In the Páramo...

The past few days have been so awesome, I don't even really know where to begin!

The last couple days were great at Las Cruces. Once we had finished our work (and a plant tax exam- blech) the professors pretty much let us have run of the place.  A couple friends and I hiked out on one of the trails as a last hurrah, and we actually ended up at a really cool waterfall. It wasn't a super impressive height, but we still all got in and played around in the water a bit before we decided that it was too cold.

The next day, we headed out to Cuerici Biological Station. Cuerici is located in the Cartago Province in Costa Rica, which is slightly in between the Panama border and the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose. The station was pretty remote. It's located in the upper elevations of Costa Rica (~2700m), and down a very bumpy, twisty, and dirt road. The worst part about the altitude though was trying to make it up hills and being out of breath by halfway up.

The station itself was pretty much just a log cabin in the middle of the forest with a classroom attached. There was no central heat, so most of our almost freezing nights were spent huddled under at least four pairs of blankets or around the wood stove/fireplace. It actually became an art to throw on as many clothes as possible and as many blankets as possible before going to bed.

Cuerici is also a farm run by Don Carlos and his family. Primarily, he grows blackberries and additionally runs a trout farm. We actually got to sample both (after picking and fishing), and both were delicious.

Attempting to catch trout with nets. Marginal success.

I did actually catch a fish, but we had to throw it back because Don Carlos said it was too small. I also was offered the opportunity to kill a fish with my hands, but I gave a hard pass on that one. Additionally, I almost gutted a fish, but I got distracted by the appearance of Neblina, the pack pony. By the time I had returned from pony snuggling, Don Carlos had gutted three fish in less than five  minutes, while it took four of us to gut three in fifteen. Practice makes perfect, I guess.

I think this was a great reason to miss out on gutting a trout.

The main part of Cuerici is the portion of the land devoted to the preservation of the montane oak forests. The property is actually some 500 acres of cattle pasture land that Don Carlos inherited. Most of the land he has allowed for the oak forest to return. However, there is a noticeable difference between the untouched primary forest and the secondary forest that used to be pasture land. Nevertheless, the forest was still gorgeous. I also just really enjoyed being around oak trees again. Not quite the same as back home, but it still felt a little more like home than the other places that I've been so far.

Additionally, the view from the top of this trail was absolutely amazing. I kind of had the same feeling that I did when I was at the Grand Canyon. I wanted to take all of the pictures to try and remember it, but I knew that it wouldn't be the same as the real thing.

The next day, we had a hike up in El Cerro de la Muerte, which is a rather infamous part of Costa Rica. Here, you will find a type of habitat known as the páramo, which is basically a tundra located in Costa Rica. The páramo is host to all sorts of endemic species, and is known for being one of the harshest conditions in the world (tropical sun + tundra conditions = ouch). This place was super cool, and we ended up hiking up to ~3300m. It also ended up being a perfect day for hiking as well, since the mist didn't really roll in until we started to descend.

The páramo has definitely been one of the coolest places that we've seen so far. We also had our first midterm in Cuerici too, which was a bit of a struggle. There was little to do on the farm, so one was rather forced to study in order to avoid being bored. But I think the exam went well, and it helped to have our study buddy:

On our last evening in Cuerici, we decided to go on a hike to try and find a spot where we could take pictures of the sunset. After talking with Don Carlos, he suggested that we go to one of his blackberry fields. It actually ended up being really amazing (although cold), and it was a great way for us to end our time in Cuerici. 

So now we are currently back in San Jose after a trip to San Pedro this morning. In particular, we went to the language academy at which we'll be studying at in the next couple of weeks. There, we all took an oral exam to determine our level of proficiency for Spanish. I think it went okay, but my Spanish is definitely rusty. Whoops. Still don't know what level I'll be in, but from what it sounds like, I made it a similar length through the interviews as other people. So hopefully I'll have friends in my class.

But on a side note, I actually managed to go rock climbing with a couple of guys from my program! I actually had a great time, and it was SUPER cheap ($6 for a day pass, including rental shoes and chalk- pretty much unheard of in the States). The problems weren't actually that hard, but it was still pretty cool to do something across cultures like climbing. I hope to go back during my home stay to climb a bit more - or maybe even an outdoor trip if I'm feeling adventurous.

Jake, Evan and I at Mundo Aventura.

And that's the update! Headed out to Palo Verde in the morning- so pretty much moving from the coldest place that we stay at to perhaps the hottest one that we stay at. Should be fun though- looking forward to tromping around some wetlands and dry forests!