Heading Home...

Well, this will be my last post from this amazing experience in Costa Rica. While I am overwhelmingly excited to return home, the realization that I am now leaving this place, this program and these people is hitting me. The program officially ended last night and people started heading home this morning. It was really hard saying goodbye to these people I have spent nearly every moment with for the past 14.5 weeks! It has been a very emotionally draining day.

After leaving Monteverde, we hiked to the Arenal Volcano. I saw herp #100 of the trip! It was a coral snake mimic (possibly Erythrolampus mimus). The hike was beautiful, and it was a nice way to spend our last days together. We stayed at a nice hotel near Arenal and had stunning views of the volcano. Dan, Gracy and I went out for one final night hike to a nearby lake. We heard thousands of frogs and saw about 4 species. One was new and had two black spines on each hand (yet to be identified). Gracy also spotted a coral snake, which was a different species than the one we saw in La Selva! That brought the total for the trip up to 102 :) We returned to San Jose yesterday and had one final dinner together. I stay one more night and come home tomorrow afternoon.

Everything about this experience has exceeded my expectations...From learning about ecology to finding frogs at night to growing to love orchids, it has all been spectacular :) There is no description I can give to fully explain what I have experienced over the last 16 weeks, but it has certainly been life changing! I can't wait to return here someday (SOON!) and continue this experience where it is leaving off. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity.

Hasta luego Monteverde!

Well, today is our last day at the station...After four months in Costa Rica, my time here is almost at an end. I have loved every minute in this beautiful country, but Monteverde has been something even more special and unique. The pace of life here, and the way people live is so wonderful. I will deeply miss the 45 minute walks to get to the nearest coffee shop or restaurant because they provided so much time to talk with friends and enjoy each others' company, not to mention appreciate the stunning views all around us. There is something so indescribably infectious about this place, and the only way to understand it is to come here...I wish everyone could get the opportunity to experience Monteverde as I have, and I will forever be grateful for the time I have spent here. I don't know when, but I know that I'll be back...

25%

As of right now, including my trip to Costa Rica last summer, I have seen 25% of Costa Rica's herps; 107 out of 431! That was my goal before this trip started, and I'm amazed I actually reached it :) I have also seen at least one species of every Order; frogs and toads, caecilians, salamanders, crocodiles, lizards and snakes, and turtles. I have to say that this trip has far exceeded my expectations, and I can't wait to come back and find more in the future!

Catching Up

I have to apologize for the lack of updates recently, but the combination of massive amounts of work and no new adventures has made life fairly uninteresting lately...Here's a recap of the last couple of weeks.

We left homestays last Sunday and had our Tropical Diversity final the following day. Our first drafts of our project reports were due on Thursday, and we gave our presentations on Saturday. Most of last week consisted of statistical analysis, interpreting results, and writing. Presenting the results was fun, and I really enjoyed hearing about other students' projects.

As far as my project went, here is a short synopsis of the results:

It is well documented that Norops  lizards perch at different heights during the day depending on their sex and species. According to my results, this stratification is maintained at night, since species and sexes showed significantly different average sleeping site heights. Also, they showed a preference for protected sites, which is different than common observations (which is what made me want to study this in the first place!). The results were very interesting, and if you would like to read about it in more detail, just post a comment with your email and I'll send you the paper :)

We have very little left in terms of school work...A final for our Humans in the Tropics class tomorrow, and a final draft of our paper due on Thursday. We hike to Arenal Volcano on Friday, then head back to San Jose. I'll be back in the States on week from tonight! I'll miss Costa Rica, but I can't wait to be home. Hopefully I'll have a couple more adventures before we leave :)

Lluvia (Rain)

Let the wet season begin! As I am writing this I can barely even hear the music in m headphones over the pounding of rain on the metal roof of my house. Tropical rain is pretty intense! It has rained quite a bit lately, and at least once a day for the past 4 days. Today, while I was out searching for lizards, the ominous gray clouds above me must have decided that I was dehydrated, so they shared some of their water with me. I came home quite drenched, but I managed to find one lizard before the downpour began :) My new method of applying the powder I use to track the lizards at night has proven very successful, and I have found all seven lizards I have used it on so far. Even with all the rain, the powder works great!

I am hoping to find more amphibians now that it is getting wetter. I hear more frogs every night and I saw a salamander (Bolitoglossa robusta) D.O.R. yesterday, which means they're becoming active again. I don't even know what I can find around here, but there has to be something!

