La Selva!

<--- monkey<--- peccary :D<--- river in la selva<- took this pic thru the sightascope!! <-- tiny mushrooms

So I have been staying in La selva for 2 days now and have already seen such amazing things! On our first hike, I saw these giant banana spiders all over the trail. I saw my first poison dart frog, he was tiny and I failed to capture a good picture of him, but he was still adorable. I saw an entire colony of coatis! (see picture below for one). Our tour guide had a sight-a-scope and he showed us amazing birds and the quality was awesome! I actually took some pics thru it and they were beautiful! Me and my friend John headed out for an assignment (observe the forest around you and write observations for 30 mins). In the very end of 30 mins, John spotted a white face monkey!! It was incredible and I was soo excited. After that, we saw a total of 5 monkeys in the span of half an hour. Some spider monkeys too (red bodies long arms). Some leaped over our heads. We saw them climb, eat fruit and the entire time I was ecstatic. Last night I climbed to the top of this huge tower that reached way above the canopy of the forest and looked out at the surrounding landscape. You could see lights in far off cities, and a general outline of the landscape. It was incredible as well. Then on my walk back home, I spotted an extremely rare creature of the night... a kinkajou!!  I saw his eyes reflect off the bridge that we cross and he walked down the wire and was literally one foot away from our faces! My proff said we were very lucky because they are rarely seen. Also, this guy seemed interested in us, and kept looking at us and creeping nearer and nearer (although I suspect he was rather scared as well). He was definitely the highlight of my trip so far! sooo cute. I saw some wild peccaries in the forest as well. In comparison to the other students it seems I have been very lucky so far in animal spotting :D.

Cuerici!

el paramo!>gutting the rainbow trout below

reflector flower petals-->

giant mushroom!-->

top of mountain! after camping

So for the past four days, I have been in Cuerici! This biological station is in the mountains and is owned by Don Carlos (very nice man whose eyes twinkle like a Costa rican dumbledore! he acts a ranger for the surrounding forest). It was incredibly chilly in comparison to las cruces (and especially la selva! -the jungle). At night I had 4 heavy blankets and slept in a sweatshirt and pants to keep warm. Don Carlos showed us around the woods and we saw the difference between primary (old) and secondary (newer) forests. Don has his own self run trout farm where he raises rainbow trout and sells them to be eaten. He showed us how he removes eggs from females to breed them. On our last day Don Carlos let us kill some (with bare hands!), gut them (which i actually took part in!), and we ate them for dinner. One day, we went to el paramo, to the elevation above which forests easily. The land becomes shrub-like plants that are adapted to survive at these great elevations (by developing special venetion, tougher leaves, etc). There was even a flower that attracts fly pollinators by having reflector petals that generate heat in the middle. El paramo can change temperature rapidly, going from very cold (due to cloudy high elevation) to extremely hot when the clouds clear out. The whole time in Cuerici, the high altitude caused an increase heartbeat and hiking was so much more challenging!! One time I was foolish enough to try to exercise and run up hill- worst idea ever! At night we had people playing the guitar and everyone in my group singing along, it was very fun!

And probably the most exciting part of Cuerici was when I decided to hike up to the top of the mountain last night and sleep there with 5 other students. Everyone told us we were crazy and were going to freeze (the house was already freezing enough), and everyone thought I'd come back at 3 am too cold to sleep. And although I did not sleep to well on the wooden plank shack, it was totally worth it! The sky was so clear and you could see all the lights on in the town. It was so beautiful, and I felt very accomplished after completing the journey. (Also, I survived the cold!) This morning we saw some bats flying around in front of us on the hike down (we had to get up at 4.40 this morning to get down in time for our 6.00 breakfast!).
expect some pics soon! hope everyone is well
shemi

Last days at las cruces

So I haven't written any entries for awhile. In the past couple days I visited a coffee farm, where we got to talk directly with the farmer. He, his wife, and his granddaughter are the only people that work together to harvest the coffee there! He wants to eventually be able to do all the steps involved to prepare the coffee up to the packaging, because he currently does everything organically, but receives no extra payment from the corporations that buy coffee. This morning we had a plant taxonomy test where we had to identify the family of the tropical plants! It is actually really cool because in order to determine the plant type you need to examine things like smell, texture, oil glands & look for sap that comes out when you cut the leaves off. After my test, I went out to the river again with a bunch of my guy friends and we climbed around on the rocks all afternoon. Last night we went out to a bar in San Vito, where we all danced, attempting salsa , etc. It was very fun and I want to go again tonight since its our last night here! Tomorrow we leave for Cuerci where we will have no internet, no hot water, and it will be extremely cold! I am worried because I am already cold some nights here. The next time I will write I will be in La Selva! (the rainforest!)

pictures of creatures

coati!! i saw one of these jump out in 1 foot in front of me and just chill. Very unfortunately I was alone without a camera and could not capture his cool mask. but it was still awesome