tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29029377076159523212024-02-18T22:31:14.955-08:00Our Trip to Costa Rica!Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-35469252608539208752013-01-10T20:32:00.000-08:002013-01-10T20:39:47.155-08:00Day 12: Adios from Costa Rica!<span style="font-family: inherit;">Hello for one last post! It's Marci again, and I'm a junior Biology major from Chateaugay, NY. After 12 amazing days in Costa Rica our group is safely back in the United States. Our flight didn't leave Costa Rica until 3:30 pm, which meant we got to sleep in and have one last typical Costa Rican breakfast at our hotel. At breakfast we sang happy birthday to Amanda because it was her 21st birthday!! Then we set out to explore San Jose for a few hours before departing for the airport. We all picked up some souvenirs for friends, family, and ourselves. These mostly consisted of multiple bags of coffee per person, chocolate covered coffee beans, and bottles of green sauce (my parents were especially excited to try the green sauce after reading all about it in our blog!). My group (the girls and Professor Hope) also stopped for some delicious ice cream, while the boys and Professor Lewins had their own adventures at KFC. After somehow fitting all our purchases in our luggage, we loaded up our favorite van for one last time and were off to the airport. Our traveling went very smoothly, and there were some pretty funny moments to keep us laughing on the long plane rides (especially one involving Jared, the flight attendant, and #classicbill). We also celebrated Eric's 21st birthday by singing to him at midnight on the plane as we arrived in Boston! We all went our separate ways once arriving in Boston, but will see each other again soon when we head back to Saint Mike's to begin the Spring semester!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'll leave you with a few group photos courtesy of Professor Hope, which I think sum up our trip very nicely. One of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to explore Costa Rica, aka one of the coolest places on the planet, with such cool people. It made every adventure we had that much more enjoyable! As you can tell from our previous posts, we all had a great time in Costa Rica. Our group shared so many experiences, leaning opportunities, and laughs while taking this class. I know I will look back at these 12 days and remember all the amazing things I saw and learned about, and especially how much fun this trip was! </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From our first lunch on the road to Monteverde</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boat ride on the Sarapiqui River</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our entire group by the Sarapiqui River! (minus Johnny)</td></tr>
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Thanks for reading our blog!! Pura vida!<br />
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-Marci<br />
<br />Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-73556544584270500662013-01-09T06:51:00.000-08:002013-01-09T07:11:55.283-08:00Day 11: Last Day in Paradise<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hola! My name is Kelsey and I am a junior at Saint Mike's currently living the dream in Costa Rica. Today was an early morning for all as the howler monkeys decided to make another guest appearance outside of our windows. The good news was that they literally acted as an alarm clock for Brianne, Emily and I as I forgot to set a real one (my bad). As the sun rose we all finished up our experiments mentioned by Jared in yesterday's post.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Brianne, Mary (aka Johnny), Amanda and I finished up on some bird observations and it seems we're followed by the monkeys that were playing close by in the tree tops behind us. But even with our loud friend we managed to get some great pics of an Aracari toucan and some gorgeous little tanagers.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The other half of the girls finished up with their Antlions taking measurements under the raised rooms we were staying in while the "man team" finished up with their bird observations. Not only did they look at fruit preferences of birds but they also tried to avoid the local squirrel population which apparently also loves bananas. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After all of our hard work we decided to reward ourselves with a quick dip in the pool. The Costa Rican sun claimed a few more victims as we are all slightly more pink than golden. But despite a few burns on our noses the pool time was paradise. Nick showed off his feminine side "buning" a few of the girls hair while Alex (our guide from the reserve) serenaded us with his favorite John Lennon song, Imagine. It was the perfect way to end our stay in Selva verde. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">After stuffing our faces and packing our bags we made our way to our favorite form of Costa Rican transportation- the oversized van. Once we were on the road the van, like many of our other car rides, was terrifying to say the least. We wove in and out of traffic and at one point I woke up from a nap thinking the whole vehicle was on fire. But silly me, it was only struggling to make its way up one of the many hilly roads. </span></div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">By far the most exciting part of the car ride was when traffic hit a stop to let a sloth cross the road. The little guy was slowly making his way as a local man used s broom to help sweep him along his way. When he realized that wasn't working in a time efficient manner he grabbed the sloth by a hunk of his fur on his back and flung him off the road. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">here we have an action shot by Jared</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Once back in San Jose we all gave our independent project reports and learned a lot about the feeding patterns of birds in Selva verde and many of us learned what actually an Antlion is. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Though many of us already miss the rainforest, we can all say for certain we had the best last dinner together at a local restaurant down the road from our hotel. The food was good and the conversation was great. There was even a cute cat in the kitchen we got to spot from a distance. We will all miss the #classicbill moments when we are home, but for now onto our last day as we make our way back to Boston!</span></div>
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Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-16725677633895664712013-01-08T06:20:00.001-08:002013-01-08T06:20:05.413-08:00Day Ten: BOOM! Chachalaca<br />
