On March 6th I was invited to the Southern zone of Costa Rica called the Osa Peninsula. There is nothing like leaving the urban setting: traveling through four different mountain climates, from dry forests to cloud forests and into intense humid rain forests.

Imagine rainbows arching over the road! The arrival was orchestrated by a concert louder than any car stereo, but instrumented by thousands of birds and insects. The temperature was between 70 & 90 degrees. The smell of ylang-ylang and the warm ocean beach filled the air.

I stayed at a friend’s hotel called Villas Gaia. It has the blue flag certification for sustainable tourism. The owners are Dutch and leaders in the area for environmental issues, such as the conservation of Tortuga beach, ecological trails and sponsorship for community centers in the town of Ojochal. The purpose of my visit was to meet people from the local community who are interested in participating in mural projects to learn about conserving their environment. I took a walk with a community leader named Giovanni, who showed me specific walls that could change the atmosphere and be part of their daily lives. I found four ideal places which included the school, the library, the bullring and the supermarket.

In May I worked on two community murals to motivate youth and invite nongovernmental organizations (NGO’s) to get involved in the local community. I used this form of public art as a way to initiate sustainability projects that speak about the importance of wildlife in the area. The goal was to meet and invite people to get involved who would then help me with the murals and also be part of other beautification project for their own community. The designs were created to have a strong visual pull as one drives or walks towards the murals, which are across the street from each other. One of them faces incomers and the other faces people leaving town. The animals are represented as a single element, which interacts with its environment or color. The turtle is the most important symbol for this small coastal town and the frog is an indicator of healthy environments. The participants discussed the environmental message and the mural gained more potential interest as people came to help paint and watch its progress. 
 The murals have affected the community in positive ways as people’s imaginations are stimulated and they begin to imagine other changes they would like to see in their town such as new bullring. Of course there is a large percentage of people who don’t care or pay attention to art in the community. But the murals are there now and their presence emanates every day as almost every one passes by them on their way to work, or home, or just to the beach.