Diving Into Discovery With Jellyfish And Juice

Hola,

We greet you today in anticipation of our return home and yet sorrow for the end of our exciting trip in Costa Rica. To start such a day, one must have, you guessed it, rice and beans. Oh, and eggs… how exciting. Even more exciting, we were actually emancipated from our hiking boots and were permitted to wear flip-flops as we ventured off of the porch. What a day. It took not more than five seconds for many of us to realize why that rule was implemented- ants love feet. The wait for the car was better today -- only 40 minutes late.

Our activity for the day was snorkeling at the Bahia Santa Elena, and getting unevenly tanned. After learning our lesson in our previous experiments in becoming lobsters, we copiously applied sunscreen. At least I (Alex) thought I did. My calves must have slipped through the Dr. Wood Sunscreen Test.

We saw many fish and even more sea urchins -- Delaney says they sting.

Some highlights were the puffer fish, torpedo fish, eels, and a sea horse. No one has to know that it was not actually alive (not our fault). We also saw two sea turtles.

We would tell you what happened and what they were doing, but this is a family site. Look at the picture; you’ll get the idea.

We had lunch at a private, secluded beach ;). Learning continued with lessons on skipping stones. We also discovered the ruins of the last field course to come through, or of some ancient culture. There also was a small invasion of hermit crabs. For lunch we had, you did not guess it, sandwiches- variety.

Then we went snorkeling with crocodiles -- or so we feared as we pulled into the mangroves. Instead we just had a nice boat tour. Kerry sang ALL THE WAY THERE… what a beautiful voice.

Before leaving, we saw an experiment in breeding Red Snappers, which are overfished in that area. The adults were in large holding nets as they got them to breed so as to see if they could successfully grow them from eggs. When we arrived, they were hungry. So we fed them and hoped that they would not jump our of the net into the boat.

After realizing that the tide was much higher than when we left, and we would not be able to get out of the boats where we got in, we went in search for an alternate mooring. There we changed into decent clothes, just in time for it to start pouring.

For dinner, we did not eat at the usual comedor (the dining hall at Santa Rosa) but out at a restaurant. There we presented both the Eladios and Jeff (Jefe) with lovely Stevenson apparel presents for their hard work and patience with 18 high-schoolers. We will miss all of them. We just hope that we did not give them Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

As our last post, we wish to reflect on the wonderful experience we have had. Seeing how much we have already written, it will be short reflection. We all know how long winded I (do I really need to specify) can be. This has been an experience that we could not have gotten anywhere else and we are eternally grateful to our guides and teachers for all of their hard work that they have put into this trip. It is something that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

In anticipation of screens that actually keep bugs out a night,

Sasha and Alex

Second picture link

It's crazy to think we have so many pictures. However, since "albums" can only hold 500 pictures, I've created a second album to hold pictures for the balance of the trip. Here is the 2nd link for photos:
http://gallery.me.com/stevekarin#100089

Enjoy! (we sure are!)

P.S. Thanks for the comments to the blog posts--the kids eagerly anticipate our reading them aloud and love hearing what you have to say!

Hikin', Swimmin', & Shoppin'!

Today is Thursday.WOW. Does time fly or what? We are going back home soon. (we don't miss y'all, just the air conditioning) haha. So for all of you who are wondering what happened today, we shall tell you what happened today. First, most of us woke up at 6:45am (later than usual) and ate the usual rice and beans and eggs and toast and avocados. :) Afterwards we made friendship bracelets while waiting for the cars to arrive to take us to RINCON DE LA VIEJA (the big volcano that we rode horses near yesterday)!

When we arrived at Rincon, we hiked in the treacherous jungle in the transitional forest of the volcano (just kidding it was just a little steep). It's called a transitional forest because it contains elements of both the lower-elevation dry forest and wet forests found closer to the top of the mountain. On our way to see boiling mudpots, which were formed because of the high temperatures of the volcano, we dodged across numerous colonies of VICIOUS ARMY ANTS! It is said that the army ants destroy everything in their path. Thus many of the insects in the area fly upward into the mouths of the waiting birds in the trees. On the way there, we saw a TENT-MAKING BAT (which roosts in hollow fig trees) and some AGOUTIS! Those agoutis were so cute! We managed to get close enough to see them playing with each other.

