Well they certainly don’t call this the rainforest for nothing. It rained all day. I first heard it early in the morning coming down in buckets and then it continued on and off throughout the day. Last night my roommates did laundry and hung it up to dry. This morning it felt like they had just washed them. They were still soaking wet. Iudica wasn’t joking when he said our clothes would take more than one day to dry. I think my favorite meal of the day is breakfast. I love all the fresh fruit. It’s definitely fresher than the fruit at Susquehanna.
I felt like crap this morning and I’m on my last does of DayQuil. I’m sure spending all day in the rain and damp clothes didn’t help, but it was a really exciting day. I love the rain, and it was great to be with a group of people who didn’t mind the rain. That was a first. I really enjoyed the waterfalls this morning. We walked farther up the waterfall trail today than we did yesterday. It was a long walk but we saw a lot of neat things along the way and it was totally worth it.
One cool thing we saw were bat tents. I’ve never head of those before. I’ve never read about them or seen them on National Geographic. It’s awful how some monkeys know what they are and jump on them and beat them until the bat is dead. Clever for the monkey, horrible for the bat. Imagine sleeping in your bed, peacefully, and then all of a sudden you’re getting beaten to death. How terrible! We also saw some more anoles. I love their throat flaps. We found a male with a red throat flap and Alberth told us the bright color red not only attracts females, but also keeps predators away because red usually entails something that doesn’t taste good, or is toxic.
As we walked, one of the coolest things I noticed was the drop off along the side of the trail. It was neat because I knew it was steep but I couldn’t see the bottom because of all the vegetation so I didn’t know where it ended. The waterfall was really neat. I loved how the wind from the falls blew on the leaves around it. I thought the site was very rewarding. I took lots of pictures and even one on the film camera I brought. I hope it comes out.
After we took our group picture it started to pour. It was like it waited for us to be done before opening up the heavens. The walk back was fast, as we were all hungry. It was fun because the trail was muddy and we kept slipping. We had beans and rice for lunch and some really good chicken that was like chicken nuggets. Costa Rican chicken nuggets are what I called them. They were so good I went back for more.
After lunch we put on our swimsuits and headed down to the river to practice sweeping with nets and to learn how to cast a net. It was a lot of fun, jumping into the river and sweeping leaves. I can’t wait to do it for real with fish. Casting the net was a little tricky at first, but eventually, I got the hang of it and I loved it! I definitely want to try it on real fish in Curú. All I caught today was an exoskeleton of a spider. It was still pretty neat though.
Once we were finished playing down in the river, Laura and I came back with Dr. Holt and Priscilla to help take down the mist nets. I’m glad I got to do it because since I was the last one to go yesterday, that was the net we used so I didn’t get the opportunity to put the net away, but I’m happy I got to do it today. Beans and rice were served for dinner again along with potatoes and some kind of pork/beef. It was good. After dinner we had an hour to write or whatever before meeting up at 8:00 for a night walk. It was optional and whoever was too tired could stay in. I was pooped and still not feeling one hundred percent but I went anyway because when else am I going to get this opportunity? I didn’t come here to rest, as important as rest is, I came here to learn about Costa Rica and all who inhabit it. And I’m glad I went. We saw a basilisk, a yellow swamp frog and a few other frogs. I even spotted one too! It was off the path a little and as I was shining my light through the woods, my headlamp caught some eyes. I first thought it was just water on a leaf, but I kept my light on it and the eyes blinked! So I knew it was something, and I assumed a frog. I showed Lucas if there really was something there and he went in and got it. It was indeed a frog. My thought? “Yay! The non-bio student found something!” I’m learning! I do not remember the specific name of the frog but it was nothing new. I believe it was one we see often like a common rain frog. I would say the biggest challenge for me right now is remembering or understanding the scientific names of a species. I have no doubt I will catch on eventually, but as of right now my biggest challenge in this course is the scientific names–I’m not used to hearing such names. But a little challenge is always good.
After about an hour we headed back up to meet with Priscilla, Iudicas and Pablo. We told them what we saw and we went back down for about another hour in the pouring rain. It was really coming down. Someone had an umbrella that was absolutely drenched. It eventually stopped working so well. When we showed Pablo where we saw the basilisk, he went in and caught it, of course. It was actually really neat to see up close. We believe it was a female due to the small crown and color, usually males are brighter, we were told. I wish I got a better picture on my camera, but it started to pour again. I over heard we will see many in Curú so I hope to get a good photo then.
We walked up the trail a little ways and saw some crabs and foam at the base of a tree. That was pretty interesting. Then we turned around and went back down to the pond. We saw a yellow tree frog. It was a male and he was calling. It was neat to see his throat puffed out–I’ve never seen that before. Then we walked along the pond for a little and caught another little from–a “new species”. We put it in a bag. Then Pablo was informed about the larger frog in the pond and he went in after it. Unfortunately, it got away. That’s the only frog I’ve seen Pablo miss. After that we went back up and whoever wanted to go to bed could but there was a group going down to the river. I went back to write. I believe the group is still down there, I do not hear them, I wonder if they’re seeing anything cool. Tomorrow will be another early day and we will get the chance to go shopping. I hope I find some cool souvenirs and perhaps more decongestant medicine.
A Life Full of Laughter 