Bananas and Bats!

August 11th: 

Today we toured the banana plantation, and finished up our soil samples for our research project! We got to Dole, and started the tour with our very enthusiastic guide...

Banana plant! (Not tree, contrary to what you might think!) 

He split the plant in half!! Showing us the apical meristem! (I want to do this in my bio class!) 

I got to climb up a ladder and bag a bundle of bananas - then, we took them down and the professionals cut down the plant! Time for new growth! 

The plastic bags (although not as eco-friendly as Costa Ricans would like) are an outcome of the market demanding unbruised, perfectly shaped bananas! 

Separate bundles, rinse, and package!! 

We snuck our soil samples, finished the tour and headed back to La Selva where we set up our final soil samples to settle (takes 24 hours!) 

Cody, Nicole and Megan hard at work!

Then, we watched the videos of our transects and counted plants!! We were looking for different types and abundances of species.

After data collection we did a little resting, had dinner, and then traveled to Tirimbini reserve for a lesson on the bats of Cost Rica!! 

Crazy facts!! Bats make up 20% of mammals!! 

Little bat that was captured that night (and then set free minutes later:)) 

Bat #2 caught that night - they set up nets to study abundance of bats in the area... Very interesting!! 

The lesson and tour were so interesting and so informative. We had a great time, and we're tired from the long day! Really looking forward to our chocolate tour in the morning!!! 

Cacao Agua... Muy delicioso!!

August 12th: 

Today was another exciting day!! We visited the cocoa plantation, at the same reserve that we saw the bats last night. It was a great way to start the day, learning the history of the cocoa bean, how chocolate came about, and of course... All of the sampling!! 

Our tour guide, giving us a cocoa history lesson. 

The cocoa fruit! Wait til you see inside! 

Nicole, cracking open the cocoa fruit.

Inside!! Looks like brains... Tastes like lychee! The coating of the beans at least, not quite chocolate yet. 

It was really interesting to learn about the fermentation process. When indigenous people discovered this method, the beans received natural sugars from the fruit, bacteria from their mouths (sucking off the outer coating) and water from the moisture in the air! The beans fermented dried, and were roasted (a process that takes upwards of 8 weeks) to become what they call "nibs." We were able to try a nib at this stage... It was bitter, somewhat chocolatey, but apparently very good for you and very rich in antioxidants! 

After roasting, the nibs are peeled and grounded with a hot stone (to release the natural cocoa butter). Cody helped speed up the process by using the small churning machine to grind the nibs (mixed with cinnamon and sugar!) 

Our guide brewing "Cacao Agua!" Apparently this is the name that the settler gave to cocoa water because of the bitter taste. 

Megan and I and our Cacao Agua!! (We added nutmeg, black pepper, chili powder, and a splash of vanilla!) 

Cody and I cheers-ing... So delicious!

SciCREW!!! On Wednesdays, we wear blue ;) 

We got to sample SO much chocolate, compared dark to milk, etc... It was quite the morning. We then had some time to kill so we went exploring around the reserve!

The view from the suspension bridge!

So scary walking across - not as stable as our usual one at La Selva! 

At the end of our exploration we saw HUGE, loud howler monkeys which was pretty cool. Then we went back to the main entrance, did a little bit of souvenir shopping, and loaded the bus to head back to La Selva. 

We ate lunch and then headed over to the classroom for our Careers in Science talk led by Peggy, which was amazingly informative per usual. It gave me some great lesson ideas for my first unit of biology - I'm getting anxious to go back to school!! 

After class, we finished up our last bit of data collection post- banana soil sampling, and got some great conclusions for our research project! We present tomorrow, so we spent a majority of the afternoon finalizing our presentation. We're excited to share what we learned with the rest of the group! (And we have matching shirts, of course:)) 

Nitrate and pH sampling kits for the banana plantation soil samples! 

Not chocolate... Soil that's been settling for 24 hours!! 

A guan we saw right on the path on our way back to the dorms. Such a pretty bird! We usually see them with babies (and a little further away) but this guy let us get really close! 

A rhinoceros beetle!! It was huge!! 

After dinner we hung out, played a few quick games, showered and went to bed. We're all getting more and more tired as the days go on, but also more and more sad that we only have a few days left!! 

¡Quiero ir rápido!

