For a long time, EcoTeach has been known for our amazing, hands-on conservation trips to Costa Rica. We are known by many for our work with turtles. We are always looking for new places where we know our student groups will have life changing experiences…and we’ve just found our latest addition in Mexico:  Mayto Sea Turtle Camp and Huichol Sierra Madre. Both are located in the Jalisco province of Mexico and both are extraordinary!

The Huichol Sierra Madre itinerary offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to become completely immersed in an ancient indigenous culture- the Huichol.  Travel to the Sierra del Nayar and stay in cabins built by the community, volunteer at a local health clinic or school, fish with the Huichol, learn their crafts, experience their rituals and play a favorite sport – volleyball.   This itinerary is available year-round.

The Mayto Sea Turtle Camp itinerary is focused on conservation, culture and community service work.  At Mayto, the high season for nesting turtles is July-February – the months where Leatherbacks are not nesting at our Costa Rica projects – and offers a chance to a see a variety of sea turtles.  Spend four nights at the camp and participate in nightly beach patrols, work with the local staff biologist, explore the flora and fauna in the surrounding area, visit a bat cave and perhaps swim with turtles at a nearby beach.  After volunteering at the camp, spend several days in the small, coastal town of San Pancho, go on a jungle tour and participate in service work at the San Pancho cultural center.

Check out all of the details at:  www.ecoteach.com.

EcoTeach is excited to team up with Wild Travelers to share these wonderful Mexico itineraries with our travelers.  Wild Travelers was founded by leaders of several international wildlife and conservation organizations, such as Wildcoast (USA), Global Volunteer Projects (UK), Alexdinamo (MEX), Los Otros Mexicanos (MEX), E.C.O.  (USA), and Save the Rain Forest (USA.)  Wild Travelers has helped promote and enact several progressive environmental regulations that are already making a notable difference.

Many of you are making the decision to buy organic because you know the environmental benefits… better water quality, healthier soils, less toxins in our bodies. But did you know that buying organic can also save turtles? Here’s how:

In conventional, non-organic banana plantations, growers cover the bananas with large blue plastic bags to ensure that the fruit ripens in a uniform way. When the bananas are ready to harvest, the bags are cut down and left on the ground while the bananas are taken to market.

Blue Banana Bags

When the rains inevitably follow, the blue bags are carried from the plantation through canals and to the sea. Bearing a strong resemblance to jellyfish, the sea turtles primary food source, the bags are often mistakenly ingested by turtles. Unable to digest the bags, the turtles die as a result of eating them.

Plastic in our oceans is not a problem only for sea turtles – virtually every marine aquatic and bird species has been harmed by some form of floating plastic in the ocean. Birds, whales, dolphins and fish have all been harmed and killed by inadvertently eating plastic debris.

What can we do to save the animals from death by plastic? We can minimize our use of plastic and avoid products that cannot be recycled. We can “pre-cycle” by selecting packaged foods that, instead of plastic, come in cardboard containers. We can choose wooden toys instead of plastic, use paper bags for groceries (or better yet, bring our own!), use refillable water bottles, and – of course – buy organic bananas.

At EcoTeach, we feel so fortunate to receive updates about and from our former travelers. Some travelers are inspired to go on to college to study marine biology or environmental science, others contact us to find out how they can go back and volunteer at the projects they visited and some are so touched by their experiences that they simply want others to have the same opportunity. We want to share some of these remarkable stories with you.

Honestly, this is why we do what we do!

I have to take the bus to work very early in the morning and it is often full of other people on their way to work. Yesterday there was only standing room and I was glad to stand and hold onto the bars just like we did on the way back from visiting the Bri Bri tribe. I was so happy standing there because I was remembering being soaking wet, sun burned and full of a sense of adventure. Everyday I find something new that reminds me of our trip and I know the same happens to everyone else. From the trees that remind me of the jungle, to smells of fresh fruit or hearing Bob Marley and a million more things. I know that trip changed all of our lives. I still remember the day Marjie (teacher) came up to me and told me about it. I fell in love with Costa Rica and I know one day I will be back.

Pura Vida,
Megan
Scriber Lake H.S., Edmonds, WA

Megan will be working with the students at Scriber Lake H.S. to help them raise the funds needed for their trip to Costa Rica this year. Thank you Megan, and thank you to everyone else who has taken the time to tell us how traveling with EcoTeach has changed their world. And, while we’re at it we’d be remiss if we didn’t remind you that the EcoTeach “How Travel Has Changed Your World” Contest is going on now through the end of April. Write just 250 words or less about that topic and you could win $500 EcoTeach bucks or any of several other prizes. Your odds are great as we don’t have as many entries as we’d like (wink, wink) so please enter today! Check out the contest website at www.ecoteachcontest.com for more details.

We at EcoTeach are all about changing the world. We give back by exploring education and conservation, with the belief that through travel, we can help shape the future, just as travel has shaped us. With this in mind, we’re proud to announce a chance to earn EcoTeach Bucks and other prizes with an essay contest about how travel has influenced you and your life.

Tell us how travel has, or could change your world in 250 words or less. It’s a short word limit, so make it powerful!

The rules:

• All entries must be original content.
• Maximum word limit of 250 words.
• Each entry may contain one photo.
• Limited to one entry per person.
• Entries must be submitted between March 1, 2010 and 11:59 p.m. on Friday, April 30, 2010.

How it works:

Log onto www.ecoteachcontest.com any time from March 1 to April 30, 2010.  Submit your essay and up to one photo and voila, you’re entered! Once the entry period closes, we will open up all the submissions for four weeks of voting, beginning on Monday, May 3 and ending 11:59 p.m. on Monday, May 31. Whichever essay gets the most votes wins! Winners will be announced on Tuesday, June 15.

The prizes:

To encourage globally conscious travel, the first and second place winners will be awarded EcoTeach Bucks that can be put toward any of our eco-trips to Costa Rica.  The EcoTeach Bucks can also be applied to EcoTeach merchandise or donated to the EcoTeach Foundation to support a specific project in your name. Five third place winners will walk away with an EcoTeach travel kit!

1 First Place Winner: $500 EcoTeach Bucks

1 Second Place Winner: $250 EcoTeach Bucks

5 Third Place Winners: EcoTeach Travel Kit (includes an EcoTeach T-shirt, EcoTeach stainless steel water bottle and a bag of our organic, fair trade certified coffee from the Sol Colibri co-op in Costa Rica.)

How to win:

Help yourself rake in the votes by spreading the word! After submitting your essay, send your essay link to your friends, family and social networks! Ask for votes on Twitter, Facebook and MySpace. If you have a blog, link it there. Let people know how their support will help you change the world!

Remember, the contest launches March 1, so get writing.  Good luck, and as always, happy travels!