Toes in the Water…

So I had to write a little bit about today, Saturday, before I left on the trip just because was so sweet.



This is the stream in the Cloud Forest that we worked in. There were Spider Monkeys throwing stuff at us part of the time! Pretty sweet, but unfortunately no pictures. They were illusive.

We did aquatic invertebrate (water bug) collection today in the Cloud Forest and in Monteverde. This was amazing because we got to play in the water and with bugs. Not to mention, being able to spend a beautiful morning outside!

Then for the afternoon we did lab analysis, inside work unfortunately, although it was very interesting and I got some good pics too through the stereoscope.

All in all, I was a great day, minus being stung by a wasp twice… but the swelling has subsided already and now all I remember are the good times. Maybe more description later. Now just pictures! Enjoy!

This is me doing science...

This is Bob.

This is Jake... he lost his bottoms.

This is Sam... the is my favorite.

There were many many more. I think we found nearly 20 species total, and about 150 individuals.

Cumpleaños Feliz round two and more class…

So there wasn’t too much that happened this last week but I will hit on a couple of notable events.

My REAL birthday was quite uneventful but relaxing. Which is just the way I like it. My favorite presents were (not in any particular order):

· No Spanish class on Monday! Thus I had the entire afternoon off to talk to people over Skype and just relax.

· B-Day cakes, two brought in during lunch with a lot of candles to blow out. At what age do you stop putting the total number of candles on the cake?

· Birthday blessing by the priest during Sunday Mass, in Spanish of course.

· Receiving the Native Plant garden design internship! This is the one I was waiting for, and hoping to get here in Monteverde.

· Met my Tico brother (18) who came to visit me from San Jose where he is studying to be an Architect.

· Just time to relax and get to know other students instead of working on homework.

It was a good birthday.

The rest of the week was kind of a blur though because I had a bunch of classes, taking the entire day, and covering very similar concepts, or at least coming to the same conclusions. Everything points to the fact that we as human beings have been irresponsible with the natural resources of our planet Earth. I do like one of the analogies though: the Earth is our bank account. It always accrues interest in our favor, by capturing energy from the sun, changing our Carbon Dioxide to Oxygen, cleaning our water and such. The problem is that we usually ask for more than what is being produced by this interest, thus going into our capital investments. We are overspending and draining the account. So either we need to learn how to increase the investment process (in a safe way) or learn to live within our means, and within the Earth’s means. I think we can do this, how about you?

We only have one of these... let use it wisely.

I really like the book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things by William McDonough and Michael Braungaurt. It talks about this idea of completely rethinking, redesigning, and remaking our society and how it works in a sustainable way. It is an easy, interesting read for anyone (they put things in very simple terms). Check it out, or at least hold the book in your hands at some point and tell me what you think of it. You will see what I mean.

Wednesday was Tracy’s birthday, so we got more cake again. Very good cake too. Also on Wednesday we were introduced to the field trip that we are leaving for on Sunday February 28^th. Let’s just say my toe-ed feet were getting pretty excited at hearing about all these details. Parts of the fieldtrip include but are not limited to (because I don’t want to spoil it for you): a visit to a seaside swamp where trees grow out of the water, walks on the beach looking at particular native marine fauna (animals), and a visit/climbing of one of the three large objects located in Lake Nicaragua. Now these are not riddles because I am not crafty enough to make those, but if you do a little research and thinking you may figure out where I am going before I actually blog about it. Speaking of blogging, I hope you all have a lot of homework to do for the next two weeks, because I will most likely not be able to post blogs for you to read for that time period, since I will be traveling to very remote areas of Costa Rica. You can go back and reread the past blogs though for the final cumulative exam though if you like. Just kidding.

Another notable event includes coming face to face with a tarantula! Yes I not officially have seen one. My Tica mother brought it back with her from my Tica grandmother’s farm in the San Louis valley. Look at the beautiful coloration on the legs!

Also, I am getting to know my five year old Tico nephew, Diego, much better. Now-a-days, we draw stuff together, or play with the flashlights that I brought and even shoot rubber bands around the house! Sorry Mom, I know I am being a bad influence, but my Tica mother said it was alright. Diego is quite a Klingon (is this how you spell it?) so I get to throw him around a lot, since he is so light, and life him up to the rafters. He is hard to understand some times though because little children have a hard time comprehending that I cannot understand really fast talk, and they talk REALLY fast.

