38 Hectares of Valuable Resources for the Maleku

LRFF planted 7000 trees in July 2014 (you remember “For the Monkeys”) and another 1000 in September 2014, this time at the Maleku Indigenous Tribe Reserve again.

We planted Helen Hollenbeck's trees on September 8th at Nicida Elizondo's property in Palenque Margarita. It was a super hot day, full sun and there were 6 of us planting. YES me 2! A BIG thank you goes out to Beth Hollenbeck for her generous donation to honor her late sister, Helen, making this project possible. 

Helen was one of LRFF's first supporters, when I founded the organization in 2005 in Costa Rica. She was instrumental in putting together our first, local fundraiser at the nearby "party house". She continued to support our projects until her death almost two years ago. She now has a one-hectare forest that holds her spirit, along the Rio Sol adjacent to the 35-hectare Rio Sol Biological Corridor project planted in 2011 - 2012 (35,000 trees).

See the photos for a sequential view of the planting…another 1000 trees in the ground. They will sequester and store more than 20 metric tons of GHG emissions each year.

We finished the planting by 3 pm and then went to pay doña Nicida for the trees she raised in her nursery for six months prior to the planting. We planted over 95 native species. 

Maleku Cultural Festival

My family, the Maleku indigenous tribe, held their annual cultural festival the first weekend in October. I haven't attended since 2010 but made it a priority this year.  I didn't get many photos but my friend, Hiqui Maleku posted Ricardo Araya's professional quality photos and I wanted to share them with you...

One other contest was the Chicha drinking contest. Chicha is the Maleku version of wine or beer, fermented Yuca (Cassava), Corn or even Pineapple. This year the contestants were all women and Daisy won by drinking a large bowl in less than 45 seconds.

HAPPY NEW YEAR...and LET'S GET PLANTING IN 2015!