Four trips in four days to San Jose

Main crater at Poas

Under the Sombrilla del Pobre

Saturday we went to the most visited National Park in Costa Rica, Poas Volcano. I never thought I would say this while in Costa Rica, but my nose was running and my fingers were so cold it was difficult to write. It was a cold and rainy day, thanks to the tropical depression. We were, however, luck enough to see both the craters, so I guess there is a lot more that could have been worse. My orientation hike started up and went to the Botas crater first, which is inactive. The loop then took us to the main Poas crater which is still steaming and I guess slightly active (no major eruptions though, tourists can get close to the edge of the crater). After seeing both craters, we all met back at the visitors center and got instructions for our Econ FEX. This FEX was quite different from the TE one because here we had surveys about Poas handed to us and we had to give the surveys to the very few tourists that were there. It ended up being quite the competition between all 35 of us trying to see who could get all four surveys filled out. After the survey race and a quick lunch, we had a guest lecture from one of the managers. We left Poas all bundled up with runny noses, but not before I got a picture under a sombrilla del pobre – the poor mans umbrella.

Romina, Lisa, Aurora and I at lunch

Market in San Jose

Another Sunday off, this time, it called for adventure. The plans were originally to venture in to Heredia, a suburb area of San Jose, with Lisa, Romina and Aurora. The plans almost got foiled before we even left Atenas when we were talking to the cab driver on the way over and he told us we had 4 minutes to make it to the bus stop. Luckily he was a pretty efficient driver and he got us to the stop in time and found someone who was going the same place we were. But when the bus came, it came and went without stopping. Luckily, someone else who was waiting made sure that another bus came, so we didn’t have to wait until 12.00 to get a ride into Alajuela. Once in Alajuela it took us a bit of exploring and asking around to find the bus stop to go to Heredia, but we made it. When we were on the bus, however, the guy sitting behind us told us that Heredia is mostly residential and that it would be better to go to San Jose. He told us how to get transportation from the current stop into what he called a ‘museum’ in San Jose. This museum was more like a jewelry/souvenir shop and we had to sit through a 20 minute presentation on the pre-colonial art and how this place recreates the techniques that the indigenous people used. It could have been interesting, but it was just a weird place in general. After Romina and Aurora got a few things there we made our way, by taxi, into downtown San Jose. We got dropped off at the National Museum and found out that it costs $4 for a foreign student, but we didn’t end up going in because it was 2.00 and we were all starving, since the center has us on schedule of eating lunch at noon every day. It started raining so we made a mad dash for the closest restaurant, which ended up being pretty cute but on the more expensive side. We were all so cold after being in the rain for a bit (we didn’t bring jackets, only umbrellas which do not keep you warm) so we ordered hot tea and soup. The chicken soup that I ordered was probably the most ridiculous bowl of soup I’ve ever had. I think they threw an entire chicken in the soup (and a bit too late because it wasn’t very well cooked) and then also a whole large carrot, a corn cob, large chunks of yucca and almost a full chayote. It also came with a side of rice and tortillas. To say the least, I was very full when we left the restaurant even though I didn’t eat most of the chicken due to the lack of cooking. From the restaurant we wandered over to an artisan market that had some really cool stuff, but still your normal touristy things as well. I found a shoulder bag in just the right size, made in Costa Rica and the best part was that I was able to bargain the lady down from 7000 colones to 5000! I felt very successful after that. Once everyone else had made their purchases we walked down Avenida Central, which is a pedestrian mall for quite a few blocks. Some how, we decided that we were hungry again and got a bag of mamonchinos to snack on as we walked down Avenida Central. They were delicious as always, but probably not necessary. At one point we ran into a few people from our SFS group that also went to San Jose, but they were planning on staying later so we left to go catch the  5.30 bus back to Atenas. Luckily, we were able to take a direct bus and we were the first ones on so we didn’t have to worry about it passing us by again. Our crazy day ended in a much less eventful way than it started, and I was perfectly ok with that.

Monday brought us another trip to San Jose, this time for class. Our entire group went to the University of Costa Rica for a lecture on GMOs by one of the professors there. It was fun, but also a bit weird being on a normal university campus again. We still looked like the large group of tourists that we are. After our lecture we had a few hours to walk around the area and explore the plethora of restaurants and shops that surround UCR. I ended up tagging along with a few people and we went a traditional restaurant that was much less eventful than the one the day before; I stuck with a safe choice of arroz con pollo (rice and chicken). After our lunch and shopping excursion we got back on the bus to Atenas for a pretty laid back afternoon. We only had a debate on GMOs for an hour before dinner and the rest of the time was ours. This week, I’m on the breakfast/setup pandilla for chores, which means that I have to go at 6.00am to help prepare breakfast and then just 15 minutes early to help setup the other meals. This translates into me making about 60 pancakes at 6.00am. I actually enjoyed it more than I thought, and I think the pancakes turned out pretty darn good, they were all a nice golden brown. We’ll see if I’m singing the same tune after a week of getting up at 5.45am.