Only four days of data collection left and I am at 38 lizards. Hopefully the weather will cooperate enough for me to reach my goal of 50, but I am happy with the amount I have been able to find so far. Last day of lecture and Spanish is Friday, then we are back to the station and have to do a lot of work writing up our projects. Three weeks left, but they are going to fly by! But I'm soaking up as much Pura Vida as I can until then :)

Mi familia tica (My Costa Rican family)

I'm sure many of you have heard the phrase “Mi casa es su casa,” which means “My house is your house.” Well, this homestay experience has taught me a lot about what that phrase really means. It has been amazing to see how welcoming my homestay family has been, even to a strange looking gringo with a goofy beard :) I guess they have seen it all, since they have been housing students for 15 years, but their hospitality has meant a lot to me.

I have been here for three weeks now (which has gone by incredibly fast!), and I have loved every day of it. My family lives on a small dairy farm in the San Luis Valley, which is at a low elevation in the Monteverde region.

My tica mom, Xinia, has lived in this region her whole life. She works a few days a week up in Monteverde, and she cooks all the time when she is home. She told me that her dream is to open a “panaderia” (bakery) here at the house. They have been saving up money and are going to get a loan soon to build a little building next to the house where she can bake all the bread and other food. I am sure that the bakery will have great success, because she makes some of the best bread I have ever eaten in my whole life! My favorite are her banana bread cupcakes with chocolate frosting :) She also makes all kinds of sweet breads and other assorted loaves...We always have fresh bread :) She even sells bread to the local supermarket. I have enjoyed talking to her and getting to know her. My tico dad's name is Jose, and he works on the farm all day. He doesn't talk a whole lot, but he is a really nice guy.

My tico siblings are Cindy (21...3 days older than me) and Eduardo (14). Cindy is married and has a daughter named Tatiana who is 1 year 9 months (and incredibly cute!). Cindy and her husband live in a little house behind ours, but they are over here basically all day. Eduardo goes to school at the Cloud Forest School in Monteverde, and speaks very good English. In fact, he doesn't even speak Spanish with me :) He has helped me a lot with my project as he has grown up catching these “gallegos.”

Most night we watch TV while we eat dinner. My favorite show is “Caso Cerrado” (Case Closed), which is basically the Spanish version of Jugde Judy :) They have the most outrageous cases on there, but it is a good way to learn Spanish. My family also loves “telenovelas,” which are the standard TV shows here. They are practically the same quality as daytime soap operas in the States, with ridiculous plots, excessively loud theme music, and tons of drama. My family's favorite is “En Nombre del Amor” (In the Name of Love), and we watch it every night at dinner :)

Because of my project, I usually am out until about 8:30 or later, and my family is in bed by 8 every night. Once I had to stay up until about 11 doing some homework and the next morning my mom said I was crazy for staying up so late...I tried to explain to her that if I was back home that would be early for me, but I think she just thought I was more crazy :)

One week left, then we head back to the station, but I will never forget this month on the farm and my newly adopted tico family!

Gallegos

I have had a lot of requests to update my blog lately, so here is a quick recap of the past 3 weeks or so...

I started a homestay the week we got back to Monteverde and have been working on my independent research project. I am staying on a farm in the San Luis Valley, which is a little lower in elevation than the rest of Monteverde. It is about a 1.5 hour walk to the Biological Station, but I only have class once or twice a week. My family is very nice and I am loving Costa Rican food :) We watch a lot of TV, so I am learning a lot of Spanish comprehension! I will be here for another week and a half, until we return to the Station on 5/2.

My project is studying the sleeping site selection of Norops lizards ("gallegos" in Spanish) around the farm and surrounding areas. So far I have caught 31 lizards, and my homestay brother, Eduardo (13), has helped me a lot. I use fluorescent powder to track the lizards using UV light at night. My success rate at tracking them has not been phenomenal, but I am getting better. I have also developed some new strategies that seem to help make the process easier. My goal is 50 lizards, so we'll see if I can get that many by next Sunday.

There were fiestas in Monteverde over the past weekend, with food, carnival rides, and bull riding. I learned that here in Costa Rica, bull riding is not a spectator sport...In fact, after the rider is launched from the bull, it is customary for the spectators to run around inside the ring, taunting the bull, somewhat like a tame version of the "Running of the Bulls" in Spain. In an effort to fully immerse myself in the culture, I couldn't not participate! Although as some of the bulls were over 1600 pounds, I decided that my position by the wall was the best place to be :) It was quite an experience!

