<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Helvetica;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"Cambria Math";
panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.msonormal0, li.msonormal0, div.msonormal0
{mso-style-name:msonormal;
mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0in;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0in;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;
color:windowtext;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style></head><body lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="WordSection1"><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Recently, my husband and I discovered a tropical treasure in Costa Rica. We spent 2 days at the <a href="http://ugacostarica.org/" target="_blank">University of Georgia's Costa Rica campus</a>, next to Monte Verde in San Luis. Aiming to test and model best sustainability practices, this charming mountaintop jungle regularly hosts researchers on a variety of topics, currently including orchid bees. They have a nice insect collection including many bees, butterflies and beetles. Our activities included a night hike where we saw some moths, but no bats, and another was a visit to a local, small organic coffee producer, <a href="http://bellaticacafe.com/" target="_blank">Bella Tica</a>.<br><br>The campus' Manager and Associate Director, Fabricio Camacho, said they would welcome pollinator researchers as did Oldemar Salazar, the farmer and owner of Bella Tica. Here is Camacho's email: <span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#555555"><a href="mailto:fabricio@uga.edu" target="_blank">fabricio@uga.edu</a>. </span></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#555555">Oldemar told us that the peak pollinator season for coffee at these high elevations is mid-May and his coffee's pollinators tend to be bees, bats and butterflies. Oldemar's email is </span><a href="mailto:afebellatica@gmail.com" target="_blank">afebellatica@gmail.com</a>.<br clear="all"></p></div></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"> </p></div><p class="MsoNormal">-- </p><div><div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Phyllis Stiles, Founder & Pollinator Champion</p></div><div><div><p class="MsoNormal">Bee City USA, An Initiative of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal">503-395-5367</p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:phyllis.stiles@xerces.org" target="_blank">phyllis.stiles@xerces.org</a></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.beecityusa.org" target="_blank">www.beecityusa.org</a></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.xerces.org" target="_blank">www.xerces.org</a></p></div><div><p class="MsoNormal"><img border="0" id="_x0000_i1025" src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1RtwUf1ACjVhCZGDbDpq_8ystRrLjSj3t&revid=0B8G6kJbmIVZ1VDhnd1B4VXhxbEpzbWN2VENYbmxHdmk5NDY0PQ"></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>