Date: 13.01.2021
Author: Sophia B.
Position: OneWorld Farm, Talamanca
Geographical Position: Carribbean Coast of Costa Rica

My day started at 06:30am today, woken up by the screams of the monkeys, the singing of the birds and the sound of Ken’s wife chopping something in the kitchen. Normally I’m so annoyed when I get woken up by any strange noises but here it is just amazing and I am happy to start a new day in paradise.

Also it is a very exciting and eventful day.
We had an amazing breakfast with scrambled egg, cheese and fried chocolate bread (it was soo good!).

Afterwards we started our long day with a short visit to the city of Puerto Viejo because Sophie, our new doctor, needed to buy some medications. Meanwhile we had some time to stroll around. The most of us bought some little bracelets at a cute shop with beautiful handmade jewellery.

As soon as Sophie was done, we continued our way to a Schamane. He invited us into his cosmic dome and explained us a lot of things about the traditions of the Bribri’s. Then we did a little ceremony with a dance around a fire. It was a very impressive atmosphere and such a nice experience to learn from an indigenous person and have the opportunity to ask him whatever we wanted to know. So this was the first stop on our trip today.

Afterwards we visited a man who gave us a little tour through his garden and showed us a lot of plants and their „special features“. For example fruits which can be used as lipstick and nailpolish, leafs that are sticky and a plant from which the indigenous people make very strong fibres. Furthermore we could try the fruitflesh of a cacaobean and smell on a cinnamontree.

Then we started to make chocolate in a traditional way but we didn’t had time to finish it because we had to drive to our last stop this day: The Jaguar Rescue Center of Viejo.

It is a station for injured jungle animals who get treated there until they can be released into the wild again. We divided our group into two groups and got a guide each. My guide, Dan from the Netherlands, was a very funny guy who showed us all the animals who are currently living in the rescue center. At the moment there are some snakes, two parrots, a deer and mostly sloths and monkeys. I would say the baby sloths and monkeys were definitely the most interesting for us, they were soo cute!!

The visit was really impressive but also kind of sad because all those animals have a not so nice past. Dan told us that the reason why those animals came to the center are mostly caused by humans. For example because they get hunted and the babys stay behind as orphans or animals who are kept as pets but not treated well.

There is especially one story that stayed in my mind. It’s the story of the monkey Paco who was kept as a pet for 26 years. He was living with a rope around his neck and never learned how to interact with other monkeys or how to climb a tree. Now he is living in the Rescue center since 1,5 years and is learning how to live as a „free“ monkey. It’s so sad that things like that are happening and shows how important it is to have organisations like the Jaguar Rescue Center who are giving their best to save the lives of animals. So a big recommendation from us!

After that we drove back home and had an amazing dinner, played some games and just enjoyed the evening. So all in all it was such an interesting day and we learned a lot.