Saprissa game

Tuesday, the fourth day in a row that I took a bus through or into the San Jose area. In the morning at RAP, I had a surprising experience with a friendly looking caterpillar. As I sat down, my hand brushed a bright green caterpillar who was an unexpected hitchhiker. I only realized I had someone tagging along for a ride when I felt the stinging on my hand. This falsely cute caterpillar has feather-like structures on his back that have some type of crystals that catch on your skin and give the feeling that you’ve been stung. This guy not only managed to sting my hand, but he also got my leg through my pants. Some friends helped me get the caterpillar off my pants before he did any more damage. My hand got a bit swollen and red, but it faded along with the sting after about half an hour. It was not the experience I was expecting or wanted from a caterpillar at 8.00, although I didn’t have it as bad as one of the guys who managed to sit on one of the caterpillars that morning. After an eventful RAP, we had some students come to the center who were from a community college English class. There were some activities organized so we could all interact and they could practice their English while we all practiced our Spanish. Some of the activities were kind of cheesy, but it was fun to practice speaking with someone who is in the same situation. Classes in the afternoon were uneventful, but the real excitement came when we left after dinner to go to the Saprissa vs. Monterrey soccer game in San Jose. Yendry, one of the SFS staff who organized the trip, is a huge Saprissa fan, so she told us was to wear and taught us one of the main cheers. Our bus was full of American students clad in purple and white, Saprissa’s colors, singing “Vamos, Vamos morados, Esta noche tenemos que ganar!” We loads of fun before we even got to the stadium for the game at 8.00. Since its Costa Rica, it was raining quite hard the entire time, but luckily the seats were covered a bit so we didn’t get completely soaked. This was the first time I’d been to a professional soccer game and I had loads of fun. The Costa Ricans are so into their fútbol that it’s hard to be around them and not get caught up in all the excitement. At half, Saprissa was down 1-2, but they tied it up midway through the second half. At the end it got really exciting because Saprissa had so many shots on goal, but shot after shot you would hear the collective groan as it missed by just an inch. The game ended in an empate, or a tie, at 2 all. It was not quite the same jubilant bus ride home, partially due to the score, partially because it was after 10.00 and that’s about the time when we’re all ready to go to bed. 

Field trip to Tarcoles River and Cararra National Park

Crocodiles on the Tarcoles river

Yesterday, Thursday 23^rd, was a day full of FEX work. We had two brief lectures in the morning and then the rest of the day was devoted to finishing out TE FEX which was due at midnight. It was only slightly stressful considering how long it’s been since I’ve had to do a lab write up. But now it’s done and out of the way.



Scarlet Macaws



Garbage at the beach by the Tarcoles



It feels like we’re always getting up at the crack of dawn, but that’s not the case, as I found out today. It was a rough morning as we got up pre-crack of dawn for the field trip. We had breakfast at 5.30 am so we could leave by 6.30 for our trip to Tarcoles River and Cararra National Park. The first stop on this field trip was the Tarcoles River, where we took a boat tour and saw quite a few crocodiles, lots of birds (egrets, hawks, herons and scarlet macaws), a few basilisks and loads of trash. The Tarcoles River basin is known to be one of the most polluted areas, even though it serves as the watershed for almost half of Costa Rica. It was really sad to see all that trash, and we even heard that the beach had just been cleaned up. We had two field lectures in the morning when we were at the river, one for Tropical Ecology on mangroves and one for Natural Resource Management on the pollution of the Tarcoles River basin. While we were on the beach for our second lecture it started to rain, but luckily we were required to bring waterproof notebooks, so I kept taking notes as the rain came down. It got a bit hard to focus on the lecture when I was able to write on paper that was dripping wet without it warping and falling apart. This could be a problem since it is the rainy season and we’ll probably have to take notes in the rain quite often. We were all ready for lunch by the time we got to Cararra since we had eaten breakfast over six hours before. We then went on our standard orientation hike in the forest, which is a transitional wet to dry forest, although today it was more of a wet forest. Probably the best decision I made all day was to wear my rain boots for the hike, as we had to walk through small streams on the trail and muck through a bunch of deep mud. We saw some more white faced capuchin monkeys and a green and black dart frog. This field trip, unlike our others so far, was just a day trip so we got to go back to the center and take nice cold showers after our full day of activities.



