A Student View of Pacuare

Michael Morsakie

There are too many words to describe this trip, exciting, exhilarating, thrilling, incredible, and many more. Working with these kids from Costa Rica was something that I have never experienced before. When I met them, we didn't talk much but throughout the days we started breaking the ice and I found out that they were really nice people. When we talked the most was during the night patrols. Even though they were exhausting, our conversations kept us busy. We talked about life, school, the trip, and sometimes very random things that in the end, was very fun. There was one in particular that was the prankster; every time we patrolled he pulled pranks on us, he was a very nice guy. He tripped us, told us jokes and we did the same thing to him.

When we found a turtle it was so spontaneous and hard to accept. The turtle was the size of a bed! When we took the measurements we had to start from the back of the shell and head to the front. There was a moment in which I made eye contact with the turtle. It had a very piercing look with eyeballs the size of a golf ball and when I looked at her she gave me this feeling of wisdom, and regret. I really can't describe the feeling, it was just so powerful and prudent, it was unbelievable. When I touched her shell it was like touching an old leather book, and the skin was smooth and cold.

Later in the trip we had the miraculous chance to watch the baby turtles go out of their nest and go towards the ocean. I filled my whole camera with pictures of them, it was so remarkable. I couldn't believe that something as small as a computer mouse could grow to be the size of a door! Three days after the hatchlings left their nest we had to go back to it and take out all the shells of the eggs and open the ones that hadn't been born. It was sort of disgusting but I really had fun doing it, especially because of the faces my companions made. The whole process was very amusing. First we had to grab a sharp object and make a hole in the egg. Second we had to open the egg pouring the yolk in our hands. If there was no embryo visible the instructor had to search for it. There were four stages of the embryo: first where it is only a white dot, second when it is a little more visible, third stage when it's a third of the size its supposed to be, and last when it is the size it was supposed to be but just didn?t hatch.

I will never forget Costa Rica: the friends I made, the remarkable encounters with turtles, and the showers!?

Plants of Costa Rica

So far I have given most attention in these reports to the animal kingdom. Plants, even the exuberant species of the tropics, can be ignored as we focus our search for some movement of sign of our animal brethren. It would be a mistake, however, to neglect the producers. Without them animal life could not exist. Their ability to capture and store the sun's energy make them fundamental in all food webs.

The relationships between plant and animal can often be quite complex. Flowering plants have evolved in conjunction with birds and insects to help insure their pollination while offering animals energy in return. Consider the Heliconia, such as the one Eylen is pointing out here. Heliconia and hummingbirds have taken co-evolution a step further, each one adapting its form to fit the other. This insures the hummingbird an exclusive food source and guarantees the Heliconia that its pollen will arrive at the correct destination.

The second main program of Ecology Project International in Costa Rica is research in jungle restoration. Our group traveled inland to La Suerte biology station, also in Limón province. Together with biologists, EPI staff has been planting rain forest seedlings and documenting their progress. The Costa Rican government provide the young trees and at La Suerte they are being used to reestablish jungle in cattle pasture that was rain forest 30 years ago.

Student volunteers, under EPI supervision, plant trees in numbered grids that allow the biologists to monitor growth. Those planted only four years ago are already over 5 m tall, thus winning the struggle with the surronding tall grass for sunlight. There should be no stopping them now as they reach for the sky. It is deeply gratifying to participate in this promising experiment in reversing deforestation, transforming cattle pasture back into native rainforest.

During our visit to La Suerte we planted the following jungle seedlings: cedro (Cedrola odorata), gavilán (Pentachethra macroloba), ceiba (Ceiba pentandra), cenizaro (Samanea saman) and almendro (Dipterix panamensis). All seem to be thriving in their return to the soils which only recently hosted deep forest. As they return, animal life follows and slowly begins to rebuild the complex web of interrelationships which is the tropical rainforest.