What is Episode 58 all about?
When you think of Costa Rica, what images come to mind? Maybe you see white, sandy beaches, sea turtles, and surfers catching waves. Maybe your mind fills with images of rainforests, wildlife, and trees as far as the eye can see. Or perhaps you picture slow-moving sloths, flashy scarlet macaws, and brightly colored poison dart frogs. All of these are beautiful, welcoming visuals, and indeed characterize this incredibly biodiverse country. But what’s going on behind the scenes of all this beauty? Is there a darker side of wildlife tourism? If so, how do we combat it?
This episode is Part 2 of the Costa Rica: Life, Lava & Forests series, and today’s guest, Adriana Aguilar Borbon, is an Educator & Volunteer Manager at Proyecto Asis. Adriana began her career as a business specialist at a large corporate company in San Jose but always knew she wanted to contribute more with her career. Through the grapevine, she heard that Álvaro Del Castillo, Co-Founder of Proyecto Asis, needed help running the organization, and so she visited the facility to see if could assist in any way. It didn’t take long for her to realize she had found her calling. She moved to the project’s facility, and eventually, Alvaro and Adriana fell in love and started a family of their own.
Now, Adriana is an integral part of the project’s mission to educate the public about the darker side of wildlife tourism and human-wildlife conflict. All the animals at their facility were either confiscated by the Ministry or injured due to coming into contact with humans. She views every interaction as an opportunity to educate people on how to properly live with wildlife and why animals are better in their natural habitat and not in our homes.
Because of her hard work and dedication, Adriana is also a member of the Anteater, Sloth & Armadillo Specialist Group for the IUCN.
Alright, let’s get to today’s episode with Adriana.
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Watch this episode on YouTube.
Links & Resources
Proyecto Asis
Website: https://institutoasis.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/proyectoasis/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/volunteerprogramscostarica/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ProyectoAsis
Twitter: https://twitter.com/proyectoasis
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