My experience working with environmental landscaping, by CIEE intern Maya Montoya.jpgmolwatana (University of North Carolina at Wilmington)

For my internship I was honored to work with Ana Ovares preparing her medicinal garden. This included creating a pathway out of sustainable materials, an irrigation system, implementing signs for conservative water use, and tilling/ planting medicinal plants along side informational signs. My work allowed Ana to increase her profit margin by making the landscape more appealing, which attracted more clients. My contributions also allowed Ana, and her family, to learn more about sustainable practices. Such as, using recycled, and imperishable materials to create durable products.

        Personally, I was interested in this internship because I wanted to learn more about medicinal medicines, and environmental art—two topics that I have always been intrigued by. This internship combined the two perfectly. Also, I noticed that this was a solitary internship so I wouldn’t be able to rely on a partner, which forced me to try harder. This internship pushed me out of my comfort zone because I’ve never worked irrigation before. Yet, I managed to create a fully functioning irrigation system within three weeks of my internship. After this internship, I can definitely see myself going into a field that pertains to environmental landscaping.

        Through my work during this internship I have learned how to create a sustainable irrigation system without professional help. I was able to accomplish this on my own, solely through hard work and determination. I’ve learned a lot about construction with renewable materials, such as using cement mixed with old “maya” or wire cuttings and broken ceramics. Since almost all of the materials I used were considered “trash”, I was able to revamp objects that would have otherwise gone to a landfill. This allowed me to leave a rather minimal footprint while accomplishing a rather large job.

        The greatest contribution I gave, as far as manual labor goes, was the pathway and irrigation system I constructed, however, in my opinion, my greatest accomplishment was implementing signs and equipment that were user friendly. I made signs out of recycled wood and added messages that could be easily understood by both the literate, and illiterate communities. These signs show the driest times of the year, and the best times to turn on the sprinklers in order to conserve water. They also emphasize water conservation by asking workers to use water only when necessary, and to keep the water inside the garden.

I’ve been In Monteverde, Costa Rica for two months now; I’ve hiked through jungles, gotten to see unbelievable sites, and learned much about Costa Rican history. However, through all of these experiences, I can definitely say that this internship has been the most rewarding. From cutting old ice-cream jugs, to digging through trash to find bits of usable ceramics; this internship has taught me that I can repurpose anything.