That's about all that has been going on for the last 3 weeks. It is crazy to think that I will be home in 25 days! The time is going to fly by...

The Atlantic Adventure!

This trip was FULL of exciting stories and beautiful  places! In order to simplify things, I'm just going to make entries for each place we stayed and include all of the stories from each place...Unfortunately, my camera died about halfway through the trip, so I might  not have pictures of everything like I wish I could, but I'll do the best I can to borrow pictures from other students :)

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Because we only had 90 day visas for Costa Rica, we had to leave the country for at least 72 hours until we could return and renew our 90 days. In order to do this, we went down to a set of islands off the coast of Panama called Bocas del Toro. There are nice coral reefs all around the area, so we used these four days for our marine diversity lessons.

After a LONG bus ride from Parismina, we got there just as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful, almost stereotypical, Caribbean island. Palm trees everywhere with hammocks strung between them, crystal clear blue water...It was paradise :) After getting our things settled, we had a quick meeting about or plans for the next day. I got directions from one of our professors to a small nearby pond that we were told had some cool frogs, then Dan, Aaron and I headed out on our night hike. Little did we know what was in store that fateful night...

When we saw the pond, I immediately spotted the characteristic orange glow of caiman eyeshine! Who would have guessed there would be a caiman in this tiny pond no more than 20 feet in diameter on an island in the Caribbean? Needless to say, we were excited :) As we got closer, we could see that it was just a small one, about 2 feet long. Feeling confident, waded into the pond to try to catch it. Just like its friends in Tirimbina, this one was pretty shy and kept hiding underwater. However, in that small of a pond that was only two feet deep, it was easy to see every move it made. Dan came in to help me and we slowly moved it to one side of the pond. Suddenly, I saw it right in front of me at the surface and I decided to grab it behind the neck. I reached down, but not quite fast enough...I grabbed him at midbody and he turned around and clamped down on my right hand! Thankfully, he let go as quickly as he bit me, but he left some serious wounds. At that moment, we realized that there were, in fact, TWO caiman in the pond, and the one I tried to grab was actually closer to 4 feet! The night hike ended very quickly, and we headed back to camp to get my wounds bandaged. On the way back the shock of the bite wore off and it started to throb. I was lucky to only have three tooth marks, but they were pretty deep and right on my knuckles. I had never seen that far into my body that far, and I was a little worried :( I had to swallow every ounce of pride I had and admit to the staff what stupid thing I had done...that sucked :) They were very gracious and fixed me up quickly. I think they were glad that I had learned my lesson!

The next day three days were spent almost entirely in the water snorkeling. While it stung my hand a bit, the salt water actually ended up being good for my hand. I had never been snorkeling on a coral reef, and I was amazed by all of the things we saw. There were so many colorful fish that I had only seen in a aquariums before, sea cucumbers, jellyfish, comb jellies...I even saw a barracuda and two huge moral eels! It was an awesome three days of experiencing the diversity of marine life and living in paradise :)

Besdies marine life, we also saw four species of snake, a few geckos, a night lizard, and a cool color morph of the Red and Blue Poison Dart frog that was green and yellow with black spots! Way more herps than I expected on an island :)

Bocas del Toro was an amazing place to get to spend a few days, and I will not soon forget the lesson I learned to respect EVERY animal that has teeth!

Parismina

One of the most famous tourist destinations in Costa Rica is Tortuguero, a National Park on the Atlantic coast that was named for the large amounts of Green Sea Turtles that come there to nest at the same time (Turtuga=Turtle). However, this time of year they are not nesting, so we went to a nearby town called Parismina in hopes of seeing Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea), since they nest there in low amounts year round.

We arrived the first night and had a lecture about the different types of sea turtles. We headed out at 8 pm to walk the beach and look for turtles. We went with people from a local organization that works to protect the turtles. For years they have been killed by people for their meat, and people have robbed their nests for the eggs. This organization both protects the turtles as they are laying their eggs and moves some of the nests to protected sites to keep people from taking the eggs. Luckily, the local people understand that these animals need to be conserved, so the problems have decreased a lot. We walked around for 4 hours and saw nothing :( I was pretty bummed when we left, because that was my one chance to see them and I didn't know if I would ever have another opportunity.