This was a surprising incident. I guess they don’t have “minimum height” signs here in Monteverde or anywhere in Central America for that matter. I watched this truck chug up the hill in front of our study center and clip the power/phone lines that were hanging down just a tad too low, thus yanking them and their pole to a breaking point. Yes, they did snap and fly everywhere, luckily no one was injured, thanks be to God alone. It could have been much worse. It took out the phone communications for my home for two days until they got it fixed, hopefully hanging a bit higher this time. This event reminded me of the when the Quaker’s were trying to move up to Monteverde in the 50’s and kept getting stuck in the muddy rutted roads. It was big news back then when trucks came through all the way up to Monteverde. Now I guess what makes the front page news are incidents like these with headlines like “Truck stops traffic for 10 minutes!” Seriously, this is on the only road through Monteverde. It was a big deal. Ok maybe it sounds more like the classic traffic jam on a rural country road when two, slow tractors meet eat other, coming from different directions, which makes everyone else traveling 60+ mph nearly stop. Oh, how I miss some of the finer points of Iowa.

(OH, this even nearly happened three more times on Saturday from Noon-5pm, only with tour buses. Crazy drivers.)

Ok, so this may be a shorter blog and maybe that is a relief to you as readers. I promise my toes will have so much more to type about when I return from my field trip. Peace Be With all of You!

Below are some pics from the Orchid Garden here in Monteverde... We had a lot of fun.


That is Ross...



Erin, this is your first bug picture... more to come.



Hundreds of Orchid Species... too many to take picture of.

Cumpleaños Feliz!

So my class figured out that my birthday (actually golden birthday) is the 22^nd, and another girl’s birthday is the 24^th so they decided to celebrate by going out to each in Santa Elena, followed by going to the bars, Saturday Night. I decided to go along. Well, I didn’t really have a choice, since I was one of the reasons to celebrate.

Everything went extremely well, at least from my perspective. I really enjoyed the evening, and I was glad that everyone else was enjoying my birthday as well. Of course there were some unpleasant moments which I had to deal with. To start, the group bought me a 40 oz bottle of Imperial Light Beer (the favorite of Costa Ricans) as a present. I gave it a try but soon realized that I still do not like light beer at all. So that 40 oz bottle made its way to someone else rather quickly. Then they decided to buy me a 40 oz bottle of heavier beer, Pilsen. I can’t say I liked that much either, but I gave it a try, and did not get very far. I will say though that 40 oz bottles are quite large to carry around town. Later on at one of the bars, Rob bought me a shot of Rum. Pretty potent, but much better than either of the beers. Just and FYI, I like wine the best!

It's a Cuarenta (40 ouncer)

Dinner was delicious because I had been longing for some good pasta for a while. It was my first meal without rice and beans since I came to Costa Rica. The local musician at the restaurant even sang Happy Birthday to Tracy and I, as well as a Billy Joel’s Piano Man in Spanish! I will say though that we were quite a noisy group, so I am thinking that the musician was glad when we left.

Afterwards we went to Bar Amigos for drinks and dancing. I had great fun here, because I love to dance to just about anything. Both there and La Taverna afterwards I was able to do some improvised swing dancing (trying to make it look better, more like a Spanish dance to fit the music). I also learned how to Salsa dance again, as well as Meringue. It was kind of an interesting experience though because it was my Tropical Biology Professor who taught me these. But like I said before… we have all become one big family. Saturday night cemented that fact.

Kevin and Laura dancing away!

So once again, I am caught up on my blogging, but for how long I don’t know. I am entering 3 today, so you can take your time reading them as I will not have any more up until next weekend probably. Then I go on a field trip and who knows if I will be able to blog then.

Huele a Agua...

“Huele a agua,

Monte adentro,

Y en el cielo braman,

Tambores de trueno.

Huele a agua,

Decía mi abuela,

Golpean los cerros,

Y viento se ha puesto negro,

Y sabe a miedo,

Y allá vuelan zopilotes,

En torbellino sobre los trechos,

Y se enredan las arañas en mi pelo.

Huele a agua…”

(Presagio, Malpaís) A Tico folk song and famous music group.

So this song really resounded with me this last week. Wednesday through Saturday, the weather was, as the locals know, typical Monteverde weather. High winds and rain/misty at all times. It doesn’t even take a siesta! I can remember sitting in my room a couple of nights working on my homework, and wondering if I should be ready with my poncho when the roof gets torn off by the wind. Seriously, I have never experienced such sustained winds anywhere. Yes, in Iowa we have to worry about straight line winds knocking over whole fields of corn every now and again, but this was for 4 full days. Somehow the plants, trees, flowers have all been designed to survive, but it astounds me. I was nearly thrown off the road a few times walking back from Spanish in the unprotected parts of the roads.

