Feb. 10th: mangrove tour, boat to Corcovado

Today we sunscreened up and went out in boats on the Sierpa River to examine the mangrove forest. By the end of the semester, I'll know about 200 species of Costa Rican plants and animals; their family, genus, species, predator/prey for animals, pollinator/disperser for plants, and any other interesting facts. Every time the professors take us into the field, we take notes on a few more species. We learned about a lot of plants on the Sierpa River, all specially adapted to survive in brackish water and tidal changes.

Learning about the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

It was always a welcome respite from the humidity when the boats moved quickly. My shirt was damp with sweet for most of the morning, until we stopped at a swimming hole. However, we had to climb over Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) roots to get there. It was like a giant jungle gym, with deep mud below. I felt like a little kid on the playground.

I love my sun/rain hat

Katie with a Red Mangrove Crab (Aratus pisonii)

Swimming in the river felt amazingly refreshing. So did speeding back to the dock in the boats. We had lunch at the hotel restaurant, then packed up for the 1.5-hour boat ride to our campsite for the next 6 nights. The four boats traveled down the river and then south along the coast to Corcovado National Park. I was worried I'd get seasick, but the boat moved fast enough that even the large ocean waves didn't bother me. Along the way, we saw a pod of pantropical spotted dolphins (Stenella attenuata) about 10 m from the boat.

the dolphins are underwater

Eventually, we arrived at our campsite, San Pedrillo, in Corcovado National Park. It's a popular tourist destination during the day, but we were the only group camping there, probably because it is only accessible by boat. It's a gorgeous beach, with the ocean only 10 m from the grassy area where we pitched our tents. A small, green building housed a kitchen, bathrooms, and picnic area. Behind the building, the tropical wet lowland forest proved a green backdrop.

the beach at San Pedrillo, just to the north of a small creek that flows into the river

looking up the beach at our tents

can you say, tropical paradise?

our classroom

As we unloaded the boats in the crashing surf, a flock of Brown Pelicans dove for fish all around us. I also spotted a Yellow-headed Caracara sitting on a rock. Soon after we gathered "all" our gear and waved goodbye to the boats, a pair of Scarlet Macaws (another for my top 17 list) and a Chestnut-mandibled Toucan landed in the trees above our campsite.

Brown Pelicans diving off the beach

Scarlet Macaws through my binos

Once my excitement about cool birds wore off, I looked for my bags. I found one, but the other containing my sleeping bag, pad, and toiletries was no where to be found. Apparently it never made it off the boat. Yeah... Luckily, the professors brought extra sleeping bags and pads, but I had to borrow contact lens solution and go without a toothbrush or deodorant. I did eventually get everything back...3 days later. Losing my bag sucked, but the incredible location more than made up for it. One of the best things about the campsite was its nearness to the ocean, which provided an excellent way to cool off from the 90-95°F heat and humidity. As soon as we finished setting up our tents, we went for a swim in the warm ocean. Unfortunately, the first wave hit me in the face and knocked off my sunglasses, which are still somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. First my bag, now my sunglasses.

Later, my tentmate, Rebecca, and I went for a walk in the freshwater creek just to the south of our camp. We saw a Green Heron, Green Kingfisher, and Boat-billed Herons. We also had a messy and fun mudfight with a few other people.

the creek near our camp

Before dinner at 6, we gathered on the beach to watch the sunset. I decided this is definitely paradise. Dinner consisted of more rice and beans, and cake for dessert. An hour after dinner we had an orientation lecture while howler monkeys called in the trees. Alan and Moncho warned us to always hike with hiking boots and a flashlight, and to not pick up any snakes. There are several venomous snakes in Costa Rica, but the most likely seen is the Fer-De-Lance. Like all venomous snakes, they want to save their venom for killing prey, so unless you're really bothering it, they won't attack humans.

fer-de-lance: don't touch

After dinner, a few of us walked down the beach to the creek to look for the crocodile that apparently hangs out near the mouth. We didn't see it, but we did see lots of walnut-sized hermit crabs (Coenobita compressus). They seem to enjoy coconuts; about 30 would swarm around one broken coconut, crowding around to eat the fleshy fruit.