Afterwards, we hiked back for lunch. We ate chicken rice, beans, potato chips, yippies (a chocolate waffle dessert), and some of the BEST JUICE EVERRRRRR!!! During lunch, we saw two TOUCANS soaring through the trees!!! Once our stomachs were filled and everyone had belched. We hiked back into the forest to swim in a natural spring below a WATERFALL! It was much needed and BEAUTIFUL! Just Diana Liao fell into the water...several times....with her clothes on...LOL. SHE IS FINE. It was a HILARIOUS moment.

Next, we went to Liberia, to go SOUVENIR SHOPPING! We only got to three shops...but we still had time for ICE CREAM. (we didn't get you guys anything...it was all for us) :D Then we came back to SANTA ROSA, for a hearty dinner of HAMBURGERS AND FRENCH FRIES. (YUM) So, here we are relaxing and having a good time with our fellow bugs. GOOD NIGHT Y'ALL CYAZ SOON!

Sincerely,
BAYLE, KeLlY, and CHRIStine

Horsin' Around

Dear Readers,

Today is Wednesday, June 15th. As you may have already read, last night we stayed at the Ecolodge. The Ecolodge was an entirely different setting to have stayed in than our bunks at the Casona-- the rooms were, of course, a little smaller and the top bunks with smaller ladders, but the room's atmosphere was entirely leisurely. The metal roof made pleasant drumming noises in the early morning as it rained as custom of the tropical wet rainforest, and the crisp air that seeped through the wooden windows filled the air with a refreshing feel. After awaking, we all made our way down to the open air veranda, where we were greeted with a breakfast of eggs with heart of palm, rice and beans, tortillas, homemade sour cream, and pineapple, with the complement of Mora juice. The Mora juice was akin to blackberries. After experiencing several breakfasts with rice and beans along with the use of heart of palm, breakfast became a little more meaningful as the particular foods revealed subtly the special culture of Costa Rica. Even the pineapples reflected Costa Rica in taste, as the pineapples were succulent, sweet, and saturated with juices.

After a satisfying breakfast, we geared up for a day of horseback riding along the side of the volcano, Rincon de la Vieja. We then bid the generous owner of the Ecolodge, Oscar, a heartfelt goodbye, gifted him with a special Stevenson t-shirt, and loaded into the cars (18 students and 6 adults for 3 cars- only the brightest amateur biologists could achieve such a feat :D) to travel down to a "dude ranch". The coral-colored buildings consisted of horse and cattle stables beside a quaint mountainside restaurant, and we were greeted warmly by the farmers who owned the establishment. The view was absolutely breathtaking- we took many pictures of towering mountains shrouded in fog, lush rolling hills, and a pristine lake. After a brief period of sightseeing, we headed to the stables to meet our horses.

Unfortunately, Bayle and Karl could not join us for horseriding due to allergies, but they enjoyed the local scenery at the restaurant throughout the morning. Each person was paired with a horse; Mr. Carlson received an especially assertive brown steed, while Diana bonded with an energetic beige horse she lated dubbed "Spirit". Two of the Costa Rican men joined us to at as guides, and we rode to the hilly pastures to track down a herd of grazing cattle.

The horses were very cooperative and obedient, and often knew better trails than their riders, which was extremely helpful since the majority of us weren't experienced horse riders. Some of us had troubles adjusting to traveling uphill and downhill on horses, which involved strategic leaning, but everyone quickly caught on. With Dr. Klemens in the lead, we trotted around the mountainside in search of the cattle. At first we couldn't find the herd in the expected feeding area, but once we did we had to drive them down the mountain back to their pens by the ranch. A few of the cows were very interested in breaking the lines and charging away, and we took up the task of keeping errant cattle in line. The two farmers taught us how to "hai" them back into a group, though some of us had to kick stragglers into the pack.