But with this wind was also rain that did not fall down. In fact it was more often than not horizontal or blowing up my rain jacket. There is no way to keep dry, so fortunately it is a warm rain and wind. This was amazing and humbling just to get a little taste of nature’s full power. That is part of what the song is about. Its chorus rings with rich and poetic (for this is Spanish after all) words that describe black wind, and pounding drops of rain with drums of thunder. But more powerful than this entire scene that is portrayed is the “Smell of Water” or “Huele a Agua.” This is what this week has been about. The beauty of nature and the extraordinary smell of water that permeates everything and brings to life to our world. I am taken aback even as I write this on this beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon, because it was such a profound experience. Look up the song online and see if you like it.

The last few days have also been really amazing because I finally got a chance to get into the tropical forests of Costa Rica! And let me tell you, they were rainy, cloudy, misty, abundant with flora/fauna and VERY MUDDY. Still it was a very different experience than I had imagined. The first day, Friday, we went to San Geraldo Reserve, which is actually on the Atlantic side of the mountain range (Monteverde is on the Pacific side). This was a good 4 hour hike total.

Messy... messy... messy...

Wildlife... this is the Costa Rican Raccoon.

Here, smell this plant. No really stick your nose in it.

You see that, way down there... no I don't see it.

Then Saturday we as a group went to the World Famous Cloud Forest Reserve, know for its biological diversity and purity. It was very well kept up, because it is actually a national park. We did a 3 hour walk to get to the continental divide this time, and walked along that. The winds at the divide are so strong that they don’t let trees grown very tall, for fear of falling over. Plenty of moisture for sure. Oh yeah and as a side note… toe-ed shoes are not very good footwear for walking through a swarm of ants. I escaped with only two bites, though because I was paying attention. Others had then crawling up their pants!

It's Quetzel. A very rare species of Costa Rica, that I took a picture of through a telescope.

(At a humming bird garden I saw over 50 humming birds at once, of all colors. It was kind of dangerous though with that many birds flying around really fast. They need to make a no fly zone. Some even landed on people, repetitively.)

Climbing trees is very different here in the tropics. First of all you have to find a tree that has branches lower than 100 feet, and then you have to check to make sure there are no snakes. After that, you must make sure that you don’t disturb the epiphytes that live on it, as you climb a very slipper bark that is soaked in water and sometimes feels like a sponge. They look really good to climb though, which makes me really want to try. So I did; a couple of times. The best tree that I have found so far is actually called a Matapalo, or in English that would be “tree killer.” They are actually a group of figs that start as seed dropped high in the canopy of a tall tree, that then drop their roots to the ground, circling the host tree, and then establish a trunk around the host trunk, thus cutting it off from the world, nutrients and finally killing it. That host tree usually rots out, leaving a hollow really sweet looking tree to climb. Here are some of my attempts (both Matapalos) but I never got higher than 15 feet. Kind of disappointing when I think about the monsters that I have climbed elsewhere.

Yes that is the inside of a toppled tree, looking up from the base. No tarantulas though.

Keep enjoying the blog, letting me know what you think. I am having a lot of fun writing it, but I only get a good chunk of time to do so on the weekends, if that.



This is a sweet truck. It was owned by the Quakers in Monteverde, and helped them move in back in the 50's. All the way from the USA. Now it is a nice flowerbed.



This is from a Quaker homestead high up the mountain.

Homework in Paradise...

This entry includes Valentine’s Day, Spanish class, Ash Wednesday and Internship options during my first full week of class in Monteverde… please enjoy… I am.

Sounds like a lot and really it was a lot of stuff for one week, when you through in homework and family time. I have a feeling that is what this program is all about; fitting in everything possible into 15-16 weeks. So once again, here I go, maybe biting off more than I can chew, but at least I am doing it in solidarity with 15 other students.

Valentine’s Day was great. The guys of my group (6 total) decided to do something special for the girls (10 total, plus 2 profs, 2 TA’s and a secretary). We went out and bought 2 bottles of decent wine, white and red, chocolate as well as a bouquet of colorful flowers. Then we made them a card out of sketchbook paper, colored pencils and our signatures. All of this we gave to them Sunday afternoon at the study center (our hangout, especially when we have homework). It was a very welcome study break to enjoy a glass of wine, and be able to serve my fellow classmates.

At home that day for both lunch and dinner I had some great fish. I believe it was home breaded and fried Tilapia. Unfortunately it was still on the bone which made it harder to eat, but I was extremely delicious. I am really enjoying the food here, although I miss pasta and being able to cook. Maybe I will try to cook a meal for my family someday, when I have time. Oh I do hope I don’t run out of time here.