Hola! My name is Jared Peick and I am a a senior biology major from Concord, New Hampshire. Just when I thought that I was out of ideas for a new alarm clock ringtone, nature delivered me a new option for the future. Two words: Howler Monkey. If you have never heard the howl of a howler monkey, I suggest you look it up and turn up your speakers really high. That will give you a good idea of what we all woke up to this morning at 5:45.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nick's Breakfast</td></tr>
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Today's plan was to put our second tropical ecology research studies into action. The howler monkeys must have known that "Team Domination,"otherwise known as "The Man Team," needed to get up extra early to start their study. While chowing down on beans and eggs with plenty of coffee, we observed the food preference of tropical birds such as toucans. The menu we set out in front of them consisted of bananas, papayas and even fruit loops. Unfortunately Toucan Sam was a no-show and gives me reason to believe that he is only a Kellogg's myth.<br />
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Team "Mary, Brianne, Kelsey and Amanda" is working on determining the species richness of birds in the area and their visit time to a feeder. This was done by setting bananas out on a perching/feeding area and observing what types of birds show up and for how long in a number of set time periods.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The girls observing birds</td></tr>
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"Ant Lions Inc." made up of Steph, Kate, Marci and Emily are looking to see if there is any correlation between the size of antlions and their holes and what kind of distances they are apart from each other. These holes are constructed for the soul purpose of trapping ants for food.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marci digging up an antlion</td></tr>
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We all took a swim break in the resort pool to escape the Costa Rican heat even though it wasn't even noon yet. We also got to witness a fairly large tree do it's best impression of a a Jenga tower when it fell loudly to the ground. Fortunately, both our group and the pool escaped the tree's wrath.<br />
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A bunch of us were lucky enough to see the howler monkeys from the morning up close and personal above the bridge over the river. We quickly found that the most important language in the country isn't Spanish, but rather monkey howling. We all are a little rusty in our translation but we hope to improve on it in the future. In all seriousness though, it was really surreal to be so close to the monkeys, see their facial expressions, and look directly into their eyes. Prof. Hope was able to snap some really great pictures of the monkeys that probably could be sold to some nature magazine.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Howler Monkey (courtesy of Nick)</td></tr>
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We all enjoyed a lunch around noon and then got back to work on our research projects. It's a great opportunity to observe the kind of wildlife and vegetation in the area knowing that not everyone will have this same chance.<br />
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We also practiced our trigonometry skills when Prof. Lewins posed the problem of determining the height of a termite nest on a tree that we could not get close enough to measure. This is all in consideration of projects that could be done on future trips. Thanks to our resident math minor,Brianne, and our naturally gifted classmate, Eric, we were able to determine a plausible method using a protractor, laser pointer and a little math. We also found out that Prof. Lewins regularly confuses his eyes with his nose #classicbill #musthaveskippedanatomyclass.<br />
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We finished up the day with two organism presentations before dinner (Marci-blue morpho butterfly; Patrick-red-eyed tree frog) and two after dinner (Amanda- White-Faced Capuchin Monkey; Steph-Three-Toed Sloth). We had Italian food and fish for dinner. I would say that we all thoroughly enjoyed one of our last big group dinners together.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prof. Lewins enjoying dessert and Prof. Hope</td></tr>
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My dad told me to come back to the states with either a Costa Rican girl or a job. Unfortunately,I found neither. I do have a sunburn, though I don't think that will be something to brag about. Thanks to those of you who managed to read this lengthy entry. If it were done by Peter Jackson, it probably would have been split into three different entries.<br />
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We look forward to a shorter bus ride back to San Jose tomorrow and will be on our way home shortly.<br />
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#classicbillatkfc<br />
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-Jared<br />
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Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-36350159037745469312013-01-07T16:22:00.001-08:002013-01-07T16:22:35.465-08:00Day 9: Wait, where's Johnny?!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Hi everyone! My name is Mary and I'm a junior biology major from Plattsburgh, New York. Costa Rica has been awesome so far, and I can't wait to tell you about what we've been up to!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Today we woke up bright and early and went for our first bird walk. We walked through the botanical garden across the street. Alex, our guide</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> showed us all around the garden and pointed out some really cool birds! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">After out walk we had breakfast and headed to our boat tour on the Sarapaqui river. This area of Costa Rica has a great deal of species diversity and richness. Our guide informed us that there are 480 species of birds alone! We got to see a lot of wildlife including a few iguanas, caimans, herons, and green mccaws. After about 2 hours on the water, we returned back to the lodge and prepared for our next adventure.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sarapaqui river (photo credit Nick Kyratzis)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Green iguana</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> After lunch we went on a self guided hike on the lodge property. We hiked for a while, and eventually ended up on a bank of the Sarapaqui river. It was a really beautiful spot, and we were able to get some great pictures. Exploring around the bank was the "best part" of Professor Lewins' day, as he found a Mole Cricket. It was the first one he'd ever seen alive. #classicbill.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professor Hope taking pictures!</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Today was particularly awesome for me because it was the first day of activities I was able to take part in since New years eve. I had an emergency appendectomy, and was in the hospital from New Year's Eve until January fourth. Not quite what I had in mind for New Years plans! It has been so awesome rejoining the group.I'm especially fond of the "hey at least I have an appendix" comebacks whenever I joke around with someone. I'm so glad I was able to stay with the group and spend some more time in this beautiful country!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Pura Vida!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Mary</span>Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-23540929740856281442013-01-06T11:42:00.000-08:002013-01-06T11:44:21.392-08:00Day Eight: Lions and Tigers and Snakes, Oh My!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chestnut Mandible Toucan</td></tr>
