Keylin Castro, student at the Tropical Ecology & Conservation Leadership
For eight weeks I had the opportunity to live in the amazing Osa Peninsula. Every day I spent there I fell in love a little more with that impressive place and the desire to live and work there increased. I can confirm from direct experience that here is 2.5% of the world’s biodiversity. Every day when I woke up I listened to the birds singing, different insects and all the primates on the peninsula. Every morning on my way to the station I had the opportunity to see the sun’s rays peek through the trees, one of the simplest, but beautiful things of my days there and I will never forget.
Each week was unique and different. Our days were full of field work, learning about restoration and rewilding, turtles and their conservation, and many other things. Some weeks were full of theoretical classes, in which I learned so many things all the way from programming to environmental law. I learned about photography and about drones and their application in conservation. I learned about journalism, how to map and apply for scholarships in the future. I learned so many things that they never taught me in college, which makes me very grateful to Osa Conservation for giving me the opportunity to take this course, for giving me information as diverse and useful for my life as a biologist. Here I learned the true meaning of conservation, which will mark a before and after in my career.
I met quality people who are also excellent professionals. I am grateful to have met each of my classmates, they all taught me something and I loved sharing a time of my life with them. There were difficult and challenging moments, but also very beautiful moments and that I will always remember. I thank them for making my days happy with their jokes, stories and laughs, they made my stay in Osa even better than I expected. I am very happy about this place and want to return. I take many memories and much knowledge that I want to put into practice as soon as possible.