The next day, we went into Tortuguero National Park. We only went on a short hike, but we saw 2 types of vine snakes(Oxybelis aeneus; Leptophis ahuatella), a couple Norops, a Casque-Headed Lizard (Corytophanes cristatus), and a Wet Forest Toad (Bufo melanochlorus). We also saw some big crocodiles in the river! Later on that night, I also saw a little mud turtle (Kinosternon leucostomum) near our hotel.

During the afternoon I found out that we were going to go out and look for Leatherbacks again that night :) I was so excited for the second chance to see them! We went from 12 to 4 this time, so we all took naps after dinner until 12. We headed over to a different beach and started to look. As soon as we got there, we found a turtle heading back into the water after nesting! It was SO AWESOME! I was so stoked to actually see one :) We kept looking for a while longer and found another one! It was in the process of laying eggs, so we got to watch it for a while. 

All of my life I have wanted to see a Leatherback, but never thought I would. They are the largest of all sea turtles, growing up to a shell length over 7 feet long and weighing over 2000 pounds! They are the deepest diving reptile, and rival the Sperm Whale for deepest diving vertebrate. They have been recorded at depths greater than 1200 meters, which is 3900 feet! They are also unique in the fact that they are able to maintain a constant body temperature, even in very cold water; very few other reptiles are able to do that. They can be found in all of the world's oceans and they nest all around the world. They swim incredible distances during their lifetime. Unfortunately, they are currently listed as critically endangered. Their population in the Pacific is especially weak, and it is likely that it will not survive without a major intervention. 

I can't even describe what it was like getting to experience that moment with the Leatherback...It makes me sad to think that these incredible animals may not be around for others to appreciate in the future. This is why I am going to be a herpetologist/conservation biologist in the future, because I want someone else to have the opportunity to be inspired by the incredible beauty and complexity and subtleties of an animal like this.

La Selva

In the world of tropical herpetology, even tropical biology as a whole, there is one station famous for producing much of the foundational research: La Selva. Run by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), La Selva continues to be one of the world leaders in tropical research, with over 100 researchers using its facilities every year. At any given time there are at least 20 researchers working at La Selva. Their facilities are very impressive, and over the years they have become almost like a mini university in the rainforest. It was awesome to get to go to a place with such a legacy and prestige.

To make it even better, our day at La Selva was our Herpetology Diversity Day! Unfortunately, we only had one night to be there, but it was all about herps :) Before we arrived, Yimen (one of our TA's) and I decided to have a contest to see who could find more herps in 24 hours. Within the first five minutes I saw a striped basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus), which is the third species of basilisk in Costa Rica :) We had a lecture in the morning when we arrived, then went on hikes around the station. We saw two vipers on the walk; an Eyelash Pit Viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) and another Hog-Nosed Pit Viper (Porthidium nasutum)! The Eyelash Viper was a yellow color morph that is common on the Atlantic Coast, which was awesome to get to see :) We had another lecture before dinner, then we went on a night hike as a group.

 On the night hike we saw tons of herps! We saw a Smoky Jungle Frog (Leptodactylus pentadactylus), which was almost Cane Toad size. We also saw a Fer de Lance (Bothrops asper) and a Coral Snake (Micrurus alleni)! I had never seen a coral snake before, so that was pretty awesome to see. We went down to the “Cantarrana” (Singing frog) pond, which La Selva is famous for. We saw a few species of tree frog there, and eyeshine from a caiman :)

At the end of the hike, everyone else went back, but I stayed out. I decided that since it was my only night in La Selva, I was going to hike all night :) I went around through some of the trails and found a ton of frogs. It was raining a lot, so I had to stand under palm trees for a while to avoid the downpour. It was an amazing experience to turn of my headlamp and just stand there in the middle of the forest hearing the rain fall down through the trees and all of the frogs singing around me...I'll never forget that :) I got startled by some peccaries a few times, and I saw an armadillo, which was cool.

 I was going along a trail that led back towards the station and I came to some bridges. Unfortunately, because of the heavy rain the bridges were underwater! Some of them I was able to walk across, but one had water well above the top of my boots. I decided to climb across on the railing, and as I got almost to the other side, I felt something sting my hand. I looked down and saw a bullet ant stinging my palm! Bullet ants get their name because of the strength of their sting, and it certainly lived up to it :( It wasn't too horrible though, so I kept on walking. Around 2 am I found another snake! This one was a Coral Snake mimic like we saw in Penas Blancas (Urotheca euryzona). It was pretty cool to get to see it better this time, since I only saw the tail of the last one.

