So, funny story...

First day back in South Dakota, and there is a snow storm on the way. What the heck? I thought it was almost April outside. Sheesh.

Any how once we touched down in Houston, TX (shudder), we had only 45 minutes to get through customs and on to our next plane to Minneapolis, MN. We had to wait in line behind about 200 other people just to get our passports checked. We get split up in lines to get our carry on stuff X rayed. After we left customs, we only had 15 minutes to get to our gate... on the other side of the huge Houston (shudder) airport.

I didn't even put my shoes back on. I just ran sock-footed across food courts, over moving sidewalks, and dodging slow moving people. I also didn't put on my belt... so I had to carry my tickets and passport in my mouth, my shoes in my right hand, and hold my pants up with my left. Remember I have a 30 pound back pack on at this point.

We were chasing after Kara, who is a marathon runner and moved like some kind of sick machine, I could hardly keep up! We got to a bus that was going to take us to the side of the airport with our little plane to the mid west, with about 7 minutes to go. Could that bus be any slower? It was agonizing! What torture! Hayley narrowly made the bus, she power walked while Gab, Kara, and I ran. My shirt was soaked and I looked like I had taken a shower (apparently I'm a sweater, and not the kind you wear when it's cold.) I'm pretty sure we terrified the other bus riders. Four big sweaty South Dakota girls huffing and puffing and sweating and fretting all over the place with huge turtle shell backpacks and death grips on passports and tickets and wild rolling eyes. I'm sure I looked like a monster. The bus took off without Dr. J or Caitilin, and we were pretty worried!

The bus stops in front of a gate to get into the airport and run back around to the correct gate for us to board, and we have 3 minutes to spare. We were off again with the running. (I did have shoes on at that point, I tied them while on the bus) We made it to the gate and I felt like I won the lottery. We found our seats. They were pleather. I stuck to them like a bug on a windshield. Hot sweaty sticky itchy. I hate Pleather now. It is inappropriate at all times.

Caitlin and Dr J never showed up!
They closed the gates and pulled away. Kara checked her phone and Dr J hadn't called. The guy next to me said the next flight to MN was at 6 pm, the time we were scheduled to be in SD. Those poor guys!

Its ok, if it makes everyone feel like things were more equal, all of our luggage got held up in Houston too... My phone, house key and car keys were in my suitcase. DOH!

San Jose

¿What´s it like you ask?
For me, the best comparison is its kind of like New York, but much shorter. The buildings are obviously shorter, and yes, even the people come up shorter than my 5 feet and 6 inches. A few guys are taller than me, but nearly everyone falls under 5 foot 4 for some reason. It makes me feel like a gigantic American. Not only do I stick out because of my Norwegian complexion , I´m also slightly taller than your average Jane/Joe. I did however notice that many many people here also have an obesity problem, as the US does, but are not at all worried about hiding it. People, and when I say people I mean ladies, here like to paint their tops on and maybe even let that belly button catch a little sun and air out. No belly button rings here though.

However,
there is a large amount of youth, and when I say youth I mean people under 25, that have their lips pierced. There is actually a pretty big population of punks here, kind of like the skaters of early 2001. Little does San Jose know that they are BEHIND in the times. The cool thing in the states now is Geek Chic. Men dressing in button up shirts untucked and sweater vests over designer jeans and nice shoes with wide rimmed glasses. I could open a shop here and make millions. (That's a funny joke because here, the colone is the currency. Two American dollars is 1000 colones, but they say one mil instead of one thousand. See how funny?)

I got a great hammock that I´m excited about and much to the chagrin of my father, I will make him hang it on our back porch. Don´t worry mom, it´s the kind that even you won´t be able to fall out of!

In San Jose, people are not as worried about being clean. There is tons of litter almost everywhere, and anywhere a man wants to go to the bathroom, he does. Like when a Tico, and when I say Tico I mean Costa Rican, stepped right off the bus in front of Caitlin and I and shoved past us to the corner of a building. You just don´t get that kind of treatment in the U.S. often...

