Costa Rica Day 5

Another hard day in the field worked on transects all day. The jungle drew first blood today, got stabbed by one of the many thorned vines. Its crazy there are thorns and spikes on everything here. It was all good though got a lot of work done. I noticed that the fire ants were everywhere today. The weather was a little bit cooler today, its starting to rain a little right now as I write this. I really like being here with other natives, you can really get into some deep interesting conversations. Its fascinating to hear their stories and points of view on things.

Costa Rica Day 10

Presentation Day!!!!!!!!!
We went first for presentations and crushed it. My partner and I make a really good team. I feel like we did a solid job. Everyone's presentations were cool. After that it was a chill day went for a hike with Blanca to the watchtower stood in the rain at the top and watched them monsoon clouds roll in. Hiked back to bunk house cleaned my boots ate dinner and listened to rain pound the roof from the safety of the bunk house.

Costa Rica day 9

Woke up to the birds chattering. Such a surreal feeling knowing my time here in Costa Rica is winding down. My goal of the day is to try something new. Other then that finished up my project, now its chill time. Looking forward to going on the night hike this evening. The weather is often on cloudy making the weather a little bit cooler. All in all pretty good day so far. So we went on night hike didn't see too much but it was still a lot of fun, trudging through the jungle in the middle of the night. Got a couple cool pics though.

Costa Rica Day 8

Data Analysis! All day, Finally got to see what our cameras picked up. We got some interesting footage and proof of local fauna use of the invasive plant. The food was wicked good today, ribs for lunch, and steak for dinner. Mostly computer work, so fairly uneventful.

Costa Rica Day 4

To day was exhausting hiked all over the forest installing our trail cameras. It was worth it though, I seen frogs everywhere. Almost every step we took frogs would be hopping out of the way. The same with the little grey hopping lizards. We also seen two big yellow spotted lizards. The best part though was seeing a big black shiny snake eating a frog, it was cool as hell. There were also these giant black and blue butterflies, and black and purple ones with big eye spots on the back of their wings. The weirdest thing I saw was this red butterfly/damsel fly looking insect with clear wings it was a trip.

During the evening we went to a culture exchange with the Ngabe people. They showed us a couple of their traditional dances we all got to join in on one of them. It was a lot of fun. They then told us about some of their cultural beliefs. For example their patterns on their clothing. Also their beliefs on thunder storms, and how they clear their houses of negative spirits. At the end of the day when we was back at our bunk house I showed some the CRIRE participants how to play hand game. Ended up losing my Colonies.

Costa Rica Day 7

Finally got a day off, it was much needed. I even slept in until 8. When I got up I started worked on our poster. After lunch every one went into town. I waited because they said there would be two pick up times. So me and Blanca went for a hike down to the waterfall.

Found the biggest spider of the trip yet.

When we got back we went to wait for the taxi but it never came. We ended up having to call our own taxi because they forgot about us. when we got to town, we were dropped off at the pizzeria. It was chaos because everyone was changing their plans, took for-ever for us to get our drinks, and we didn't get enough pizza. After we came back we just did our own thing. Saw another spider that night.

Costa Rica Day 6

Long day in the jungle. We Finished up our transects today. Including primary forest, water trail, burnt area of forest. Seen another black silk snake, it went under the water to hide from us. Also seen a toucan, red parrot, big spider exo-skeleton. Had another culture night, where we round danced and told traditional stories. Had a lot of fun.

Day 3 Costa Rica

Got to start our projects today, doing transects and setting up trail cameras. The field station biologist Rojo showed us how to identify the invasive ginger. The Ngabe  people also came with us and showed us some of the plants they use as medicines. It was long tiring day but also fun at the same time. Here are some random pics from my adventures. 

Day 2 Costa Rica

On my way to the dining hall for breakfast I discovered the agouti's. Little rodents that look like a cross between a rat and a bunny.

After breakfast Rojo gave us a tour of the Wilsons Botanical Garden. The diversity of plants here is crazy.

The best part of the day had to be are first hike into the jungle. I noticed shampoo ginger everywhere.

I also got to see a little brown frog, and had run in with an enormous serpent. The slithery beast crossed the trail and disappeared into the sea of green. There were also leaf cutter ants on the trail, which for me is fricking cool all my life I seen these little guys in documentaries. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever have imagined getting to watch them march on the ground in front of me, in real life.

After what seem like a short hike (mostly because it was down hill) we reached the stream. Cooling off in the water was like godsend after being roasted in this tropical climate. 

The hike back however was less thrilling as it was all up hill. However I did take a detour to check out the observation tower. It takes you high above the canopy offering you a birds eye view of the valley. Defiantly worth the stairs it takes to get to the top.

I made it back just in time for lunch. After that we got to meet with are mentors and discuss what we will be doing for the next 2 weeks. Later on in the evening time during our introductions we got to meet with the local indigenous peoples the Ngabe. That was truly a unique experience because of the fact that almost everyone introduced themselves in their tribes native tongue. To be able to hear that many different indigenous languages being spoken for the purpose of bring a group  of stranger together for science was Powerful!  

Costa Rica Day 1

I arrived late Sunday night and spent the night at Hotel Aeropuerto, a hotel with a big iron gate and a guard.

The next day we hoped on a charted bus and left the capital.

The buss driver had them wicked Dominick Toretto driving skills and zoomed through the mountain traffic like Muhamad Ali dodging punches in his prime. The scenery on the way to las cruces was amazing. The mountainous highway twisted its way along the mountain tops, providing spectacular views of lush rainforests and deep valley landscapes.

The road side stores offered an abundance of cantinas and restaurants. We stopped in the cloud forest and explored a mountain top, we even found some wild blue berries.

Fifteen minutes down the road we stopped at a local restaurant which offered a wide variety of the local cuisine, the beef empanadas were bomb. After a long ride we finally made are destination as the sun went down. After settling in at the bunk house we went to the chow hut and feasted like kings.