So it’s been a few days…

little river

Yep, it’s final presention and wrap up week here in Costa Rica. Well, we just finished the week…Some stuff is carrying over into the weekend, but that’s alright. We still have plenty of time to spend with our families! I didn’t have time to update at all this week due to work and time with the familia. So this post will be fast and more like a summary. It’s odd because we present Monday morning, party monday night, then we leave early tuesday morning so I feel like we don’t have any time left. However, we have 6 full days still!

I think this was the fastest week yet, in many ways. Monday morning we arrived early to meet with the local expert to identify all 800 of our trees. There was a little confusion on his end about meeting times to it wound up being postponed until tuesday. Instead we just started working on the powerpoint and took a quieter day (I’m regretting that now…). I did stay up late watching the extended edition of LOTR 3 with my dad! Well, we only made it half way so we still have a solid three hours to watch at some point this weekend.

Tuesday we met up to ID trees. Four hours and 800 trees later, we finished! It was really, really difficult pushing through everything in such a short time period but it was nice finishing all of our field work. We were able to just sit down and watch all of the pieces come together after that! The rest of tuesday and wednesday were spent working on the powerpoint, entering all of the families, genus, and species into the computer. That alone took a solid three hours, no joke!

Thursday was a really great day! We left eeeearly to work for a solid 3-4 hours before leaving for the cloud forest. We spent a solid 3 hours or so hiking there after the mile or two walk to the entrance. All in all, we walked like 10-12 miles that day up and down hills and called it “easy”. It was such a great hike though! We walked the perimeter of the entire property, including the difficult trails that most people don’t use. And we stopped for lunch at the waterfall : D definitely the best picnic ever!! During that time I got bit by a nasty little (ok, little for costa rica) ant. I thought it was a bullet ant at first but apparently it was a smaller species with an equally as nasty bite. Yea, it hurt… A fair bit.

Hola Avatar!

cloud forest

cloudy day in the cloud forest

waterfall!

 

We also went to the hanging bridges aka the last thing on my list to do in Costa Rica. I can go home now!!! While most tourists spend the time looking at the view or freaking out due to its instability (well, it’s stable but moves when you walk), what do the Groner Students do? Spend the time bouncing in the middle to turn the 100 m long bridge into a trampoline.

bridge!

Friday we spent the day working. We had a meeting with Jenny, Justin, and Fran at 11 to discuss how our experience was and give suggestions for the future. And we got pancakes : D After that we ate lunch, then worked until Justin visited us at 1 to go through what we had. Yep, we have a fair amount more to do/change now…And we have to write up a formal report (kinda like a lab report, minus the experiment part). Hurray for the weekend!

And finally, we woke up really early again today to head off to an amazing look out point! We got lucky as the clouds cleared just long enough for us to see the volcano and lake : D It was so beautiful…Definitely the best way to end a great trip! We also saw this white eagle thing, not entirely sure on species.

clouds in the am

Beautiful view

 

Back to work, then shopping time! Pura vida!

Less than two weeks left…

Yep, two weeks from now I’ll be sitting at home…My flight leaves a week from friday aka the 27th. I definitely have some mixed feelings about this. I’m looking forward to going home to see my family, friends, boyfriend, and LEGGS. I miss him so much…My parents and friends all understand why I left and I’ve been able to speak with people a few times. My dog got used to me being away at school and has my family as entertainment. Leggs on the other hand? I’m his person and can’t explain why I left…Can’t wait for that even though I know I’m going to miss Costa Rica so much. I know I’m coming back to visit my family here, which helps a TON.

Alright, so what have I been doing the last few days? Mostly just working to be honest, which is fairly boring. Ryan and I have been working our butts off trying to finish up on time. We finished tagging trees, as mentioned before, but tomorrow we have to finish replacing the temporary tags from the grass plot while meeting with expert to identify all 900 or so trees. Not going to lie, I’m really not looking forward to this one…It’s going to be a really long day and we’re really worn out. That day and a half on the beach is starting to sound pretty dang nice!!