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Hi everyone! My name is Amanda and I am a junior at St. Mike's from Warwick, Rhode Island. Today was our first full day in Selva Verde and we saw so much!<br />
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Our day started at the glorious hour of 7am where we had breakfast with toucans! The lodge set up a small platform for the birds and left bananas for them to eat. We all got great pictures of the Chestnut mandible toucan and the Keel-bill toucan.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keel billed toucan</td></tr>
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Breakfast was waiting for us inside the restaurant. (Nothing like rice and beans, scrambled eggs, toast, and a cup of Costa Rican coffee.)<br />
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We met our guide Alexander right after breakfast. Little did we know, there was wildlife waiting for us right outside the restaurant. Alexander found a blue jean frog (aka strawberry poison dart frog). We also saw the black and green poison dart frog.<img src="webkit-fake-url://38C291EA-BED4-4597-ACF5-5258CC60A8A2/imagejpeg" /><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black and Green Poison Dart Frog</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Jean Frog</td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2902937707615952321" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>After another quick sloth sighting (which basically looked like a giant fuzz ball in a tree) we crossed the bridge over the Seraquipi river into the rain forest.<span style="text-align: center;">This was no Monteverde cloud forest folks. Selva Verde is a true rainforest: hot and humid, lots of palm trees, few epiphytes (plants that grow on trees or other plants), and not so many vines. It was a huge change from the overcast 65 degree windy weather we had at Monteverde. But of course, the hot sun and humidity did not stop us from having a great hike. We saw lots of cool birds, an ocelot</span><span style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"> </span>paw print, more frogs, and took a group photo in a 300 year old zora tree.<br />
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After crossing over the bridge again and exploring the botanical garden, we came back in our mud-covered boots for lunch.I discovered that cold blackberry juice is the perfect treat after hiking for four hours in the rain forest!<br />
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Then after the lunch, the boys stuck by the restaurant to do some bird watching.The girls went poolside to cool off, read, and tan. After a while the boys decided to cool off and play cards by the pool. We had a brief poolside encounter with some iguanas and basilisks (which are much smaller than J.K. Rowling described).<br />
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After the pool I took out my field notebook and worked on plant and animal identifications. For this class we have to take pictures and identify some important plant families and animal species. We also have to give an oral report on our favorite organism. Just before dinner Kate gave her presentation on the Resplendant Quetzal, (which we saw here in Monteverde) and Jared gave his report on the basilisk (which we all saw during our hike that morning).<br />
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A few people got a surprise before dinner when they saw this guy by the path!!!!<br />
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It's a fer de lance, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world! I'm literally terrified to walk anywhere without scanning my surroundings now!<br />
Dinner was full of chatter, laughing, and sending e-mails to home (we have limited wifi here). After a while we decided to go outside to see if we could find any animals. I found this red-eyed tree frog by a small pond!<br />
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The red eyed tree frog is Patrick's chosen organism, so he will have to give his report soon. My organism is the white- faced capuchin monkey. We haven't seen them yet but maybe we will get to tomorrow on our boat ride down the river or during one of our early morning bird walks. I hope we get to see one before our trip ends...the are only a few more days left!<br />
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Hasta luego!<br />
AmandaTropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-25168956644906205662013-01-05T11:38:00.001-08:002013-01-05T11:41:39.987-08:00Day Seven: It's like Disney World, on a bus!Hi! I'm Kate and I'm a junior from Marshfield, MA. Contrary to popular belief I am not still in San Jose at the clinic where Nick apparently thinks I have been all week. Also, I'm sorry the post is a little late in the day!<br />
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Yesterday we all woke up for to a lovely 6:00 AM hike through Monteverde in search of some birds. We saw quite a few orange-beaked birds and were missing Prof. Hope's identification expertise. We also saw some more easily identifiable birds such as the black guan and the common bush tanager.<br />
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After our intense morning of bird seeking we headed back to La Casana for an awesome breakfast prepared by our very own Inez. Breakfast was great and included some typical rice and beans, scrambled eggs, and toast with two different offerings of jam. Many of us piled on "the green sauce" (a common Costa Rican seasoning) as though we would never see it again. Here's a picture of Nick's ambitious breakfast:<br />
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After Breakfast we packed up and were picked up 10 minutes early by our van driver. Our first stop on the way to Selva Verde was the illustrious Mega Super grocery store to pick up snacks for our 5 1/2 hour ride. This detour is basically summed up by this quote: "It's not just mega, it's not just super, it's MEGA SUPER"-Bill<br />
