Back to Work!

The last week was lovely!  Richard and Roth came down to visit, and I took them around downtown San Jose and to visit Mesoamerica to show them where Elon Costa Rica happens.  On the Sunday after they arrived, we traveled by bus to Monteverde.  I had been there the previous weekend, so I had lots of plans for us.  We stayed at the Hotel Montana and relaxed for a couple of days, enjoyed some good food at the Treehouse, Pizza by Johnny, and Moon Shiva and loved the views.  On Monday we had every intention of ziplining, but none of us felt like it that morning, so we walked the canopy bridges, watched hummingbirds and coatis, and had a very informative tour of the butterfly garden.  We enjoyed the sunset from the jacuzzi that evening.  On Tuesday morning a shuttle took us to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific coast, with a stop to look at the crocodiles off the bridge (see earlier post).  We had to adjust to the hot, muggy weather at the beach since Monteverde had been cool, but the beach was beautiful and our room had air-conditioning!  We enjoyed the beach and the pool, watching the white-faced monkeys in the trees around the hotel and the iguanas constantly laszing around by the tree under our balcony.  We enjoyed one of the best meals I have had in Costa Rica at El Avion, a restaurant built areound an old spy plane that holds the bar.  Our long walk through Parque Manuel Antonio on Wednesday was a good chance for us to see sloths, birds, lizards, and more monkeys--especially at the third beach, where tourists were encouraging them to take chips and other food--something that is definitely NOT encouraged in the park. Mostly we just loved lounging around on the beach, in the ocean, and at the pool.On Thursday, we headed to Quepos to catch the public bus (old with no air-conditioning, but enjoyable just the same) back to San Jose and the infamous Coca-Cola station, where it took a bit of doing to find a taxi with a working "maria" (meter), and the one we finally did find drove all around our neighborhood before dropping us off.  I don't know whether he didn't know where he was going or thought that he could take some sappy American tourists for a few more colones.  Either way, we arrived home, wishing we had had a few more days at the beach.The guys went home on Saturday morning, and I've been missing them, catching up on blogs, doing Spanish homework, and preparing class work.  I'm having a stay-at-home day today because I have the sniffles and just didn't feel like getting out today.  The real world starts tomorrow.The group heads to Nicaragua on Saturday for our mandatory get-out-the-country visa trip.  I'd like to wish my brother Richard in Knoxville, TN, a very Happy 50th Birthday on April 3!  Feliz Cumpleanos, mi hermano!!

Goodbye to winter and hello to spring--at least at home. This is the first spring I can ever remember missing in my 55 years in Tennessee and North Carolina. In Costa Rica it's summer dry or summer wet--no spring. Sweaters and scarves come out when it's 65 degrees, which seems perfectly pleasant to me, but I get odd looks when I go out in sleeveless tops on such days. The flip side is that the birds sing down here as if it's spring everyday and the flowers are always in bloom--nice tradeoffs. I am missing my daffodils, camellias, azaleas, roses and new vegetables this year, but I will have to say that thus far it has been worth it!

The students and I journeyed to Monteverde last weekend. I haven't posted many pictures because I posted lots before. We stayed at the same hotel that Landis and I stayed in before, and the kids did a zipline--a different one than we did--much higher and faster. I opted out of this one and did a hanging bridge walk instead. It was nice, but we didn't see anything that I hadn't seen earlier in the day at the Monteverde Reserve. Monteverde is a Quaker-settled community, and the Friends influence is everywhere, from the meeting house and school, to the cheese factory and reserve. Monteverde is one of the few places in the world to see the Resplendent Quetzal, a bird that harkens back to ancient mesoamerican civilizations and is known for its beautiful coloring (red, green, blue--iridescent)and long double tail feathers--at least for the guys anyway. The females are beautiful in their own right, but not as majestic as the males. Resplendent is part of the name and not just an adjective that people attach because of its beauty, but it IS beautiful. The minute a tourist walks into the forest their every sense is heightened to see this bird. Some people plan their visits to Costa Rica around this bird. Groups have guides with large telescopes, and if one is spotted, 40 crazed tourists and guides scramble over each other to get a glimpse before it flies away. I don't have a good picture of "ours," so you'll just have to trust me. We saw a female first, then a male in a large avocado tree. A big turkey bird was giving him some grief, so we got to see him fly (very awkardly I might add) back and forth three times. We could see him beautifully through the binoculars, but not all of his body clearly. I really wanted to see his cute little ruffly head! A few of the students got some excellent pictures, which I hope they will post on the class blog. As amazing as this was, I still believe the day that Landis and I spotted a blue-crowned motmot on a fence post in the woods behind our hotel was more magical. Motmots are beautiful in their own right and much more common than quetzals, but for sheer beauty and showmanship (a showoff might be the better word), that sighting was unexpected and bright. We didn't have to look for him or wait for him to arrive. This weekend, one followed us through the woods as we walked and didn't seem to mind being very close to us. Don't get me wrong. I loved seeing our quetzals, and I hope to see one again this weekend, but sometimes moments just can't be forced.

