La tortuga mensajera

Community Gazette

Celebrate biodiversity!

Edition 4 February 2014

Photo: Octavio Aburto

Cabo Pulmo, Baja California Sur, Mexico

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La tortuga mensajera

EDITORIAL It gives me great pleasure to present to you our fourth edition of the Community Gazette, I think with each issue we will be improving and presenting the actual, necessary and interesting information for all who live here and for our visitors. This time we want to talk about the workshop the children of CPLC received on the environmental services the Cabo Pulmo reef gives us, it was fun and interesting, I think the way it was presented to them helped a lot to understand. Also in this issue we present two events that were very important: the presentation of the results of flora and fauna monitoring by a group of researchers, the results will surprise you. And the event held by the university students association BUILDING BAJA'S FUTURE in late January, where they had the opportunity to give talks, games, yoga and different activities for the children of CPLC. In this issue we repeat the invitation to the photo contest, we are waiting for the photos, don't miss the chance to participate and collaborate with the CPLC One of our roles as a Gazette is to inform the community and tourists from major events, that is why in this issue we include the information about OFF ROAD race that will be taking place this month, please read carefully for our own wellbeing.

Content
Editorial Learning Center in action Activities in the park 2 3 4

Saint Valentine Day Celebra- 5 tion Spokesmen for the communi- 6 ty Announcements Special annuncement 7 8

Credits

Judith Castro Lucero, Executive Director Centro de Aprendizaje Cabo Pulmo (CPLC) Gabriela Castro Murillo, assistant(CPCL) Limcy Cisneros Cruz, student at CPLC Danny Weinstein, Founder CPLC Karen Burkart, traduction

With love

Judith Castro Lucero

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LEARNING CENTER IN ACTION

Cabo Pulmo National Parks reef environmental services workshop
On January 15th, the children of the Learning Center had the opportunity to participate in the CABO PULMO NATIONAL PARKS REEF ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES workshop, presented by Sofia Gomez of the civil organization Costa Salvaje (Wild Coast). In this workshop they learned the importance of preserving, protecting and promoting environmental care in their community and the world. These are the main environmental services 1.- Coastal protection against storm waves and hurricanes. 2.- Education and Research, the reef is a living laboratory. 3.- Area of breeding, feeding and reproduction of important species for fisheries (Like a fish factory)

4.- Atmospheric carbon abduction (corals help us clean the polluted air) 5.- Sustains diving and snorkeling tourism

Thank you Sofia!

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Activities in the Park

FLORA AND FAUNA MONITORING IN CABO PULMO BOTANICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TEXAS On January 19, Dr. Sula Vanderplank, biodiversity explorer by the BOTANICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF TEXAS came to Cabo Pulmo to introduce the results of the flora and fauna monitoring that she and several experts in the subjects were doing last November in the areas of Los Frailes, Cabo Pulmo, Punta Arenas and La Ribera. The presentation was on the premises of CPLC and those who attended the event were able to realize the great importance of this ecosystem and especially the interes ting high biodiversity we have in the area. The doctor told us that the researchers were very excited with this place, because they found several endemic species of the state of BCS, but the most surprising thing was one species of endemic flora of Cabo Pulmo, all attendees felt very proud to live in this place which is a paradise. They also found species that had been believed extinct. They showed us the number of species of flora and fauna they were able to document and the result is amazing. In the area of Punta Arenas they found a microsystem that is unique in the world and because of its features is critical to protect. The results will be published later because they are still working on compiling the information from each of the specialists. We look forward to being able to share it in an upcoming issue of the Gazette. Let us celebrate then, the marine biodiversity of terrestrial flora and fauna we have in this beautiful and blessed place called Cabo Pulmo. We thank Martin Goebel and his team for this initiative which is so helpful for us.

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February 14, Saint Valentines Day

Many of us know the month of February as the month of love and friendship. Certainly it has been a date especially taken by commerce, because in February 14 (day of lovers) cards, stuffed animals, flowers, and gifts in general abound in shops and there is a clamor for selling all these items that serve, according to merchants, to show affection, friendship and love to people. But who really is St. Valentine, and where does this celebration come from? Here we will tell you a little bit. There are several theories about the history of Valentine's Day. Some claim that the origins are from St. Valentine, a Roman who was martyred for refusing to renounce his Christian faith, and for trying to help Christians escape Roman prisons and who died on February 14, 269 AD According to other historical tales, St. Valentine would have served as a priest at the temple during the reign of Emperor Claudius III when the young men decided that they should all be soldiers and banned marriage. St. Valentine would realize the injustice of the decree and continue leading the rite of marriage for young couples in secret until discovered by Claudio who would imprison him for defiance. According to legend, St. Valentine left a farewell note to the jailer's daughter whom he had fallen in love with during his imprisonment, and this letter would be the first St. Valentines love letter. He left at the end of it his signature "From your Valentine", a mark that would become popular for couples who sent cards with St. Valentine quotes. In 496 AD, Pope Gelasius decided that February 14 was the day on which to honor St. Valentine. Slowly February 14 was becoming a date in which love messages were exchanged, and Valentine became the patron saint of lovers. Therefore, all children, Judith, and Gaby not only wish you a happy day of love and friendship, but a lifetime of happiness for each of you. HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

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Spokesmen for the community

Hello, my name is Limcy Cisneros Cruz and I want to tell you of the wonderful weekend that the children at the Learning Center had on the 25th and 26th of January, when 5 young guys from the organization BUILDING BAJAS FUTURE came to visit. They are truly an example to us all, enthusiastic, intelligent, active, friendly, cheerful. They transmitted a very good energy with all their positivism. During these two days we had talks such as tools for public speaking, what is bulling?, motivation, and group work, but also we had yoga and dancing lessons. We had great fun with the different games they organized for us, where some moms had the opportunity to play and interact with their children. We learned from them many values such as respect, patience, tolerance, to always be positive, it was a very special weekend for us, we would like for it to repeat soon, we thank BBF and CPLC for this great opportunity to live and learn. Thank you Julio, Tere, Ivet, Jenny, and Raul.
Reporting for the Messenger Turtle: Limcy Cisneros Cruz

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La tortuga mensajera

CABO PULMO LEARNING CENTER

INVITES YOU
TO PARTICIPATE IN OUR FIRST PHOTO CONTEST UNDER THE FOLLOWING TERMS:

Photos will be received from the publication of this newsletter until February 15th of this year, in the CPLC facilities with Judith Castro or Gaby Castro. There will be three categories: old photos, underwater photos, and landscape photos, all of Cabo Pulmo. All participant photos will be mounted in an exhibition on the day of the awards ceremony that will be in the framework of a fundraising dinner for the Learning Center, at a date to be published by March The jury will be composed of professional photographers. Inscription 10.00 USD each photo. The prizes consist of: a dinner for two, a snorkel tour, and a fishing tour, which will be raffled among the winners in each category. YOUR PARTICIPATION IS MUCH APPRECIATED!

Carlos Aguilera

Ralph Lee Hupkins

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMET
Today we want to inform the community in general and the tourists who visit us these days, that next Sunday, February 9 there will be an off road race that will pass through Cabo Pulmo. Therefore it is recommended that if you have to leave town or if you are flying on that day, to leave early Cabo Pulmo, because it is very dangerous to be on the road during the race. The bikes will be the first to go and will be around 8:00 am Take your precautions and let's calmly enjoy this event.

OFF ROAD RACE !

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Follow us: Cabo Pulmo Learning Center Telephone: 612-10-8-61-46 Email adress:
judy.cabopulmolearningcenter@gmail.com