At about 3 am I headed back to the station to get a little sleep. I ended up with 23 species in less than 24 hours! I was pretty amazed at the amount of herps that I saw, and I totally dominated Yimen :) The next day we left after lunch to head to Parismina after having a short class period in the morning. I greatly appreciated the long bus ride so that I could catch up on my lost sleep...La Selva definitely didn't disappoint!

This was when my camera broke, so I have no pictures from La Selva or later...I'll do my best to get some from other people though :)

Tirimbina--Day 3

It would seem that Tirimbina couldn't get any better, but day three just kept up the trend! We hiked across the reserve to a station on the other side. During the hike we found a Hog Nosed Pit Viper (Porthidium nasutum)! It was actually in the middle of the trail and a few of the other students stepped on it before realizing what it was. Luckily, these snakes are pretty small and not aggressive...If it were a Fer de Lance, they would have been dead :) After everyone passed by, I moved it off of the trail with a stick. It was fun to get to do a little snake wrangling again, and it was cool watching it move. A little further along the trail, we saw a turtle in a stream (Rhinoclemmys funera)! That was the first turtle I have seen here :)

We got back to thew station a little before dinner, so Dan and I went down to the pond to actually see it in the daytime :) While we were walking by the egde, we saw a little plumed basilisk (Basiliscus plumifrons) run away from us out onto a log. We stopped to look at it, and we realized that there was a long green snake on the bush right in front of us! It was about a 4 foot long Parrot Snake (Leptophis depressirostris). These snakes are notoriously aggressive, but being me, I tried to catch it :) They do a threat display where they open their mouth up really wide and try to bite. After a few minutes of Steve Irwin style snake wrangling, I finally got it behind the head, with just a small bite on my thumb :) It was such a beautiful snake! A very exciting find :)

 That night, we had a group night hike led by our professors. We went down to the river, but this time we just walked in the river :) It was a bit more extreme, and super fun! We found glass frogs along the edges and even saw a big male basilisk on a vine over the water. We also saw a cat-eyed snake (Imantodes cenchoa) on a log on the edge. We went down to the pond again and saw more cool frogs :) I caught another baby caiman and showed it to the group. They thought it was pretty cool :) When everyone went back, Dan and I stayed for one last attempt. I caught a second baby caiman and tried to use them to lure in the mother, but that failed...Dan and I decided to try to imitate the sound the babies make, and it actually worked! At one point, the caiman was only 10 feet away from Dan, staring right at him! Unfortunately, that was as close as we got. She seemed to figure out that were, in fact, were not her babies, and she lost interest...We headed back to the station, fully satisfied with our three days in Tirimbina :)

Tirimbina was an incredible 3 days! That was exactly what I have envisioned a rainforest to be ever since I was a little kid. I hope that I will be able to return someday to experience the incredible diversity we saw there!

Hog Nosed Pit Viper (Porthidium nasutum) on

the trail

Under a log after I moved him...I love their

coloration and camouflage :)

Tirimbina--Day 2

During the day, we went to a tree plantation that is working on developing sustainable timber production. As we were walking, someone spotted a Black and Green Poison Dart Frog (Dendrobates auratus)! They are really uncommon on the Atantic coast, so that was a big surprise :) We also saw some Red and Blue Dart Frogs (Oophaga pumilio), which was cool. We also went to an organic pineapple plantation and got to eat a lot of pineapple!

 That night, since everyone had heard about the hike we had the night before, we had about 15 people! That was definitely the biggest non-mandatory night hike we have had :) First, we went down to the river. We saw some cool smooth sided toads (Bufo haematiticus) on the way down. When we got to the river, I could hear glass frogs calling all over the place! Everyone split up and stared looking and we found so many of them! One was the most common glass frog here in Costa Rica, Fleischman's Glass Frog (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanii). The other species we saw was Cochranella spinosa, which is actually pretty uncommon! We even saw some in amplexus, which is the term for frog mating (new vocabular word!). Someone also spotted an Annulated Tree Boa (Corallus annulatus), which was an awesome snake! It was just a little one, but it had a really interesting coloration.

