Hey from Botany Megan!!
Today we did a macaw count and woke up at 4:30 am. We saw 105 individuals and 12 baby Macaws.  After that we ate breakfast. We then painted half of a bridge.  The paint was super smelly.  Then we ate lunch. Nice tuna fish sandwhiches.  After that the botany team went out to their plot.  We finished measuring the diameter Base height of all the trees in the plot. We have a total of 17 trees with the base height of more than 10 cm.  We have been having difficulting in identifying the species, but we´ll figure it out. Yesterday the botany team was out all day working in our transect.  We also got a lecture about the Scarlet Macaws and saw pictures of snakes.  There is a tree next to our station that has a bunch of Howler monkeys that wake us up in the mourning!
Later from Megan!

---

Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. See how.

Today the GIS team went on a long hike all the way accross Carara National Park. the day started at about 4:30 in the morning and we were on the road to the trailhead by five. we started the roughly 9 mile hike with our hired local guide around 7. the purpose of the hike was to map the ¨trail¨ with GPS because it had never been done before. Antonio, the guide, who used to be a hunter in these parts before it became illigal in the park, estimated that there had only been about twenty people to have ever traveled this trail. when we started along our journey, i knew he wasn´t lying, because there was no trail. some portions of the trek were on small game trails at best, but the majority of it was spent hacking our way through the jungle carefully placing each step to ensure we didnt step on any snakes or other dangerouse animals. we saw some monkeys, tucans, wild pigs, macaws, among other jungle creatures. it took us 5 hours to complete the trail, which was a pretty fast pace.....the fastest done so far Antonio says. our GPS data turned out well and we were all pretty tired and glad to get back to the research station at the end.
I hope everyone following this blog is doing well back home and i wish you could be down here with us.

-Jon Skelton

Weekend!

Hola Amigos! “Policy Sara” here. Sara Hall to my friends and family back home. In a group of 25 students there are 4 Sara(h)s , so seeing as I am a member of the policy team that is what I am now called. Welcome to my first blog ever. So much to tell! This weekend was a whirlwind adventure. The highlight was most definitely seeing 30 scarlet macaws at once on our Saturday afternoon lagoon hike. It was a beautiful and rare sight to behold. Many of us stood in awe for a half hour unable to turn away as the birds flew from the food tree to their perching tree. On the same hike I saw my first monkey of the trip which Shanley and I were quite excited about, let me tell you. I think the hike itself was a short preview of what is to come on the Sirena trek—lots and lots and lots of mud. Imagine getting back to the station with only 30 minutes until leaving for a fancy happy hour and a night at the disco. What are 20 girls, sweaty and covered in mud to do with only two showers? Answer: out door sink shower. It was quite entertaining as well as environmentally friendly. Once we all finally smelled well enough to reenter the real world (read: no longer smelling like a zoo mixed with a gym locker) , we hoped in the lovely air conditioned vans and drove to a beautiful resort on the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean for happy hour. A mojito has never tasted so good.

The night progress to dinner at an authentic Costa Rican restaurant and dancing at, Lucille’s, la discoteque, where we were the only patrons for a good hour, as it was only about 9:30. Once the locals showed up they were quite amused by the dancing gringos and gringas, watching from the outskirts, waiting for us to leave to have their dance floor back.

Despite partying, the ziplining, and the movie night, I am learning a ton.(Mom and Dad, this is for your benefit...) Being on the policy team, we have interviewed numerous locals about Carara National Park and gotten their views on how to get the comminty and the local schools more involved in the Scarlet Macaw Conservation Project. I love being immersed in the rainforest and the local community. Today's highlight was definitely going to the school, although I'm sure the teacher's were not as pleased to see us. As soon as we pulled out our cameras the kids came running out of the classrooms jabbering rapidly in Spanish, all wanting to have their photo taken. All in all it has been a great trip so far.

Parque Nacional Carara photos by Khai Bhagwandin

Tucan!

On one of our hikes, we were advised to wear our rubber boots but Troy told us not too. 2 days later our shoes are finally dry... the crocodiles and macaws were worth it though.