Yesterday we did do something pretty awesome! We went horseback riding with Justin, who is in charge of all internships through the Institute. It was Ashley’s first time and Ryan’s third of fourth time I believe. I wound up getting this green broke paint mare with some bad habits so I had a good ride : P we spent the beginning of it learning how to go forward without crow hopping and bucking alongside some stubbornness issues. Then we went down the mountain on this extremely rocky trail. Yea, she was more than a bit nervous and I had to do some major babysitting…By the end of it and a few heart attacks later, she figured it out a bit. Then I tought her how to gallop : P We arrived at the festival de cabillos, tied our horses up, then ate some pizza. I was asked to ride in this competition thingy but declined. Then one of the girls who rode with us backed out due to her horse getting a bit hot and rearing. Ok, so much fun!!! You have about 50 meters to get up to a dead sprint then you have to stick a nail through a ring about the size of a dime and keep ahold of it while you gallop past. I had such a great time!!!! Apparently I was the first girl to ever ride in it as well! From there it was an hour and a half ride back up the mountain in a light rain to return our horses to the rental place. The mare I was on really turned around during the ride, she’s going to be nice after some more miles!

Today Ryan and I got up to go hike in the cloud forest at the crack of dawn. Sunday mornings are for sleeping in past 6 -.- It wound up being for nothing as apparently the bus doesn’t run on Sundays…? Would have been nice if the schedule told us that!! The rest of the day was spent going to service, eating pizza, and introducing Ryan to Game of Thrones : P Hey, we have to relax somehow before this next week!

View going down

Juggling reins, a nail, and my string whip…RUN RENTAL HORSE RUN!

Enjoying the ride back up

Another view

I have nothing more to say for the day. Tomorrow shall be extremely busy finishing up the retagging process at the crack of dawn, meeting with the expert, looking at the fungus I hopefully grew this weekend, writing journals, and enjoying every last minute of my time in Monteverde.

Pura vida!

Vamos a la playa!

Yep, best trip ever!!! I absolutely love my tico family! We had such an amazing time monday, tuesday, and wednesday in Guapiles visiting my Mama’s family and then going to the beach. I’ll just give a day by day major events type of thing so I don’t forget any of the stories : P

In the car driving-amazing sunset, no editing at all

Monday: we left early to drive down the mountain before stopping for breakfast. Gillo Pinto y huevos aka a traditional breakfast and my favorite!! From there it was off adventuring to San Jose and then Guapiles. We drove through the true rainforest (I live in the cloud forest) which was a neat experience. I did learn a new verb: vomitar. Take a guess as to what that means?? My little brother Daniel apparently gets violently car sick. Thankfully I convinced my family to let me give him some Bonine from the US. I probably should have only given him 1/4 of the tablet instead of 1/2 but oh well. He didn’t vomit, slept a ton (which was a tad bit concerning at first), and then woke up semi-happy!! It’s a miracle!! All in all, it was a pleasant trip with lots of staring by the Gringo. When we arrived, I woke up to find a SLOTH about two feet from my head and my dad yelling “Abby look LOOK!!!”. Oh yea, best moment of my life. It was the last thing on my list of things I had to do here in Costa Rica, so I can officially go back home now : P Thankfully I have two full weeks left!!

oh yea, that’s me touching a sloth. Booya.

The rest of Monday was spent with me taking a two hour nap on the couch (hurray for vacation after far too much work) and then heading off with my papa for a reunion with all of his childhood friends until 1 am. Ok, we made the BEST meat ever!! It was pork ribs that were cooked over a fire in this chickenwire thingy (smoked) with banana leaves on top of them. I felt like a blind man who was given the gift of sight, except this sensation was in my mouth. AMAZING, right??? I don’t really remember going home because I was pretty exhausted, which is not a bad thing…

waterfall in the rain forest!