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The ride was absolutely beautiful! We drove through rolling hills of coffee plants and two of our favorite sights on the ride were the reservoir near Arenal and Arenal volcano itself. We also came across some adorable coatis. Our bus driver pulled over and even reversed so that we could get pictures of them. We also played "the wave game" for over an hour of the ride and gave some of the locals a laugh! Here are some photos!<br />
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The reservoir</div>
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Arenal</div>
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Coati!!</div>
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On another note, we did our project presentations after dinner last night...</div>
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And the results are in...</div>
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The Bromeliad Group: There's more water in the bromeliads in the Elfin forest at the Continental Divide in Monteverde than there is in the primary forest which is at a lower elevation in Monteverde.</div>
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The Morphospecies Moss Group: There was no significant correlation found in the amount of epiphytic moss on the Pacific versus Caribbean sides of trees at the continental divide in Monteverde.</div>
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The Hummingbird Group: Angry Birds: The violet sabrewing was by far the most aggressive hummingbird at the Hummingbird Gallery at Monteverde and many of the other species of hummingbirds show aggressive behavior.</div>
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The winner is... All of us for doing awesome projects! We all get A's!</div>
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And last but not least, we have a gem of a photo taken while we were eating lunch by our very own Nick Kyratzis<br />
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#classicbill #maybewewon'tgetA's<br />
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Lots of love from Costa Rica!<br />
-KateTropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-34321259094631932502013-01-04T05:24:00.000-08:002013-01-04T05:24:54.550-08:00Day Six: Day SixHi everyone! Tonight I, Emily Dieter from St. Charles, Illinois, will be filling you in about our day. Short story: Every day around lunch time, Professor Bill Lewis asks us who wants to write the blog for the day. Today I volunteered because no one else was, and I felt bad for him. Spoiler alert: OUR DAY WAS AWESOME.<br />
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After a restful night spent listening to some fuzzy friends scuttling around on the roof, we woke up for breakfast at 7:30. The girls (myself included) had a rude awakening when we found that our new friends from Wisconsin woke up earlier than us, and had taken over the bathroom. Luckily, we practiced our coexisting skills, and I'm happy to say we are now all getting along. For breakfast, we had a buffet, which was nice because we had gone an entire day without rice and beans. Even though Inez did not serve us, Nick managed to make it look just as good (Notice how all his food is bathed in green sauce... we're not really sure what it is but we love it.)<br />
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Last night, Team Awesome decided to hike the monkey trail in the hopes of seeing some monkeys on our way to the site where we were measuring bromeliads. Although we did not see any monkeys, we saw a waterfall, the boys on their hike, a pack of coatis, and the butt of an agouti (witnessed by Kelsey). At the top of the continental divide, we measured our bromeliads. We missed the sun that had been shining so brightly for the past few days, but the wind and the clouds helped us to work extremely efficiently.<br />
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The Man Team hiked around all morning since they had collected all their data yesterday afternoon, and saw a black lizard. When they returned to the lodge, they worked on analyzing the data they had collected.<br />
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Team Hummingbird hung out at the hummingbird house and collected data for their project.<br />
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Today we also had a number of celebrity sightings. At lunch, we (especially Steph) were super excited when a man walked in holding a baby sloth. Turns out, he had found it abandoned on the side of the road (Apparently baby sloths fall out of the trees, but the mothers do not go down to pick them up) and was raising it in his house. Little did we know that this man was the son of the Wildford Guidon, the man who started the reserve we are staying. And today he was visiting the reserve with his wife. Celebrity sighting #1.<br />
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Then, a few of us girls went down to the research station at Monteverde to see the track collection, the insect collection, and some footage from the cameras in the parks (we saw pumas walking on the same paths we've been going on, right across from our lodge...) There we had celebrity sighting #2: J. Allen Pounds, a resident scientist who has been published numerous times for his research on the disappearance of frogs in the forest. We had been tipped off by the boys, because in a #classicbill moment, they asked him who he was and what he studied, and he was a bit surprised when they didn't recognize his name... whoops. But for anyone that was wondering, he has two gorgeous dogs that hang out with the lab, one is a husky mix and the other was the fluffiest golden retriever mix I have ever seen. (Can you tell that petting the dogs was one of my highlights?)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMRINzTOCc2ykrIPl1WJX0V6CpjWZV32R8dZlpT1p7xnLZpZawKGhtAJznaPdAhl2tlbKkbWcrc0UFfghpqNoncmC232XneObTiyPsVHjg4kG4wYLCZIUabpVeEM5b5cEu6fWu1WQBjtL_/s1600/IMG_0927.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMRINzTOCc2ykrIPl1WJX0V6CpjWZV32R8dZlpT1p7xnLZpZawKGhtAJznaPdAhl2tlbKkbWcrc0UFfghpqNoncmC232XneObTiyPsVHjg4kG4wYLCZIUabpVeEM5b5cEu6fWu1WQBjtL_/s320/IMG_0927.jpg" width="240" /></a>After lunch, we contemplated going into town, but the group collectively decided to stay on the reserve and explore some more. Although we started together, we quickly split into smaller groups in the hopes of seeing more mammals, but in a stroke of fate, we all came together on a path where MONKEYS WERE PLAYING ON THE TREES RIGHT ABOVE US. We have determined they were Panama spider monkeys, the same type the boys saw battling yesterday. We snapped some great pics of the monkeys swinging, a mother helping its child get from tree to tree, and them just playing around. Then, on our way back to the lodge, we spotted a quetzal just hanging out. Notice the long blue tail, which tells us that he is a male.<br />
