Three Days Left

Today was crunch time for finalizing our poster presentation :)

I'm excited for tonight's night hike! We get to see and explore the tropical night life, hoping to see some awesome creatures.

The Second Monday in Costa Rica

Seen a Capuchin monkey today and a toucan :)

Saturday

Today I was not feeling well at all, my allergies were so bad today so I was struggling to get into our last day of field work. I was totally dragging!

Having a cold in the jungle is not an ideal way to spend the day 😓

A Sunday in San VIto

It was nice to be out of the lab and into the city to do some shopping and site seeing.
Their money (colones) amazes me- their value is way different than the U.S.

Fri-Yay!

Today was another successful productive day for my group (Lynshell and Ann). We hiked on a trail called "Loop Trail" which took us to a creek for us to sample again. We got some positive results!

I got to do the pH level test and the dissolved oxygen test on the water that flowed in this area. With Ann being my right hand, she helped me complete the tests and find out the clarity and acidity in this creek. It was different than the other sites that we've done in the previous days.

On the hike back to the station, Lynshell and I stay
ed back to explore this one area that had small waterfalls. We actually got to swim in this water and take some selfies. We thought it was good to reward ourselves for all the hard work we've put into our project so far, plus we were sweating our butts off in the humidity and a swim would definitely cool us down.

This was the best part of the day :)

Thursday

Second day officially out in the field, my group begin the day at a slow pace because of the hike we did yesterday.

We went to a small creek on Rio Java trail, collected more small invertebrates. I've never been much of a bug person so I'm grossed out by their presence however this was a good thing for our project- we have a proper collection of specimens to include in our data analysis. Also meets the river has an abundance of biodiversity and is a very active area for the insects and plants to thrive in. 

After we got what we needed to get done, we walked to the observation tower - this tower is a short walk up with a couple of flights of stairs and once at the top you get a view of the entire Las Cruces Biological Station, botanical garden and the town of San Vito. It had just drizzled with rain in the afternoon and there was more clouds cover that was beginning to blanket over the ridge so we captured a few pictures. 

Later in the night, our guests from the Panama tribe performed a traditional dance for the group and it was very entertaining to join in. 

Honestly the best part of this CRIRE experience, I believe is to see all Indigenous people come together and share a part of their culture!! 

Wednesday 12-12-18

Today my group and I went to a waterfall along the "Water Trail." It was by far the longest and hardest hike  because of the rough path and the trails were not well maintained and certain parts of the trail had been wiped out by a recent landslide so we had to kind of make our own path just to get through. However in the end, the views of the waterfall was worth it!

Once we decided on a test site for collecting data and macro-invertebrates, we got right into the streams with our nets trying to fish out whatever we can. I caught something quickly and it looked like a huge centipede - it creep me out. I was a little dramatic and had Lynshell put the beetle into the bucket.

Honestly it really shook me and I realized this is not what I want to do for a career. I was never a bug and small insects kind of person especially growing up so I knew this is something I would not enjoy. I mean I love the outdoors and these tropical forests of Costa Rica but the slimy stuff is not for me.

I guess opportunities like this make you realize what you like and what you don't like!..

Still looking forward to learning more on while finishing up this project.