Spider moneys! walking the many trails at Parque Nacional Carara, seeing these guys is only one of the many treats we see every day!

Zip line over the canonpy at Turu Ba Ri

The endangered scarlet macaw, while on one of our hikes we saw over 25 feeding on the fruit of these palms.

Hola Senoras y Senoritas!

Today the ranger station had a problem with their wáter system, as they had very little water pressure.  Like all the tough jobs, they assigned the GIS team, consisting of John, Jason, Ian, Kelly, and me.  Troy joined us today, however, and we set out to the ranger station early in the morning to save the day.  We were decked out in knee high rain boots to ensure protection from the all the beasts of the jungle.  Trailing three rangers with machetes, we slipped quietly into the rainforest, hoping to not disturb any wild animals.  As we entered the jungle following the water pipe, it seemed quiet.. Too quiet.  All of a sudden out of nowhere I hear "Shit!"… "Get the hell out of here!"  We all turn and run to escape the deadly snake, or maybe a jaguar?  After the 5 of us got out safely, we realized that the 3 rangers had been split up and ran the other direction deeper into the jungle.  When Troy came running out, he showed us his nasty battle wounds on his neck.  Wasp stings!  Apparently we walked into a wasp nest and they swarmed the people in front of the line.  One of the Rangers then walked back to the nest, grabbed it with his bare hands and threw it into a bag.  We then continued on, following the water pipe, being more careful than we had been on our first attempted entrance.  About 20 meters into the depths, we decided to start digging to get a visual of the pipe and try to find the leak.  We quickly found one, but it was minor and most likely not the cause.  During our excavation, we were frequently attacked by acacia ants, the nasty little guys that guard the Acacia trees from invaders (apparently we were invading).  They would crawl up our boots and down into our socks, only to grab on and continually bite.  And they hurt!  There was a time when I thought ants were friendly and minded their own business.  After 15 minutes of digging, another "Shit!" could be heard, and then the nasty sound of water shooting up through the pipe.  Uh oh.  One of us broke the pipe pretty severely.  After 5 minutes of arguing, the water finally was turned off and we kept digging.  Eventually it was decided that there were too many holes and the old pipes were to be completely dug up and new pipes layed down. We were told to wait for 30 minutes for the new pipes to arrive, so we waited.  And waited.  During our stay, we decided to play with the army ants.  We threw dead bugs into the massive trails of army ants and watched the swarm engulf the bug like the scarab beetles in The Mummy movies, tear it apart and carry it off to the nest.  Then a ranger challenged us to see who could put their hand into the army ant stream the longest.  We all agreed and thrust our hand in.  They swarmed and all of a sudden my hand was on fire.  My hand was in the middle of 2 others, so I only got 5 or so, but some hands were totally engulfed and they didnt last long.  The ranger made it to 1 minute, and pulled his hand out to see ants clinging on like little staples to his skin, and had to pull them off 1 by one.  1 and a half hours later, we decided to just leave and walk back to the biological station.  As we left the gates out onto the road, our ride drove up and picked us up.  We made it back just in time for lunch.  Not too eventful the rest of the day, we walked around and marked the areas on GPS where other groups had made animal sightings.  Now it is time to sleep, for the GIS team gets to travel to the other side of the park via van, and make the 8 mile hike back to the station.  Only 20 people have ever been on this trail, so we should get some action. 

Adios, hasta luego!
-Geoff 

---

Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.