When we returned to the ranch, Bayle and Karl joined us to learn how to lasso cows. We had to maneuver around the cowpies and suspicious puddles to loop twine ropes around escaping cows' necks. Delaney had an epic chase for a particularly willful mottled cow. Mr. Carlson suited up with the container of insecticide, looking like a superhero with a jetpack, and helped hosed down the cattle, removing ticks. Each one of us was able to successfully lasso a cow. After the lassoing, we all went back for another round of horseback riding, where we herded the cattle back into the pastures and ventured into the tropical forest.

Riding horses into the wet, slippery forest was a scary experience, but with the trained horses and capable guides, we knew we were perfectly safe. The trail was muddy and uneven, but the intrepid horses took us safely through the trees and into a valley, where we were able to see the volcano in the distance, surrounded by a mosaic of exotic trees. The beautiful sight was a great reward for a hard travel through the forest.

However, our journey was not yet over, as we had to return to the rainforest in order to get back to the ranch. Here the terrain became tricky- sections of the trail were flooded by water and obstructed by logs, and horses and riders worked hard together to travel safely. At one steep drop, Emily's horse had halted and stalled, seeming to refuse to move on. However, the horse realized a better, less steep trail through the dense forest, and although Emily was whacked by multiple branches, the two made it through the obstacle smoothly. Monica's horse and Ms. I's horse were similarly intelligent, and Delaney's horse even watched out for the other horses. These horses were so smart!

We finally reached the ranch after two hours of riding and said goodbye to the horses. We then had a hearty lunch of noodles, pork, rice, and beans. The accompanying juice was fantastic- a raspberry and blackberry mix from heaven. After the delicious meal, the biologists-turned-cowgirls/boys loaded back into the cars to drive back to the ACG.

The rest of the day was relaxing and uneventful. We washed up and did laundry, made friendship bracelets, and tortured each other with mind games (Johhny Whoop, anyone?). The evening has arrived as we write now, and the local nightlife are serenading us nature's lullaby. Dr. Klemens has taken up his guitar and is singing us Spanish songs about women who break your hearts, which is a sure sign that it is time for bed.

Good night from Costa Rica! Pura vida!

Courtney C. and Emily L.

P.S.

There was a HUGE...I mean H-U-G-E Boa constrictor not far from our bunkhouse. Don't worry, all 18 kids are still here. Has anyone seen Dr. Wood?

Two very fun days

Sorry no new photos for a couple of days. As you read in the blog, we were living on the side of a volcano (Rincon de la Viaja--check it out on Google) last night. Some of the kids were somewhat surprised by no internet access there.

As you can imagine, this trip has included LOTS of firsts for our group--for some it included the first time to the ocean, first horseback riding, first getting stung by a wasp :-), first seeing monkeys in the wild, first time to do authentic field research....I couldn't believe when I heard yesterday that NONE of them had ever gone swimming in a hot springs on the side of a volcano in the middle of the jungle (doesn't everybody do that?) :-) -- what an UNBELIEVABLE experience! I know they are all excited to share their experiences with you when they return. When you see the photos, you'll realize you've provided an unbelievable experience for your kids.

The kids are doing incredibly well with being flexible in schedules, dining times, getting along, etc. What a great group of kids and what a travel experience for all of us. Thanks for sharing them with us for the week!

New photos are uploading right now and should be available very soon--I believe I'll have to add another album soon--I just received a warning that I can only publish 500 photos in one album! Yikes! I'll let you know the link when I create it (probably tomorrow).

Pics to come

Dr. Wood is still organizing his photos from the last two days.  Pictures of the rainforest, Las Bromelias (the ecolodge), horseback riding, and cattle rustling will be up shortly.

Pura vida!

The Rainforest

Dear Readers,

Sorry for no blog post yesterday. We were without Wi-Fi for the last 36 hours or so.

Anyway, on with the show...