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For dinner, we journeyed to Tiramonti, and had our last supper. The pizza made a surprise reappearance, and we had some delicious ice cream cake for dessert. Afterwards, we continued to work on our independent projects and crashed. Tomorrow (which is now today) we journey to Selva Verde as our adventures continue (Insert corny sentimental statement here about how awesome our trip is and I can't wait for whatever comes in the days ahead.)<br />
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Don't worry mom, we are all safe and happy! Talk to you soon!Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-49688495558516739512013-01-02T21:30:00.000-08:002013-01-03T05:40:29.063-08:00Day Five: The Best Day EverHola! This is Brianne, a sophomore at SMC from Andover, MA. Today was a day to define other days. We woke up with clear sunny skies and enjoyed our pancake breakfast at the late hour of 7:30. Aunt Jemima even made the long trip down to join us this morning.<br />
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Or favorite tour guide Christian also made an appearance at breakfast, telling stories of his past life working at the zip line place we went to yesterday. Apparently there was a guy who worked there named "Loco" who apparently made old ladies enjoy life. Not sure what that means, but I can't say I'm not glad he wasn't still working. </div>
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After breakfast, the real work began. We broke into groups and began to devise our independent research projects. Here is the breakdown of proposals:</div>
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The boys, or as they like to call themselves "the man team", are looking at the epiphytic load on the trees in the elvin forest by the continental divide to see if there is a difference between the Pacific and Caribbean sides.</div>
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Team Hummingbird is planning on quantifying the "come at me bro" tendencies of three species of hummingbirds which frequent the feeders the hummingbird gallery.</div>
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Team Awesome was going to look at the communities housed by bromeliads and compare those at lower and higher elevations, until we realized that spoons and tupperware were not effective scientific instruments, and changed our study. So is life in the jungle. Now we are measuring the volume of liquid bromeliads can hold, comparing the two sites as well as height from the ground.</div>
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Much of the rest of the daylight was left to exploration, and oh did we explore. Collectively we saw 2 quetzals, a snake, 3 gangs of coatis, a kinkajou (aka Pikachu), about a million hummingbirds, an Azure hooded jay, a toucanette, army ants, a black guan, some kind of weasel, 2 squirrels, a frog, a couple Lew-dawgs (including the pelecinid wasp) and a bunch of monkeys going ape. I would call that a pretty successful day. We went from Kelsey staring out of the window yesterday saying "I'm looking for some mammals" to us not being able to get away today even if we tried. </div>
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Kelsey, Emily and I were the first to spot the famous resplendent quetzal. Well, actually it was the tour group in front of us that told us to be quite who spotted it. Luckily they were nice and only charged us $40 for a picture through the guide's scope. </div>
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The hummingbird team had quite the surprise when they found more than just hummingbirds at the feeders.</div>
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Though everyone had a successful day, the boys (including Prof. Lewins) came back with the biggest find. On their way our to the continental divide, they decided to take to longest trail, which was the left-hand boarder of the park. Little did they know, their minds were about to be blown. According to Lewins, it's the best hiking trail in the reserve. There is a beautiful waterfall they visited, but that was not the main attraction.</div>
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A gang of about 12 coati crossed their path. The coati, or coatimundi, is a member of the procyonidae family, which is the same family as the raccoon. The females and young travel in groups, while the males typically roam alone. </div>
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After that, they stumbled upon a wilder sight and sound. So much for Monteverde being peaceful. (please excuse the language in the video)</div>
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A monkey fight broke out above their heads.</div>
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Another monkey fight almost broke out at dinner as well. As we were sitting, sipping the delicious raspberry juice, a huge group of about 25 other college students walked in. After a few questions and some quick deduction, we realized they were staying at our lodge. Our nice, private, quiet lodge. So much for running the place. But I guess so is the way of nature, and I am sure we will learn to coexist, like the hundreds of thousands of species in the cloud forest. </div>
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Oh, and tonight Lewins chased a moth around outside for a few minutes.</div>
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#classicbill</div>
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We all send lots of love from Costa Rica and miss everyone at home!</div>
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Brianne</div>
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Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-23845904391702398732013-01-02T09:08:00.000-08:002013-01-02T09:08:26.622-08:00Day Four: #YOCRO
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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… but
really only the best of times. I’m
Patrick, a senior biology major from Hooksett, NH living the dream in Costa Rica this winter
break! </div>
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Starting with the fast break in the morning, a delicious coupling
of rice and beans (a staple in the Costa Rican fine cuisine) with a flour
tortilla and sunny-side-up fried eggs.
The sunny side of our day was yet to come, as visions of zipping through
the canopy and a pitch-black stroll through the jungle crossed everybody’s
minds with each bite.</div>
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The zip lining adventure started promptly after
breakfast. Our good buddy
Christian (see Marc… er… Eric’s post from yesterday for more information on the
legend) waved us a friendly hello and goodbye, a goodbye we hoped wouldn’t be
our last. Each zip line held
beautiful views of the scenery, including some of the canopy bridges we would
later walk over, and quite the adrenaline rush. Before each run, the guides made sure to give us a hearty
Costa Rican “¡Pura Vida!” The
best, most impressive zip was the final kilometer zip done in tandem. Nick and I screamed the whole kilometer
as the adrenaline bubbled over.