On 95% of the billboards, and on 95% of all the television here, the advertisements are full of American looking blond European descent folks. Almost all of their TV shows are shows from the US just dubbed into Espanol. I can´t really imagine growing up in a country that is 1/3 the size of South Dakota where almost all entertainment and adds are from someone speaking a foreign language and dubbed into English. Its an odd concept.

See you tomorrow America!

Love,
Caroline

Monte Verde and San José

Hola,
It has been a while since we have blogged. The internet at Monte Verde was very spotty, so it was hard to get onto a computer. Monte Verde is a beautiful area. It is home to a cloud forest, which, I think, is my favorite habitat type. The trees are covered in moss, with a few other epiphites attached. Also, the weather is much cooler, and it is misty all the time. Another thing abouy MV, it is windy here! It reminds me of a mild April day back in South Dakota.

We struggled to capture bees in the mountains, so we walked down and steep hill (about 1 mile) to Monte Verde the town. We then headed out to a City forest area. We had some luck capturing bees, but I had fun ID birds. I got to see a three waddled bell bird(see picture...the female sounds like a high pitched bell....the male like a low pitched car horn....HWAK), a sweet woodpecker, and an antbird.

The hike back to the station was long, and uphill. Caroline and I went for a jog down it the night before, and my legs were tired!!!!! (Nothing like low oxygen and a steep gradient to make your leg muscles feel great!!) Later that day, we hiked down again to look at the local Co-op and other shops....and then back up!

Yesterday, we rode in the car for a while, and went to INBIO. This organization has been working on cataloging all of the species of plants, insects, fungus, etc. They have quite the collection. We got to look through some of the beetle and butterfly collection...THERE ARE A LOT OF BUGS!!! It was really cool to see though. We could not get into the herbarium (sorry Dr. Larson), but we did get to explore the park. The INBIOparque has replanted native forest in the middle of the city. This park is a cross between a garden and a zoo. There were little exhibits and signs along the way, identifying different species. We got to play in a small butterfly garden, look for fish in the aquarium, look at frogs, see a lot of iguanas, and look into the agricultural crops of the area, including goats, chickens, cows, and a pot bellied pig.

While, that is a summary of our activities in the past few days...We will see you all soon!

OH! I officially hate biting bugs! I do not know what bit me, but man does it itch!!!!
Today we get to hang out in San José. It should be a blast!

It's been a while...

But we didn't forget you!
We just didn't have very good wireless.
Here is a video (for your viewing pleasure) of what we did on the way from La Selva to Monteverde. We feel it is important to keep you informed. (For posterity.)

We'll be home Sunday!
Caroline

our ears are getting pointy

We arrived in Monteverde last night but unfortunately the internet has been a bit iffy, so you may not hear from us that much through Friday.
Yesterday we stopped at a station that is set up to attract hummingbirds. This was really cool because the feeders were hung all along the side of an open building and attracted many species of hummingbirds. The difference between size, shape, and colors was amazing. There was also a tame parakeet, which developed a grudge against Hayley for some reason, but it liked me...at least it didn´t bite me. Finally, a tarantula for you: old, tame, in a cage. I held it just for you, even if it was so old it barely moved.
Vulcan Poas was a bit of a disappointment for us. As it turned out a giant cloud decided to plant itself on and in the volcano. So we did get to stand on the edge of the crater, but we couldn´t see anything because of the thick cloud.
Our driver, Faustio, made us chan (spelling?). This is also called ´toad eggs´. It is a drink made with seeds that have a sort of mucus property. Effectively, we got to drink delicious seed snot.
Monteverde is absolutely gorgeous. It is indeed a cloud forest. Frustratingly enough, euglossine bees do not enjoy this area during this part of the year, so our study at this station may be entirely fruitless.
I´ll have lots to tell you when I get back!

What we want

Gab and I discussed it, and we'd like to be at home with the TV for a few days.
Enough of this paradise.