This country is amazing! Being able to stay at Carara National Park has been the biggest eye opener and most exciting experience.  Going to sleep to the sounds of the rainforest and waking up to the roar of the howler monkeys is unreal.  I thought I knew what the rainforest was like, but nothing beats actually experiencing the torrential downpours, biological diversity, and green canopy! Everyday has consisted doing service work for the park and local community, as well as diving right into our research for our different teams.  We worked on the trails, raking the debris away and painting buildings.  Today my policy group went on morning interviews that led us to a local school and we got to interact with the kids.  They were all so full of life and not shy about coming up to us at all, it was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had.  One thing I have really enjoyed about being on the policy team  is all the interview outside of the park we have got to conduct.  We have really got to get a taste of all the different aspects of the local community, with more to come! Along with our service and research time, we have also got to experience both the local culture and tourism sides to being in the country.  Going out to eat and then to the disco gave us a taste of Costa Rica nightlife, and then going on the zipline above the canopy was an experience like no other! Staying at the station has been such a great change of pace from our usual lifestyles and has really allowed the group to get to know one another.  I think one of the most surreal things we have done is watching the Jungle Book on the side of the station with the actual jungle less than ten feet away.  I would have never thought that I would be watching that in this situation when I was a kid…it is truly amazing here.  I am overwhelmed by the amazing people I have met and the openness of the local people.  It has nearly been a week, and I have already had so many new experiences…I cant wait for the rest of this month! Pura Vida!!

Lots has happend since I last wrote! We have been very busy at Carara, each team working on their individual projects and all of us have been doing service work in the park on the week days. We did some trail clearing to minimize snake habitat, and also have been working on cleaning and painting the bridges on the trails. I am on the policy team, and am really enjoying my experience so far. Giovanni, the head park ranger, has been arranging interviews for us to do around town. This has been really great because we have the opportunity to get out into the towns and see the community and interact with people. Today we had one of our best interview days because we got to go to a school to interview a teacher and the principal, and also got to see the kids at the school. They were all so excited to see us, and we took lots of pictures with them! So cute!!! The little girls were very interested in my hair because it is blonde, they kept touching it and telling me it was "bonita." We also had a really great weekend that was packed with activities. On Saturday we went out on the muddiest hike in the world! We were hiking to a lagoon that had crocodiles in it, but in order to get there we walked through 3-4 inches of standing muddy water, with deep mud underneath. We all were wearing hiking boots and everyone had mud up to their knees! After the hike we went back to the station to shower, where we discovered that we had a water problem and the showers were not really working! Many of us had to shower out in the laundry spicket! That night we went out to have drinks and dinner, and also went to a disco for dancing. It was nice to get out of the station and have a good time as a group. On Sunday we went on a canopy zipline tour! I have always wanted to do a zipline, and I really enjoyed it. It was a really cool way to see the forest canopy and at times I really felt like a bird flying over the rainforest! Overall I would say that we are having a really great time here, but we are also getting lots done. I cant believe that we leave the station this Saturday, but I cant wait to see what the rest of this adventure has in store!

---

Insert movie times and more without leaving Hotmail®. See how.

The jungle from the inside

Hi Everyone!

I (Sara De Sitter) would like to fill you in on what the botany team has been up to.

Today we got to start our research project. At around 1:45pm we took off down a trail to set up our transect. Of course that is exactly when it started to rain. An hour later we were still trying to find a place to fit our 50m x 10m transect and we were so wet we blended in with the rain. At 4:00 we ended our reseach for the day. Despite the drenching rain and the puddles in my rubber boots we had found a place to set up our transect and had pin-pointed two of the corners. Of course we were working hard but we also took the time to enjoy watching tucans and taking pictures by the river. It was a successful day!

The first few days in the jungle...

So since we have arrived at Carara National Park in Costa Rica there have been many new experiences and adventures. I think we would all agree that the first night of sleep was pretty rough. Troy made sure we read about all the bad things that could bite, scratch, and infect us. One item of particular interest was the botfly, which I won´t share the dreadful details of to you all, you can just look it up later if you really want to know! I had never used a mosquito net before and have learned since that first night that having the net touch you doesn´t do any good and is not very comfortable to sleep under.

Carara station is actually a pretty cool location. We are right next to the rain forest and have two trail access points from our station. I am on the Bird Team and we are going to record (with a really sensitive microphone) the different bird species in the national park. Today all of us : Megan, Mitch, Sarah, Bonnie and myself all went out and marked our first location of bird recording. It was our first experience off trail with our big black rubber boots that we have to wear to prevent snake bites. Another one of those could-be-bad experiences that we are faced with daily here at Carara.

