Here is my brief monthly report from the field... Costa Rica. I don't promise I will continue doing this montly, but enjoy it while it last. Hopefully more of you send a note back as we miss you and will like to know about you as well.
Yeah, it has been super busy for me. A very intense one month course is approching its end. Actually, today were final exam and report, so I'm writing this email to procrastinate my grading duties... A very fun weekend awaits... In any case, we have been in the field almost on a weekly based for 2 or 3 nights. Several very interesting places include Monteverde, which is one of the most biodiverse places on earth, very beautiful and highly recommended if you come to Costa Rica. However, you have to arm yourself with patience, as the last 20 km of the road to the reserve are not paved and becomes about 1hour ride... San Ramon Biological Reserve is also shown in some pictures, however is not
open to tourist, only researchers. It is vastly populated with poisonous snakes anyway... Carara National Park which is in the Central Pacific region is were the beautiful scarlett macaws are more aboundant, so a place to mark for your trip, specially if you plan to visit Manuel Antonio National Park, which is a excellent beach option.
Ok, enough about tourist information, you might think that I'm not working... In fact, most of my days are completely full, as students conduct research all the time. In my case, I was looking at the potential tourist development close to Poas Volcano and also at Carara National Park. In general, besides the entrance fees, protected areas provide about 5.5% of the gross domestic production (GDP) of the country, therefore, highly related to the socioeconomic development of the surrounding communities.
In a separate note, it is always nice to have family close by, we don't see them as often, but we do feel their support, and we don't miss them much. Is easy to just pick up the phone and just call them... Some of the pictures are with my sibblings and my Grandpa in his 90's birthday. I also had my birthday about 2 weeks ago, and hope not to live so many years. Roxana is now a little more proactive in her job search, as she start to feel boring. Although I think she, as anybody would, is enjoying her well deserved break after countless full days of work in MN.
To our friends Chocherita and Maina, today is their wedding day, so congratulations, we wish you the best. Our friends Beto and Melissa are the proud parents of a new baby boy, also congratulations. To Carlitos and Pablo, who defended their doctoral dissertation recently, a big hugh and also well deserved congratulations. To the rest, best regards in all your endevours, hope you and your dear families are doing great. Let's stay in touch.
Sergio & Roxana
Link to pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/
1 comment:
Hola Amigos:)
Roxana we miss you dearly here at HACER!!! All is well and things are coming along with our projects. Andreya is running with BPBP and we're about to start the 2nd round of focus groups soon. Very exciting! Finally finished the tobacco cessation project and will be presenting the findins soon at some upcoming national conferences:) and HACER was nominated to be featured as a latino non-profit award winner at CLAC's 20th aniversary in October. Even with all the good things happening things aren't the same around here without you and hope that someday you'll be able to come back to MN to visit.
All the best to you both and keep sending us more pictures they are beautiful!!
Alyssa
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