Sincerely,
C A R O L I N E

and as we wind on down the road,

Today was the day of the zip line. It was a series of ten cables and platforms that ran from the canopy of the rainforest to...a pasture. Not quite an understory, but you get the picture. We could control our speed using a thick leather glove that we used to pull down on the cable. Naturally my glove went unused until the last few meters of cable.
Susi and Emily, La Selva is full of tiny red and blue dart frogs. Today one of our cable ride guides caught a black and green dart frog to show us. Yesterday on the cacao plantation tour we got to see a weird green tree frog with white spots and and a basilisk...lizard. We've also seen a bunch of iguanas. Some of them run accross the streets, so I have also seen an iguana pancake being made.
Today was part two of our bee study. We found some species that we didn't find in Las Cruces and vice versa. I wasn't exactly thrilled to have to break out the skatol again.
Tomorrow we'll be leaving bright and early to head off to Monteverde, located in a cloud forest, or elven forest. I kid you not. We will probably stop at Vulcan Poas, an active volcano.

The Bullet is an Ant, The Viper and the Sandle, The Maggots Under Skin

We all came on this trip knowing the dangers. Lets face it, when we think of expidetions the first thing that comes to mind is giant cats riping flesh from pasty white explorers. But my experiences with the native fauna the last few days are proof positve that we have worse worries than death cats.

The first suprise came this morning when we found out that a cocoa plantaition tour group leader was the victim of snakebite. Granted, this is not uncommon in this part of the world, but it just so happened that it was the leader of the group directly after us, we walked right by them on our way out. No news on the guide other than that he was taken to the hospital.

The rest of the day was spent dodging attacks from our insect friends. Our fair professor was the victim of a bullet ant bite. Normally the bite feels akin to being shot, but the bite is apparently no worse than a wasp sting. The locals also confirm this, as one we talked to has been stung seven times, but seems not to be very bothered about it.

I also seem to have been attacked by a large botfly. They are very persistant and are intent on laying eggs under the skin so that the maggots can feed on your flesh. Usually they can be found in areas with monkeys, their main host. Blaugh. No worries though, I got it off before it could pierce the skin, I think...

So if you ever come down here, remember its not the cats you have to worry about, its the snakes and bugs. As a quick side note, as long as you dont eat the arrow frongs, aka poison dart frogs, they are not fatally toxic, you can even handel them.

So the next

Crazy sounding birds!

Alright, so here at La Selva, there is a large colony of Montezuma Oropendola, Psarocolius montezuma. These birds are our alarm clocks in the morning. (One interesting thing about Costa Rica is it gets dark around 5:30 pm and light at 5:30 am.) They have a really interesting call(Check out this website for the call). These birds are polygynous and the males are very protective of their females. They weave these sweet nests out of banana fibers in 9 - 11 days. Each colony has about 15 - 20 nests. The males are larger than the females, which is the best way to tell them apart because they are dimorphic. Montezuma Oropendola have a mutualistic relationship with hornets, which protect their nests from cowbird parasitism. In return, the Oropendola will keep bees away from the hornet nests. These birds eat fruit, but have been known to eat grasses and other herbs also.


Today, we also got to go on the ZIP LINE! It was a blast and a half. We flew through the jungle with the greatest of ease and enjoyed awsome views of the canopy layer of the forest. Our guides were hilarious and very few of them spoke English, which made things interesting. They laughed at our attempts to communicate.

We also did the second set of bee work. We saw a lot more diversity here than at Las Cruces. It was fun finding all of the different colors of bees! I cannot wait to see what we attract at Monte Verde.

That's one BIG backyard

Let it be known that I was NOT trying to eat Caroline's head in the photo featured below, though it did cross my mind. I decided on some nice salted plantain chips instead. They're good AND good for you! (Er...minus the whole deep fried and covered in salt thing.)

Today, we spent much of the morning hiking around La Selva with our awesome tour guide, who knew most of the plant, bird, animal, and insect species we came across, plus all of the local folklore. The tour was so interactive! We got to play with fresh rubber tree sap and new palm leaves, smell cardamon- and licorice-scented leaves (which are actually a good TP substitute, the guide said), try a pepper fruit of some sort, hoot at some motmot birds, and play with bugs. All in the name of science! It was a dream come true for a little kid trapped in a big kid's body, and a fabulous 10K walk, all in all, despite the biting insects, heat, and 100% humidity. Thank god for bug spray today. There isn't enough caladryl in the world for the bites I recieved the past two days...

