My first two weeks at Kids Saving The Rainforest in Quepos, Costa Rica have been amazing. First off, it’s beautiful here as most people would imagine costa rica to be. It does get pretty hot and humid but you get used to it pretty quick. KSTR is a wildlife refuge organization, connected to a bed and breakfast called the Blue Banyan Inn. A day in the life of volunteer goes like this: I wake up at about 7, and after getting ready I walk over tithe kitchen where we start chopping up a variety of fruit and veggies for the animals. Then at about 8 we bring the food to the sanctuary where we feed the marmosets, kinkajous, parrots, parakeets, squirrel monkeys, capuchin monkeys and spider monkeys. After we’ve fed them, we go to the clinic to help out barb and sam, the backbones of the sanctuary. We feed all of the animals in the clinic that vary depending on what animals have been injured and brought to the sanctuary. For my first two weeks the clinic was quite full of animals (sadly). There were a variety of birds, coming in at 8 total. There were 5 owls, 4 coatis, 2 squirrel monkeys, 2 squirrels, and a porcupine. There are also mice and a lot of mealworms in the clinic for feeding purposes. When I arrive to the clinic I help feed the birds, and then I cut up chicken organs or cuts of beef and hand feed the owls. I then help clean various cages and make sure all of the animals are properly enriched as so they dont get bored.
Then we go back to kitchen to have lunch (which we cool ourselves) and a little break. I’ve been trying to use my break time to do a couple different things around the property. I’m about to start building a solar food dehydrator so we can dry out fruits and therefore have those fruits when they go out of season, or even to sell them as dried fruits, dried mangoes in particular are quite valuable. I’m also working on getting more, better seeds for their garden as it doesn’t yield very much, and making their composting system more efficient. And my newest break time project is creating a rainwater collection system as water is relatively scarce here. After our lunch break, we do another feeding and basically work on everything that we worked on in the morning. Occasionally I’ll get to go and help the sloths, the anteater and the hawk but they’re a little higher maintenance animals and have specific workers dedicated to them. After all the afternoon work it’s about 6pm. We make our dinners, and then usually we go and fall asleep. The days are full of hard work but are often very rewarding.
-Jared Freeman