Saturday, March 14, 2009

Friday, February 20: Leaving Corcovado

This morning we woke up, packed up camp, and left in boats after breakfast.  We were all sad to leave, but excited for what was yet to come.  I was really happy because I heard the howler monkeys this morning before we leave.  They were really weird sounding.  The boat ride was really nice actually, it was another beautiful day.  We went back through the mangroves to the hotel we stayed at in Sierpe.  We loaded up our stuff on the bus, grabbed some snacks at the supermarket, and hit the road.

Shortly after leaving, we stopped at a banana plantation, to do a species report of course.  It wasn't too exciting, just rows and rows of banana plants.  After a few hours of driving we stopped in Dominical, a surf town, for lunch.  It was kind of weird being back in civilization.  We got to use the phone and internet for the first time since San Jose.  We got to walk down to the beach, but it wasn't nearly as pretty as Corcovado.  There were also a ton a little shops we stopped at.

After a few more hours of driving we reached our hotel.  It was so nice! Right on a black sand beach.  It even had a pool with a swim up bar, but unfortunately it was closed.  Fortunately the other bar was open.  We had two people to a room, which meant we each got our own full bed!  And a real shower (but not a warm shower).  We all went out to the beach to watch the sun set.  I've never been to a black sand beach before.  Brad even got to surf.  

We went to a seafood restaurant for dinner.  We sat 6 people to a table, and each table shared a big seafood platter with fish, lobster, shrimp, clams and lots of other things.  Upon returning to the hotel we headed straight to the bar.  Roy was our bartender.  He didn't speak English, but since we knew how to say "mas tequila," everything was ok.  This is when we discovered the deliciousness that is guaro.  Possibly the best mixed drink I've ever had, we are still looking for it in other places, but haven't had any luck.  Guaro is really common, but we don't know what Roy mixed it with.  Pablo and Moncho even joined us at the bar to have "one beer," which turned out to be a 40.  We weren't out too late since we were so used to going to bed early in Corcovado.  

Thursday, February 19: Corcovado

Today was another day filled with learning.  We started off the morning with some beach biology, mostly learning about plants that live right up to the sand.  I got to present my species report on Cocos nucifera, the coconut palm.  We also learned about the scarlet macaw.  After lecture we broke up into groups to do posters on common plant families.  I was in the Bromiliaceae group, which is the pineapple family.  Lunch was the best meal so far, fried whole red snapper.  it was so good.  After lunch we finished up our poster and went for a swim.  It's so hot here, at 10:30 in the morning the grass is too hot to walk on with bear feet.  

They took us into the forest to present our posters because it was so hot.  It was actually really cool having a class in the forest.  We all just sat on logs and the ground.  It felt really nice to be out of the sun.  We even got interrupted by a howler monkey!  I was so happy to finally see one, I haven't even heard any calling yet.  

After presentations we had more free time.  Luke and I went to check out this other path at the end of the beach.  The forest was so different, you could tell the area was recently disturbed and was in a very early stage of recovery.  The short path led to another beach.  We climbed out on the rocks and saw a crocodile! It was so cool! We heard they were in the ocean but hadn't seen any yet.  

After dinner we had a night hike.  We didn't really know what to expect, but we knew that all poisonous snakes are nocturnal.  We all wore long-sleeve shirts and tucked our pants into our socks.  We looked pretty cool.  The hike was ok, we didn't really see much.  Pablo and Moncho led us up the river, so we all got soaked.  

Wednesay, February 18: Isla del Cano

Today we went to Isla del Cano, just off the coast of our campsite in Corcovado.  We stopped off shore of the island to snorkel, and it was so cool.  It's a national park rule that we had to wear life jackets, which was actually really nice because we didn't have fins.  We just got to float around and look at the reef.  There were so many beautiful fish.  I even saw a nurse shark that was 5 or 6 feet long! It was about 10 feet below me, so cool.

After about an hour of snorkeling we headed to shore.  Alan gave us a short lecture on island biodiversity, having us throw rocks on to circles in the sand to show how species become distributed.  After the lecture we went for a short walk on the island to see how it differed from the mainland.  

After lunch we had the rest of the afternoon free.  It was really hot, so I tried to stay out of the sun since I was already burned.  I did go snorkeling again though, but it was just so amazing.  Didn't see anything new, but it was still really cool.  On the boat ride back to the mainland I saw a really big sea turtle, which was also exciting.  We had more free time when we got back, which was mostly used to pick off ticks from the hike to Playa Llorna.   They were everywhere, and I mean everywhere.  That night we had a discussion about what we saw on the island.