Later, we all sat around the picnic tables on the porch, making flashcards and studying the species by lantern light. Moths, flies, large cicadas, and other insects buzzed around our lights. If a particularly interesting insect flew by, we'd stop studying for a few minutes to check it out and try to identify it. I love that the other 29 students on this trip are as fascinated and excited by the natural world as I am. Sure, my friends at home tolerate my inner biology nerd, tease me a little, and maybe even think it's kind of cool, but it's more fun when others can share in my excitement.

cicada (Fidicina mannifera)

Feb. 9th: traveling, Cartago, Cerro de la Muerte, and Sierpa

We woke up pretty early to pack the bus: our large duffle bags went on a truck bound for Monteverde, while our daypacks and smaller bags came with us on the charter bus. After breakfast, we boarded the bus and finally left the city. The scenery changed from crowded streets and building to fields and scrubby forests interspersed with tin-roofed dwellings. We stopped in Cartago, where the most famous church in Costa Rica stands- Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Los Ángeles. Many pilgrims journey to the Basilica each year to drink the natural spring's holy water and ask the Virgin of the Angels to heal them.

the Basilica

inside the Basilica, all of the wood is mahogany

the location of the holy spring

Our next stop was Cerro de la Muerte (Hill of Death) to experience a high elevation (3000 m) wet forest. We walked up the trail a short way, stopping in a clearing to hear about several plant species and páramo habitat. The páramo consists of scrubby vegetation and grasses above the tree line. We also searched unsuccessfully for the mountain salamander (Bolitoglossa subpalmata). Back down the trail, we had lunch at the small tourist restaurant. I watched Green Violet-ear, Purple-throated Mountain-gem (my first top 17!), and Magnificent hummingbirds from the windows.

Alan lectures on the Black Oak (Quercus costaricensis)

Back on the bus, the scenery changed from high to low altitude vegetation. Even though it was too bumpy to use my binoculars, I was able to spot the distinctive silhouette of a swallow-tailed kite.

Our next stop was a pineapple field, where we learned about the biology and agriculture of this domesticated bromeliad (a member of the Bromeliaceae plant family). I learned why it sometimes hurts your tongue to eat pineapple: the fruit's center contains meat-tenderizing properties, which breaks down the tongue muscle. If you simply avoid the pineapple's center, you can avoid a tenderized tongue. We also sampled some of the fresh, juicy crop.

check out all those Ananas comosus

baby pineapple

om nom nom

We finally arrived in the tiny town of Sierpa after dark. Our hotel was...rustic. Alan warned us that flushing toilet paper would jam up the sensitive septic system. The showers randomly stopped working for a couple hours, and then would flip-flop rapidly between a drizzle and a downpour. However, the open-air restaurant was very tasty. We stayed in the restaurant for a lecture in preparation for tomorrow's mangrove tour. The professors let us order a drink from the bar, so we took lecture notes while enjoying cervesas in the warm night air and listening to geckos chirp.

Many updates to come in the next few days

I'm now in Monteverde at the Biological Station. The two week field trip was amazing, we went to some incredible places and saw some really cool species. My favorite moment of the trip was cooling off in a freshwater creek with friends right near the ocean, then sitting on the rocks and watching the sunset while howler monkeys, spider monkeys, and white-faced capuchins foraged in the trees overhead and scarlet macaws flew by. I'll be making posts for each day of the field trip in the coming days, so stay tuned.

Leaving on the first field trip tomorrow

Today was another busy day of class and adventuring in San José. Pablo, one of our professors, taught us about the impact of humans on the earth, and then sent us out to interview locals at La Universidad de Costa Rica (University of CR) about their ecological footprints. There is an interesting paradox: Costa Rica is known for its environmental awareness- about 25% of the land is national parks- yet most people in San José don't visit these parks and aren't very sustainable themselves. Part of this has to do with a lack of money and infrastructure; for example, there is no organized recycling in Costa Rica due to unpredictable politics and insufficient funds.

We also visited the museo (museum) and learned about Costa Rica's history and pre-Columbian indigenous populations. It was a lot of fascinating information, and I need to get some sleep tonight, so I'm sorry I can't summarize it all right now. Tomorrow we leave for a two week trip along the Pacific coast, starting in the south and working our way north, and then on to Monteverde. I'm excited to get out of the city. It's crowded, loud, and dirty. It was fun for a couple days, but now I'm ready to see what I came here for- rainforest and wildlife (such as birds!). I won't have my computer or internet for the next two weeks, so it'll be awhile until my next update. In the meantime, here are some photos of San José. There's about 40 more on Facebook that you might want to check out as well.

Walking down la Avenida Central. Drivers don't always obey the stoplights.

