A whale with a message: say no to that plastic bottle

You can see any number of incredible marine creatures in the waters of Costa Rica’s Bahía Ballena, in the Southern Zone, but this one’s on dry land. Local businesses and residents came together to transform 3,495 plastic water bottles – all of them left behind in Ballena National Marine Park in 2014 and 2015 – into a massive whale sculpture. Designed by local artist Alban Corrales of the Trincheras de San Isidro, Pérez Zeledón group, the whale is a whopping 9 meters long and 5 meters wide. Building the whale took 100 community members and tourists approximately 10 days, according to a statement from the “Bahía Ballena Libre de Plásticos” campaign, which began in 2016 as an initiative of several area businesses to address the environmental impact of single-use plastics on the coastal community. Stay tuned for more on this initiative from The Tico Times, or visit the campaign’s Facebook page to learn more.