Dragonfly at Cararra



A Busy Week

A little girl at the parade

Classes, chores and adventures have definitely started rolling. We’re now into the second full week of classes, and it is pretty busy. Last week on Wednesday the 15^th we went into Atenas for the Independence Day celebration, which involved a very intense parade, and much festivity. We had the whole morning to walk around and absorb everything. It was very different from a Fourth of July celebration at home; it seemed like almost all the children in Atenas were in the parade in some way or another. I also managed to get a couple of photos of the kids all dressed up.

Working with Arriatna

Thursday the 16^th was our first outreach day, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Each time we do outreach, there are about five different projects that the staff organized for the morning. This time there were people working on fixing up a community center, learning about trees to teach a boy scout troop, painting the lines on a basketball court at the elementary school, helping in the municipal forest and then there was my group that went to the Escuela Central (local elementary) to help plant some trees and flowers in the courtyard. We worked on our own in the beginning, but after awhile we got some help from about 10 kids ages 7-10. It was so much fun working with the kids planting trees (sembrando arboles), even though my helper, Arriatna, didn’t really want to get her hands dirty. We were able to communicate pretty well with each other, but it still made it evident that I have some work to do before I can even carry on a conversation with a 10 year old. This is definitely what I’ve enjoyed the most since I’ve been here. I would love to keep working with the kids at the school, but the outreach group is only four people, so have to rotate.

Continental Divide in Monteverde

On Friday the 17^th we left for our second excursion, this one only one night though, to Monteverde. It was quite a bumpy, curvy and breathtaking ride. There was one point when we were driving up the road (in a sizeable charter bus, mind you) and a fairly large truck was heading down the road. I was conveniently on the side where it looked like we were about to fall off the road. I am continually amazed at how the drivers here maneuver even the largest vehicles. When we got to Monteverde, in one piece thank goodness, we went for the usual orientation hike but this time we also got a field lecture in Tropical Ecology. I’m still not quite adept at taking notes while standing up, on a small waterproof notebook all the while trying not to be distracted be the scenery around. On the hike we made it up to the Continental Divide (at a whopping 4,000 feet above sea level) and we went over to the Caribbean Side from the Pacific where we hiked from. After a day of hiking and lectures the staff knew exactly what we all needed – pizza. We at a very nice restaurant where we had salad, rolls (quite a novelty), pizza (cheese, pepperoni, veggie) and ice cream to top it all off. It was a very welcome change in the menu, although I wonder what it will be like after we’ve been here more than just two weeks.

Humming birds at Monteverde

Saturday morning we had our first field exercise (FEX) for Tropical Ecology in which we were given the morning to come up with a hypothesis about something related to Tropical Ecology, and then collect the data to test it. As this was the first time I have ever done anything resembling research, I was a bit nervous, but I worked with my friend Rachel who is also from Colorado and we measured leaves all morning long. We wanted to test the ratio of area of the drip tips on leaves versus the total area of the leaf to see if that had any impact on the amount of epiphylls growing on the leaf. We measured and photographed a total of 36 leaves, after which I felt like a pro at identifying the Rubiaceae leaf and finding the inflection points to get the start of the drip tip. After we finished up with that we had a quick lunch and then packed up to head back to the center. We did make one quick detour to the Monteverde Cheese Factory, where almost everyone got ice cream or some type of cheese. Consequently, the fridge at the center now smells of cheese and I’m guessing it will be that way through the semester. The rest of the ride home was rainy, but uneventful.

Strangler fig that completely killed
off the tree inside

Sunday, a day off , was much needed. After returning from a field trip, it’s always nice to have a little time off. Unfortunately I think I’m always going to be on early morning time, but I guess it was nice to be out on a run at 7.00. In the late morning I went into town with Rachel and Laura and we went to the internet café so we could finally use skype and talk to family and friends from home. It was wonderful, and very cheap. The only problem is that almost everything in Atenas shuts down around noon, so you have to get there relatively early to get anything done. Some of the few places that are open later are restaurants, so we had a nice lunch at La Carreta. The afternoon rains came pretty early, so I just spent the rest of my day relaxing at the center and getting some homework done.

