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 :)