La Iglesia de Los Amigos

Today was the first Sunday that I have been able to go to church since I have been here, so I was very excited to go! Gracy and I didn't know where to go, but we knew there was a Quaker (Friends) church in Monteverde, so we decided to check it out. I had never been to a Quaker service before, but it is a bit different than what I am used to...Instead of having a sermon, their services are simply a time of silence, during which members of the congregation can stand and share thoughts. Even though it was different than my experience, it was very nice to be there with the body of Christ.

During the service, one man stood up and shared a story about a stray dog that he helped nurse back to health. He said that many people told him that it was a bad idea, but he persisted. The comment he made that stood out to me was this (rough quotation): "The more you show your love for something, the more other people will begin to love it." Eventually, the dog recovered, and it is now happy and healthy. 

This story made me think about what Steve Irwin once said...He believed that if he could help someone connect to wildlife and  love it, then they would care enough to conserve and support it. He lived his life so passionately so that others would see the love he had for animals in hopes that they too would grow to love them. I hope that in some way my passion and love for reptiles an amphibians will help you to appreciate them as well...

Chanchos de Monte

This morning was the big exam! We had to know about 120 species of plants and animals that we learned about on our field trip. I'm pretty sure I'm fluent in Latin by now! :) It went pretty well, and having that done made life a lot less stressful...We had nothing else to do today in terms of class, so I did some homework before we went out on the town in the evening.

We had two things on the agenda for the night: a pizza eating contest, and a concert by our professor's band called Chanchos de Monte. We started off the night with the pizza eating contest between myself, Dan, and Nick. We each ordered a whole, large pizza and we had to eat as much pizza as possible in 30 minutes. It was quite a competition, but I ended up being the first to finish in 16 minutes :) It was a fun way to start off the night!

After dinner, we still had a few hours until the concert started, so Gracy, Dan, and I got some ice cream at the super market. Apparently $2 pints of ice cream are not gourmet! It was basically the most disgusting thing we had ever eaten, so Dan and I decided to get a drink to wash it down...Logically, we decided to get an energy drink! :) We headed to the concert from there.

The concert was in a little bar near the center of town, and it was packed! Apparently Chanchos de Monte is pretty famous here in Monteverde...It was fun having some time to hang out with everyone, and it was awesome to see our professor rocking out on stage! He's a really neat person, and I enjoyed getting to see another side of his life. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day :)

PS-Chancho de Monte is Spanish for Peccary, which is an animal that looks kind of like a hairy pig...They are endangered here in Costa Rica.

Random picture I found online...My prof (Alan)

 is the one with the beard :)

Another picture...He's in the middle

Dan, the Orchid Man

Today was plant diversity day, so we learned all about plants. One very important family of plants is the orchid family, which has over 20,000 species worldwide. Monteverde actually has the highest orchid diversity of anywhere in the entire world! This is a pretty great place to learn about them :)

Dan, my sober tent mate during the field trip (and one of the world's premiere crocodile hunting assistants!), is as interested in orchids as I am in herpetology, so today was very exciting for him. After lunch, we headed to an orchid garden in the city and walked around for an hour. He knew so much, it was amazing! I learned so much more by walking through the orchid garden with him than I ever would have by listening to a lecture. And not only did I learn about them, but I was genuinely interested! He told me so many interesting facts abut the many different species of orchids we saw, and his enthusiasm was infectious. One of my favorite parts of this program is the diversity of interests among the group members. I enjoy learning why people love the things they love, and getting to see their passion. Thanks to Dan, I will forever appreciate the incredible diversity and complexity of orchids :)

Orchids are amazing! So diverse and beautiful,
I was astounded by these plants :)

Orientation Hikes

Today we hiked the trails around the station so we could get oriented to the region. We didn’t see very many interesting things, but we did get to hike along the continental divide. It is up at about 1800 meters, and you can see both the Pacific and Atlantic slopes of the country. It is a cool place to go for sunrise and sunset I hear…

Of course, it wouldn’t be a good hike without a reptile :) I caught a little anole at the top of the ridge that is the same species as the ones I caught at Armonia Ambiental (Norops tropidolepis). I didn’t know they ranged this far North, so it was cool to see a species I already knew. A nice first day getting to know the forest in Monteverde!

If you remember from my earlier posts from

Armonia Ambiental, the line between the eyes

is characteristic of this species :)

PS-I caught a Cane Toad (Bufo/Chaunus marinus) outside the station last night too...These things are everywhere!

This is actually a very small one...They are Costa

Rica's largest amphibian and can grow up to

about 8 inches long! They're crazy :)

Not too happy being caught...

Welcome to Monteverde!

We arrived in Monteverde yesterday afternoon and it has been awesome so far! Yesterday we just got situated in our rooms and had some time to study for our HUGE test on Saturday that covers everything we learned on the 2 week trip (Over 100 species of plants and animals we need to be able to ID…).

