Monteverde

So I haven't been updating recently because we haven't been doing much (we've just been in class). Thus I don't have that many pictures to show you guys. We have classes everyday about tropical ecology, human in the tropics, and spanish. The typical day starts at 7 am with breakfast and doesn't end until 6 pm when we have dinner. After that it's "free time." It's not really free because we're always studying for exams, quizzes, writing essays. Next week we're going on another field trip, this time to the Atlantic slope of Costa Rica. But until then, we have a huge field exam tomorrow, a midterm on Wednesday, an independent studies project proposal due on Wednesday, and an essay to write. It's a lot of work (good thing the company is good). A few days ago we hiked to the highest point in the region.

This is what it looked like the whole way. It was like walking through a sea of grass, brush, general vegetation. I really wanted a machete at that point. We did get to eat wild blackberries (kinda sour). And we saw this huge fuzzy caterpillar. We didn't touch it because most caterpillars that are fuzzy aren't very nice....

Took a nap at the top. Felt great.

Another day we went to a cattle farm as part of our study about human in the tropics. I milked a cow for the first time! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I would have tasted the milk, but I'm lactose intolerant. I didn't think it was worth it to try..... Well then, here's a picture of a calf.

The farm also had a great view. Just acres and acres (or hectares as they go by here) of beautiful green pasture.

If I were a cow, I would want to live here.....

Arrival: Monteverde

Well, I made it through two weeks of camping, hiking, sweating, and taking no showers. At first it bothered me being so dirty, but at the end of it, I don't think I mind. BUT, we are terribly disgusting. I should go take a shower now that showers are available, but I haven't had a computer in SO long. I could tell you how disgusting we all are, but it just wouldn't be the same as you being here and smelling us. So I'm gonna bottle up my sweat and body odor and bring it back to the States for your benefit. You can decide if I'm kidding or not. The camping was hard; we hiked miles and miles each day, sweated a bunch, and didn't take showers. But it was all worth it because of what we saw and experienced. First major spot we stopped at was Cerro de la Muerte (Death's Hill), which is a cloud forest.

We also saw some cute little hummingbirds (took forever to get a good picture because they move so quickly).

We then went to Sierpe to see the mangrove swamps. Very unique habitat. We climbed through a grove(?) of red mangroves which have prop roots. For being such thin roots, they're very strong and stable. Only a few of us fell into the water (I didn't). Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of us going across the roots because I didn't want to risk the chance of my camera dropping into the water, so you'll just have to be satisfied with a picture of the trees.

We spent about five days at San Pedrillo on the beach. Here's a sunset picture of the place.

We really did get spoiled by the beauty of the place. We slept in tents on the beach and took little day hikes around the national park. After San Pedrillo we worked our way north to Carara National Park and then to Santa Rosa National Park. We camped at Santa Rose for five days also. Here are some pictures of the animals I’ve seen at these places.
That last one is just a joke. We broke up into groups to investigate different aspects of tropical forests and one group came back with this stuffed monkey they found in the trees with one of its legs torn off. We named him Clarence, kept him at the camp as our mascot, and took him with us to Monteverde where we are now. It’s gross and disgusting and needs a bath (like the rest of us), so he fits right in. Today we went to a waterfall near some volcanoes and visited an animal rescue center. There were some cougars, leopards, ocelots, otters, macaws, toucans, and these cute little bunnies that were saved from being sold to the market to be eaten.

I wanted to take one home with me, especially the one pictured above. Arrived in Monteverde this evening, which completes my synopsis of the journey so far. I just have to add that the group I’m traveling with is great. I’ve grown to love them all in the short period of time I’ve known them (it’s partly because we were forced to stay in close quarters and put up with each other’s stench). I don’t have a picture of all of them together, so I’ll give you a few.

Left to right: Madie, Michael, Moncho (TA), Hillary, and James

Amy, Denise (tagging along with her mother who is the logistic coordinator), Tiffany, Justin, and Emily

Chelsea, Kelsy, Clif, and Rachel

We come from all over the States, but we’ve bonded to the point that we’re almost like family. I’m gonna be super sad when I have to leave them after this program ends because I know I most likely will never see them again. But I’m trying not to think about that right now. I’m gonna stop now and go take a shower because I’m starting to smell myself. It doesn’t smell like flowers…

In Transition

I have a bunch of pictures I would like to upload, but I´m not currently on my laptop, but at an internet cafe on the way to the next stop. We´re on our first field trip (we´re in between Carara National Park and Santa Rosa National Park). I´ve seen a bunch of cool places and animals, but I can´t share the experience with you until I get my latop in a week when we get to Monteverde. BUT, just as a teaser, I´ll give you a taste of what I´ve done this past week: We were in a cloud forest at Cerro de la Muerte. There was some beautiful hummingbirds. We spent some time in a mangrove swamp at Sierpe. We spent four nights at San Pedrillo, which is a beach. In the day time we hiked around through rainforests and visited Isla del Cano, a small island off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We saw lots of animals like Scarlet Macaws, various types of monkies, lizards, colorful frogs, etc. We´ve been camping along the way and it´s brutal. The humidity is just off the charts. Because we´re at remote camp sites, there are some terrible stretches where we go days without showering properly. So we´re just a big group of stinky people (at least I imagine we are to other people; we can´t really tell). Last night we were at a hotel for the first time in five days. Let me tell ya, it was glorious. Showers. Beds. AC. TV. Dry air. Wow..... Now we´re about to go to camping again at Santa Rosa. It´s a drier climate than what we just left, but it´s still humid and rainy. So much to look forward to...... Adios til we get internet again. I promise I´ll have pictures then.

