, still, it was fun to go down. Once we got back to the drop off area, we were met with a surprise of fruits and snacks that we would have for lunch.

Currently it’s been a few hours after the water repelling and we’re about to go down to the beach, Costa Rica has been fun so far! (for now)

 

Signing off,

Huy Pham

Day 1 - Travel - Devon

 Today was the easiest I think I have ever been able to wake up. The day started at 2:45 AM when I eagerly got up. I hadn’t gotten much sleep because I was too excited for the day ahead. It has been over a year since we started planning our trip.

Going back to my goals, I want to travel independently. We started our trip with a ride to YVR from some of the scout's parents. We excitedly went through security and the check in, ready to set foot in Costa Rica. It was much easier than I anticipated. All we had to do was show our passports, unload our bags, and we were ready to go! That sounds too good to be true, but honestly the experience was easy - especially with my travel experience. 

I led my troop through the airport to find our gate,and that was an enjoyable experience. 

Typically, people think airports are hard to navigate through, but this time it was enjoyable!

After that, we were on our way to Dallas for our 6 hour stop over - that’s where I am now, when I’m writing this.

I remember a year ago when we were first thinking of the idea of travel as scouts. We were considering Australia for the world jamboree being held there. We had many meetings, but we realized we would be better off planning our own trip to give back. This trip was even harder to plan and create itinerary because of scouts rules and regulations, going as a large group, and budgeting tight. The donations we received were very helpful for our trip. With our countless hours of working with companies and groups back home and endless meetings, we were able to fully plan this once in a lifetime experience.

As much work as one can put into planning, there will always be some hiccups. We had to change one of our accommodations at the last minute, changing activity plans due to a volcano eruption, then change back again, after the Volcano was deemed safe. I have learned that it’s always a good idea to have a back up plan!

-Devon