Today we had some free time in the morning and after lunch we walked around town for a little while. Our Spanish class started at 2:30, and we had a placement exam that had both a written and oral portion. We played some games together while they figured out our results. It was a lot of fun getting to interact and have fun as a group like that :)

When they split us up into our classes I found out that I got put into the highest group! Not too bad for not taking Spanish for 4 years ;) I actually need to thank Mrs. Stovall for making me practice Spanish all the time and for always being there to help me :) There are 3 of us in the class, so it will be very conversation based. I am really excited for this opportunity to improve my Spanish!

After dinner we had salsa dancing lessons! I do not have much, if any, natural rhythm, so it was a bit of a stretch for me, but it was really fun :) One of our professors did a demonstration for us and he was pretty good! I am really enjoying Monteverde so far, and I can’t wait to get to know it even better in the months to come…

Volcán Rincón de la Vieja/El Día de las Serpientes: Número Tres

For the last day of our Pacific Coast field trip, we drove to a national park on the slope of a volcano called Rincón de la Vieja. We had a few hours to hike around the trails, so we decided to hike to a waterfall that had a swimming hole at the bottom. After about an hour hiking we made it to the waterfall. It was so incredible! My camera certainly does not do it justice, but I hope you can get an idea of how impressive this waterfall and pool are. The water was a little on the cool side, but it felt so good after a hot hike :) I also saw a cool anole by the pool that turned out to be a Norops oxylophus.

Absolutely breathtaking...

We hiked back to where we started and stopped at another little swimming hole along the way. Nick, Gracy, and I went a little ways down the river and found another waterfall. It was so fun getting to explore this place, and it turned out to be one of the most fun and relaxing days of the trip :)

We left the volcano and drove down to the beach to watch the sunset. After that, we went to dinner at a seafood restaurant near the coast, We went back to Santa Rosa for our last night, and the rest of the group decided it was time for a big party, so Dan and I promptly left for a night hike ;) Dan went back partway through, but I was determined to see one more snake before leaving Santa Rosa.

I have to say that I underestimated how creepy it is to walk around in a forest alone at night…Nevertheless, I continued on. Before long I heard a sound in the leaves next to the trail. It was another one of the “uncommon” mimics of a rare coral snake (Leptodeira nigrofasiata). They are such beautiful snakes, and it was cool to see another one since we only saw a glimpse of the last one. Satisfied to have seen a snake, I headed back to camp. I took a brief stop at the only water hole to check for frogs and I saw a cool Dry Forest Leopard Frog (Rana forreri). As I was about to leave, I saw another snake! It was a little brown and tan colored snake stretched out right next to the water. I didn’t know exactly what it was at the time, but it turned out to be a relative of the other snake I saw (Leptodeira annulatus). I was so excited to see another snake :) On the five minute walk back to the campground, I heard some rustling in the bushes. I looked over and saw anther Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon biscutaus)! It was slithering through some braches next to the path. It was about 3 feet long, so pretty good sized. I was overwhelmed with happiness :) Not only 3 snakes in one day, but 3 snakes in 30 minutes! A great end to an amazing 2 week field trip!

Leptodeira nigrofasciata in the leaves

Leptodeira annulatus climbing a branch

Rana forreri by the pond

Playa Naranjo

Today was another hiking day, a little bit longer than our other one (13k each way). Dan and I hiked it together and we had a lot of really good conversations, so it went by pretty fast… It was similar in a way because partway through the hike we got into an old growth forest that was very different that the rest of the area around it. It was interesting to see the drastic contrast between the two…After that part we came to some mangroves that grow there because it occasionally floods with salt water from the ocean.

The beach was so beautiful! (This seems to be a trend with most places I go in Costa Rica…) The hills around the beach were covered with the same dry forest, and the brown/yellow colors of the trees was awesome. The water was surprisingly cold, unlike in Corcovado, but the waves were great! A big group of us were body surfing, and we had so much fun :) Boogie boards would have been amazing!

We stayed at the beach and watched the sunset there. It was so gorgeous! I am lucky to get to see the sun set over the ocean most of the year, but this was even better that what I’m used to…I couldn’t stop taking pictures because every few seconds the colors would change and I wanted to capture every part of it. It was fantastic :)

This was me trying to be a photographer :)

The clouds were so beautiful when they were lit 

up by the colors of the sunset!

We walked back together in the dark (the sober group) so that we could hopefully see some snakes. We have some pretty good luck, because about 5 minutes into the hike we saw a little crocodile in a stream. 15 minutes later, we found a snake! I was really excited because I knew exactly what it was the moment I saw it (which is a feat when there are 137 snakes in Costa Rica…). It was a Lyre Snake (Trimorphodon biscutatus), and I knew that because I caught one in San Diego before! They range all the way from the southern US to Northern Costa Rica. This one was about full grown at about 4 feet long. It was a gorgeous snake, and it was fun to get to teach Dan and Gracy about it since it was a species I already knew about :) Near the end of the hike we saw a banded gecko (Coleonyx mitratus) which was really interesting. It turns out that they are actually in a different family than most geckos since they have some different characteristics: no adhesive toe pads (just claws) and eyelids (true geckos don’t have them). It was a great end to an awesome day!

Trimorphodon biscutatus crossing the trail

Awesome snake :)

Dan holding the Banded Gecko

Such incredible camouflage!