Monday was a busy, but routine day. We had class in the morning, including a presentation by my group in Natural Resource Management on bananas in Costa Rica. We also started our actual Spanish classes, which is a good thing because I feel like there is much work to be done on that front. We also have our homestay the first weekend in October, so a lot of this class will be devoted to preparing us for that weekend.

Tuesday was farm chore day! I was excited because I wanted to work in the garden or down in the orchard, but unfortunately I got stuck with painting the fence posts around our pool. It was a fairly simple task, but not as exciting as I had hoped. And it resulted in my hands, fingernails and legs all being more green than they should be. My fingernails are still on the green side. In the afternoon we had a 3 ½ hour block of class, which was a bit much. At least on Wednesday we have a morning of outreach to look forward to and only a short Spanish class.

Helen with the kids that did the handprints

Me, Helen, Alex and Rachel working
on the mural

Wednesday was a full but fun day starting with our outreach in the morning. I went to the salon communal, or community center that we are trying to fix up to work on a mural. I was also in the group that planned and sketched out the mural a few days ago, so I had a good idea of what we wanted to accomplish. We immediately started sketching everything out on the wall and soon had an audience of four young boys. It was perfect that they showed up because we wanted to put a border of handprints around the mural, and this way we had kids from the community actually putting their handprints on the wall. We cranked out the mural and of course got very dirty… I will probably have green paint under my fingernails for at least two weeks. In the afternoon we walked over to a neighboring finca that actually looked more like a country club than a farm, with a restaurant/dining area, swimming pools, ponds, a soccer field and most importantly a tennis court. Most of the group played soccer, which was objective of the trip, but now I’m exciting to go there to play tennis! The rest of the afternoon and evening consisted of our second Spanish class and more work trying to finish the lab write up for our Tropical Ecology Field Exercise (TE FEX).

Lantern Parade

School. I keep forgetting that I'm in Costa Rica to go to school, until we have days like Monday. We had three straight hours of Natural Resource Management and then a lunch break before an hour of Language, Culture and Society and immediately after that another three hour class for Tropical Ecology. The classes are interesting enough, but I've found out that my attention span for learning about the different types of soil in Costa Rica is much shorter than the class length. On Monday we also started our pandilla system, which is translated literally as a gang, and we have chore rotations each week. My pandilla drew the short straw for the first rotation of chore assignments...we are cleaning the bathrooms this week after they've had little to no attention the past week. It was a bit rough yesterday, but hopefully it will get better.

Today, Tuesday, we had three different Economics class sessions, although ony one was actually a lecture. We got some basic intro information to Excel and how we're going to need to use it. After another lecture on how to write a scientific report, our professor brought in a scorpion to show us that has a neon glow to it when its under a black light. That was definitely an exciting way to end a lecture.

A young girl with her lantern



2nd grade girls performing a traditional dance



Its been a full few days of classes, so tonight we went into town to watch the lantern parade, which precedes all the independence day activities that start tomorrow. Most of the program was done by the local elementary school kids, which ensured that it was an entertaining and very cute parade. There were a lot of songs sung and dances danced before everyone paraded around the square holding their homemade lanterns proudly in front of them. We saw evidence to much creativity in Atenas, with lanterns ranging from roosters and songbirds, to Costa Rican flags and houses. We all got quite a shock when they even set off fireworks from the square. After the end of the parade, in our search for a taxi, we decided that a holiday was definitely a day for ice cream. So we splurged at a local heladeria and got an ice cream cone for a dollar. Tomorrow we should have another full day of festivities for the actual independence day, and in celebration the only class we have tomorrow is a dance class in the evening.

Some of the lanterns for the parade

Almost a full week at SFS

Caterpillar in Braulio Carillo

Sloth!