Tuesday am I woke up a bit late (8) for more gillo pinto and a trip to the doctor with my family. Everyone is 100% fine and I appreciated seeing the Health System on the opposite side of the country! If you’re interested, email me because I just typed a journal about it for the Groner Foundation and don’t feel like repeating myself. From there it was off to the River to swim plus a lunch of cookies! We had such an amazing time eating Oreos and chips in the water! Plus we caught some fish (mmm, dinner!) with my papa’s tee-shirt. This river had a little platform on a tree on the shore where you could swing on a rope and drop into the river. Ok, SO much fun!!! I have so many videos of me going and doing different, crazy things : P Such a great time! On one of my last times off, I decided to bring my water proof camera. Well, I had done it once before with mixed results…It’s difficult holding onto the camera and a slippery stick while swinging a good ten feet above the water. So this time I tried to grip it a bit differently so both hands were holding on in front of the rope. Well, I let go and immediately went BAD IDEA…As soon as I let go, the camera got stuck and broke the wrist trap in half. Adios camera!!! I’m happy to say my camera is waterproof up to 20 min about ten feet down at the bottom of a river. Oh, it also flew a good 15 feet in the air. The downside? It didn’t save the video : ( It would have been so neat watching me dive for it and everything!!

the swing : D

The river!!!

On Wednesday we left early again to drive to San Jose. We got stuck in a ton of traffic, plus a quick pit stop to feed Daniel to the crocodiles, then we arrived at the beach. We went to one in Punteranas (Pacific side) and had a blast! It’s an extremely strong current and the beach isn’t sand aka I got beat up a bit… Ouch : P Fun fact, I ATE A FISH. people who know me understand how shocking that is. Not a fan in the US, not at all. But here? Catch a fish and stick it in the fire and I’m a happy person. It was delicious : D After that we spent a few hours sitting in the river that feeds into the Ocean and just enjoying the beautiful day. From there it was a few hour drive back home. The family slept while my papa and I chatted about movies, family, and pretty much everything under the sun. Awesome day : )

amazing, amazing sunset…

Ok, no more talking. I’m done with the busy work for the day, off to enjoy Costa Rica!! Pura vida!

Bushwhacking Ecology

The best dog on the face of the Earth

Welcome to the jungle : P Ryan decided to name our current Internship bushwhacking ecology. It’s definitely been a fight this week to reach the trees, then untangle them from their surroundings. Ryan and I wound up working monday-sunday this week so I can go on vacation!!! I actually started this post about 4 hours earlier and JUST got the official “we are going at the crack of dawn” an hour or two ago. So this will be a very short post with lots of pictures and a promise to have lots of stories including drying clothes in the microwave, movies in “english for the blind”, and hopefully LOTS of beach stories. I’m going with my amazing tico family aka it should be a blast : D
On a quick work note: We very nearly finished our work today… We probably have about 1-1.5 hours of tagging left, which is what we were hoping to finish today. However, we didn’t anticipate how burnt out we would be this weekend as we have only had one day off out of the last two weeks. So after our amazing three day recuperation period of adventures and computer work we will have to work extra hard, which is fine by me.

Ashley got caught in the cockroach trap! Stronger than superglue, that stuff is (Yoda speak because it is rather late)

butterfly

flower at the institute

another butterfly

I’m off on an adventure to the Caribbean!! Pura vida!

The end of a great week

Busy week here in Costa Rica! It’s the end of our 5th week, meaning we’ll be on a plane for home in a short 3 weeks. Not going to lie, I’m extremely excited for the adventure going home yet I wish we had more time here in Monteverde. I’ve met some really amazing, amazing people and had the time of my life. Ryan and I are just about done with our field work. We’ll have two tough days finishing the trees this weekend, then a three day vacation for me and my tico family(hopefully to Limon!), then two days to replace the temporary tags, remove our lines, and finish up any remaining things. We also have one day with a local expert to identify the genus and species of our trees. We’re so close to being done!! Definitely going to be a relief as our current plot contains extremely dense brush. You know what that means….MACHETES!!! Yes, Ryan and I have been trusted with 2 foot long knives in enclosed areas. No idea how that one worked out…My arms will be caught up with my legs muscle wise by the time we leave! On a more serious note, it became easier to just yell charge and barge through the brush even when it was over my head. My clothing/scratches may disagree with me, but it worked fairly well until you hit a thorn bush. Then it turns into a rescue mission by the person trailing behind.