We left the river and headed down to the pond. This time we were able to find all of the frogs in about 5 minutes...we felt like pros :) Everyone loved seeing the frogs, especially the Red Eyes. It was a lot of fun getting to semi-lead a night hike and show all of these cool animals to everyone! After everyone left, Dan and I headed back out into the pond, but ended up with the same results. However, as we were getting out, we saw three Red Eyes hanging out right next to each other! We just stood there and watched for a few minutes taking in the sight. That was a great consolation for not catching a caiman :)

Dan holding the Dendrobates auratus

Happily hopping away :)

The other, more common Poison Dart Frog

(Oophaga pumilio)

A picture of the pond during the day...who's

up for a swim?!

Smooth Sided Toad (Bufo haematiticus)

The Tree Boa (Corallus annulatus) we saw...in a tree!

Really cool snake :)

Glass Frog! (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni)

The other species (Cochranella spinosa) in

amplexus!

Tirimbina--Day 1

Tirimbina is officially my favorite place in Costa Rica :) I had so much fun that I have to split it into 3 entries...From Poco Sol we drove to a biological station in a reserve called Tirimbina. It is a couple hours off the coast at the base of the montains we hiked through earlier. The station was pretty nice, but the best part was that it was right in between a pond/swamp and a river; each one was about 5 minutes away...Perfect setup for some great night hikes, and they were nothing short of EPIC!

The first night, Nick, Dan, Jason, and I went down to the pond to look for frogs and caiman. We immediately spotted the bright orange caiman eye shine out in the middle of the pond, but decided to look for frogs first. We could hear them calling all around us, so all we had to do was follow the sounds! The first frog we found was a Scarlet-webbed Tree Frog (Hyla rufitela), which was so beautiful! It was bright green with red webbing on its feet. Its underside was blue also. A great start to the night! Next, we found a little rain frog (E/P ridens). Not as interesting to look at, but an awesome frog nonetheless :) We were at the edge of the pond and Nick spotted a baby caiman, so I went out into the pond to catch it. After slowly sneaking through the reeds, I grabbed it! It was such a cool little animal! It looked just like a full size caiman, just in miniature form :) It even made its “mommy help me!” noise, which was cool. 

After letting the little guy go, we continued looking for frogs, specifically the famous Red Eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) that we heard was there...We kept hearing a loud frog right around us, but were unable to find it. I decided to try to call back to it, and it worked! I had to dig through a pile of dead leaves, but I finally found it :) It was another tree frog (Scinax boulengeri), but this one was brown. The crazy thing about it was that it smelled like cinnamon! I found nothing about the smell in any Costa Rica herp books, but we thought it might be a chemical they secrete that repels predators...Future research project? :) 

With the Red Eyed Tree Frog still eluding us, we kept searching. I could hear it calling high above us, but we couldn't see any...All of a sudden, Nick spotted one up in a tree! We were so excited, but we had no way to get any closer. I decided to try to climb a nearby tree, but when I pulled on a vine I saw something fall next to me. I looked down and saw a DIFFERENT Red Eye crouched on a leaf by my leg! It was pretty lucky, but at least we got to see one up close :) This frog is basically Costa Rica's mascot and it is such a tropical cliché, but getting to see it in the wild was so amazing. Their colors are so striking and their faces are so interesting. It was something I will not soon forget :)

The only thing left to do was to catch a big caiman...Dan and I waded/swam out into the middle of the lake in pursuit, but the caiman were very wary of us. Any time we got within about 30 feet they would submerge and swim away. Even though we were unable to catch one, it was a really fun experience. Most people would be terrified to be neck deep in a dirty, smelly, caiman-infested swamp, but I loved every minute of it :)

Here are some pictures, but Jason got a lot of awesome pictures since he has a nice camera. I'll post a link to his blog when he posts the pictures...

Scarlet Webbed Tree Frod (Hyla rufitela)

The "Cinnamon" Frog (Scinax boulengeri)

Red Eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) that

just fell out of the tree crouched on a leaf

Waking up :)

I love this picture! (That's Jason, by the way)

Poco Sol

We had another 10 mile hike from Penas Blancas to Poco Sol. With the combination of both hikes, we ended up hiking across the middle of the Children's Eternal Rainforest, which was pretty cool :) It was a difficult hike, but beautiful the whole way! When we got there, we found out that there was a big lake right near the station with a canoe we were allowed to use! It was so nice getting some time to relax and cool off in the lake.

