CECOS

El Centro de Aprendizaje para la conservación en Sarapiquí

The Sarapiquí Conservation Learning Center

Mission: CECOS focuses its efforts in four areas—environmental education, community development, conservation and tourism—in order to help form future environmental leaders, raise the organizational abilities of local communities, promote sustainable land use and connect tourists to local communities. Our programs serve hundreds of local people and thousands of ecotourists each year. These programs include environmental education, rural tourism activities, English classes, community outreach, women’s groups and scholarship funds for high school and university students.

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After a bus ride through rain, mist and an incredible variety of green, I stepped off at the Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí station, where I felt more than slightly ridiculous with my oversized suitcase. Thankfully, Jasmin—a just-arrived six-month-long CECOS volunteer—was waiting there to meet me, and between the two of us, we were able to fit everything into the cramped back of a powder blue Suzuki Jeep. 

And then we were off, speeding past neighborhoods until, twenty or so minutes later, we pulled off on a small road and made our way to Rosie’s house, where I would be staying with Rosie and her two sons, Pancho and Kenneth, for the next five weeks. After some quick introductions, we were off to el Centro, the CECOS building and learning center, where I met the director of CECOS, Raquel, and the two other long-term volunteers, Ashley and Elena.

After a whirlwind day beginning to learn the ropes at el Centro, I headed home to Rosie’s house, a ten-minute walk, entirely caught up in the scenery. Houses stood here and there amongst the trees and broad-leaved plants, the wide-banked Sarapiquí River rushing and twisting just across the road. Cows grazed in front yards and every now and then I’d see someone fly by on a bicycle or ride by on a horse. I passed an elementary school, a restaurant, a roadside super market and a second-hand shop before I turned right and headed into the little neighborhood of Chilamate with its stucco houses and cement verandas. A hammock hung above the old car in Rosie’s open-air garage, and inside, I could hear Jessica, another lodger from Honduras, as she talked loudly and made Rosie laugh her big-cheeked laugh.

This was Chilamate—I had arrived.

Fotos: 1. CECOS 2. Chilamate

Week 1

My first week with CECOS was kicked off with an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Class offered to children from ages six to ten and taught Saturday mornings by Ashley. The groups were learning about different physical descriptors, and Ashley was excited to have my blue eyes and blonde hair to throw into the mix before we all went about drawing pictures of our best friends and describing their appearances. (Read more about CECOS' EFL classes here.)

The next day, I attended my first charla (discussion), where Geisel explained to a group of ecotourists about pimiento (black pepper) farming and cheese-making in her nearby community of El Roble. Jasmin—our Spanish/German/English-speaker—translated, and afterwards we got to sample some of Geisel’s arepas and queso.

Later, Jasmin and I helped a local instructor teach a clase de baile (or more accurately, we provided additional dance partners and bumbled around), where we learned the steps to merengue, salsa, soca and bachata, all traditional Latin American dances.

Jasmin and I also embarked on our first reforestación endeavor during this week. The Sarapiquí region is situated in the San Juan-La Selva Biological Corridor, where great emphasis has been placed upon connecting isolated tracts of forest through strategic reforestation of cleared lands. In doing this, animals can range freely (increasing habitat for such species as the jaguar and Great Green Macaw), bird migration routes are strengthened, and general biodiversity is promoted.

CECOS gets seedlings for this reforestation work from a nursery funded by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Costa Rican Institute of Electricity), which is making efforts to offset the negative environmental impact caused by its hydroelectric dams. Farmers participating in these reforestation programs are also given additional benefits from the government and the opportunity to turn unusable land (often steep or marshy areas) into productive sites.

During this first planting, Jasmin and I were accompanied by two ecotourists from Muscatine, Iowa. As well as reforesting about one-hundred roble coral trees, we also learned about various native fruits from local farmer Marlin, who was only too happy to show us around his extensive garden. (To read more about this experience, check out my post on the CECOS volunteer blog.)

Finally, my first week was capped off by a visit to Cahuita and the Caribbean, where Irene, a sociology graduate student conducting research on piña farms, Jessica and I managed to enjoy the salty waves (despite some rain).

Fotos: 3. EFL class 4. Marlin and a carambola (star fruit) 5. Caribbean 

Week 2

During my second week as a CECOS volunteer, we hosted two large student groups from the United States. The first, elementary schoolers from Colorado, visited el Colegio Técnico Puerto Viejo (Puerto Viejo Technical High School), where we learned about the school’s various technical programs, including the care of piglets, ducks and goats. Afterwards, the Coloradan students got to connect with the Puerto Viejo students, both groups practicing their English and Spanish to varying degrees of success.

A few days later, a high school group from Ohio came to CECOS to have a charla with the CECOS youth group, JIRAGA (Jóvenes Innovadores Recreando Ambientes como Grupo de Apoyo de CECOS, or somewhat clumsily in English, Young Innovators Re-creating Environments as a Support Group at SCLC), where everything from school to sports to day-to-day life was touched on.

