I ran to the beach for a short quick run. 2.0 miles. Low tide and small waves.

Breakfast was simple but yummy. 7am.

At 8am was went on a walking tour of the town Uvita and Bahia. The area began as a forest. Oligarchs Cruz sanctioned. Alcoa Co bought from Cruz. Locals resisted and squatted the land with local unrest. Government reallocated and evened it out. Locals just title after 15 years. Primarily agriculture. Then fishermen bought into the land. Currently tourism is  largest economy in area. (Check facts on history).

Conservation and sustainability are important in Uvita. Rated the Cleanest town. Research and Trash. Clean up and recycling. Locals and national campaigns. 1980 the river changed directions. Town had road access.

Nature walk to the beach. Flora. Teak leaves have red staining juice. Plantain and banana trees. Manga and Mango trees. Ballena was named by a lady that made wine from the palm tree fruit.

Fauna. We saw howler monkey, iguana, lots of birds. Wood pecker, white egrets, red throated x, blue heron, turkey vulture. Hummingbird. Leaf cutting ants.

For lunch we went to a local house and Judy taught us how to cook a local dish. We softened banana leaves over open flame as the wrapping for the meal. We cooked a beef and yuca stew. We pounded out handmade tortillas. We sautéed spices with the black beans. And we fried local eggs and plantains. Lauren and Madeleine played foos ball with Judy’s young boys while the other group cooked their lunches.

Back at the hotel Macaws and Iguanas ran around.

Amy from Geoporters shared the great projects they did here in Uvita. They used GPs data collection on trash to help locate, educate, and clean up Uvita. They use GPS data to empower the local community to tackle their own problems. And come up solutions that the kids and while community can contribute to. The town is very clean now. I told Amy she should submit her story to TED talks. It’s very cool mix of tech, community service and local improvements.