Bahia de Caraquez

We spent the last weekend in Bahia de Caraquez, a town on the Pacific coast. It was pounded by mudslides during an El Nino in the 1990´s, after which it declared itself an eco-city. They focused on reforestation of hillsides, but then expanded to have only bicycle taxis in town and full recycling and compost of waste. We visited with Planet Drum, a San Francisco based NGO that works on reforestation. It was an interesting juxtaposition, because the focus seemed to be on the trees, whereas our focus has been on community development. At the request of private land owners, we mainly plant trees of economic value, such as cacoa and orange trees. I think I was in the distinct minority in appreciating this approach, mainly due to my ecology background. Unfortunately, the most recent mayor has abandoned most of the eco-city efforts, but the town´s reputation is still in the guidebooks, so many eco-tourists come away disappointed.

On the food front, a few of the students got to eat BBQ larva. They were pretty proud of themselves for getting it down until an eight year old girl ate it raw, and still alive!