Fruit/vegetable stand at the Central Market

On the way to the Museo

At the Museo

At the Museo

Gold decor at the Museo

Note the large ditch between the road and the sidewalk...possibly for excess rainwater during the rainy season? Also used as a garbage bin :(

I'm here! in San José

I made it to San José, the capital of Costa Rica, last night at about 9:00 pm. I wish I could've seen the forest as we flew over, but all I saw were the bright city lights in the dark. Two other people from my program were on my flight. We were relieved to find our program coordinator, Kathy, waiting outside. She welcomed us and directed us to a taxi. The taxi zoomed along the narrow streets to our hotel, Hotel Balmoral. I found my room and deposited my heavy bags, then met the rest of the students and trip leaders. We all went out for cervesas (Imperial es la cervesa de Costa Rica, apparently) at the bar across the street. It seems like a great group of people; everyone's very friendly and excited about biology. There are thirty students total; four others from my school and many from Colorado and the Midwest.

Costa Rica is gold-yellow on this map, with Nicaragua to the north and Panama on the south border.

San Jose is near the middle of the country, in the Central Valley. Monteverde is more north.
See map enlarged

This morning was early; a yummy breakfast at 7:30 and orientation at 8:00 am upstairs in a conference room. Alan, the program director, introduced us to the history and culture of Costa Rica. Costa Rica is one of the most stable countries in Central America; they disbanded their army in 1948 and have government-funded, universal health care. Catholicism is the official religion, and about 87% of the population is of European decent. Costa Ricans, or Ticos, as they call themselves, are in general very friendly and helpful. They appreciate the economic boost from gringo (American) tourists. After his lecture, Alan gave us an assignment: go out into the market place and find a certain fruit or plant part, learn about it, have lunch, explore, then return to the hotel conference room at 2:00 pm. We set out on our mission, I had higo, a fig.

San José is a busy city. Pedestrians crowd the Avenida Central, which is a pedestrian-only street that divides the city north-south. On either side are shops, cafés, trees, street performers, cart stands, people, pigeons, and more people. It was about 80° F and sunny today. A cool breeze kept the humidity in check. I wore a skirt and t-shirt...in February. We split into smaller groups to navigate the narrow passageways of the central market, a large building with many booths selling everything from postcards and other trinkets to herbs and seafood. My out-of-practice Spanish came in handy when asking for higos, which were 200 colones, or about $0.40 American.

We had lunch at the Teatro Nacional, the national theater. This beautiful building opened in 1897. I also saw a great-tailed grackle outside the theater, which I've seen in Malheur, OR.

Not my photo

At 2:00, we settled back into the conference room for a long but interesting lecture on Division Anthophyta, flowering plants. There was some review of flower parts and basic botany, but we had the opportunity to examine some flowers and identify the pistils, carpels, stamens, petals, and sepals ourselves. Moncho, one of our TAs, gave us an overview of fruits. I learned a lot from his lecture; much of what we call vegetables or nuts are actually fruits, and things like blackberries aren't berries but aggregate fruits, while oranges, avocados, and pumpkins are berries. It all depends on what part of the flower develops into what part of the "fruit." We presented our assigned fruits to the class as well. My fig "fruit" is actually composed of lots of tiny flowers folded up into a hollow bulb. The base of the flowers are full of sweet juice, which makes the fig edible.

But wait, I'm sure you're wondering, why would a plant "want" to have its flowers inside a hard bulb? How would they ever get pollinated? Well, there is a very specialized insect called the fig wasp, which has co-evolved with the figs. The fertilized female wasp crawls inside a small hole at the base of the fig. The opening is so small that her wings are ripped off in the process, so she is trapped inside. She rubs against the flowers, pollinating them while she lays her eggs, and then dies. Eventually, the larvae hatch and also inadvertently rub against the flowers, collecting pollen. The male wasp larvae mate with the females inside the figs (yes, their siblings...no, I'm not sure how the wasps have any genetic diversity). The males chew a tunnel to the outside of the fig and then soon die. The mature, fertilized females escape and go on to lay their eggs and spread pollen in another fig. Isn't biology amazing?

After all that learning, the program leaders took us out to a tasty dinner. I had some delicious rice and beans and chicken and fried plantains (bananas). Actually, I didn't really like the plantains, no me gusta bananas. The TAs took us out to drinks afterwards, more cervesa Imperial. Tomorrow is another long day in San José, and then Wednesday we leave for our first camping trip along the Pacific coast. I'm really looking forward to seeing some actual rain forest and wildlife other than pigeons and feral dogs.