August 9th: 

Today was SUCH an awesome, busy day. Our morning started with breakfast, and then a tour bus departure to our ziplining adventure!! 

SciCREW and Team Erie geared up and, led by our 3 awesome guides, made our way through a 12 cable course! It was such an incredible experience. We saw quite a bit of wildlife along the way - a toucan, a tarantula, spiders, frogs, and LOTS of bullet ants. Our guides challenged us to speak "solamente en español," so it was great practice :)

Post-ziplininggggg!! It started raining the second we got back to the starting point - great timing!! 

Felipe the cat who greeted us in the main office... Makes me miss Nala! 

After ziplining, we came home, at lunch, tested our soil samples, and headed to a GIS discussion/ activity led by Jimmy, our ECO Classroom coordinator. It was super interesting, but very in depth and difficult to understand having never done it before. That being said, we got to try it out on the computers at the lab after the lecture, and it was really interesting to do!  Essentially mapping out territory that would be useful for whatever situation you were working on. (For example, plotting where to place police stations on a new city based on high crime rate statistics. Or, where Jaguars are likely to reside based on water availability and vegetative growth) Very interesting but pretty complex - I'd be interested to find free software to use with my bio students if possible!

After Jimmy's talk we had dinner followed by an amazing night hike led by Gainer (our guide from rafting last week!)   

We saw some amazing animals, including the ones pictured below. 5 different red-eyed tree frogs, 3 different snakes, an adorable porcupine up in a tree, a sloth hanging less than 5 feet away, more white tent bats... The list goes on!! It was a great way to end an amazing day:) 

 

One of the many red-eyed tree frogs that we saw!

Bird-eating snake up close and personal! Sleeping in a tree, right at head level! 

Two-toed sloth (active at night) hanging on a branch right above the suspension bridge about 5 feet away from us - it was unreal! Such an amazing site, it almost looked fake! 

Coffee is Always a Good Idea...

August 10th: 

Today was an amazing day! We got to take a step-by-step tour of the coffee plantation, one of Costa Rica's biggest exports. 

After breakfast, we divided into two groups - Group A (SciCREW and Frogger Loggers) left first for the plantation. David, our tour guide, did a wonderful job explaining the entire process to us - from plant growth, to bean harvest, selection, wash, dry, roast and package - it was an awesome experience!! 

This shows the step by step growth process of a coffee bean plant. Did you know??? Since Costa Rica does not have an army, they refer to their young coffee plants as "small soldiers." 

Full grown coffee plant!! They trim them after 6 years of growth so that the plant can put more energy into its harvest than its size! (Also, Costa Ricans are typically pretty short, so they need to keep the trees short enough to harvest!) 

For the best taste, beans will dry naturally for 4-6 weeks. We had way too much fun in here! 

Almost there! Time to roast - 22 minutes for a light, 25 for a medium, and 27 for a dark roast... All at 200 degrees Celcius!! 

Coffee trees at the plantation ^

Compost is made here in this shaded tent - the worms feed on the shells of the coffee bean! 

We also got to try delicious fresh squeezed sugar cane juice! (With a little hint of sugar cane alcohol as well) which led us to a little Costa Rican history lesson... 

This is the machine used to juice the sugar cane! Cody got to test it out! 

Apparently in Costa Rican history, it was a large punishment to be caught riding the export wagons (full of coffee) drunk, because shipments would often get lost/ delayed/ etc. This led to the coining of the phrase, "Are you montado en la carreta?" O en inglés, "Are you riding the wagon?" To mean are you drunk? Funny that we use the phrase, "falling off the wagon!" We got a kick out of that :) 

After our tour we got to taste test, we were served a delicious lunch, and we got shop a little!! Definitely bringing home a few treats!! 

When we got back from the plantation Group B left and we had some project work time/ free time. We napped, then worked quite a bit on our presentation. It's really coming together!! (Thursday we present to the entire group!) 

Dinner was followed by game night per usual... And now it's time for bed! Banana plantation tomorrow - hopefully as much fun as it was today!!  

Smile! You're on Camera!!!

August 5th: 

We woke up throughout the night to huge thunder claps and flashes of lightning. It is pouring, POURING rain. (We could use some of this is California!!) 