Also, the cacao plantation was interesting and delicious and a select few of you may be recieving all organic, homemade chocolate bars in various exotic flavors. Commence the salivating.

pura vida!

Ok, so two days ago I saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time...and then spent my afternoon getting throttled by the ginormous waves. It was awesome! Caroline and I rented a boogie board, got free lessons, and rode the high tide swells during a tropical rain. Pura vida!
Yesterday we made it to La Selva OTS station. This is tropical lowland forest. You know, hot humid, monkeys, poisonous frogs, little white bats that make tents out of palm leaves...typical. We haven't seen a sloth though. Apparently there is one that lives near our cabin so hopefully we'll see it soon.
Today we also saw our first snakes and took a guided walk of a chocolate plantation. We even got to sample traditional chocolate drinks without all the added junk we get in the states.
One of my favorite things we get at La Selva that we didn't have in Las Cruces is the geckos. They are tiny, they are generally between 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches from head to tail, and they are all over the place. Unfortunately, they are too fast to get pictures but I'll keep trying.
Well, it's about time for more rice and beans. Adios!

Good morning from La Selva

Yesterday consisted of a million hours in the car. Trust me, I know, I'm a biologist. I'm very accurate about how these things go.

OK, perhaps it was only like 6 hours, but it FELT like a million.

Yesterday we stopped by a regular bridge overpass that straddles a river full of huge crocodiles. We got smoothies at the little stop on the other side. It was really odd how they took the interstate and made it an unsafe stop to view desperate crocks that would gladly eat a human limb or baby. There wasn't a guard rail or anything really, it was a highway. Just to make it more fun they added extremely overpriced tourist traps on the far side. There were hundreds of people there at this stupid place... baffling.

We stopped for lunch at a completely amazing place, the food was soooooo gooooood! I don't think anyone could go there and not get something delicious to eat. I personally had Fajitas with guacamole and refried beans, a corn tamale with sour craem, Flan, and rice pudding afterwards. DELICIOUS. I asked Faustio (our driver) if the food was typical of Cost Rica or Mexico. "Costa Rica! Food of mexico is not good." (apparantly Ticanos (Costa Ricans) do not like to be compared to Chicanos (Mexicans)) Oops. Who knew?

NOW at the next OTS station at *La Selva, we've seen frogs, and wild pigs that are only about a foot high, more leaf cutter ants than we could ask for, and a bunch of really odd looking birds. The biodiversity here is much higher, but there aren't any botanical gardens like at the Las Cruses area.

WE ARE STILL HERE!!

I bet ya'll were wondering where we went. One whole day without any posts! While, no worries, no one was eaten by crocs, sharks, or the like...we were at a place with very limited internet access. So here is the top ten worst and most wonderful things that happened in the last 48 hours.

The worst things:

10. Roads with muchos jecos (potholes) and bridges without safety bars (most were big enough for one vehicle) and made out of old railroad ties.

9. Sandy, Wet, Tennis Shoes

8. Hot, humid conditions! (en el coche)

7. Biting Insects (welts...ahhhh)

6. Not getting into Manuel Antonio National Park because of early closing times and early departures by the group.

5. Poisonous aggressive snakes (not that we have seen any...but we are in snake country!)

4. Lots of time in the car. (Did I mention it was hot??)

3. Hotel Manager (no towels, no pillows, no respect)

2. No Guava Jelly at hotel (my new favorite food...thanks for the heads up mom)

1.........


Best things:

10. Roads with muchos jecos (pot holes) Bridges that were very interesting (see above)

9. American Crocodiles!!!

8. Meeting and bartering with the ticos and mexicanos.

7. BIRDS! Cool nests, Toucans, Curassow, tanagers, the list goes on and on!

6. Delicias del maiz (Faustio's favorite restaurant...it was really really good. I had pork, some corn thing, and a traditional desert. The names escape me.)

