Hiking the Rio Java

Although we have plenty of free time to wander around the research station, my classmates and I have class six days a week.  Since Sunday is our only free day (at least when we're out in the field), we make sure to live it up on Saturday night.

Just kidding.  We don't have a way to drive into town yet, so we  borrowed our classroom's projector and an extra sheet and watched She's the Man.  We're up for fun, so long as we're in bed by 10:30.

On Sunday, our driver Carlos will take us into town, where the highlight is a really wonderful bakery.  But, since it was a holiday, most things were closed and we came back to camp pretty early without anything much to do.  Although we have lots of time to explore the station during the work week, free time is pretty broken up, so this was our first opportunity to do any major hikes.  Eva, Jamil, and I decided to do the Rio Java Trail.

Super cool with my camera holster.

The Rio Java trail takes you away from the gardens and through some proper rain forest.  Unlike the gardens that surround the station and have only been around for 50 years, there are real trees and Tarzan style vines.

This particular tree is a strangler fig.  It starts growing on the branch of another tree and shoots branches upwards and roots downwards.

The host tree eventually dies and rots, leaving this really cool hole in the middle of the tree.

Eventually we got to the Rio Java, which is pretty low right now since it is the dry season, but we weren't quite tired yet so we crossed the river and hiked out and back an extra forty minutes or so.

Rio Java.

 At that point, we had gotten really good at spotting animals jumping away from the path.  It was a lot harder to find them once they landed in the leaves.  Get ready for some expert-level I-Spy.

This little guy was about as big as the first joint of my pointer finger.

Finding this one wasn't as hard as getting everyone in the group to also find him.

I took this picture, and it's still hard to find the little critter.  

In our meanderings, we got a little further away from camp than we originally intended.  Which is why, when we returned to the sign post three hours later, I was so excited.

I was also gross and smelled like sunscreen and bug spray.  I'm thinking of making it my signature scent.  

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Welcome to the Jungle

This is  my fourth day in Costa Rica, and already I've gotten into the rainforest, gotten sunburnt, met my fellow OTS students, and learned all about the things that can kill me.  OTS, the Organization for Tropical Studies, has organized my study abroad program and has kindly invited a bunch of undergrads to explore to explore two of their three biological research centers.  When we arrived in San Jose, we were brought to their Costa Rican University headquarters.

The boring classroom.

 Yesterday, we left San Jose for the Las Cruces Biological Research Center.  The student housing happens to be in the middle of a tropical garden.   We were welcomed with a heavy downpour when we unloaded our luggage.

The backyard.

 Of course, we all had to go exploring.  The trails near our house have many non-native plants, and, although the oldest tree is only 150 years old, everything is surprisingly large.

This bamboo is about as big around as my leg.  You can get a good idea of the scale in the photo below; the stalks are in the upper right corner.

With only seventeen of us on the program, we are already getting to know each other relatively well.  Of course, we aren't the only people at Las Cruces.  Every night for dinner, we eat with our teachers, other researchers, and various traveler (mostly birdwatchers) from around the world.

Jamil, Amy, Phia, and myself.   Jamil is the only guy in the picture.  And in the program.  Brave man.

  Although the botanists would disagree, the wildlife around definitely steals the show.  The coati below was wandering near the soccer field with a friend, and agouti, which look like long-legged guinea pigs, wander around the garden.  Allegedly, one of the stations we will be at has been seeing some ocelots recently....

Mr. Coati would probably be less excited about meeting an ocelot than I would be.