This second week closed out for me with the River Festival (an event hosted by a neighboring ecolodge to support artisans from the local community), where my host-brother Pancho and I explored the booths and contemplated the quick-running river from the high up bridge.

Fotos: 6. Ohio/JIRAGA charla

Week 3

On Monday morning, I was handed a bunch of fliers with information about CECOS and sent off on the bus to Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, where I was to ask shop owners’ permission to hang them in windows and on doors. It was a task that required a lot of courage-raising—off on my own in Puerto Viejo without the crutch of someone I knew (and who undoubtedly spoke better Spanish than me). Luckily, after a bit of practicing in my head, I had everything down and quickly ran out of fliers to hang.

Back at CECOS, I helped in redesigning the Elementary After-School Program, which had been put on hold for a few months. After much discussion, we decided to head the program in a self-sustainable direction, where we would seek mentors and teachers from the local community, thus ensuring a long-lived program.

My week continued with the planting of a whopping six-hundred trees on a finca in La Virgen, a town about twenty minutes away from Chilamate. Thankfully, Jasmin and I were not alone in this task, but were joined by the farmer, his three sons and four of our friends. After a morning of planting, we were rewarded with large amounts of home cooked food, which we were all more than happy about.

That weekend, all of the CECOS volunteers celebrated our own Thanksgiving with some families in Chilamate, eating turkey and mashed potatoes alongside rice and beans, talking late into the night in a mix of English and Spanish.

The next day, I helped to set up JIRAGA’s movie event, where the youth group turned one of CECOS’ rooms into a theater and made popcorn and juice before sitting back to watch the latest Robin Hood movie.

Also of note, this third week brought with it my first mountain biking experience: Pancho and I went for a jungle rid from Chilamate to El Roble to La Virgen and back. It was unlike anything I’d done before. The roads for the first part were wet rock paths through the forest, hills rising and falling in ceaseless waves. Riding on the shoulder of the highway for the second part, I could do nothing but tuck in behind my host brother as trucks and semis whizzed by. A few hours later, very tired and very blistered, we made it home safe and sound.

Fotos: 7. Tree planters! 8. Only 599 more to go 9. On the way to El Roble

Week 4

I did a lot of editing and writing during the beginning of this week: Jasmin asked me to put together a tree database so that future volunteers would have readily available information about the seedlings we were planting. Elena had me read through various articles about JIRAGA and the Becados (scholarship) program, while Raquel got me to edit the bi-annual newsletter and contribute to the CECOS website. I also put together the template for an ecotourist follow-up email and contacted a number of U.S. colleges with strong environmental studies programs, explaining a little bit about CECOS and the opportunity to volunteer with us. I also spent some time assembling paquetes, or basic school supply packets, which CECOS gives out for free to families with small children who find these extra expenses difficult, busting out 40 in a day. 

On Saturday, most of the members of JIRAGA and all of the CECOS volunteers went zip lining with Aventuras Sarapiquí, which involved fifteen FANTASTIC cables. I got to see the Sarapiquí region from a whole different perspective, and the last cable, which crossed over the Sarapiquí River from a very high vantage, was literally breathtaking.

In celebration of the imminence (well, sort of) of Christmas, there was a days-long fiesta in Puerto Viejo that week, which culminated in the illumination of a large Christmas tree and fireworks. Jasmin, our friend Pablo and I hopped the bus from Chilamate to Puerto, enjoying the wash of motion and people in the streets late into the night.

The next morning, we all got up (far too early) to go to Tortuguero, or "Land of Turtles," a remote national park, where a long, shallow boat drove us up a long wending river to its mouth where the freshwater rio met with the Caribbean in a strange choppy frenzy.

Fotos: 10. Zip lining group 11. Headed to Tortuguero

Week 5

Just as I wrapped up my time in Chilamate, the sun came out after days and days and days of rain. Taking advantage of this, I went swimming in the Sarapiquí River for the first time with Pancho, jumping off the car bridge into the quick current. Legend has it that after swimming in the Sarapiquí, visitors find they must return to it. (I'm still waiting to see the veracity of this story!)

At CECOS, I helped out with the clases de cocina, where our local instructor taught groups of French ecotourists about traditional Costa Rican dishes (and we volunteers were fortunate enough to snag whatever leftovers we could scrounge).

To make leaving just a little more difficult, Rosie got a very tiny Doberman Pincher cachorro two days before I was to depart. We took to each other instantly, and I named her Eva, carting her around the neighborhood and laughing at her undeniable chispa (spark), as Rosie called it.

On my last night, friends from CECOS and Chilamate got together, baking cakes and playing with the puppy dog in a packed kitchen. After five weeks volunteering and getting to know the community, it was a fairly wonderful way to say goodbye.

Fotos: 12. EVA 13. Pancho and Kenneth