Richard and Roth arrived today for spring break, and we are heading back up to the mountains this weekend and then to the beach, so there will be more opportunities to be close to nature. It surely is nice to have them here! I'll post pictures and stories after we return later in the week. For all my Elon friends, happy spring break!

Tirimbina

Last weekend, the students in the Environmental Sciences course, their professor (Alejandra), her TAs (Olivia and Nacho), and I journeyed into the mountains near the Sarapiqui River to visit the Tirimbina Reserve (near the La Selva Reserve).  The trip is part of a course project to catalog organisms in the river to study their habitat.  We left on Saturday morning and arrived at lunch time.  Originally, we were scheduled to hike for two hours to the biological research station where minimal accomodations (bunkbeds and communal bathroom) awaited us, but once there, we discovered that we would have to stay at the hotel instead.  Oh, darn. I've posted some pictures of our surroundings, the Sarapiqui River and hanging bridges, wildlife, and students playing ... I mean, researching, in the river.  We enjoyed some of the best food we've had in Costa Rica.  Following lunch, we hiked in the forest to look at plants and crossed the river on the many hanging bridges, the students enjoyed an afternoon soccer game and a dip in a nearby pool.  I enjoyed a quiet afternoon of reading, listening to the rain on the metal roof of the hotel, and flower/hummingbird-watching. And even though our evening frog and bat tours and morning bird watching trips were rained out, we still had a wonderful and educational two days, seeing bats in a classroom,toucans and hummingbirds in the wild, and our first snake(a non-venomous variety)scurrying into the forest. I appreciate so much more now the work that biologists such as Alejandra do in their research with the fauna and flora of Costa Rica.  The river was so much higher and swifter than in previous trips that the students were unable to complete much of their laboratory work in the water. Such a fragile balance exists, and we learned firsthand how an earthquake many miles away can affect the ecosystems of the rivers and forests.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's eighty-fifth birthday, and the only time I've been out of the country for it. So . . .I baked a cake, found some candles, and my students sang Happy Birthday to her (in San Jose). I videotaped it on my camera (see video on my Facebook page)and took a picture of the cake. I'm sure sorry I missed this big one, but she was in my thoughts all day. Happy Birthday, Mom!! Another birthday wish goes out to my nephew, Russell Lyday, who shares his grandmother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Russell!!

Three weeks later . . .

Hola mi familia y mis amigos! How time flies when you're having fun (or grading papers or dealing with sick students or whatever issues happen to come up). I'm going to do a few different posts from the last few days to catch you up on life down south.

The most important news is that Landis returned home safe and sound, and it's only a few days before the other half of our family arrives. Hurray!!

Before Landis left, she, I, and one of the students went on a most exciting and busy overnight adventure to the area of Tortuguero, on the northern Caribbean side of Costa Rica, best known for its turtle nesting. Unfortunately, the only turtle we saw was a little river turtle since the big sea turtles aren't around this time of the year. We left San Jose early on a Friday morning on a tour bus and traveled through the Braulio Carillo National Forest for a good part of our day and eventually down a very narrow, gravel road until we reached a Del Monte banana plantation--a fascinating thing to see, but I'm not sure I'd appreciate busloads of tourists snapping my picture all day long. From there we traveled through interesting little villages until we reached the river and canal systems of Tortuguero and the national park. From that point we traded our bus for a covered boat (much appreciated with the rain) and traveled with a new guide to our lodging for the night, the Evergreen Lodge. We were welcomed with a fruity drink and shown to our cute little rooms, had lunch, and got back on the boat for a tour of the canals. I don't have a lot of pictures of the birds and animals because a) it was raining and b)you need a really good camera--and some luck--to capture them. And I'm starting to favor the philosophy that you can either watch them or snap them--it's hard to do both. Suffice it to say that I wrote down over 30 birds named by the guide, marveled at him when he literally pulled a caiman out of the water because some of the tourists couldn't see it (he promised us that no animals were harmed . . .), lizards, one turtle, Spider and Howler monkeys, and some huge, scary crocs (two separate canal visits). We visited the Caribbean Conservation Center and learned about the sea turtle rescue and research that takes place there, walked along the beach to the village of Tortuguero and looked around there for awhile. Back at the hotel we swam in the turtle-shaped pool and enjoyed more wonderful Costa Rican food.

That night at dinner, I looked up and who should be walking by but Terri Kirchen (a retired friend from Elon and avid birder who was there with her husband and friends on a birding trip). Es un mundo pequeno! I saw my first toucans and several other beautiful birds around the hotel grounds and trails. The next morning we set out again for more water travel, but were not able to walk through the national park because of the rain. We did stop once to walk around a glade to find poison dart frogs (also called blue jean frogs), tiny one-inch red frogs with blue legs. Landis got some good pics, so maybe she'll send me one to post. After lunch we traded transportation again and had a rainy bus ride home. Since it was Saturday, we saw local residents socializing, couples riding bicycles, and cowboys herding steers in the road. All in all it was a fine couple of days to a place full of really interesting critters. A highly recommended place to visit in CR.

Scroll down for pictures.