Our second day at Poco Sol was bird diversity day, and it was a great place to have it. In just one day our group saw over 100 species of birds! I'm not much of a birder, but I really enjoyed learning about birds and being in such a super diverse place to see them.

Our night hikes at Poco Sol were amazing :) In reality, they weren't actually hikes, since we took the canoe out on the lake to find frogs. There were so many frogs! We only found 4 species around the lake, but there were so many of each kind. The main species we saw was a big green frog (Rana vaillanti). There were also Cane Toads (Bufo/Chaunus marinus) and Forest Toads (Bufo coniferus). The second night, we found a little passageway into a small lagoon off of the main lake...We had to carry the canoe through, but it was such a fun adventure :) At the end of each night we would paddle out to the middle of the lake, turn off our lights, look up at the stars and listen to the sounds around us. It was such an amazing moment! I will never forget that :)

Eleutherodactylus megacephalus. Saw this guy

on the hike over :)

The lake! So gorgeous...

A random tree frog that was on one of the

girls' widows...Scinax elaeochroa

Rana vaillanti...Big and green :)

I really like these toads :) Bufo coniferus

Penas ("Penyas") Blancas

The first stop on our trip was in Penas Blancas, which is basically in the middle of nowhere :) We hiked 10 miles with our packs up over the continental divide and down the Atlantic slope to about 800 meters elevation. Forests of this elevation on the Atlantic side get the highest amount of rain here in Costa Rica, and some even get over 9 METERS of rain per year! That's a bit more than the 8 inches I'm used to in San Diego :) As you can imagine, this was a great trip for herps!

The place we stayed used to be owned by a man named Eladio. He used to have a farm there, and the whole valley around there used to be full of farms. About 40 years ago, most of the valley was purchased through a conservation effort by some international organizations. A large amount of the money was raised by groups of children in Europe, so it was given the name the Children's Eternal Rainforest (or Bosque Eterno de lon Ninos-BEN). It is now the largest private reserve in all of Central America at almost 30,000 hectares! We are one of only 3 groups that gets to stay at Penas Blancas, so it was quite a privilege. Eladio has woked for the Biological Reserve in Monteverde for many years, and he knew so much about the plants around the station. Dan and I walked around with him one afternoon and he told us about all the orchids. He even has a species of orchid named after him! It was awesome to get to meet him :)

Though the accommodations were fairly primitive, it was a beautiful place, and the river nearby was great for swimming in. You could even ride down some of the rapids, which was quite exciting :) We used the river as a shower substitute every day, and it worked pretty well!

Well, I'm sure you're dying to know about all of the herps! :) I decided before the trip started that I was going to go on a night hike every night, and Penas was no exception...We saw lots of leaf litter frogs and Brilliant Forest Frogs (Rana warszewitschii) every time we went out. We also saw a "Halloween Snake" (Urotheca euryzona), which was a red and black coral snake mimic. The coolest frog by far was the Masked Tree Frog (Smilisca phaeota) that Dan found when it jumped onto his foot at the station! We went out as a group on the last night and near the start of the hike we saw another Fer de Lance (Bothrops asper)! During the day, we also saw one of the largest species of anoles here in Costa Rica (Norops biporcatus). I used some of my florescent powder to track it with my UV flashlight. (I am using this for my research later in the semester, so I'll explain more later...)

Overall, Penas Blancas was a beautiful place and a great start to the trip :) Here are some pictures from our time there:

Orchid! Each flower only lasts for one day on these.

The river rapids :)

Enjoying the river!

Leaf litter frog...Possibly Eleutherodactylus 

crassidigitus?

Masked Tree Frog (Smilisca phaeota)

I love their face...It looks like they have such

personality :)

The Adventure Continues!

This morning we had our last midterm, and tomorrow we leave for our 2.5 week trip along the Atlantic side of Costa Rica and down into Panama! The last week has been very busy...We visited the famous Monteverde Cheese Factory and a couple local farms. I was also able to take a couple short hikes around the station...It has been a great time here at the Biological Station, but I can't wait for this trip! We should see lots of herps, so prepare for tons of pictures when I get back :) We return to Monteverde on 3/30, so until then, hasta luego!