welcome to the jungle…of stuff we just stomped down

All in all, we’ve tagged just over 600 trees between the two of us in under 3 weeks. Not bad for the interns, eh?! We’ve also completed hours and hours of research to back up what we’re seeing. And for me, identify some pathogens to the best of my limited abilities. It’s been a blast though and I’m really looking forward to our presentation and *hopefully* a symposium in the spring. Ashley has been just as busy this week with her summer camp so our little group has been segregated this week. She also has to work the weekend so I think we are all looking forward to a little vacation next week, even though I’m the only one going away.

glass butterfly!

Last night probably the single greatest thing since coming to Costa Rica happened to me. A scorpion fell from the ceiling, bounced off my forehead, and freaked the daylights out of me, Daniel, and David. I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time!!! We were watching a movie with the lights off, enjoying a quiet night while the parents and Eva were out when BAM I was attacked. I had the kids out of bed and the light on in a solid 3 seconds. From there we quickly decided that a zapato would not do the job. I sprinted for a container(the science in me was screaming “catch it, catch it!!”) and came back to a MIA scorpion. Not good. Well, we didn’t want to be attacked again so the simplest solution was the barricade the door. Makes sense, yes? David called the parents while I sent a frantic internet text home to my mom. In times of crisis, your mom will always know what to do!! Well, it was about 9:45 in Illinois and it was just a text so that plan failed pretty miserably. Never mind the fact that my tico dad was a stunning 100 meters away(he’s a pastor in the church), facebook to the rescue!!! Again, fail on my part. David wasn’t having much luck either with no answer from the parents and called his grandma. Well, I was introduced as the crazy American student living in his house. The sad thing is it’s rather fitting… Eventually I ran over to the church, flagged my papa down, and together we killed the little bugger. Joke of the family? I think yes.

o.o

walking down to Santa Elena this morning!

Pura vida!

Happy tuesday!

Well, it’s the end of another tuesday here in Monteverde. The weather has been surprisingly cool and very windy (take that Illinois!), which has been perfect for working! As I said, we finished up the plot filled with invasive, aggressive African grass and moved to the shrub side. I actually learned through research that the shrubs are a pioneer species! Research suggested that it doesn’t actually help the planted saplings but we shall see after we finish up. We’re on schedule to finish tagging and taking measurements of all 900ish trees by sunday and have one day on the off chance we don’t finish. The hard part about this plot is a. the really dense over our head patches of shrubs and b. the snakes. We have to be fairly careful in this plot. Instead of just plowing through the grass we generally try to see what we’re stepping on minus a few frustrated CHARGE moments. I will say, charge has mixed results. We do have machetes again, which has helped a fair amount alongside allowing me to feel like Samurai Jack (if you know who this is, you had an awesome childhood). Unfortunately the shrubs have slowed us down to about half our usual pace, but fortunately this plot is about 2/3 the size of the other.

I don’t really have much to say tonight other than that…All I’ve been doing lately is working, attempting to work but getting a tad distracted, and researching.  I’ve learned some pretty awesome things that I’m excited to apply to our presentation here alongside a symposium back home. The hard part is now shifting to my personal area of interest-pathogens. I’ve done loads of research but the hard part is identifying the dang things without a lab or even a microscope!! One thing I’ve looked at is mites, which I’ve found, but there like 1 mm long and the two potential culprits are tan or tan with a slightly darker brown spot. Thank god for binoculars backwards!! I’ve learned to be creative out here, which is a skill you can’t teach.

Sorry for the boring post tonight… But I have pictures…? The good thing is you learned something! Next week I get a lovely three day vacation with my family to the Caribbean. Yes, I’ll have pictures and stories from that adventure! The downside is we have to work this sat, sun, and next sat but that’s okay with me!

gigantic nocturnal butterfly!!!