5. Faustio (our driver! He is hilarious)

4. Arriving at La Selva Biological Station (Finally out of the car!!!)

3. Driving through the montañas (mountains) it was so beautiful.

2. Body surfing (my first time swimming in the ocean...it is salty but wonderful)

1. Not being able to think of 10 bad things!!

While...thats all for tonight!

Pura Vida!!

kill it! kill it!

After much debate last night I decided to go after super mega ultra spider instead of taking my chances sleeping under him. As it turns out, even a spider that big can move faster than my eyes can follow. I took a whack at him with my shoe and he jumped to the ground, I screamed and dropped the shoe, and Kara came to help me find him. It took a while and many fruitless attempts and girly noises but we finally managed to kill him by hanging over a bunk bed and spraying him with 100% DEET...a lot of it, until he was confused enough to stomp on him...several times. Sorry, I don't have a camera cable to upload pics up here.
In other news, you can climb up into strangler figs high enough to see over secondary forest canopy to nearby mountains, a Norwegian guy recording tropical bird sounds says that Caroline looks Norwegian, the toads we find on our night-walks are actually frogs that look distinctly like toads, and blacklight strategically placed in a botanical garden attracts moths as big as my face. We got a great moth-to-face comparison when one decided to crash into the blacklight we were all gathered around.

What's the buzz?

I haven't posted for awhile, so this is a long one. Prepare yourself.
S'Lugar (roughly transated: "the place" was pretty happening last night, as Caroline said. I feel like a woman of the world, as we negotiated our way into a taxi, over to town, and to "the place" mostly in Spanish (and gestures...lots of gestures.) Great success! My basic Spanish from early in college is coming back, but not fast enough...
Today we chased shiny pretty bees all around the secondary forest, a tiring expedition taking place up hills and down hills and over the river and through the woods. But all the planning, pain, and odd smelss paid off: I caught a bright blue one! I am a mighty bee hunter. Turns out, it's hard to turn off the flight-or-fight response handling stingless bees when you're holding a buzzing bundle of joy in your sweaty hands and trying not to scream like a girl. Over all, Euglossa turned out to be tricky ones to attract; we mostly found these huge yellow-and-black-striped Eulema bumblers.
Another highlight: i got to talk shop with a visiting professor from UNL studying tropical bacteriophage nematodes. Unlike temperate nematodes, which are microscopic worm-like creatures that thrive in subsoil roots, these ones live high in the forest canopy. They might be deposited there by other insects. Or may be deposited by other things. It's one of those great unsolved natural mysteries. So cool...It almost makes me want to go to grad school. Almost.

Tonight was SWEET

Hayley and I went to S' Lugger. (pronounced Ess LooGar)
We were accompanied by Zach, the station manager, and a few researchers. We were in San Vito. Boys in San Vito do not ask girls (even if they are from other Costa Rican towns) to dance, unless they are from San Vito. They are shy, or afraid. Odd for a country based on Machismo, a male dominated dating scene... They salsa, but do not dirty dance. Some of the researchers kind of mimicked the moves of American dirty dancers, and did it kind of awkwardly, so I had to show them how we really do it, and then explain how I am not really that dirty, I was just helping them do it accurately. A lesson on contemporary horrible dancing in the US.

We are SCIENTISTS after all. It was for POSTERITY.

I'm sorry, but when they try to dance american, they dance like white people. I.E. badly.
I know that I'm sure I am horrible looking when I mimic salsa dancing too though.

PS: Imperial is better than Pilsen. If you're ever in Costa Rica, remember that.

White-Nosed Coati

While working on our third orchid bee trial run (the real experimentation will occur tomorrow), we got to see a really cool mammal, a White-Nosed Coati. This raccoon relative is really cute and ran through the Wilson Botanical Garden, on the back side of the mess hall. This omnivore eats mainly fruit (which is in abundance here) and insects (also found everywhere here). They have a really large range, from Southern Texas southward to Argentina. They are still awesome to look at! Unlike their Midwestern relatives, the White-Nosed Coati will never make a ruckus at night, because they are active during the day. They have fantastic claws for digging and climbing up into trees.