San Jose: Central Market

So today the major assignment was to go to the central market to find our assigned fruit.

The market reminded me a lot of the markets in Puerto Vallarta (if you ever been). I had mango, like I mentioned. The other people in my group had some interesting fruits: sour sop, passion fruit, cashew fruit, etc. Passion fruit looked like a really smooth pear. I really had no idea passion fruit was actually a fruit..... Even though it has fruit in its name. I always just thought it was a flavor.... Dumb. So we had fun finding out how Costa Rican people include fruit in their diets. AND we got to eat some of the fruit!!!!! Yummy! They had lychee (which is my favorite fruit), although it tastes different than the ones I'm used to (that I get in Singapore). I love fruits, btw.

Tomorrow we head out on our frist field trip. We're gonna drive/hike across most of Costa Rica. If you want to know, we're going to Cerro de la Muerte, Sierpe, San pedrillo, Isla del Cano, Playa Hermosa, Carara, Palo Verde, Santa Rosa, Rincon de la Vieja, and we'll end up in Monteverde. Go check up a map of Costa Rica!! This sounds super fun! We do have quite a bit of homework (some of which is due tomorrow), so I better get going!

I won't have my laptop with me for the two-week field trip, so adios until then.

Arrival: San Jose

I arrived in Costa Rica all in one piece! Everything is so surreal... I don't think I'll register that I'm actually here until tomorrow. Tomorrow everythings starts. But today I just met the people in the group (they're a pretty cool bunch). We walked around the city a bit, just taking in the sites. We came across this park where these men were playing some game they invented (they even had an official plaque issued by the government of Costa Rica). The game consisted of two paddles, three blocks, a tennis ball, and some metal pieces. The point of the game was to use the paddles to push the tennis ball to knock down the metal pieces on top of the blocks without knocking down the blocks.

Here is Franscisco, the inventor of this game (which name I have forgotten).

This is one of the girls in my group playing the game. I haven't learned names yet. (Tangent) I'm really bad at names. I can remember faces, but not names. It's quite embarassing sometimes....

Back to the topic. So today was just chill day. Tomorrow we start the real stuff. I hear we're gonna go out to the market tomorrow and research about different fruits and spices grown in Costa Rica. We're each gonna be assigned a different food. Guess what I have! Mango! My second favorite fruit. I hope we get to eat them.... At least just the fruit.

The group dynamics looks good so far. Everyone is either from the Midwest or East. I'm the one lonely soul from the South. Represent! Not. We're gonna be in real close quarters from now on, especially when we go hiking. Hope we still like each other at the end of this trip.

Grrr..... Have to wake up at either 6:30 or 7 am everyday.

I forgot bug spray and sun screen.....

The night before

So I started this blog because of the insistence of some friends. I don't know how consistent I will be in updating about my study abroad experience. And I don't know who would be interested about biology except those who are currently studying it. But, I'll try to make my posts interesting and I'll add plenty of pictures (maybe) for you ADHD people.

The night before... I was suppose to start packing the day before, but it has turned into a last-minute packing situation. All day I've been lazying around the house with nobody pestering me every hour to start getting ready because the rest of the family flew off to visit my aunt and uncle in Boston. I'm kinda jealous of them right now... Only because I love the Boston atmosphere, my aunt just got a dog, and I'm once again missing an opportunity to go to Canada. Canada isn't really on my list of countries to visit, but why not visit another country? My aspiration is to be a world traveller (if you didn't take my Facebook quiz). Costa Rica wasn't really on my list of places to see before I die. I really wanted to go to Australia, but all the study abroad programs were too expensive for the amount of time spent there. (Digression) My list of top countries to see before I die: Italy, France, Japan, Peru, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, and India.

I don't know why I'm so reluctant to pack. It may be because I'm have mixed feelings about this trip. I'm really excited because I love travelling to different places, I'm dreading it because it'll be a lot of work, I'm kinda sad because I'll be leaving behind everyone in the States, and I don't the spiritual situation there. This may very well turn into a trial. So for those who would like to, please pray that I'll be able to find some sort of way to feed myself spiritually (I guess I'm also including prayer requests in this blog).

I think that'll be all for now. Early flight tomorrow. Thank you Susan and Tina (in advance) for sending me to the airport.