I will *hopefully* know what is causing you in two weeks time…

and you as well. You shall be identified

I’m about 99% sure you are powdery mildew and are a bit of a concern for the younger saplings

In a sea of shrubs, avocado trees, and the only water in sight is the kind falling from the sky, I FOUND THE BEACH (or the beach found me)

I’m sorry to inform you, but the apocalypse is upon us

 

Alright, that’s all  my sugar crazy brain(hurray for mentos, ice cream, and a surprise smallish-but-not-really candy bar!!!) can handle for the night. Pura vida!!!

bats, boas, work, quetzals, strangler figs, and bellbirds

The title summarizes my week in 8 short words! I’m tired so do I have to elaborate? Use your imagination to connect the dots! It has been insanely busy the last few days, but in the most amazing way possible. To start it all off, we had an unbelievable dinner at a Lake Forest Alumni’s house on Wednesday night. She and her husband have a gorgeous house and served some of the best American style BBQ food I’ve had in a loooong time (sorry Taylor). I love Tico food but having an American meal definitely hit the spot! We also learned just how important she and her alumni daughter were to the creation of this program in MVI. For that, I am forever in their, Professor Westley, Daniela, and Grace Groner’s debt. This has been a trip of a life time with the completion just a few quick weeks away. The time will fly by…

GIGANTIC CRICKET

Thursday night we got our mist netting in!! We caught three bats, fed a giant wolf spider, and found a scorpion in four short hours. Oh, we also made pasta and ate a godly amazing cheesecake that we made after lunch. Such a great night! We managed to catch a fruit, insect, and nectar bat aka all three species represented in Monteverde. I got smart and just turned my little point and shoot onto video and just focused on listening instead of taking pictures. I also recorded everything he said for future viewing pleasure! I’m wicked tired due to spending 8 hours hiking in Curi-Cancha (stories coming later in the post), but I’ll go over some basic differences to prove I learned something. Insect bats are smaller with thin, more streamline wings. They also have a flap of skin connected to their tail that they use to catch insects with. They can also eat up to 3000 mosquitos in a night! Have a bug problem? But up a bat house in your backyard and you can easily get 50 bats coming out at night to eat your bugs for you. Fruit bats don’t have this skin flap and their wings are wider so they can manoeuver easier. Nectar bats had longer snouts with tongues that can extend up to 2x its body length to reach nectar. No pictures, but I have some really neat videos!

Today we went for an 8 hour hike! Our usual hike to the Institute, then we walked around Curi-Cancha, through an off limits trail to the Cloud Forest, back to Curi-Cancha, then finally leaving around 1ish. Definitely one of my favorite days!!! WE SAW QUETZALS! Everything is off my bucket list except for sloths! I’ve seen all three species of Monkeys, Bellbirds, Iguanas, Tarantulas, Quetzals, been inside a cloud, etc etc. Seriously though, quetzals are some of the most beautiful birds and people around the world travel just to see them. They’re really rare and only found in Monteverde and I think a place up North. I also have feathers from a female that was killed by a hawk. I saw and got great videos of a male and female. Unfortunately no videos on the blog unless you pay but I think I may make a youtube account…In the meantime, just a few meh pictures taken through the telescope!

Cool caddyiad

Bellbird!

Crappy picture of the male through the scope…I went with videos instead

Tied for the best part of the day was climbing the fig tree. SO MUCH FUN!!! The thing was massive too. I had to climb up a good 30 feet, which was not for the weak hearted or the non athletic. You had to be pretty athletic to reach the hand holds, not to mention being thin enough to slip INTO the tree. Yep, I said it. Inside the tree. From there you went down a good 10 feet using a root and some controlled sliding. The hardest part was grabbing a free root hanging off the tree, and carefully jumping onto it. Yep, jumping like Tarzan. I had to get down fireman style for a good 20 feet before reaching the ground. AMAZING RIGHT??? I’m only a tad bit excited about this if you can’t tell. Ok, no more talking for me…Picture time!

I’m about 10 feet off the ground, have to get up to Mauricio!

top arrow shows how high we climbed on the opposite side, lower arrow shows where we came out and climbed onto the root I’m sitting on

Pura Vida!