There are tons and tons of tanagers here. Each bird is more beautiful than the next. The only annoying ones are the parakeets that wake us up every morning. The sun goes down sooner than I thought it would, but it is a lot of fun looking at the black light at night. Tonight, we saw many different moths, some with mosaic patterns and others that are very cryptic, blending in well with their surroundings. One decided to land on my behind, it was green...which pretty much makes it the coolest butterfly ever! We also went looking for salamanders, without any luck; however, we did find some awesome frogs (just two species) and heard a purring noise. We decided not to pursue the strange noise at night.

The showers here are nice, but the shower heads do not provide hot water well. Tonight was my first hot shower of the trip and I took full advantage of it! I also got to eat PORK tonight! It was pretty exciting.

Buenas Dias y vida pura.

Toucan Sam and the Fruit Loop Fiasco

Today we were fortunate to spot a pair of (I think) Swansons/Chestnut toucans. I must say that they are bigger in person, and bigger than many of the local songbirds. We were able to observe the pair snacking on a fruit tree for a few minuets by the station dining hall. However, as one of the station managers explained, a Toucan would never eat fruit loops. They like fruit but they prefer it sour, not sweet, so Toucan Sam and his nephews are either an elaborate government conspiracy, or an outright lie by the cereal corporations to sell us colored sugar.

Also I should take a moment to remember super mega ultra spider, a grand eight-legged beast who prowled our dwelling with regal grace. That is up until he prowled into our bunk room and was promptly obliterated with 100% deet and several shoes by my bunkmates. I have a picture somewhere, I will try to post a memorial tomorrow.

ooh, shiny!

Today we started our crash course in studying shiny metallic stingless bees. (Euglossine bees) We set out six different chemicals on trees in three different habitats and recorded the buzzing visitors. One of the chemicals, I might add, is skatol...an organic compound from feces...I'll have that scent burnt into my memory forever. We caught almost thirty specimens, killed them, and pinned them for species identification. As you can imagine, there is high diversity here and most of it is not documented because the building that held all the bug specimens here burned down several years ago. So we are using our collection as a startup for a new bug collection here (it will include the bright blue metallic bee we caught hovering around my shoe). Tomorrow we will be trying out a new data collection method that we developed tonight to get a better idea of what chemicals these bees like.
I'd also like to add that I saw a different species of tropical frog on a night walk today, got the crap scared out of me by a foot-long lizard while I was planting chemicals, and saw a pair of toucans and a cuatemundi. Oh, and now there is a 2 inch spider on the wall above my pillow. Not sure what I'm going to do about that...

This morning is so clear and beautiful, it's easy to forget why they call this a "wet forest". Hardly a cloud in the sky, and the parakeets were going nuts outside our window at 5:30 AM, as per usual. They sound a little like crows that early in the morning. We got to the station for breakfast early, and sat outside watching all the tropical birds flit around some banana chunks some one had strewn on the deck. The variety and color of them is astounding, and Kara could barely keep up with identifying them from her handy-dandy guide.

For breakfast: rice and beans as a main dish (as you could have guessed) and bug talk

In five minutes, we depart to start attracting and collecting bees. Don't worry, they're stingless! I would punch every bee in the face...

ps

Susi, we ate fried mini-bananas for breakfast at Hotel la Amistad in San Jose. They were actually pretty good. Bananas are abundant here, although they are not native to Costa Rica.
hi RHS!

froggies!

ok, so on the list of cool things we saw today: morpho butterflies, a rare sicklebill humming bird, some lizards, a frog, leaf cutter ants, crazy birds, and thousands of species of plants. We swung from lianas, climbed strangler figs, and got rained on in a tropical premontane wet forest. We eat rice and beans with every meal. It's breathtaking here. Tomorrow we will start studying euglossine bees (stingless bees with metallic colors).

Purple bananas, and a busy day.

Growing up side down, and entirely the wrong color, this banana species fr om Asia is a noxious weed... and yet, I want to eat one so badly...

So today we took a hike through the primary and secondary forest growth of the land owned by *LAS CRUSES. We climbed in a hollow strangler fig. We swung from trees and got drenched by an unseasonable thunder storm.