Monday was the first real Spanish class, followed by Spanish every day for the entire week. We took the placement tests the Friday before, both oral and written. I am pretty sure I placed in the medium range, which hopefully will be good enough to get me some credit at ISU. The classes though are really intense and last for 3 hours. I feel like I am back in AP literature, only we are studying Spanish Literature. The grammar is not the hard part. It is the little nit-picky stuff like why a word is masculine or feminine and how that is really significant to the meaning in the context. There is a bit of homework as well, including the memorization of lists of new vocabulary for every class period and a written diary that we turn in every week? For this next week I am working on a composition that talks about the affect tourism has on the Monteverde region. Some of this stuff I don’t even understand in English! I have a good teacher though, and there are only 2 other students in the class which makes it that much more intense, because I cannot hide or decide not to learn. Also, it is a bonus that we get a coffee break at 4 where we get dulces (sweets) and I drink tea. And (as I noted in another entry) when we leave at 5:30pm from the Centro Panamericano de Idiomas the sun is setting and we have an amazing view of the entire valley as well as the Gulf of Nicoya and the Nicoya Peninsula in the distance.

The same view, from the road by the Spanish center.

Throughout the week we also had class in the morning where we visited various businesses around the Monteverde area and learned about the internship possibilities. All of the internships were very interesting, whether or not I qualified for them. There were two that really stuck out though that I applied for. One of them was an artificial wetland design for a local hotel (more like cabins) called Cabañas Los Pinos. The wetland would be designed to handle the grey water that comes from the small resort, as well as some stormwater. Since I have previously worked with stormwater management, over the last two summers, I feel that I would be prepared to take this internship. So applied for it. But there was an even better internship.

Look mom... humans in a pen!

This is a real coffee maker...

A close-up of your coffee...

We learned how to spread coffee for one of the internship opportunities.

More coffee, but also a great view!

Here we are in a native plant greenhouse for an internship opportunity.

A hydroponics farm for another internship opportunity. Pretty sweet!

These were the most delicious cherry tomatoes I have had, straight from the hydroponic vine.

This other internship is actually on the CIEE study grounds, and would be the design of an interpretive native plant garden for use by students of CIEE, like myself. I talked to Karen, my professor, and she also said that I could add in other objectives to this project if I chose to do so. Thus I would rather get his internship because I would be very interested in adding in a component of vernacular design, as well as a small example of stormwater management. We’ll see which one I get. I will find out on Monday.

Ash Wednesday was also this last week, so after Spanish two other students and I ran from our class to the church. Literally it was a run, in the rain and high winds, up and down the hills here in Monteverde. These are no ordinary hills either. From Cerro Plano (neighborhood, where I live) to Santa Elena (where the church is) I think the hill must go down 50-75 meters and then rise again 30 meters, and that is all within about 600 meters of road. Maybe I will take a picture of one of the hills here later to show you. We are in the mountains of Costa Rica, so I shouldn’t expect anything less.

In any case it was a great challenge to get to the Mass, but we conquered our temptation to stop, and even arrived 2 minutes early. Just in time to realize that everything runs on Tico time here so the Mass actually started 15 minutes late. But the Mass was well worth the journey. Wet and dirty from the day, I was joined by other Catholics from all backgrounds, celebrating the start of Lent and preparing ourselves for the 40 days ahead in anticipation of Semana Santa (Holy Week) and La Pascua (Easter)! The Mass was packed! Once again I was amazed at the Hispanic love for the Eucharist and their community. It was another run back up the hills to my house in the rain to get back for dinner. Unfortunately the driving wind and rain quickly took the ashes off of my forehead, but it did not remove the graces bestowed upon me and the community at that Mass. I am excited for Lent, especially being here in Costa Rica.

The beginning of a family...

Feliz día del San Valentino!

This entry dates from February 9^th through February 13^th.

Over the last few days many things have happened. I have gone through orientation in San Jose. I have met with all of my professors. As a class, we have completed activities designed for us to get to know the area and each other better, like visiting farmers markets, self guiding ourselves around the city and having drinks at during class (more on this later). I have moved in with a homestay family in Monteverde, Costa Rica. I have even started a few of my classes and have received homework… quite a shock after nearly a 2 month break. But the greatest thing to happen is that I have met all of the other students in the program (16) and have begun to build relationships with each of them. I do not think there is one person who I have not spoken with personally yet, which really surprises me because I am not a very outgoing person when it comes really getting to know people.