Overall the adventures we face daily slowly calm down the fears we all came here with and we are all getting excited for our touristic experience this weekend, going ziplining!

Hello to all family and friends!
-Rachel-

Tromping throught the rivers and such by Kelly Ess

So far Costa Rica has been amazing. The hot and humid climate is a huge shock at first, but surprisingly it isn´t bothering me as much as I thought it would...although I don´t think I have been completely dry since we arrived in Carara National Park.

Today my group, the GIS team, began our first field research. This consisted of testing our equiptment and mapping the northern section of the Quebrada Bonita, which is a small creek that runs through Carara. Because of the dense canopy cover of the jungle we had to walk in the middle of the creek to recieve satelite signals to track where we were and the path the creek follows. Right as we began this adventure the largest amount of water I have experienced fell from the sky and continued throughout our hour or so long trek. By the time we arrived back at the station it looked like we had just swam up the creek with no paddles. Even with the wettness this has been my favorite part of the journey thus far. We saw some scarlett macaws on our way home and the rain was a bit of relief from the heat. Tomorrow should be another adventure to a river where supposedly crocodiles make their home....

HEY FAMILY!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Carara arrival

Greetings from the rainforest of Carara National Park. And naturally, its raining. Our group arrived to the park yesterday and we spent the afternoon cleaning, fixing beds, and putting up mosquito netting. Larissa and Mallory joined us later in the day after meeting our TA Jim at the airport and taking a taxi to the park. We also got our van stuck and unstuck in the mud!

Today we started with our service projects beginning with trail raking, sign cleaning, and painting the handicap trail bathroom. Carara is Costa Rica´s first National Park with an accessible trail. We ask for our lodging fees to be waived so that we can turn that money into a donation for Park materials. This year´s donation will total $2,530.00 and that goe along way for the Park. For instance, we will donate life jackets for the rangers to use on boat patrols in the mangroves where the Scarlet Macaws rest at night.

Every morning next week, one team (birds, botany, education, geography, and policy) will be up before first light to take part in the annual scientific count of these rare parrots only found in Carara and Corcovado National Park. We will be in position on a hill to observe the Macaws as they take flight along three ¨flyways¨ around and into the Park. Later today the teams will meet to plan their field work.

Hasta luego and Pura Vida

Troy D. Abel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy
Department of Environmental Studies
Huxley College of the Environment
Western Washington University
516 High St., MS 9085
Bellingham, WA 98225-9079

tel: 360-650-6133
fax: 360-650-7702
http://myweb.facstaff.wwu.edu/~abelt

Devon's First Blog EVER!!!

Yay!!! After a long day/night of travel we are finally here, and I am so excited to go to Carara tomorrow morning. When we first got here, I decided to go ahead and answer the first set of questions in my journal for the program. It was asking how I think Costa Rica will be different from home and I came up with five ways that I am expecting  Costa Rica to be different. The first is the language difference! If I could go back in time and tell myself to take Spanish in high school and not French, I would. Knowing how to speak Spanish certainly would make life easier, but it has not been too bad since I have been with a group since I arrived. The second difference is the climate. It is very humid here and the rain is warm. I knew it would be this way, but this is one of the defining factors that sets Costa Rica apart from Washington ( and makes for excellent hair-dos). The third difference is the food. At home we have a variety of choices of what to eat, all of which come from different places around the world, but from what I have seen so far the food is very traditional to the country. We ate dinner at a restaurant just down the street from the hotel for dinner tonight, and it was really good! I enjoy getting to experience another culture through experiencing authentic food. The fourth difference that I expect is the plants and animals. I have lived in Washington all my life, and have grow used to the plants and animals at home. I am looking forward to be able to experience a new take on nature, and see Costa Rica's biodiversity first hand. This is the one difference that I am most looking forward to, and I know that it is something that I will remember about Costa Rica. The last difference that I have experienced and will continue to experience is the different way that women are treated here. Women are seen to have a more traditional role, and this is a stark contrast to the way that I am accustomed to being treated at home. For example, when Rachel and I arrived at the airport today we met up with two other students, one of whom was male. When we all walked out to try to get on a shuttle to the hotel, the airport staff and shuttle drivers always approached him first and asked him where we were headed, and did not pay much attention to us girls. Overall, I am excited to see where this trip takes me, and cannot wait to discover more similarities and differences between Costa Rica and home while I am here. 