After breakfast we made our way to the classroom for a lesson in setting up camera traps by Johanna. The protocol that TEAM uses is very detailed, and we learned how to use the Reconyx infrared cameras. The pictures that they've seen are incredible, and it's an excellent way for them to indentify species (especially those that are nocturnal) within the jungle. 

One of our groups, (from Florida) set up 6 or 7 camera traps for their research project and caught a puma the first night!! Such an amazing capability we have access to! (Pictures to come, I've requested they make an appearance on my blog!) 

After camera trapping, we were supposed to do canopy tours but the weather was too detrimental - so we've rescheduled for Saturday :) (can't wait!) Instead, we were able to work on our group project a little bit more. We mapped out our areas, made a plan to talk to Orlando about the vegetation in the area, and did quite a bit of presentation preparation before lunch. 

After lunch (still pouring) we went to the classroom and did a lesson on animal behavior with Peggy. Amazing ideas for the classroom - having students conduct ethograms and write about it... Whether it's via a video (maybe of animals I see here) or live, it seems like an amazingly applicable lesson. Halfway through her talk, we were instructed to go find an animal to observe... So naturally in the pouring rain, SciCREW trekked out deep into the jungle and first thing spotted a CAIMAN in the river!! Also an amazing dragonfly and cute grasshopper. We came back, shared our findings, and talked about the PBS video series "Shape of Life" - also very applicable! (I've used these before, thanks to Peggy!) 

Following Peggy's talk, we went on a guided day hike with our tour guide, Joel. (Keep in mind, it was still POURING rain) he new everything there was to know about La Selva's forests, and took us to an amazing location where we sat adorable White Tent Bats. They are so small, and they have an amazing adaptation where the females cut large heliconia leaves, creating a "cave"-like space underneath for the group to sleep. We got great pictures, but had to be really quiet! 

After our hike, and completely drenched, we had dinner and then played some "Biodiversity Bingo" with Peggy. Another great idea for the classroom (again with pictures from this trip!) fun way to break up a block period (or adapt it to use in my Physiology class) 

We ended the night per usual playing Salad Bowl with the crew back at Casa 1. Our goal is to get through the alphabet by the end of the 2 weeks - we shall see!

^Sitting right outside of our dorm!

Intro to ECO Classroom!

August 4th:

Our day started early today with breakfast from 6-7:30 (good practice I guess with the school year quickly approaching!) After breakfast, we met with all of the groups in our classroom on-site, and did a few bonding activities. Had me thinking a lot about my upcoming adventures with Link Crew, the new class I'll be teaching and program I'll be running at CHS this year. 

We then exchanged gifts with all of our new colleagues and friends. The Florida group brought us all goodies from NASA (and a Mickey Mouse pencil;)). The Frogger Loggers gave us all little stuffed Einstein finger puppets for our classroom, and the Erie group brought us shells and sea glass from Lake Erie! We brought each of the groups some of Santa Barbara's famous flavored olive oil and it was great to hear about everyone's backgrounds and hometowns. 

Right outside our classroom we were greeted (pretty closely) by one of these cute little peccaries! 

After gift exchange, Jimmy gave us an introduction to the TEAM Network, and the respective development of ECO Classroom. TEAM, or Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring, began in 2002 in Central and Latin America, and has since spread to 16 sites worldwide. Their research consists of assessing animal and vegetative wildlife in the tropics, and climate changes in the different areas. They have various protocols for setting up camera traps, vegetative quadrats, and systems for measuring temperature, precipitation, humidity etc. every 5 minutes at each site! I am amazed by the extent of their research, availability to the public, and extreme passion possessed by all of their TEAM members. 

Shortly after being introduced to TEAM, we met one of La Selva's field biologists, Johanna, who gave us a tutorial on how to collect vegetative data in the tropics. We put on all of our rain gear (as it was pouring, of course, the second we needed to go outside), and went into the jungle. TEAM will typically set up a hectare quadrat (100m x 100m), however we practiced with a 10m x 10m location. We set our coordinates, measured with transect tape the distance of each tree from 0,0, the angle of the tree from the x-axis, and the diameter of the tree about 1.3m from the ground. So much effort and precision goes into measuring each tree and researchers are doing this constantly!! It'd be a really fun activity to do outside with my students :) 

Unfortunately during our quadrat building session, Rhonda was bitten by a bullet ant! We were warned, but this is not your typical ant!! (Google it!) she's okay now and feeling better, but has got quite the welt to prove it! 