Sunrise

I really don’t like waking up early. However, there are certain things that are worth losing sleep over, and this was certainly one of those occasions :) We woke up at 5:00 this morning to go watch the sun rise from this beautiful lookout spot that looks out over the dry forest and has a volcanic mountain range in the background. My photos aren’t amazing, but it was so cool seeing the sun slowly appear through the haze of clouds surrounding the mountains and bring light to the forest down below…Definitely worth waking up for ;)

Beautiful :)

Santa Rosa/El Día de las Serpientes: Número Dos

Today was our first full day in Santa Rosa, and it was so interesting! Santa Rosa is a dry forest, as compared to the wet forest we were in for the past week. Since it is currently the dry season here, almost all of the trees have dropped their leaves and it hardly feels like a forest. It is much less humid, which makes it a lot easier to sleep at night :)

This morning we just hiked around the campground and learned about some of the key species in a dry forest ecosystem. We saw White-faced Capuchin Monkeys and Spider Monkeys really close to the trail, which was really neat. We also found a Parrot Snake (Leptophis mexicanus) that was D.O.R. Pretty cool snake though!

Swinging Spider Monkey :)

A relaxing Capuchin

Leptophis mexicanus up close and personal :)

After dinner, the sober group (Dan, Gracy, and I) went out for a short hike along the road to look for snakes. We saw a really interesting little brown snake (Stenorrhina freminvillii) that was slithering along the road. Apparently they are mainly diurnal and fossorial (live underground), but for some reason it was out at night on the road :)

Stenorrhina freminvillii crossing the road...and

Dan's shoe :)

We had a lecture after that, then we went out for another night hike while everyone else drank ;) We had good luck again! We saw a beautiful black snake with greenish-white bands that is an uncommon mimic of a rare coral snake (Leptodeira nigrofasciata). One of our professors who has lived in Costa Rica for the last 40 years has never even seen it before, so we felt pretty lucky :) Second 3-snake day of the trip! I love this place :)

The only picture I could get before it escaped

down into the rocks

Cocodrilos

We left the Osa Peninsula yesterday and have been driving up the coast to Santa Rosa National Park, which is where we will be camping for the next week. On the bus ride today we stopped at a bridge that crosses the Tarcoles River. For some reason, there is a huge group of massive crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) that congregates underneath this bridge, so we walked across and got to look at them. They were so big! We were very high up, but they were still very impressive. The big ones were only around 10-12 feet long, but incredibly wide! (I say “only" 10-12 feet because some other species can grow over 20 feet…Imagine that!) Someday I’ll be good enough to catch one of these giants, but for now I’ll stick to the little guys ;)

The tiny ones at the top are about

the same size as the one I caught :)

This guy was MASSIVE!

So many big crocs...I counted 37

just right around the bridge!

El Día de las Serpientes: Número Uno

This trip has been amazing so far! Today we got on boats and drove out to Isla del Caño, which is just about an hour off the coast. On the way we saw a humpback whale, a pod of pantropic dolphins, and by far the highlight A SEA SNAKE! I couldn’t even believe it! The Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Pelamis platurus) is the only species of sea snake found on the Pacific Coast, and very uncommon to see. On the scale of things I wanted to see on this trip, this would have been within the top 3, but it is by far the last thing I would have expected to see. I didn’t even consider it a possibility…But somehow our boat driver saw it swimming along on the surface of the water and we got to see it! It was so beautiful and impressive contrasted against the brilliant blue of the ocean. It only stayed on the surface for a moment and then it dove down, but that is a moment I will NEVER forget.

Not my pictures, but you get the idea...

We hiked around the island for a while and played in the ocean, then headed back to the mainland. When we returned we had free time, so Gracy, Dan, and I took a hike. (We are the only ones in the group that don’t drink, so we like to hang out together…We call ourselves the sober group :) We thought we knew where we were going, but it turned out that we didn’t exactly…We hiked up a really steep trail and eventually found our way. It turned out to be a really interesting hike after that :) First, we saw a big troop of spider monkeys swinging through the trees. After that we saw a neat Casque-headed Lizard (Corytophanes cristatus) that Gracy almost walked right into :) We were getting close to the campground and I was thinking to myself, “The only snake I REALLY want to see before we leave here is a Fer-de-Lance…” About 5 seconds later Dan yells from up ahead that there is a Fer-de-Lance (Bothrops asper) on the trail! I was blown away :) It was such an amazing snake! It was only a small one, but it could still do a lot of damage if it bit you…These snakes are notorious in Central America and they inflict the most snake bites of any snake here by far. They are common and aggressive, which is a bad combination, but for the snake lover, they are quite an impressive specimen. We returned to camp very satisfied with our walk :)

Corytophanes cristatus

Bothrops asper slithering through the undergrowth.
Their pattern is so interesting!

Coiled up on a branch

After dinner we had a night hike. Can you believe we saw ANOTHER snake?! This time it was a Cat-eyed Snake (Imantodes cenchoa) It was an amazing day :) First 3-snake day of the trip…