A local student’s visit to the Costa Rican rainforest

By Joanne Bender
Sun contributor
Wanting to step out of her comfort zone and pursue an interest in conserving the environment, Lindsey Webber, 19, of Glen Arbor, a 2004 graduate of Glen Lake High School, now a junior at Western Michigan University, heard about an organization called International Student Volunteers during a Communications class.
It was then that an idea popped into her head. An effective way to move from her comfort zone and an opportunity to meet new people and go someplace all on her own AND to study ecology and conservation would be to sign up with this group for a month during this summer.

So, she did.
This idea flew her to San Jose, Costa Rica and a “crazy cab ride” to Heredia, in June. Her chosen project was “Proyecto Carey”, a two-week long research venture focusing on the conservation of endangered species of frugivores (“fruit eaters”) in the Osa Peninsula, south of Heredia on the Pacific Ocean, “and their role in the regeneration of tree species through seed dispersal.” Information learned is used to help establish wildlife conservation priorities and strategies and to increase public awareness of “the importance of maintaining healthy populations of spider monkeys and other frugivores in the area.”
“If there are no seeds, which are spread by a variety of monkeys and other animals there will be no trees, thereby destroying the rainforest, which is the main source of oxygen for all of the earth,” Lindsey explains. “Cut down one tree and it will take many, many years for it to grow back to the size it was when leveled.”
Lindsey was a member of a group of 10 students, all with a similar interest.
The bonding was quick and friends were made. Conservation was discussed daily and hikes taken, following the frugivores’ paths. Three trails were trekked … coded yellow, red and blue. Yellow paths were in the middle of the forest, blue were along the beach and red indicated open spaces where the sun reached the ground.
Results were collated daily from the students’ notes by Pablo, the native group leader, (who warned that “they might encounter cockroaches, scorpions and vipers”), for a study the findings of which will be published when finished in a few years. Pablo keeps track of what the spider monkeys, the white-faced monkeys, the howler monkeys are eating and the tree by which the seeds are deposited. The tree is then marked with blue tape. The group also followed paths of the toucan, the Mc caw and the Kuwaiti (a raccoon/mix), for the same research.
Daily experiments were conducted in the “gaps “(areas where the sky is in view). Plates were set up filled with nutmeg seeds. Land crabs and other animals ate them. Results of the study, to ascertain whether there will be more tree seeds in gaps or dark areas will be available in four years.
While doing volunteer work, the group lived in “Panaquenes,” in a lodge-like structure, with no electricity, that is privately owned where some 20 people, men, women and children, reside along with many stray dogs. A favorite was “Lobo,” a Husky-mix who attached himself to the group and followed them everywhere.
Rice and beans were available for every meal, sometimes spaghetti was served and breakfast consisted of cereal with warm milk (no refrigeration available) or fried bread “which tasted a bit like French fries,” Lindsey remembers. They drank more TANG than water as the latter was laced with chlorine.
Rise and shine time was 5 a.m. each day. Two-hour lunch breaks were welcome. Following their meal there was time for the beach, reading and card playing. Each evening found the tired group playing games, a favorite of which is “Captured,” which Lindsey promises to teach this reporter.
The second two weeks of the month-long visit to Costa Rica offered an Adventure Tour where participants were able to “experience their environment, and to study eco-tourism, a promotion of the Costa Rican government, according to Lindsey. Returning to Heredia the 10 volunteers joined 20 other students who spent volunteer hours with other projects.
The Adventure Tour included whitewater rafting in Rio Pacuare, and southeast to “Selva Bananito Lodge”, then on to the rainforests of the Caribbean region, one of the “top eco-lodge destinations in the world,” (reports the brochure).
Lindsey was unable to accompany the group to Tortuguero to view the sea turtles because of a very swollen foot caused by a cut during the whitewater-rafting trip. Lindsey and new friend, Kim, who is studying nursing at Arizona State University, were looking for a clinic when they happened to meet a guided group of tourists, one of whom was a doctor. After examining the foot, an antibiotic was given to Lindsey (Kim read the sealed package label to make sure the ingredients were accurate) and then a lesson was learned. Up until this encounter Lindsey was unable to swallow pills. The doctor told her to “either swallow the antibiotic or go to the hospital.” The pills were taken … no problem.
“White water rafting was my scariest experience,” Lindsey recalls. “Zip lining in Monteverde was my favorite.” The group zip-lined from 10 and then 11 platforms. “One line was half a mile long and the zip went 40 miles an hour … above the clouds. We climbed a 400-foot spiral stairs to get to the platform.
“We rappelled rocks next to a waterfall, and there was a 90-foot free fall … then we had to climb up a dangling ladder to get to the top again,” the young adventurer fondly remembers.
Other places were visited during those second two weeks. Then the group returned to Heredia to end their adventure and prepare to fly to their homes via San Jose, to Miami and then to the United States and Canada. Lindsey enthusiastically summed it up: “This was the best experience of my life so far. I met many great and interesting people from all over. I took part in activities I never thought I would ever try. I definitely got out of my comfort zone and feel more capable of relating to people I’ve not met before and trying new ventures. I have new friends with whom I will continue to keep in touch. And my knowledge of the rainforest and its importance to world ecology is of major significance in my understanding of the importance of preserving it.”
Next stop for Lindsey will be as a student at the American Intercontinental University in London for the 2006 fall term. Then she will return to Western Michigan where she is majoring in Film, Video and Media Studies.