We have begun to grow as a family of students, and already are learning to trust one another with little things such as watching over another’s computers in hotel lobbies or borrowing a buck or two. This experience really reminds me of my second year at Iowa State University when I started in the Landscape Architecture program with my classmates there in our Traveling Studio. This was a studio where we spent 6 weeks out of the semester traveling North and South from Iowa to faraway places like Winnipeg, Canada and Monterrey, Mexico, and all points in between. After these travels we were very much so, and still are a big happy family. But I can already tell that this group here in Monteverde will be even closer and more of a family than my LA brothers and sisters are. I am not quite sure why though.

Knock the nuts off of the fire hydrant tower looking things with a tennis ball. But don't knock over the towers or you lose.

The group dynamics just seem to click. Maybe it is the very small class size of only 16 students, or that we all are sharing meals every day. It could be the bar breaks that seem to happen every time we need to sit down and discuss something as a class (literally we go to the nearest bar and a drink of our choice is on CIEE, the study abroad). It could also be the great professors and teaching assistants that are present for us here at the study center. Karen Masters is the resident director and might as well be known as Mom. She has twin sons, who are abroad right now, close to my age, so she says she really like and understands our age group. Sarah and Priscilla are our TA’s and they are only a couple of years older than us so that makes them just older sisters in our great big family.

Drink break!

Drink break during class...

Now let me reassure all my family and friends back in Iowa. I still do miss you all a great deal. There is much to be said for our great relationships and I wish I could be spending this spring with each one of you as well. But alas, God has called me here, so I have followed and I plan to get every little bit of good out of this opportunity as I can.

Besides building a family, like I said we have been doing a lot. San Jose was fun, and yet, I have never enjoyed the pace of the city, nor the traffic. Ticos (Costa Ricans) drive like maniacs, so defensive walking is always a necessity. Eating out at a couple of the restaurants was very pleasant, usually involving a large plate of rice and beans, and then maybe a little chicken, or some vegetables on the side. I have yet to say no to any form of rice and/or beans. I hope that it is impossible to grow sick of such basic, and yet wonderful food.

On our way to Monteverde on the 11^th we stopped by two hidden tourist destinations and saw the sites. You know… the municipal sanitary landfill of San Jose and then the official dump for the city of Puntarenas. Ok, so I guess these are not quite the traditional tourist stops, and I would never have guesses to stop here other than I am studying about Environmental Sustainability and Human Impact, so this was a good place to be. It was a great learning experience, whether or not the sights and smells were pleasant. At the dump we learned about how they are trying (an illegal attempt) to recycle some of the materials, since it is illegal to sort through trash because of public health concerns.

I like this picture of colorful broken boxes that are going to be recycled.

It was about a 45 minute drive from the main highway to Monteverde, on dirt roads that twisted and turned nearly as much as in Honduras although in a little better condition, and very much reminding me of Colorado. I will have to figure out what the elevation of Monteverde is at some time, but for now let’s just say it is high in the clouds.

Monteverde is up in the hills in the background.

San Louis Valley above and below....

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :O !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will climb... just give me a little time....

We moved into our homestays on Thursday night. I met my mother, Ana Isabel and we had dinner together. She told me her entire life story as we sat in the kitchen that night. She is very sweet and giving, I know I am going to be well taken care of… don’t worry Mom. I have a few siblings but my brother is studying in San Jose a college, and my older sister just got married (I think so, but not sure) so I haven’t met either of them. I did finally meet my younger sister on Saturday because she came back from doing something in Puntarenas (the coastal city down the mountain side). She is 15 years old. I also met my tico father finally Saturday night at 11pm. Albino (although he is not white) is his name. He works for some Agricultural company or something that has him working very early in the morning until very late at night. Seriously, I have just had the time to shake his hand and say “Mucho Gusto,” and then he was gone again, to sleep this time. I hope I can talk with him more at some other time.

To finish off this blog entry, let me show you the best sunset I have yet to see while abroad. I caught this picture and many others as I was leaving my Spanish class in the intensive language school up the hill. We get out at this time everyday so I will be able to see the sunset like this each time, overlooking the San Louis Valley. In some of the pictures I show of the San Louis Valley (maybe not these) you can see in the background a light spot that is the Gulf of Nicoya, an extension of the Pacific Ocean that we can see from Monteverde. It is pretty sweet! Please enjoy and comment (leave you own toe prints at the bottom) if you like. Commenting lets me know whether or not I am writing something you like to read or want to hear more about. It also gives me an extra push to keep writing for you all.