Some of us tropical ecologists (myself NOT included) decided to do a
Tarzan Swing, essentially a 10-meter drop where the guides whack your ankles
and spin you around while you pretend to have a blast. Eighteen lines and hours of hiking
later, we had successfully zipped our way through the canopy of Monteverde.</div>
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Marci coming in hot!</div>
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Professor Lewins too</div>
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Nick and Eric about ready for takeoff!</div>
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The rest of the gang eagerly awaits their turn</div>
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Kelsey's zippy run</div>
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Amanda on the Tarzan swing</div>
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When our adrenal glands finally calmed down, we hiked through the canopy. Although we saw no really interesting critters, not even a black guan, it was very interesting to witness the cloud forest through a different perspective. The paths between each bridge reverted us back to the understory where we saw many floor species that weren’t easily spotted from high up in the canopy.</div>
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Crossing one of the bridges</div>
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Stephanie kissing some hot lips</div>
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Tropical Ecology bridge-crossing exam... Everybody passed</div>
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n the early afternoon, we made our way over to the hummingbird garden. “How could hummingbirds not make you happy? They’re like birds on crack!” ~ lady at the hummingbird gardens. And happy they made us! You could literally come within inches of touching the birds to take a picture. Sometimes, the birds would perch on your fingers while they fed! A picture’s worth a thousand words:<br />
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A hummingbird on my finger!</div>
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Jared plays the role of hummingbird perch</div>
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Brianne helping the hummingbirds feed</div>
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After the sunset, we went on a tour with our new mother-figure Dulce (perhaps spelled Dolce…). She was fantastic guiding us around the jungle in pitch black. It was remarkable how she would be able to find the smallest of baby frogs, hidden spiders, camouflaged walking sticks, sleeping birds, and, wait for it… more trees! It turns out the Dulce is a professional sloth tracker and offered to take us sloth tracking tomorrow (January 2). Of course, Stephanie was all in on this idea, having a deep passion for the slothiest of sloths.<br />
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The cloud forest at
night… Perhaps a picture of the rarest animal in the world?</div>
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On our way to dinner, we saw Dulce pulled over on the side
of the road. It turns out she had
spotted a two-toed sloth chilling on the underside of a branch hanging over the
road. Dinner was a feast of soup,
tilapia, and apple pie and an amazing watermelon juice leaving us both tired
and desiring more…</div>
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It looks like tomorrow should hold many interesting
surprises in the cloud forests of Monteverde!</div>
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#goldennugs #YOCRO</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-84360224002034531172012-12-31T20:42:00.000-08:002013-02-13T20:54:46.252-08:00Day Three: Black Guan...It's Not Terrible Hey everybody. My name is Mark...I mean Eric, a junior from Sparta NJ. We woke up to a beautiful Costa Rican Monday, the birds where singing, the monkeys were playing, and we had NO power. This lead us to have a little delay in having a fantastic breakfast complete with rice and beans. After chowing down on what I assume is a traditional Costa Rican breakfast, we tied our boots and packed our bags for our first day in the Monteverde jungle. <br />
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Walking outside there were tons of people awaiting entrance into the jungle, but was also when we saw him the man the myth the legend, Christian. Christian would be our very knowledgable, very friendly tour guide for the first half of the day. We started the tour with Christian explaining the history of the park and showing some awesome examples of plants. We saw some birds too like a black guan, which is basically a black turkey that lives in the canopy. For everyone wanting to know the size of a black guan, it is about big enough to make enough soup for 5. Here's a picture of me with Christian to hold you guys over until Prof. Phunk is back with our group photo.<br />
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Let me tell you all a little about the legendary Christian. He is from Monteverde so he has seen the effects of ecotourism. On one hand he enjoys teaching people all about the wonders of the forest, and the amount of money that is raised by the preserve. On the other hand, he doesn't like the amount of development need to support the growing number of staff needed to support the amount of people staying at hostels, and hotels. Not to mention he can't make as much marmalade as the number of guava trees has decreased from the development. He also highly endorses the Costa Rican beer Imperial saying "It's not terrible."<br />
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On our guided tour in addition to the plethora of flora we saw, we also saw tons of insects, including another giant Lew-dawg flying insect. Sadly, no one got a picture of that bad guy, but Prof. Lewins got some shots of these cool looking guys. He also got a nickname in an update to yesterday's blog...it's Bill.<br />
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Leaf Beetle Platyhelminthes<br />
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Katydid Tree hopper<br />
We also saw my chosen organism the strangler fig, or matapalo in spanish. It is the most dangerous plant in the jungle by far in my opinion. It kills other trees. It is also one of the coolest, with a large hollow center where the tree it "strangled" was. Here's a sideways picture of a matapalo (tilt head).<br />
