Days 3 and 4: Palo Verde
The last post is still being updated with pictures; I will let you know when it's finished so that you know to go back and check. We have wireless here, but pages upload very slowly, so it's going to take me a while to put them all up.
Palo Verde is an OTS station in a tropical dry forest. This is considered a dry forest because it receives only 1.5 meters of rain a year (compared to around 4 meters for wetter forests). It was a 5 hour drive from San Jose. I slept for about 2 hours of the trip, but the countryside was very pretty and interesting. We saw two of Costa Rica's seven or eight volcanoes on the way. As we got closer to the station, we started to see some interesting plants and wildlife. There are lots of acacia trees and cacti down here. Some small, sort of weasel-like mammals ran across the road in front of the bus in a single file line. They were adorable! We think they may have been coatis or something, but we're not certain. We also saw a bunch of ctenosaurs (iguanas). There is one pretty friendly one who seems to hang around the station.
When we arrived, the first thing we did was eat lunch. The food here is wonderful. We had naranjilla ("naran-hee-ya") juice (sort of mild citrusy flavor), rice and beans, squash, and fresh pineapple. Then we moved into our rooms and went for a short hike (pictures forthcoming!). On the hike we saw some more acacia trees. They are very interesting: they have thorns all over the branches, and ants live inside the thorns. When you tap on a branch, the ants come rushing out to defend the plant. In return, the plant provides nectar, and sometimes lipid-filled sacs called beltian bodies for the ants to eat. We also saw antlion pitfalls, which are like little pits in the ground that apparently ants fall in and are eaten by the antlions.
After our hike we had dinner. The meal schedules are very rigid here: breakfast from 6:30 to 7:30, lunch from 12-1, dinner from 6-7. Dinner was naranjilla, papaya, and beet juice, rice and beans (for pretty much every meal), yummy chicken, and a coconut cake drenched in a sweet sauce. Yum!
After dinner Becky (Professor Irwin) gave us a lecture and then we had a student critque paper. Then bed. Whew.
Today, we woke up at 6:00(ish - this is going to be a common thing), got dressed, and headed off to breakfast. I'm very not a morning person, so I had some watermelon, some avocado (creamy and delicious), and a glass of starfruit juice. They were also serving pancakes and rice and beans (surprised?). We went bird watching after breakfast and saw tons of different species! Black-bellied whistling ducks, jacanas (possibly my favorite), a tricolored heron, cattle egrets, snowy egrets, great egrets, a white ibis, a glossy ibis, and roseate spoonbills (my other favorite), among many others. Next we went on a long hike up a big hill, which was hot and difficult, but pretty neat all the same. And we saw two adorable capuchin monkeys. Back to the station for lunch (tamarind tea, chicken, rice and beans, pineapple), some biology work, dinner (tamarind tea, stirfry (no rice and beans this time, surprisingly), and yummy chocolate cake covered in caramel sauce). Working outside all day builds up quite an appetite. After dinner another lecture, another critique, a cold shower, and a blog update. Then bed.
Other things of note:
Sleeping under mosquito netting is kind of neat. It's like my own personal bubble. The bugs here are freakish and huge. I don't like them. Luckily (sort of) they mostly only come out at night. Mario, the station manager, is very funny and very knowledgeable about the area. He led the birdwatching and hike today. Wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts and hiking boots in weather this warm feels bizarre. It's a tradeoff between being too warm and being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I'm not sure what I think yet. The thought of a rattlesnake, coral snake, or scorpion taking up residence in my bed is TERRIFYING. I'm super glad the water from all the taps here is potable. Thank goodness! We can't put any paper in the toilets, we have to throw it out in the waste basket next to the toilet. It's weird.
That's it for now. Tomorrow we start some intense sounding biology work. I'll let you know how it goes! Please feel free to post comments and questions, I like hearing from you guys.
Palo Verde is an OTS station in a tropical dry forest. This is considered a dry forest because it receives only 1.5 meters of rain a year (compared to around 4 meters for wetter forests). It was a 5 hour drive from San Jose. I slept for about 2 hours of the trip, but the countryside was very pretty and interesting. We saw two of Costa Rica's seven or eight volcanoes on the way. As we got closer to the station, we started to see some interesting plants and wildlife. There are lots of acacia trees and cacti down here. Some small, sort of weasel-like mammals ran across the road in front of the bus in a single file line. They were adorable! We think they may have been coatis or something, but we're not certain. We also saw a bunch of ctenosaurs (iguanas). There is one pretty friendly one who seems to hang around the station.
When we arrived, the first thing we did was eat lunch. The food here is wonderful. We had naranjilla ("naran-hee-ya") juice (sort of mild citrusy flavor), rice and beans, squash, and fresh pineapple. Then we moved into our rooms and went for a short hike (pictures forthcoming!). On the hike we saw some more acacia trees. They are very interesting: they have thorns all over the branches, and ants live inside the thorns. When you tap on a branch, the ants come rushing out to defend the plant. In return, the plant provides nectar, and sometimes lipid-filled sacs called beltian bodies for the ants to eat. We also saw antlion pitfalls, which are like little pits in the ground that apparently ants fall in and are eaten by the antlions.
After our hike we had dinner. The meal schedules are very rigid here: breakfast from 6:30 to 7:30, lunch from 12-1, dinner from 6-7. Dinner was naranjilla, papaya, and beet juice, rice and beans (for pretty much every meal), yummy chicken, and a coconut cake drenched in a sweet sauce. Yum!
After dinner Becky (Professor Irwin) gave us a lecture and then we had a student critque paper. Then bed. Whew.
Today, we woke up at 6:00(ish - this is going to be a common thing), got dressed, and headed off to breakfast. I'm very not a morning person, so I had some watermelon, some avocado (creamy and delicious), and a glass of starfruit juice. They were also serving pancakes and rice and beans (surprised?). We went bird watching after breakfast and saw tons of different species! Black-bellied whistling ducks, jacanas (possibly my favorite), a tricolored heron, cattle egrets, snowy egrets, great egrets, a white ibis, a glossy ibis, and roseate spoonbills (my other favorite), among many others. Next we went on a long hike up a big hill, which was hot and difficult, but pretty neat all the same. And we saw two adorable capuchin monkeys. Back to the station for lunch (tamarind tea, chicken, rice and beans, pineapple), some biology work, dinner (tamarind tea, stirfry (no rice and beans this time, surprisingly), and yummy chocolate cake covered in caramel sauce). Working outside all day builds up quite an appetite. After dinner another lecture, another critique, a cold shower, and a blog update. Then bed.
Other things of note:
That's it for now. Tomorrow we start some intense sounding biology work. I'll let you know how it goes! Please feel free to post comments and questions, I like hearing from you guys.
posted by Allison at 11:07 PM
3 Comments:
you totally almost made an aliens reference there. teehee, they mostly come at night, mostly
:-p
-cp
wow. you saw a sloth! i'm jealous. also, look out for passionfruit juice too, it's yummy.
Huh, I had no idea that acacia trees existed outside of Africa. Apparently they grow in Australia and Asia as well. Very interesting.
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