I made an ant video, please enjoy!

Video Notes to Home

Good morning misty world!

Clouds so thick, you can taste them...

Bioluminescent Click Beetles

Beetles that GLOW in the DARK.
These beetles of the click beetle family glow out of two eye spots on either side of their heads. This video is one we caught and played with on the ottoman inside the Wilson cabin (our home until Friday)

pineapples and fried bananas

ok, so now we're in Las Cruces OTS station. the giant house we're staying in is surrounded by botanical gardens. Some of the palm leaves here are bigger than I am. The flowers (ok everything) here are amazing and come in forms that are going to take over my camera space. We have a pickle jar with a dead bothrops asp (very poisonous snake) in our living room. I now know where pineapples come from. I'm finding that being a bug hater on a bug research trip is not working to my advantage, but I did catch a beetle off my dinner plate and put it in a kill jar for later study. We've seen a bunch of hummingbirds at the stations, and immense plant diversity by elevation and latitude and other more random circumstances...like the acidic bog. Ok, so you can comment on the blogs by clicking the "Comments" link at the lower right corner of the blogs. My mistake.

Traveling across the Montanas

We had a wonderful car ride across the winding mountain roads of CR today. We traveled along the pan-am highway. It was a crazy drive! I am so happy we had a Costa Rican driver. Between the random bikers (cycles), passing slow trucks on curvy roads, and managing pot holes, David gets an A for his driving abilities.

I had a blast taking close ups of flowers, orchids and the like, today. I cannot wait to go to the library and look up more information about the plants I found. (Look for fun facts in another blog to come :D )

I really enjoyed the Cerro de Muerto mountain. this tower filled mountain top offered amazing views of the clouds, forested mountains, and showed the impacts of humans in the area. The plants on Cerro de Muerto were totally different. The cooler temperatures, lower rainfall, and windier slopes decreases the size and types of plants in the area. this habitat type is common in the Andes Mountains. It is interesting how many different areas have contributed to the diversity here (which is a lot).

We also got to see the agriculture area of CR. We saw and smelled the burning of sugar cane. Pineapple cultivation is really interesting also. Every field we passed had pineapple at a different stage. Some were full grown, others just tilled. Some had bunches of pineapple plants stacked up ready to plant. I never realized how much human power it takes to grow pineapple; no wonder it costs so much in the store!

While, catch ya later!

Busy day! Luckily, i slept 11 hours last night, apparently through car alarms, revelers, etc. We tramped through muddy bogs (exelente!), visited two research stations, spoke bad spanglish at the locals (don't belittle Caroline in front of them, by the way - lol), and watched half of Costa Rica fly by the van windows on the PanAm highway. This place is like heaven- warm, friendly, packed with fresh fruit...

Don't blink or you'll miss something in this country! After lunch, i fell asleep in the cool, misty mountain air of Cerro de la Muerta and awoke sweaty in the sweltering warmth of the south. Everything around you - fauna, land, cityscape, climate - changes within a few short kilometers. Costa Rica truly is the heart of global biodiversity. Tonight, we stay in Las Cruces, a tropical garden paradise reclaimed from lands previously deforested by coffee plantations. The adventures ensue...

Vida pura, friends and family!

Day 2 = ROAD TRIP

Road trip day! We hopped into the van, driven by David, a native Costa Rican. Our first stop was at a bog (pantana) called “Tres de Juno” (third of June). The entire area is smaller than the area of a foot ball field and created by near surface drainage accumulating. Sphagnum moss grows in the soil, dies and makes an acidic environment, from which many other things grow.

Second stop: The mountain of the dead. Cerro de la Muerte, the highest point in Costa Rica that you can drive to. We got tons of great pictures of us above the clouds.

Third stop: Cerro de la Muerte Biological Station (CMBS) We ate a lunch of very nice melons and some kind of pasta with meat sauce, not much like spaghetti but that is all I have to relate to it. We hiked around here and found a small waterfall and a bunch of orchids that have a center that mimic female flies, then male flies try to mate with them..... kind of gross but you gotta do what you gotta do to get pollinated these days.