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After our guided hike we went back to the lodge and had a nice Costa Rican lunch, with you guess it rice and beans on the side. We then decided to hike up to the Continental Divide. We set out on our own this time. On our way up the mountain we walked through and elfin forest and emerged to a spectacular view. It was a bit windy too. Unfortunately, Mary wasn't feeling well so her and Prof Hope had to leave.<br />
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We continued on our journey without Prof. Hope. We spent a good amount of time on a canopy bridge bird watching and enjoying the sites. After our day of adventuring, we all piled in a van and went to dinner. For dinner we had some delicious pizza, you know the flavors, cheese, veggie, meatlover. Hopefully Mary is feeling better and will be back with us shortly.<br />
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Night from Monteverde round 2 and have a Feliz Ano Nuevo.<br />
Eric<br />
#classicbill<br />
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<br />Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-79693547010332350602012-12-30T06:47:00.000-08:002013-01-08T06:56:36.700-08:00Day Two: We've Only Just Begun<br />
Good morning from Costa Rica! My name is Nick Kyratzis and I am a junior from Albany, New York and was volunteered to write the second journal entry by our very own Eric MacPherson. This fine morning I arose with the sun shinning through the shades as the birds chirped what a beautiful day it would be. As I walked through the fine, fresh buffet laid out in the Don Carlos restaurant, I opted for a bowl of cereal, a slice of pineapple, and some of the worlds greatest coffee. While sitting out on the hotel patio listening to the soothing sound of ferocious dogs barking at each other, the one and only P. Phunk enlightened us with rare species that we would encounter as we continued our journey onto the next destination.<br />
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Once we completed our fine meal and sent Kate off on her merry way to the clinic with Professor Lewis (who has yet to have a nickname), we packed our belongings onto the top of our shuttle van while our driver proceeded to cover our luggage with a tarp and some string. Oh how safe this trip will be! We departed Don Carlos hotel at 11:30 am to what would be a beautiful drive once we traveled out of the impoverished city with friendly waving citizens. As the bus drove us up and down the winding roads leading to Monteverde, the beautiful scenery caught everyone's eyes. With nearly 6 rainbows counted and multiple mountains about, we captured every sight with cameras, iPhones and photogenic memory.<br />
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After a two and a half hour travel, we stopped for food along the way at a road side restaurant. The service was wonderful with helping us understand what each dish of chicken consisted of as they served it on the side of rice and beans. Most of us chose the orange Fanta while Patrick went of the fanta that tasted like cough syrup, silly boy. We then hit the road after filling out stomachs for another two and a half hours until we reached our destination. We arrived at the La Casona Lodge where the four male students got damp beds and the females were left with no towels. There, I realized that I was staying away from the girls for time being in Monteverde.<br />
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We caught a shuttle to our restaurant Tramonti at 6:30 where Eric and I drove separately from the crew in a Nissan with the friendly couple Michael and Betty. They shared their travel experiences and hoped us a better time then they had. As we sat to eat to eat our meal, the server presented us with caprese salad as an appetizer, pasta for a main dish, and a delicious brownie with a scoop of ice cream for dessert. The dinner was wonderful with great laughs and wonderful conversations that shall not be repeated. Upon our arrival to the lodge, the professors thought it would be a good idea to go on a night hike to test out our headlamp skills. Although we didn't make it too far off the lodge property, we sure got to see some fascinating trees, plants, and bugs! As the rain pored on our heads and cameras got soaked, not a person cared and not a student refused. My favorite part of this night hike was finding the frog in a water hole, a jumping spider and the new rare Lew-Dawg.<br />
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As the night hike came to a close, this students started dropping like the moths Steph was murdering. Some students said goodnight and others skyped loved ones, while I got stuck writing this in frustration on the iPad as Steph continues to kill moths. Well there you go, day two down and ten to go, and yes mom, I'm having fun and changing my socks regularly. One love and goodnight from Costa Rica!<br />
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<br />Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-43968974791058703072012-12-29T19:34:00.000-08:002012-12-29T19:34:00.045-08:00Day One: Off to San Jose!Hi everyone! My name is Stephanie and our tropical ecology class has just completed our first day of our exciting journey!! We spent almost all day traveling today and since I was the only student conscious for the entirety of it, I was nominated to fill you all in on how it went. For <span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969);">our 7am departure from Logan International Airport in Boston, MA, we all arrived bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 4:30am. The general consensus was that wake-up happened at 3am. After spending much time in lines and going through security we attacked all of the food vendors, threatening riots if there were no bagels. Thank goodness there were bagels...</span><br />