Following lunch, we were given some time to work on our projects. We did some tweaking to our original plan, and mapped out our timeline for the entire trip - I.e. When we'd take samples, when we'd test nitrate levels, when we'd put our presentation together, etc. feeling productive, we made our way back to the classroom to learn about La Selva's vegetative collection! 

Orlando runs the herbarium and has lived and worked in La Selva most of his life. He gave us a quick rundown on the natural history of La Selva, followed by their current work with Missouri Botanical Garden and DUKE University (Dad!) on creating a digital flora database for La Selva's collection. They currently have 2,077 species found in La Selva represented by 26,000+ images within the database. 

The herbarium itself contains paper records and plant samples of almost every identified species here. The room is kept protected with excessive amounts of air conditioning (which felt great on our tour) and dehumidifiers to protect the paper and samples. It was extremely interesting, yet unsettling to hear how much work there still is to put into this project. Finding money to print labels, ship specimens, store specimens, and upkeep the facility is difficult, and is a large hurdle for La Selva's team to overcome. I felt very fortunate to experience the work they've done first hand! 

After the herbarium, Peggy ran through a great quadrat sampling activity that we could run with our students in a biology or environmental science class. I can already tell that I am going to be able to take back so much of this experience and directly apply it to my classroom. (I guess that's the point, right?!) it's just all so applicable, hands-on, interesting, and directly correlative with the new NGSS standards recently adopted by California. 

Our scheduled movie night post-dinner was rescheduled due to an interesting GIS talk given by a grad student in the area. (He studies in Canada, at the MER Bleue Conservation Area) After that, we went to the boys' cabin to play Salad Bowl (mix of taboo, charades, etc) and eventually called it a night after a very long, but very exciting day!! Really looking forward to a day hike, canopy tours, and camera traps tomorrow!! 

¡Pura vida! 

___________________________

Cody's Corner: 

Song of the day: "Welcome to the Jungle"

Advice of the day: don't go chasing bullet ants

Nicole's New Species: 

Saw a snake on the way to the boys' cabin tonight... Got a picture, super close zoomed in no fear because it was small - turns out it was a fer-de-lance!! The snake responsible for the most fatalities in Costa Rica!! 

Journey to the Jungle...

August 3rd: 

We woke up this morning to meet Peggy, Steve, Jimmy and the rest of the teams in the lobby of Adventure Inn for breakfast... I can already tell that the fruit on this trip is going to be amazing! (Piña! Yum!!) As tired as we were, we were so excited to begin our first full day in Costa Rica!! 

We all packed our bags and boarded a tour bus to make our way to La Selva Biological Station. Everyone introduced themselves, and we started to get to know the members of the other three teams: 

The Frogger Loggers: Einstein Fellows from all over the east coast - Melissa (Indiana), Rhonda (Florida), Sam (North Carolina) and Mark (Michigan).

Team Erie: (All from Erie, Pennsylvania) Cindy, Laura, Lindsey, and Calvin.

Space Coast Eco Geeks: (All from Florida) Ryan, Angela, Sarah, and Ellen.

Our first stop along the tour was amazingly beautiful - Volcán Poás, one of Costa Rica's major volcanos. We hiked around the park, experiencing first hand some of the thickest fog I've ever seen! At such high altitude we were hot, sticky, and out of breath! Definitely going to have to get used to this weather (and never feeling dry again) 

After hiking around the volcano for a while, we all loaded back onto the bus and headed down the mountain toward Sarapiquí, the city in which La Selva is located. Our driver explained some beautiful history of Costa Rica, pointed out wildlife, and let us stop for quite a few picturesque moments :) 

We stopped for a delicious lunch, did a bit more sight seeing, and eventually made it to our home for the next two weeks - La Selva Biological Station... Organización para Estudios Tropicales, and home to the TEAM network that sponsors ECO Classroom. We were greeted by Kenneth, who works at the station, given a safety protocol discussion, assigned rooms for the week, and let off for dinner and a free night! Megan, Nicole and I were assigned room "Iguana 2" each with our own bunk bed and closet segment. We're right next door to the other ladies of the trip, and down the road the boys were assigned a nice little cabin complete with a dining table (which we'd make great use of for game nights). 

At this point I can't believe that our first day here is already over - but there's so much ahead of us I can't wait to get started!!