Time to update again! Monday in the afternoon I helped Catherine and Gato bait mammal traps, even though it started to downpour shortly after we started. Tuesday I didn’t do much because it was pouring the whole day. Wednesday is where all the adventure was!
On Wednesday I traveled with the four German researchers, Vito, Eva, Simone and Max to Guayacan to the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center! We had to take four different buses to get there, and it took about 4 hours. We arrived there around 4pm on Wednesday and stayed in the guest house that could fit 7 people. Around 6pm we started off on a guided hike by the owner, Brian Kubicki, who studies the phenology of the herps (amphibians and reptiles) in Costa Rica. This was one of the best hikes I have ever been on because we saw sooooo many things! In the end we counted about 25 frog species alone, plus one bolitoglossid (a CR salamander), a few snakes, many spiders, and even some scorpions! I was able to see some frog species that are endangered and only occur in certain spots of Costa Rica that not many people have seen! After about 6 hours of hiking, we finally made it back to our guest house around midnight, but the guys kept searching around the hillside and found even more species while Eva and I went inside and got some food. I kind of wish I had gone with them even though I was incredibly footsore from rubber boots, because they found Anotheca spinosa which I think is called the spiny headed tree frog, and it looks soooo cool. Of course I didn’t have my camera with me because I haven’t received it yet, but I will get pictures from the researchers and post some (if I figure out how to post picts). We returned yesterday evening, after staying only one night.
The next adventure starts tomorrow! It is spring break for the Ball State students, so I’m meeting some of them in San Jose tomorrow so we can leave for Tamarindo on Sunday morning. Tamarindo is a place in CR that has a ton of beaches! I can’t wait because I haven’t been to a beach yet! I’m only staying with them until Thursday, at which point I am leaving and going back to San Jose to meet my friend Meagan at the airport that night. We are going to spend Friday in San Jose and then return to Tirimbina on Saturday. She is going to stay the week with me (she had to reserve her own room though) and then she will return to the US March 3rd, and I will return March 4th! Busy, busy, busy! I will post pictures as soon as I get them!
No comments:
Post a Comment