Walking through the Dole banana plantation

I've been so busy I can't believe that its not even been a full week. Thursday our schedule was changed a bit (i.e. we had to eat breakfast at 6.00 am instead of 7.00) to accommodate for our field trip to Braulio Carillo National Park and Centro Manu. We had just a short hike at Braulio Carillo, but we had so much information thrown at us...the flora and fauna are amazing. On my hike we saw a crazy caterpillar, white faced monkeys, leaf cutter ants and so many plants that I can't remember the names. After we finished we were able to sit by a waterfall to have lunch, which was gorgeous. Then we hopped back in the bus to drive the rest of the way to Centro Manu, where we stayed Thursday and Friday nights in little cabins. This field trip was not all play and no work though...we did still have a couple of classes and another orientation hike at Manu. Thursday night ended with a fun game of soccer that my team won. Our orientation hike was on Friday morning and on this hike we saw a strawberry dart frog, golden orb spiders, sugar cane, huge bromeliads and even a baby pineapple. In the afternoon we went to a palmito plantation where they harvest heart of palm. Saturday activities started very early with a 6.00 walk to where one of the professors set up mist nets to catch some birds. Unfortunately we didn't catch anything but we were at least able to see a toucan from afar and hear some parrots and an ibis. We were all surprised when we got back and a pancake breakfast we served. I think it was the first non-gallo pinto breakfast we've had. The rest of the trip consisted of a trip to the Dole plantation where we had a lecture on the history and process of banana farming. We were also able to go into the plantation and the packing plant. We finished this all off with a shot of banana liqueur that our tour guide promised us. The trip back to Atenas proved to be more eventful than expected. After stopping for lunch at a roadside restaurant we got back on the bus and drove 1/4 of a mile before we stopped. Nobody knew what happened but the bus driver didn't like the sound of the bus and left all 35+ of us sitting on a hot, stuffy bus for around 20 minutes. We were then allowed off the bus and shuttled back down to the restaurant where we waited over an hour and a half for a replacement bus to come pick us up. the other bus got to the restaurant just after it started to pour and we all scrambled to get cover in the restaurant. Once we were on the bus we made it back to the SFS center in one piece. After a quick dinner and a reality check in on the internet, almost the whole group went out to Don Yayo's, a local bar just outside of Atenas. It was a much need night off that we all enjoyed. Today, Sunday, has also been a relaxing day, even though I was woken up much earlier that I would have cared for as people left for their day trips. I stayed at the center and went for a run in the morning with my friend Rachel, who is another Coloradoan! Even though we left at 9.00 it seemed very late and very hot. I'm definitely not used to running in this kind of humidity. After a quick breakfast (cereal, not gallo pinto because we were on our own for food) and a shower we left the center for Atenas almost as hot as we were upon returning from our run. We explored the town a bit more, and got some shopping done before sitting down for lunch at one of the sodas, or little restaurants. We were sitting right across from the central park/square where we were able to watch the festivities that were for Children's Day, or so we were told by our taxi driver. On the weekend almost everything in Atenas shuts down around midday, so after we ate we walked around a few very quiet blocks and decided to find a taxi before the afternoon rain found us.

Strawberry dart frog

First few days in Costa Rica!

September 6th

Day one. On the way to and in Costa Rica. Left Grandma’s house bright and early at 4.30 am, although it wasn’t even bright at that hour. Had a smooth flight to Houston and arrived at 8.00 am. I had a minor freak out when I was not able to find my flight on the departure monitor, but my stupidity was revealed shortly when I realized my flight to Costa Rica was scheduled to leave from the same gate. I sat next to a lady from, of course, Colorado on my second flight who now lives in Costa Rica after going to CSU and studying abroad in Costa Rica. Since I was broadcasting my affiliation with SFS by wearing the tee shirt they sent us, I conveniently had a couple of other students come up to me saying they were also in the program. I had another minor fiasco when I left the airport without my luggage not realizing that I wouldn’t be able to reenter the airport. I was shoved headfirst into having to speak Spanish when I needed to sweet-talk my way back into the airport. I was able to meet up with our friend from Costa Rica, Teacher Cris shortly after and she took me out to lunch. I considered it a successful day after having only been in Costa Rica for an hour and a half and had a good meal of gallo pinto and plantains, the local rice and beans dish that is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Upon my return to the airport I met up with other SFS students and we, and all of our luggage, were piled into a huge charter bus for the 45 minute drive from San Jose to the little town of Atenas where the SFS center is located. There are about 35 students and we’re all housed in one dorm with quad style rooms. We were randomly assigned roommates so for the next three months I’m living with Christine, Rachel and Alex. All the students got a brief tour of the center and then we had a wonderful barbeque prepared for us by the cooks. It’s been wonderful meeting loads of new people, although it does feel like freshman year all over again, ice breakers and all. Setting up the room was quite a chore considering there were three hangers in my open closest and no drawers. We’ll see how soon this mess explodes. Unpacking was so overwhelming that I took a much needed break from it all and sat in the hammocks outside and listened to the rain on the tin roof. I think this program is going to lead to many early nights seeing as how it gets dark at 6.00 and we are constantly going throughout the day.

