First Day in Field- And First Impressions

The past two days have really been defined by attempting to settle into the idea of field life. For example, I have learned the following in the past two days:

A) Flocks of parrots in combination with the local rooster are great if you want to wake up before your alarm that is already ridiculously early.

B) Wear shoes on the connecting bridge to the bathroom, because you are likely to step on an unsuspecting bug with your bare feet. Crunching may ensue.

C) Roleplaying risk management situations are awkward, yet hilarious, for everyone involved.

D) Botflies and snakes are terrifying.

E) Being out in the field is kinda awesome.

Today we finally went into the field, and our first outing in rubber boots. Hiking in rubber boots isn't super fun, but the fact that we were finally in a rainforest in Costa Rica definitely put that out of my mind. Despite the fact that most of the hiking was just concentrating on where my feet were going (not the smoothest trail and given my propensity for hurting myself, it was probably a wise choice), I was still able to enjoy a lot of what the forest had to offer. For example, on that hike alone, I got to see both a leaf cutter ant highway as well as a tayra, which is essentially a weasel that is the size of a Laborador. Woof.

On the same hike, we were asked by our professors to simply sit in a spot in the forest and draw for 30 minutes. It was actually a slightly overwhelming task- there was just so much to draw: vines, lianas, trees, shrubs, flowers, and everything! But it was nice to finally take an opportunity to just sit in the forest and appreciate the fact that I was actually sitting in a rainforest in Costa Rica. It was pretty awesome.

From there, we hiked back and then met with our professors. We discussed the different flora and fauna that we saw and how they added to the different layers of the forest. After discussion, we had lunch. Following lunch, a few of my friends and I went and visited the trail that lead to the canopy tower located on the property. The trail was shorter than expected, but we did become the first people in our group to find a snake (I guess I’m excited about that?). We finally ascended the tower, and the view was absolutely beautiful. The view was definitely worth the climb up to the top in the mid-day heat.

We returned in time for our next class: plant taxonomy. I was a little apprehensive about this class, because plants are normally not my strong suit. However, with the guidance of Alex, our professor, we were able to quickly identify key features that will later help us identify plant families. We also had a visitor in our classroom who we later put outside, but he definitely made things a bit more interesting.

After dinner, we finished our lecture from yesterday on the History of Costa Rica- particularly focusing on the role of the Structural Adjustment Programs and DR-CAFTA agreement had on shaping the Costa Rica of today as well as the rest of Central America.

Tomorrow we start insect identifications, which I am super pumped for!