Finally we arrived at the Organization for Tropica Research Station (OTS). Our rooms are beautiful. The land used to be a coffee farm, and was bought and turned into a huge tropical garden. Dinner consisted of rice, beans, broccoli dish, bamboo dish, mung bean dish, and some kind of dessert resembling carrot cake with rice.

Day one adventure

Here are a few picture of our short outing after settling in to our hotel.
We stopped by a little mercado and I overpaid for some souvenirs and feel really stupid about it. I´ll have to do better next time. I do like the things I got, I just need to get an idea for this exchange rate.

San Jose

Ok, we are here in the beautiful sunny Costa Rica. The flights were long, the layovers short, and my CD player has decided to stop working. I have had a pretty long travel day and am ready to hit the sack (in about 10 min). We have seen a lot of new plants, some familiar cultivars, many different looks at coffee farming, our first trip to a market, and ATTEMPTING to use Spanish. I really wish I had brushed up on my Spanish...it has been almost 4 years since I have taken a class. There are some sweet birds here too...and some familiar ones. I heard a robin singing today. Our hotel is getting remodeled, so there is some construction, but it has beautiful wood floors. At dinner tonight I tried "Comida De Costa Rica" slightly Americanized. I had soup and palm in this cheesy cream sauce. On the side...French fries! While, I am off to bed.

We´re here!

Hey everyone! We´ve made it to San Jose and are staying in this awesome little place called Hotel la Amistad. BTW, Spanish keyboard is trippy. We´ll be driving to Las Cruces OTS station tomorrow. Beyond the language barrier and having to spend time in Texas everything has been pretty awesome. I don´t think that you can post on this blog but you should definitely keep up with our trip.

The 12 Trials and then some

I have to agree with Caroline; I'm missing 2 labs and a test to further the good of science, all at my own expense, and all I get is more work! Bah! I think I'll skip reading it all till the last minute just to spite him. Must. Finish.Packing.

~Caitlin

2 days and counting!

I have yet to pack...my life is revolving around chemistry! I have a standardized test tomorrow and then off to Sioux Falls! I am getting so excited to head out and look at the jungle!! See everyone at the airport bright and early on Sunday!

One more week day to go!

One more plant physiology test stands between me and the long flight to paradise.

Will it be all relaxation then? No. Dr. Johnson has just assigned about 15 different 200 page articles for us to read before we touch down in Costa Rica. OK, OK, thats an exaggeration, it was probably more like 14 and a half different 199 page articles.

Gee, Thanks Doctor P.J. How did you know I needed a reminder that I've sacrificed my last spring break for the good of science?

Leaf Cutter Ants

I picked this name because this is probably the insect I most want to see while we're in Costa Rica. You see them all the time on the Discovery channel but in case your really not familiar with them here are a few fun facts.

They're from the insect family Formicidae.

They don't eat the leaves, they use the leaf cuttings to grow a fungus which is actually what feeds the colony.

Their colonies can be around 8 million ants strong.

Hit the link for more (teachers look away, its Wikipedia!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf-cutter_ant

~Caitlin

The quiet madness of blogging

Truly this is the most evil way of expressing one's self yet devised by man. I am overwhelmed, nay, assaulted by a gang on ruthless symbols, buttons, and links, whose only purpose is to drive me closer than ever before to the precipice of madness. To be lost in this jungle of communication is akin to being trapped in the DMV without proper paperwork, there is simply no way out of the constricting confines and the suffocating stench of despair. But blogging is worse by far, for there is no one to hear your screaming as madness and frustration finally take you. The quiet madness of blogging.


And this is why I should never be allowed to express my self in any public manner. Seriously though, I 'm usually good with computers but our homepage is kinda tricky to navigate. I really should have gotten around to posting sooner, your posts put mine to shame.

~Caitlin

Taste Testing Toxic Toads

So apparently,
its possible to taste the toxicity of frogs. I read about it on national geographic.com, you can go to the piece if you click the picture here.

Isn't the painted frog on the top right beautiful?!

I'm so excited for Costa Rica!