Sarah Catudio's day 1 reflections

I have very rarely been in a visible minority group. Walking around San Jose today (away from the immediate tourist areas) I was visibly a minority; not a ton of other folks with the kind of skin that freckles instead of tans. I'm pretty sure I already have a bit of a sunburn. I also only know about 10 mispronounced Spanish words/phrases. So upon realizing the above I immediately became more self-conscious and unsure of my actions. I waited behind a man blocking the sidewalk awkwardly for about 2 minutes because I wasn't sure how to say excuse me. I eventually mumbled something that sounded like "pardone" and ducked under his arm.

While I am intimidated by my overwhelming lack of language skill and cultural social graces, I am excited for the challenge of communicating my wants/needs as well as socializing with locals. I work with ELL (English Language Learners) students and families and I know that being in the language minority/unable to communicate as effectively as I want to will be an amazing learning experience and frame of reference to reflect upon.

I am also very self-conscious of falling into stereotypes of American travelers. I have had so many people tell me to say that I am from Canada and I have responded each time that I think I could be a positive representative from America. Now, I'm not totally convinced, I should have practiced more Spanish before getting here, and I am totally unaware of the social customs of Costa Rica. Walking around the town I attempted to observe as many social interactions as possible and to engage in a few of my own...I'll keep trying. I learned that honking is used very differently here, less for traffic purposes and more a masculine way to greet women. I also found that the people I talked to quickly switched to English after I mumbled my first "hola." I'll keep working on it and hopefully by my next post I'll regale you with tales of less awkward interactions and conversations. - Sarah Catudio

The adventures of Erica, Bonnie, Sarah, Brandon, and "Jorge"-Downtown San Jose

An interesting building

Our tour guides....

Sarah, Erica, and Bonnie shopping downtown San Jose

Erica & Bonnie's new favorite fruit-Rambuton!



Today Bonnie and I (Erica), Sarah, Brandon, and Josh (who was told by our taxi driver that his name is Jorge) decided to go downtown San Jose. It was a sunny then stormy then sunny then very stormy day. We got dropped off at the Teatro Nacional Museo, but we were not allowed in because there was an event going on and the guys were "in use of shorts" (they were wearing shorts). It was very pretty from what we saw though!


Then we walked around downtown. We were sure to be very careful about watching our belongings since we knew it was a pretty risky area. At one time some guy came up to us yelling at Sarah to keep her camera on her wrist. He was trying to be helpful but yelled it pretty harshly!


Then I (Bonnie now) bought rambutan fruit at a fruit stand for Erica and I. It was delicious (Erica agrees)! We walked around more, stopping in various stores and stands. At one point the clouds got very dark and there was a downpour. We got some lunch at a small resaurant in Mercado Central (a local food court). Sarah, Erica and I ordered what we though were chicken quesidillas but turned out to turned out to be a couple tortillas with a couple small chicken drumsticks. It was still delicious!


We tried to call the taxi that dropped us off since we were told it was a roundtrip deal but were unable to get ahold of our driver. We wandered around trying to find a payphone but all of them were broken. We decided to learn out how to ride the bus and made it back home.


What a great adventure!

-Erica & Bonnie









( We are going to attach pictures of Rambuton fruit, us girls downtown with a bull, the boys being our tour guides, and a cool building)

The faculty support team arrived safely today along with a few students. 80 degrees with sticky humidity and circling thuderstorms. That didn't stop Josh and I from getting in a bull fight (see pic!).

Rainforest program countdown-4 days to go

We are in the final preparations for our Huxley Rainforest Immersion program. Only 4 days remain until our arrival in Carara National Park, a central Pacific rainforest in Costa Rica.