The Journey

Dad woke me up at 4 in the morning, we got all our stuff together, put it in the van, and drove for the next couple of hours.  When we finally got to the airport I was so excited! After we went through security, we sat and waited for the next hour or so.  When we boarded the plane I was pretty happy! Five hours later we were in Costa Rica but not at the end of our trip. We had to drive a bit to get to Hotel Cacts.  After that, we took a walk through downtown San Jose to get groceries and then we had dinner. The next morning we drove through the mountains for about two thirds of our drive.  For the next third, we drove through towns until we got to Pavona where our water taxi was waiting. Then we had to put garbage bags over our luggage before hauling it to the boat because it was raining. We had a nice boat ride through the canals and rivers until we got to the station. I was ecstatic (even though it was raining)!

The Experience So Far

As of today, we are one week into our six weeks.  Mario came in time for lunch on Monday.  Yesterday, Mario some of the students and I made a die with some fruit (Guaitil Fruit) that he collected on Monday.  First, Mario peeled the outer layer to get to the seeds.  Juliette helped with that too.  Me and Aiden’s job was to pull out the seeds to make the next step easier.  At the same time, Zach ground some charcoal.  Then, I mashed the seeds, charcoal, and water.  And there you have it, a temporary tattoo ink that will last about a week. Mario also gave us an introduction to botany and showed us edible plants, toxic plants, and plants with dyes.

Here’s a list of some of the things I’ve seen:

Reptiles: Red Coffee Snake, Brown Blunt-headed Tree Snake, Fer-de-lance, Golden Eyed Parrot Snake, Bromeliad Boa, Boa Constrictor, Festive Ameva (aka Central American Whiptail Lizard), Yellow-headed Gecko, Black River Turtle, White-lipped Mud Turtle, Litter Gecko

Amphibians:  Scarlet-webbed Tree Frog, Fitzinger’s Rain Frog, Tink Frog, Smokey Jungle Frog, Cane Toad, Strawberry Dart Frog

Birds: Keel-billed Toucan, Chestnut-mandibled Toucan, White-collared Manakin, Red-capped Manakin, Blue-gray Tanager, Slaety-tailed Trogon, Gray-necked Wood Rail, Green Hermit, Long-tailed Hermit, Little Hermit, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Green Heron, Little Blue Heron, Anhinga, Great Green Macaw, Collared Aracari, Ringed Kingfisher, Green Kingfisher, White-winged Dove, Clay-coloured Robin, Great Grackle, Brown Pelican, Magnificent Frigate Bird, Montezuma’s Oropendula

Mammals: Brazilian Long-nosed Bats, Fishing Bat, Unidentified Possom