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Say
Hello to Pika, our newest learning adventure guide!
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Eric and
I are super-excited about joining forces with our new
friend Pika. Pika was born and raised on a farm in Costa
Rica and now he works for an environmental education
organization in Costa Rica called Ecoteach. Pika will
be joining us as we explore Costa Rica, and he is excited
about taking us to places that we would never find on
our own! Pika and I talked on the phone for a long time
today and I am excited to finally meet him in person!
Carlos “Pika”
Víquez wanted to be an airline pilot, despite
being a real country boy. “The other guides have
noticed how good I am with a machete—I'm not your
ordinary city boy, for sure.”
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Welcome
aboard Pika!
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Pika—as his
friends know him—started leading naturalist tours in
1994 at the suggestion of a college friend majoring in tourism.
He started taking classes offered by Universidad Nacionál,
and working on various research projects—mammal behavior
and bats (there are 125 species of bats in Costa Rica —
the largest biodiversity for an area its size in the world.)
Pika began guiding for EcoTeach in 1997, and he thrives on
the challenges presented by leading education expeditions.
Pika's favorite
animals are Orcas, or Killer Whales. Killer Whales travel
to the waters off of Costa Rica to have their babies each
winter. If we are lucky we might get to see one! Pika's favorite
foods are spaghetti, lasagna, and Mac and Cheese, and he likes
most foods except broccoli and peanut butter. When Pika is
not tromping around in the rainforest, he likes to play X-box.
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