Half way done!!

Today is a day of half ways. We finished the gigantic grass field that has boa constrictors meaning we have the slightly smaller weed field and windbreak to do next. So we’re approximately half way done with collecting our 800 to 900 tree data base. Woo! We’re also half way through our time at MVI as we are on day 26. Holy cow, I can’t believe it has been 26 days already! The time has flown by… We have two more weeks in the field, a week of preparing our presentations and finishing up last minute stuff, then a presentation, two days on the beach, a day in Cartago, then the adventure back home. Can’t believe that! It’s going to go so fast…

old field

new field and a different set of challenges!

This morning a hummingbird flew into the window. It unfortunately happens fairly often around here but thankfully the birds seem to recover fairly quickly. It first happened to a Motmot, but he recovered fairly quickly. The Emerald Toucan took a while to bounce back, but they don’t seem to be as hardy. Today a hummingbird stunned itself pretty good. I got to hold the little thing until she recovered. It was really interesting because she was all dazed then she snapped to attention and took off 30 seconds later. Thankfully she was alright because she took a good hit.

the little hummingbird

I went to the hummingbird garden last weekend which was one of the coolest things I’ve done here. SO many birds!! You can get really close if you’re careful because they aren’t as skittish as the birds at MVI. I got some really neat pictures! It was tough balancing shutter speed vs light, especially because it was cloudy. I definitely want to go back before we leave Monteverde to try again.

hummingbird

Yesterday we also went on a bat tour. It started at 4 after a long day of work, being rained on, then researching in the library. Bat’s are really neat!!! Did you know that monkeys are descendants of bats? Or that the largest bats in the world have a six foot wingspan? Did you also know that there is an average of ONE rabies case a year that is caused by bats (hurray for a select one stupid person a year)? Bats also have stronger eyes than humans! It was very, very interesting. It was raining so we had to move catching bats to thursday night now…Oh well, we did see some live fruit and hummingbats before we left.

fruit bat

As for tonight, we’re off to dinner with a Lake Forest alumni who lives near Santa Elena. It’s funny what a small world it is!

Toystory 3 20+ times in 4 days

The title says it all, thankfully I personally did not watch Toy Story 3 20+ times in 4 days. My tico dad purchased Toy Story 3 alongside a few other movies (The Lion King!!) for the family this week. The kids got their hands on Toy Story 3 and literally played it constantly for a solid 4 days. I can recite some of the movie in Spanish now… Since then we have tentatively branched off to Cars 2, which doesn’t help me because I haven’t seen the first movie so I’m fairly lost. That’s ok, pura vida!

sun!

Friday was a big day at the Institute. The Architect students had to do a presentation for their midterm before break. They pretty much proposed their location/plan and then backed it up with all of their research. The next step is making the modifications suggested, tweaking overall ideas, then beginning to design their structure. All of this after their vacation of course! It’s going to be a ghost town at MVI this week : /

After that Ryan and I hit the field for a hard couple of hours of work. It was the perfect day as it wasn’t sunny and the clouds came in a few times so we didn’t have to worry about being attacked by bees or other fun insects. We also were able to work harder without needing a break from the sun! All in all, a great morning at Curi-cancha with some good data stored on the computer. Soon after we got back the skies opened and it poured for a solid 2 hours. Thank god we had finished what we needed to get done for the day and were able to have a quiet afternoon!! There was a movie presentation about Costa Rican water systems by a local. She did an amazing job and is well on her way to becoming a professional! The movie didn’t start until 7 so we made dinner at the Institute with Jenny. I think we might have annoyed the daylights out of her because we were extremely goofy after a week of work and she gave us sugar in the form of cake. Yea, we’ve got about 5 more inside jokes added to our list…It was pretty bad : p At one point Ryan and Ashley turned around to find me with a giant metal bowl on my head saying “I’m protected from Aliens!”. See? It was bad : p

Rain

Downpour!

More rain!