On Tuesday, June 14th, we started out by eating a very American breakfast of pancakes with plenty of syrup (yummy!) before piling into two cars and a minibus and driving for about an hour-and-a-half to the Ecolodge where we stayed the night. On the way, we were stopped by a tree that had fallen across the power lines running by the road. We ended up walking past the sight while the two smaller cars drove around. It ended up taking us two trips to get to the Ecolodge, but we all made it sans injuries. After we got there, we were treated to a delicious lunch of rice, fried plantains, beans, and salad. We found out later that all the food that was served was grown organically at the lodge :) Then, we started our trek into the rainforest where we saw tons of plants with huge leaves, buttresses, and lots and LOTS of mud. Overall, it was very different from the dry forest since it rains pretty much all year (duh) so that means the trees never shed their leaves like they do in the tropical dry forest. WE WERE ON A VOLCANO!!!!!! A HUGE VOLCANO!!!!! The view was AMAZING and hiking up and down in the rain and mud was scary. On our way back, we stopped at the hot springs and smeared magical mud on our faces that's supposed to make our skin look 25 years younger (according to Eladio) ...so we now look like negative 9 year olds... and the teachers... look the same (lo siento). When we got back from the HOT springs we got to take COLD showers, but it's all good :) The rooms at the lodge were nice and comfy and CLEAN. Dinner was pasta. And then we went on a night hike, which was WONDERMAZING-DOOPER-COOL since we saw a red-eyed tree frog, a sphingid moth, a bunch of hairy caterpillars, a crab, a SPINY AS HECK tree (Katie was fine this time), a flower-that-you-need-to-massage-to-get-it-to-smell-like-anything, tiny tree frogs, and a common toad. Overall, the day was EXHAUSTING but very worth it (WE EXPECT HOT SPRINGS IN OUR BACKYARDS WHEN WE GET HOME).

Love,

1 & 1/2 Asians

(a.k.a. Monica Chen and Emily Reinherz )

Day 4 - Playa Naranjo

Nature.
Birds.
Mosquitoes.
The occasional WHIPTAIL SCORPION. (Just kidding. Ha ha.)
At first it's the sound of the wild and elusive Bayle laughing through the morning after the deafening knocks of her wake up call.
Then, it is the sound of the wildlife alarmingly close, if not in, our showers.
With that, we begin a new day.

We started off the day a little earlier than usual, piling into three cars and learning first hand the importance of four wheel drive. Driving there was hectic to say the least, but exciting.The fact that we had to drive periodically through running water that came up to the wheels of the car made it even more interesting. Diana and I even thought of a new roller coaster ride on the way there. Rough terrain road: Experience it now! We stopped briefly for breakfast and a quick hike where we were able to see a beautiful view of the ocean we were heading to. Later, after returning to the cars, we once again stopped to take a quick look at a mangrove estuary. Fun Fact: Did you know mangrove leaves taste salty? Because we do. Via licking. (OM NOM NOM NOM) :P




After arriving at Playa Naranjo an hour or so later, we made a beeline for the beach. After applying a vigorous amount of sunscreen. Because we're responsible. Or had the teachers telling us to do so with the consequence of painful and horrible blisters. Mainly the latter. The first thing that strikes you after passing the scorching sand is the incredible salinity of the water. The phrase, "Water water everywhere, yet not a drop to drink" has begun to make sense. The second thing is the absolute power of the waves. Every crash sounds like thunder with waves pulling you into the next big crest. After swimming for the first few hours, some took on surfing. And by took on, I mean got on a board for about 5 seconds before getting completely wiped out. To our knowledge Katie was the only one who was able to successfully stand up and surf (Go Katie!).

We ate lunch and then split into two groups based on what we wanted to do next. Jeff took some for a crocodile search, while others continued surfing lessons. The crocodile search was successful--we ended up seeing a 15 feet crocodile from a safe distance. Along the way, we also noticed other animals, most abundantly, exotically colored crabs. Meanwhile, surfing was going well, to the best of our knowledge, since none of tonight's bloggers were in that group.

For dinner we ate pasta and then waited till dark to search for nesting sea turtles. Unfortunately, none were found. :( But a bird was grabbed from the sand by the very talented Jeff. Finally, we trekked back to the camping ground where we proceeded to drive home in the dark. (Whoo!)

