January 31, 2007 – Cuerici
Cuerici (also known as Cerro de la Muerte, which I think means Ridge of Death, but someone who actually speaks Spanish can correct me) is beautiful. I think I might like it even better than Monteverde, and, as you know, I liked Monteverde quite a lot. It’s colder here than it was there, most of the days hover in the mid 60s F or so, and at night it can apparently drop as low as freezing, but it stayed in the 50s and low 60s while we were here. I slept snuggled in my fleece pants, fleece long-sleeved shirt, wool socks, and winter hat, tucked in under three blankets, and was actually pretty toasty and comfortable. I think I prefer the cooler sites; the place we’re heading next (Corcovado) is very hot and very humid (and very rustic and very hard to get to and very snake-infested . . .), and I’m not looking forward to that one quite so much.
The station we’re staying at is at about 8,000 ft. On one of the days, we hiked around at 11,000 ft. It’s really pretty up here, but the altitude gets to me very quickly. I’m not normally the strongest hiker, but up here I get winded very quickly and my heart pounds as if it wants to burst out of my chest. Not so pleasant.
The station is run by a man named Carlos, who purchased the land from his grandparents some years ago. He turned the land into an area of conservation, and it’s pretty amazing what he’s done with this place. All of the electricity comes from a hydroelectric generator he set up in a stream. He has a trout farm, and he sells the young to other farms and the adults to some recreational fishing ponds. The whole setup is really neat, all of the water comes from local streams and is cycled through the different trout tanks before being returned to a stream. All of the food we don’t eat gets either taken home with his relatives as leftovers or thrown in the compost pile, which is where the worms he uses to feed the fish live. It’s a very sustainable setup, and the eco-friendly people on this trip (most of us) are very impressed with it.
There aren’t many visible wild animals here (except for hummingbirds, of which there are plenty!), but it’s a farm so there are lots of other animals. There’s a sweet cocker spaniel, he and I spent a lot of time cuddling on the porch last night. There are also cows and a horse, who are pretty shy around us. There’s a sweet little farm cat, who is tiny and adorable. She followed us around yesterday while we watched Carlos feed the trout their dry food and stole food from the bucket every chance she could. She and I also cuddled for a while. Also, I got to pet a duck! There are lots of semi-tame ducks around here, including one male who apparently really likes to be petted. He was wagging his tail just like a puppy, which none of us realized that ducks do when they’re happy. So cute! Then he decided to attack my foot, and was trying to bite my boot. It was really funny.
On the day we hiked around the paramo (the 11,000 ft day) we had two local guides, Andy and Satya, who are brother and sister. Thirty years ago, their parents (from Michigan) took a vacation to Costa Rica and liked it so much they decided to stay permanently, and so Andy and Satya were both born and grew up around here. They’re both fair and redheaded (like me!), so I imagine they burn frequently; the sun is very, very intense on the paramo. It was great fun to go with local guides, because they were able to show us all the plants we could eat! We ate some thistle root that tasted sort of like raw potato but sweeter, and the leaves and stem of a plant that was sweet and sour. I tried a eucalyptus berry, which had a really strong flavor (Satya said some people say it tastes like perfume), and little red and white berries that they called “banapples” because they taste sort of like a banana and apple combination, with a slight hint of cinnamon. They were delicious!!!
My project here was on insect community structure within a species of yellow aster, so I spent a lot of time dissecting flowers and taking out the thrips, weevils, and other little bugs we found inside. It was pretty interesting, and we’re currently working on the write-up for it. The work schedule is still pretty intense, but I feel like the project planning and writing part are getting easier (although stats still make me unhappy).
Today is Day 28, so 6 days until the halfway point, 18 days left in Costa Rica, and 38 days total left in the program. I know for some people here it feels like the time is flying by, but it doesn’t really feel that way to me. I mean, we’ve been here for 4 weeks, which sounds about right. The days are very full, so they go quickly for some people, but they’re also very long which makes them seem slow to me. A typical day consists of waking up around 6 am and going to bed around 11 pm. I’m hoping that it will start to feel like it’s going faster once we reach the halfway point. I am enjoying it here, but this is also the longest that I’ve ever been away from my friends and family, and I’m still fighting homesickness a lot.
The station we’re staying at is at about 8,000 ft. On one of the days, we hiked around at 11,000 ft. It’s really pretty up here, but the altitude gets to me very quickly. I’m not normally the strongest hiker, but up here I get winded very quickly and my heart pounds as if it wants to burst out of my chest. Not so pleasant.
The station is run by a man named Carlos, who purchased the land from his grandparents some years ago. He turned the land into an area of conservation, and it’s pretty amazing what he’s done with this place. All of the electricity comes from a hydroelectric generator he set up in a stream. He has a trout farm, and he sells the young to other farms and the adults to some recreational fishing ponds. The whole setup is really neat, all of the water comes from local streams and is cycled through the different trout tanks before being returned to a stream. All of the food we don’t eat gets either taken home with his relatives as leftovers or thrown in the compost pile, which is where the worms he uses to feed the fish live. It’s a very sustainable setup, and the eco-friendly people on this trip (most of us) are very impressed with it.
There aren’t many visible wild animals here (except for hummingbirds, of which there are plenty!), but it’s a farm so there are lots of other animals. There’s a sweet cocker spaniel, he and I spent a lot of time cuddling on the porch last night. There are also cows and a horse, who are pretty shy around us. There’s a sweet little farm cat, who is tiny and adorable. She followed us around yesterday while we watched Carlos feed the trout their dry food and stole food from the bucket every chance she could. She and I also cuddled for a while. Also, I got to pet a duck! There are lots of semi-tame ducks around here, including one male who apparently really likes to be petted. He was wagging his tail just like a puppy, which none of us realized that ducks do when they’re happy. So cute! Then he decided to attack my foot, and was trying to bite my boot. It was really funny.
On the day we hiked around the paramo (the 11,000 ft day) we had two local guides, Andy and Satya, who are brother and sister. Thirty years ago, their parents (from Michigan) took a vacation to Costa Rica and liked it so much they decided to stay permanently, and so Andy and Satya were both born and grew up around here. They’re both fair and redheaded (like me!), so I imagine they burn frequently; the sun is very, very intense on the paramo. It was great fun to go with local guides, because they were able to show us all the plants we could eat! We ate some thistle root that tasted sort of like raw potato but sweeter, and the leaves and stem of a plant that was sweet and sour. I tried a eucalyptus berry, which had a really strong flavor (Satya said some people say it tastes like perfume), and little red and white berries that they called “banapples” because they taste sort of like a banana and apple combination, with a slight hint of cinnamon. They were delicious!!!
My project here was on insect community structure within a species of yellow aster, so I spent a lot of time dissecting flowers and taking out the thrips, weevils, and other little bugs we found inside. It was pretty interesting, and we’re currently working on the write-up for it. The work schedule is still pretty intense, but I feel like the project planning and writing part are getting easier (although stats still make me unhappy).
Today is Day 28, so 6 days until the halfway point, 18 days left in Costa Rica, and 38 days total left in the program. I know for some people here it feels like the time is flying by, but it doesn’t really feel that way to me. I mean, we’ve been here for 4 weeks, which sounds about right. The days are very full, so they go quickly for some people, but they’re also very long which makes them seem slow to me. A typical day consists of waking up around 6 am and going to bed around 11 pm. I’m hoping that it will start to feel like it’s going faster once we reach the halfway point. I am enjoying it here, but this is also the longest that I’ve ever been away from my friends and family, and I’m still fighting homesickness a lot.
posted by Allison at 10:14 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home