In the center of Atenas

September 7th

Walking up to the dorms

First full day in Costa Rica. The days start early here with breakfast being served at 7.00 am. It was nice, at the time, to be up with the sun out and a plate full of gallo pinto for breakfast. By the afternoon I was quite tired, but for the most part I don’t think I will mind the early mornings. Every day after breakfast we have RAP at 8.00, which is our Reflections, Announcements and Physicality time. Today was another day of ice breakers and introductions. After hearing about all 35 students and some of the professors, we split up and took off into town for the tour of Atenas. After passing through a few barrios, La Presa and Los Angeles, we got to the center of Atenas which is about 5 kilometers away. We were able to exchange money, pick up any necessary items from the super and see the layout of town. After I picked up my mosquito net and rain boots, one of the guys, Wes, and I immediately went to find mamonchinos. Wes had been to Costa Rica before so we both were ready for some of the interesting looking fruit. We received another tour, this time an in-depth one of the center and all the buildings. Our schedule next called for lunch, which was more rice and beans. I think it will take awhile to get sick of rice and beans just because we have such wonderful Costa Rican cooks. After our lunch we spent a good hour and a half presenting skits on all the rules for the center, which are plenty. Keeping to our tight schedule we then had a few minutes break before taking our Spanish placement tests, which was a conversation with the Spanish teachers. When that was done we had more business to take care of, so we all line up and paid our fees, got our ‘mug shots’ taken and then had a medical review. Or in some cases, we waited to do our medical review, but never got that far before dinner was called. More delicious Costa Rican food for dinner, and yes it was rice and beans. Now as I’m writing this I’m warming up from my first of many cold showers at the center and listen to the first rain shower of the day. The plans for a movie night came through and almost the entire group watched Toy Story 3 in the common room after cracking open a piñata for all the September birthdays. After another full day I passed out at 10.00, unfortunately it wasn’t under my new mosquito net because I currently have no way to hang it up.

September 8th

My desk...and my shelves/"dresser"

My bed, wih the mosquito net up

This morning started even earlier than the previous one due to my wonderful internal clock, which decided it was time to start the day at 5.45 am. On the positive side, this gave me time to get on the internet and send out some quick updates and make brief contact with the outside world. I think the early morning is going to prime internet time, seeing as how the internet usually stops working in the afternoon when everyone tries to get on. Breakfast again at 7.00 am and RAP at 8.00 and then the first classes started at 8.30. This morning we had a long stretch of classes, with the intro to Natural Resource Management from 8.30-10.30 and then we jumped into the intro to the Center of Sustainable Development Studies (i.e. our campus and program) from 10.30-11.30. Immediately following we had an introduction, but no lecture, for our Language, Culture and Society class right before lunch. After a lunch in which the cooks threw us a surprise and not only made rice and beans but also pasta! After lunch we had another two hour class session to look forward to in which we got the intro to Tropical Ecology and then an hour and a half first lecture. Our swimming test was scheduled for after class, but the incoming afternoon storms rained on the parade, literally. So, instead we had some free time and then we got our briefing on our first field trip, which is tomorrow. We are going to Braulio Carrillo National Park, Manu, a palmito plantation and the Dole plantation. It sounds like it’s going to be a very busy couple of days, but really interesting. After dinner, just in case they needed to scare us a little more we had a risk management meeting and were told all sorts of horror stories about parasites, dengue, rip tides and theft. This was all a good way to end the evening. But, it was nice to hear the rain, and pretty much only the rain, on the roof and watch the lightning flashing off in the distance. After awhile though off in the distance wasn’t that far and we got a pretty good storm out of it this evening. Now that I’ve finished packing I’m going to start thinking about bed since breakfast is at 6.00 instead of 7.00.

I will try to upload pictures later...the internet right now is very slow. Also, just a heads up but these will probably be my longest entries seeing as how things are going to get busier and busier.

Leaf cutter ant

Last day before the grand adventures begin!

Today is my last day in the US for almost 4 months spent in Hudson, FL with Grandma and Aunt Del. Florida must be preparing me for Costa Rica; I have seen some flora and fauna- a little frog that jumped in my face, experienced warm weather- 90s with 75% humidity and the occasional 10 minute down pour, and of course the sun continues to beat down on me as I get closer and closer to the equator.
Today's activities include picking up a few last minute items, a little repacking, soaking up the sun at the pool and getting to bed early for a 4.30 am departure from the house tomorrow.  I have five hours in the air over two flights tomorrow before I make it in to San Jose, Costa Rica. I will be meeting my group from SFS at the airport tomorrow before we head out for the School for Field Studies center in Atenas.
I will try to post updates and photos here as often as possible!