Overall, today was a cooler day, both literally and figuratively seeing as the water did mellow out the heat a lot. We returned to find gifts left by Rachel and Andrew, the researchers that had organized the experiments we had participated in the last few days, which was incredibly sweet of them. :) After such a long day we hope this blog post finds you all well and not panicking. We are off to now take long showers and scrape the sand and salt off ourselves. Because my god. There's a lot of it. :P

Have a great night! Aparna Pal, Diana Liao, and Diane Kuai

P.S. Check out other photos on the link :-)

In which things continue

Dear devoted audience,

We woke up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy! Only P-Diddy doesn't seem the type to sleep in cabins filled not quite to the brim with bugs and two fans providing the only source of moving air in the terribly humid air, so not quite like P-Diddy. Sleeping was actually not that bad though; we're just kidding about the conditions, kind of... not really... but honestly we seem to be adjusting so don't worry about it! Breakfast, was relatively similar to the day prior to this one. Ticos(as Costa Ricans call themselves) seem to enjoy a rather stable diet of rice and beans and some other ingestible substance and we ingest it with them! with happiness and joy.

After breakfast, we squished into a wonderfully air conditioned car for a terribly short amount of time. We then engaged in a rather scavenger hunt like activity in which we ran around the forest looking for these tiny clay caterpillars, while avoiding bumping these evil plants that contain these evil ants that attempt to bite anyone and everyone. We then squished back into the car and ended up on the front porch of our wonderful little cabin section. There was a beautiful breeze so we all lounged about in chair and on the floor while engaging in educational activities. We helped with the research by looking interestedly at the strange markings that had appeared on the soft clay caterpillar, recording data etc. and then having a little free time, played games and explored the strange foliage we had found ourselves mysteriously transported into.

We then ate lunch.
It was yummy.

There was a night-hike. Nothing looks the same as it does in the daytime and there were turtles and frogs so it was wonderful.

Mr. Carlson is now lurking behind us in this special way of his "politely encouraging" us to head to bed. Sorry guys. All the wonderful adventures we could not fit into the blog post will have to wait to be described when we head home and regale all of you with magical stories.

Your devoted bloginators,
Diana Liang, Astor Li, Karl Fuhfuhfuhfuh...

Captions now on photos

Thanks for following us on the blog and for the comments--we'll share those with the students. We had a great day today out in the field learning about predation rates on caterpillars--real ecology research for the students! I didn't have that experience until college and grad school--an opportunity of a lifetime! The students have done a great job making observations of things they see along the way and in collecting the data. It's an incredible experience to be on a research station working alongside the researchers. They are showing us lots of great relationships between the organisms and are bringing the forest to life for us.

For those of you viewing pix, I tried to add helpful captions to as many as possible (and continuing to force the flash--good advice Mr. Krejsa!).

More adventures to come tonight and tomorrow...off to dinner (the food has been really good!)

Day 2

How you doin' Illinois? Cause we're REALLY hot...majormajor.



Well hopefully you've figured out that this isn't one of the adults typing... andddd you're right! It's Kerry, Katie and Delaney coming to you from COSTA RICA! It's our second day here and so far we've learned a lot of cool stuff and seen a bunch of cooler stuff. We were supposed to get up at the (butt) crack of dawn (6:30) to go to breakfast. Instead our roomates woke us up at 6:00 to sing in the shower. Kerry yelled at them to be quiet and this caused some early morning tension. Also last night, our electricity went off at 2:00AM and the fans turned off and our bunkmates decided this would be prime time for a 20 minute discussion about how hot they were, which somehow led into a questionnaire about their favorite colors. Kerry was EXTREMELY irritated, which explains why she woke up cranky. Breakfast was really great. We had rice and beans, which we are expecting to also have the rest of the week. Kerry turned a tortilla into a pancake so that was some good times. We think the rest of our group had a good breakfast too, but Courtney, Emily and Katie made breakfast burritos with avocado and beans and rice. Mr. Carlson also made a burrito but he added cheese, which he said was good. D-WOOD rocks.

