La Selva independent projects!

>-- frog from rainforest cafe!

---- weevil! long snout and playful

,--- los congos en la puento! (monkeys on the bridge)

<-- more monkeys

<--- la perezoso (sloth!)

<--- coati!

<-- leaf cutter damage

Soo I have been very busy lately with independent projects! My group studied leaf cutter ants and the dear enemy effect. We watched ants from 7 -1am and one night when it was raining i woke up at 3 am to watch ants till 6 am!

One night, after a heavy rainfall me and my amigos went out to a trail that led to a bridge over a swamp. the trail was flooded and all the frogs came out to mate. they were so cool! all green and brightly colored, they reminded me of the awesome frog pencil that i bought from rainforest cafe when i was in elementary school. I got very close to them and was able to take some really cool pics!

i may have been the luckiest student (in terms of seeing cool creatures). first of all i would like to thank the la selva bridge, source of many of my finds. first i saw that kinka jou, but he was only the beginning. not only did i witness an additional three kinkajou sightings (1 was lucky enough), but i also saw a sloth several times and once he was actually on the wire of the bridge! he was literally 2 feet away from my face soo cool. he looked grumpy though and no one dared touch him. apparently sloths can be wicked fast in the face of predators, and our instructor mau said they will claw you with their vicious claws. i saw a family of howler monkeys pass across the bridge, the first time with no luck in pictures. the second time, and the last full day at la selva, the family was on the bridge for a good 20 minutes and they were again 2 feet away from my face (nice pics with that as well). there was a baby on a mommy's back. (sooo cute). also, for bug homework this time, i found a weevil (kinda uncommon too) and he was soo beautiful. weevils are under the same class as beetles but they are so much fun to play with! i wanted to keep him as a pet, but he was too beautiful. he would craw on my arm and clamp around my fingers.

today i arrived in san jose. i met my host mom who is a very welcoming motherly type. in my house are two other students, one from germany and one from south africa. i spent the afternoon with the german girl and met some of her german friends. we talked span/ eng/ german (except me). and went to... Mcdonalds! haha at the mall. its crazy that every single food chain cept like 2 there were all usa food chains... kfc, subway, quiznos, etc. for dinner we had some whiskey with our meal? \