We walked home in a pitch black world which is one of my favorite experiences so far. We saw so many stars!!! And the view of Santa Elena from the top of our gigantic hill was amazing. No tripod so I couldn’t get a good pic though : (

Getting closer to civilization aka there are lights!

Yesterday we were supposed to go to a look out point but it got postponed until next saturday. We all enjoyed a quiet day looking through the shops in Santa Elena, watching the Lion King, and spending time alone. It was a great day!

Sorry for all the artsy fartsy pictures today!

Pura Vida!

Zombies, clouds, bugs, and other fun stuff

Strange bug spider thing. Bad picture with the point and shoot, I’ll get something better eventually!

Hello world, sorry it’s been a few days since I’ve made contact. The zombie apocalypse has begun in Monteverde and all of the students at MVI have been effected. Thankfully the architect students are off to a beach for ten days which will hopefully result in a cure. On a more serious note, the days have started blurring together and I can never remember when I’ve updated stuff last. Plus side of things blurring together is the weeks go insanely fast and all of a sudden it’s the weekend. Downside is our time in Monteverde is going FAST. I feel like I just arrived and can’t believe we’re 3 weeks in yet at the same time I can’t imagine having another 5 weeks here! Each day we get more tired, but that’s not a bad thing. We’re definitely stronger and faster at walking to MVI every day but it sure doesn’t feel any easier!! Ryan and I have also dived head first into our internship. It’s really good work and we’re excited to start compiling results over the next few weeks, but holy cow we’ve seen the strangest bugs ever!! There are these odd spider type (see image above) things that are gigantic, everywhere, and fairly stupid so we aren’t entirely sure if they fly or not. We’re also working underneath three GIGANTIC wasp nests and are frequently attacked. Yesterday we were pushing our luck and working into the afternoon only to discover a huge ball of bees above our head(no idea where the bees come from). The “normal” hum that can be heard anywhere in our enormous plot starting around 11 intensified above us. We were watching them and still slowly working when all of the bees scattered. Needless to say we ran dangerously fast through the waste high grass and called it a day. Now we pray for rain/clouds in the afternoon to keep the bugs down or we have to stop early!! There are also these giant blue wasp type things that are about 4 inches big. We haven’t gotten close to those guys yet…

Welcome to Curi-Cancha and what will *hopefully* be secondary forest in 10+ years!

I promised a Machete picture

Don’t think I’m complaining though, it’s extremely entertaining!! Every day we have a new story to tell and a few new war wounds to show off! Ryan got the first tick, we learned quickly that we have to spray our clothes with bug spray and be religious about applying lines of zapol. Thankfully no diseases up here in Monteverde, it’s just a pain in the but to remove the little buggers. One of the best things about Costa Rican bugs is 9/10 times you don’t know you’re being bit by something. You just get a welt later on but you don’t see what bit you(unless it’s a horsefly, those butt heads HURT). I’m covered in bites yet I haven’t seen a single thing bite me! If you have to be bit, that’s definitely the way to go!!!

Today after tagging a whopping 90 trees in 3 hours, crunching data, and sitting through 2 hours of presentations, it FINALLY rained. As we were walking home of course…My tico dad drove out to find us and took us all home. It was so nice!! Then my tica mom had banana pancakes and agua dulce waiting for me!!! It was the perfect surprise after such a long day. The sun, grass, bees, hills, and work really took a toll on Ryan and I. I personally haven’t been this worn out in a long time but the muscles are definitely worth it!! And it’s almost the weekend where we’ll get to recharge a tiny bit between activities.

Oh, during our first real day of work aka tuesday the clouds came in for about 5-7 minutes. Reminds me why I love this country so much…It’s just amazingly beautiful while being something out of a horror movie. Very eerie being surrounded by so much yet not be able to see any of it! I had my nice camera that day as well aka I got some great shots!! Usually I just have the little waterproof point and shoot my family bought!

clouds just coming in

Full blown clouds!

clouds

our path back home

in the woods

That’s all for tonight, I’m exhausted. It’s past my bed time, no more late nights for me!!

Pura vida!