The first exciting flight was a very turbulent hour and a half adventure to Philadelphia. We were there for approximately 5 minutes when we were told it was time to board, even though we were supposed to have nearly an hour layover. Oh well! The second flight was about five hours and for the most part people slept. During the moments of wakefulness, Jared played a successful game of peek-a-boo with the child in front of him, a lot of people read books (I saw that copy of The Hobbit Marci), and I watched the emotional roller coaster that is The Lion King. It was a long flight, but we eventually landed in sunny San Jose, Costa Rica!! We got off the plane right onto the Tarmac which was a different sort of experience.<br />
The weather was a balmy 80 and very windy. Our van driver got us all safely to the Don Carlos Hotel, where we will spend the night tonight before going off and doing something more thrilling tomorrow. A group of us decided to go explore the nearby park, so off we went on a mini adventure. We, of course, got distracted by old timey pianos and odd looking statues, but we got there eventually. Our amazing Professor Hope regaled us with different tree names, though I might say we were mildly disappointed when he mistook an Australian Pine as a true pine tree. I will never believe a word he says again. There was some play time involved with all our learning. I climbed a tree and so Pat decided to join me. We were informed it was a fig tree and it would just be plain wrong if I didn't share that!<br />
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Sadly, Emily couldn't quite get the hang of climbing it, so we came down and played with other plants. Like the bamboo... Jared was one with the bamboo...<br />
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Well, at least the police thought we were hilarious to watch. After our jaunt outside, we all came together for a lovely family meal at the hotel restaurant. No one was willing to try the strange Fanta flavor, but I tried the Coke float and it was pretty good! </div>
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Throughout the day, people were exchanging our dollars into the Costa Rican colones and if you give them a $20 bill, you get back a lovely green bill with sloths on it!! That's pretty awesome!!! </div>
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This means that tomorrow, we start the day "early" at 11am for our departure to Monteverde where we will begin our work in the forest and enjoying our time in this beautiful country!</div>
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More to come from other students! I promise it will get more entertaining as we start going out of public view... But we shall see! Lots to look forward to! Stay tuned!</div>
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Tropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2902937707615952321.post-89901375090739135302012-12-14T18:30:00.000-08:002013-01-02T15:23:01.020-08:00All about our trip!<span style="font-family: inherit;">My name is Marci, and I am one of the 12 students that will be traveling to Costa Rica over winter break along with Biology faculty Professor Hope and Professor Lewins for this year's Tropical Ecology study tour class. We are all very excited to explore the different rain forests we will visit, see first-hand the amazing biodiversity present at these sites, and experience a different culture!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We are departing for Costa Rica on December 29th, and will spend 12 days in the country visiting three different types of rain forest ecosystems: a lowland rain forest, a tropical cloud forest, and a transitional zone premontane wet to seasonal moist forest. When we visit these sites we will take guided hikes to observe the plants and animals that live there, conduct field work for short research projects on topics we are interested in, and many other awesome things. We are excited to share our experiences with you, and I and the other students going on the trip will be blogging while we are in Costa Rica!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">To give you a preview of some of the experiences we will have in Costa Rica, here are some pictures and descriptions from Professor Hope taken on previous Tropical Ecology study tour trips!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShRnI05EiElmfvZPEFvcodz-DZmhrzTXH_f_HWMWvP2LREf6Ak030wKS9kxY7kwl3BUqwvaGtEfs5gLzpmCJWDpmCv9nbIHSNkRw8eaG8KPwRnZRjlHUOVYkHawnTgFImjdxm366KsA0C/s1600/group%2520at%2520La%2520Roca.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgShRnI05EiElmfvZPEFvcodz-DZmhrzTXH_f_HWMWvP2LREf6Ak030wKS9kxY7kwl3BUqwvaGtEfs5gLzpmCJWDpmCv9nbIHSNkRw8eaG8KPwRnZRjlHUOVYkHawnTgFImjdxm366KsA0C/s640/group%2520at%2520La%2520Roca.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Group shot from the first SMC trip January 2004 at La Roca at Palo Verde in the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">dry tropical forest area with extensive marshes</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBg1qSQTWynNdDuqc8KaWAyHVJfq01v8rWmR5AgBxfRAEhl9vPBUoljm3f1C4-W8fKP0nfSBgw9xMBV7OC2Q4BJHW_Bt8XGHJB-hl20D6FR3EYhwRY1OrHEVdB3KEPxj-5YKjRBzCDs6X/s1600/canopy%2520walk%25202007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBg1qSQTWynNdDuqc8KaWAyHVJfq01v8rWmR5AgBxfRAEhl9vPBUoljm3f1C4-W8fKP0nfSBgw9xMBV7OC2Q4BJHW_Bt8XGHJB-hl20D6FR3EYhwRY1OrHEVdB3KEPxj-5YKjRBzCDs6X/s640/canopy%2520walk%25202007.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">From Monteverde (the first site we will visit) from the January 2007 trip (the second SMC trip) with a couple students on the canopy bridge </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQs94SNUOWkEXhRVGxRi1dVk2c4eFs8g8pUnAWoINVM9df9b2mtp_Gr14n2nLZSzYf9UvxSjojvLlM3m7Ud09s_evD-oMmw69FpSn1M2L-sjEwKsfmj0iUD8bOO3jQmYo1EggO2Aov9NrB/s1600/monkey%2520tail%2520tree%2520fern.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQs94SNUOWkEXhRVGxRi1dVk2c4eFs8g8pUnAWoINVM9df9b2mtp_Gr14n2nLZSzYf9UvxSjojvLlM3m7Ud09s_evD-oMmw69FpSn1M2L-sjEwKsfmj0iUD8bOO3jQmYo1EggO2Aov9NrB/s640/monkey%2520tail%2520tree%2520fern.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">The monkey tail tree fern from Monteverde</span></td></tr>
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It's going to be an amazing experience, and I know everyone is really looking forward to the trip! Talk to you again from Costa Rica!<br />
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-MarciTropical Ecology Costa Rica Triphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08344629105290199795noreply@blogger.com0