Today was our first day collecting data for the clay caterpillar project. To prepare for our hike in the forest, we wore long pants tucked into our socks, our hiking boots, and long sleeves. We put on SPF ten billion (as Mr. Carlson likes to call it) and 99.25% DEET bug spray to stay bug-free. We also were fitted for palinas, which keep our ankles safe from snakes. They were pretty fashionable, and we looked liked safari babes (including the guys). Early morning hiking was cool and nice, but also extremely humid. We broke up into 3 random groups and went to collect caterpillars in a medium growth forest. After we collected all of the caterpillars, we came back to the only room in this country with fans, and inspected the red, green, and blue caterpillars for bite marks that animals could've left on them. Half of the class actually just napped while the teachers were talking. Ms. I was dozing off as well so we were only following her example.

After this we had lunch...you guessed it! Rice and beans. We ate outside with another tour group who was casually visiting for the day, and then leaving for their hotel. We were extremely jealous. Kerry and Delaney bought a Coke and it was literally the best thing they'd ever drank. After lunch we all came back to the cool air room and played Egyptian Rat Screw (a card game which Courtney is really good at) for 20 minutes until we went back into the field to collect more caterpillar data in the old growth forest. The old growth forest was a considerable distance away from our lodges so we crammed 9 kids at a time into an air conditioned cars and drove the bumpy road over there.

The old growth forest has very tall trees and is much more shaded than the other medium and new growth forests. Because of this, not as much sun reaches through the canopy trees to the floor, and the growth on the bottom is minimal. This makes the forest very cool, but still humid. In our 3 groups we collected the rest of the caterpillars and brought them back to the airy room.
In our Rite in the Rain book we recorded our observations and they are being used in a college research project to determine the effects of the forest and color on the predation of caterpillars. Tomorrow we will be finishing up this data collection and our weather prediction is hot.

Although it is REALLY hot here, we are having a great time and meeting a lot of people and learning a lot about the Costa Rican tropical dry forest ecosystems. "It is an experience of a lifetime" -Kerry Cummings

Adios for now,
Katie Krejsa, Kerry Cummings and Delaney (D$) Atkinson

Follow us in Pictures

If you would like to see pictures of what we are experiencing, I will post pictures throughout our trip at the following site:
http://gallery.me.com/stevekarin#100066

Day one photos I took are all there.

We made it!

After two uneventful flights, we arrived in the hot, soupy air of the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica.  You know it's hot when even our guide (Jeff Klemens) and some of the locals are complaining about the heat.  Leaving the airport, the kids immediately starting asking about every bird, plant, and bug that they saw.  While we didn't see much in terms of diversity while on the road to the Area de Conservacion Guanacaste (ACG), the life practically exploded before them once we entered the national park.

After having read part of The Green Phoenix before our two summer school sessions, the students were familiar with the ant-acacia coevolutionary relationship, but in the ACG, they were actually able to observe the relationship first-hand.

One of the highlights of the day occurred almost immediately as we got our of the car in Santa Rosa as a troupe of white-faced capuchin monkeys jumped through the trees over our heads.

Our walk in the woods culminated in a hike up to an overlook where we could see the three volcanoes of the park:  Orosi, Cacao, and Rincon de la Vieja.  There was so much more, but we have 8 days to fill you in on all of that.

Pura vida!

One more day

Can it really be this close?  Are we really leaving tomorrow morning?  After all of this preparation, I can't believe that the trip to Costa Rica is finally here.  It's been eight long years since I've been to the ACG and I can't wait to show all 18 students what I truly believe to be one of the most special places anywhere.  I can't wait to be woken by howler monkeys at 6 in the morning.  I can't wait to see dolphins skipping through the surf at Naranjo.  I can't wait to see the steaming caldera of Rincon de la Vieja.  I CAN'T WAIT!

Before we see any of that stuff, however, remember to have your passport, luggage, and your eager brain at Stevenson by 3:00 AM tonight/tomorrow.  That's right, 3...in...the...morning...

Pura vida!