A very good day... :)

Today was an awesome day! This morning I went to church with Gracy and Aaron. We knew an area of Santa Elena (close to Monteverde) that was supposed to have a few churches, so we headed that direction...We stopped to ask a woman walking by where the nearest church was, and she told us she was on her way to one, so we just followed her :) She took us the the Monteverde Iglesia de Dios (Church of God). It was very different than the Friends Church from last week, but I loved getting to see the variety between the two :) They even had a guy playing accordion during worship, which was cool.

I was surprised that I was actually able to understand most of the message! My Spanish has improved so much since being here :) At the end we had communion, and it was awesome to feel so welcomed into this community...We had basically nothing in common, but we were still connected through God. Aaron, Gracy, and I all left feeling so refreshed :)

After lunch, we got to go ziplining! We drove back over to Selvatura Park and went on their "Extreme Canopy Tour" :) There were a total of about 11 ziplines, and a "Tarzan Swing" that was one of the scariest/most fun things I have ever experienced! One of the ziplines was really long and went across a ravine, so you were way above the trees...You couldn't see the forest ahead of you because there was so much fog, so it was like flying through a cloud :) So much fun!

We went back to the station after that, and it was back to work, but it was so nice to have that time to take a break from school! One more week and we'll be traveling the Atlantic Coast :)

Inside the church

Aaron outside the church with Rebecca, the
lady we met on the way :)

Ready for some extreme ziplining!

It's REALLY hard to see, but there is a Quetzal
in between the branches...It's brighter green
than the other green :)

La Lora Escondida

This morning we got to go to the famous Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve to go bird watching! I'm not much of a bird guy, but anywhere you can go that has 150-200 bird species is pretty awesome :) We split up into groups and each had an expert guide lead us through the Reserve. We had so much fun and saw about 15 species of birds in 2 hours, including an Emerald Toucanet, and an arboreal porcupine (which isn't a bird...). After the tour all of the groups met up, and I found out that a different group had seen a Side-Striped Pit Viper (Bothriechis lateralis)! This was one of the top snakes on my list to see during the trip, so I decided to go back and look for it, even though that meant I had to walk back to the station :)

After about a 10 minute hike, I came to the place they had described...I looked for a few minutes, but couldn't find it. Even knowing where it was barely helped, and just before I was about to give up, I finally spotted it! It was just a small juvenile, no more than about 6 inches long fully extended. Their juvenile coloration is brown, with a brightly colored tail tip. They use this as a lure for their prey, which is typically small lizards and birds (so cool!). The adults are bright green with white to bluish stripes along their sides, hence the name. They are fairly common here in lower-montane regions, but not easily found because of their great camouflage. Their name here in Costa Rica is the "Lora" :) Here are a few pictures from the day:

We have been crossing a lot of bridges lately :)

This is for the people who have requested less

reptiles and some pictures of me...AKA my

mother and girlfriend ;)

The Side-Striped Pit Viper!

Here you can see the brightly colored tail...

It looks big in this picture, but the leaf stem is

only about 2-3 inches long :)

Hard to see here, but it's the little

tan speck to the left of the tree...

You can see why it was so hard

to find, and how small it is!

Selvatura

Today was insect diversity day! We hiked up and over the continental divide and headed down the Atlantic Slope...We hiked down a trail that isn't used very often, so it was pretty slow going, but it was such a beautiful hike! On our way down to the park (called Selvatura), we crossed a few awesome bridges that had amazing views of the forest. Here are some pictures from the hike:

The group hiking down to Selvatura

A picture of the lush vegetation in the forest...

Doesn't quite capture it, so you should come

here and see it for yourself :)

This bridge was AMAZING!

The view from above...Awesome to see the

forest from this perspective!

This tree was massive!

Once we got to the park, we went to the insect museum...It was so amazing! They have thousands of specimens of all types of insects and arachnids. We learned all about insects, and then we got to look around at the museum displays. We also went to a butterfly garden nearby. It was so amazing to learn about this diverse group of the animal kingdom. Even though most people think of them as scary or disgusting, I hope you will appreciate some of the beauty I saw in these...All of the butterfly pictures are dedicated to Mrs. Stovall :)

Some blue morphos

All of these are arrangements of butterflies and moths!

Various arrangements of insects...

The wall of butterfly and moth cocoons

that they pinned up in the butterfly

garden to watch emerge...Sweet!

Inside the butterfly garden :)