In the thick of it…

So I was literally in the thick of it, and that is the cloud forest, again over last weekend. This time I was there for my Costa Rican Natural History Class, which I described in the last blog. But we were there for a particular reason this time, and that was to experience the rainforest night life, or at least try to experience it. The day started off very well, sunny with a slight breeze. We talked about animal-plant interactions that drive reproductive systems in the rain forest.

As an example, there is a group of main trees called a fig trees (kind of like fig newtons, only wild). These trees have a flower that looks like a quarter sized berry with a little, itty bitty hole in the bottom. Only a tiny wasp can enter this hole to go inside, breed and lay eggs (all inside the fig flower). Then the wasp leaves, carrying the pollen from inside along with, off to mate in another fig flower. So that is how the fig tree pollinates, just by this one little wasp. But the neat part about that is that then the larvae grow in the fig fruit as it grows, and when you open up a fallen fig, after it has ripened, you can find a bunch of little baby wasps that haven’t left yet. That might make you think twice about eating a fig newton ever again.

This is "La Ventana" without clouds.

But I digress… so let me get back on track. We went up “La Ventana,” which is the continental divide platform where you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific sides really well. There were some pretty thick clouds that day, but we did get up there in time to watch the sun set over a pacific ridgeline. The play of light across the thick clouds was fantastic, and not something I can describe so check out the pictures and video. I did manage to draw the amazing contrast in my sketchbook too, so if I find a scanner I’ll let you all see.

So as the sun was playing around on the pacific side, many of us missed the beauty of the rising moon and clouds on the Atlantic side. It was a marvelous show on two stages.

Our walk back through the dark forest was a wonderful experience filled with huge lightning bugs that glowed all shades of yellow and orange. I think that there are more lightning bugs at night in Iowa though, but there is not nearly as much diversity in their color or lighting pattern.

Last Friday night we as a class were invited up the hill to our Resident Director, Karen Master’s house. No this was not because we were in trouble or anything, nor was it for a test. Instead we had a party to celebrate our being halfway through our internships. Karen has a great recipe for homemade pizza dough that I savored all evening. The toppings were pretty good too. I think she may have made 8 or more large pizzas for all of us. Not to mention all the desserts that were provide by our internship employers. There was dancing, hammocks, and guitars and overall was a great evening that reaffirmed our family bond.

Then on Sunday (I know I am skipping around) of course it was palm Sunday… and down here the Ticos go all out for Semana Santa (Holy Week). I went with my mother (tica) to the palm procession that started on the edge of town and then wrapped around finally ending up at the church for Mass at 9:45.

I thought it was funny that his procession of 150 or so people could walk through and block all the main roads. Usually a taxi would drive up, stop, and get swamped by everyone until they passed. It happens every year though so there was no honking, thank goodness. The Mass was beautiful as well. Oh yeah, I went to Mass twice, once in the evening as well so that I could attend with the other students from the CIEE program. Just a wonderful day in general.

Other than that, I have climbed a few trees on of which, a Cecropia (my favorite, as I stated in the last entry) is shown below. It was kind of like climbing a palm tree because it had a lot of ribs up the trunk but no branches until 20 ft or so. Very challenging but quite fun all the more.

Below is the view from the top...

The construction photo above is of an artificial wetland that 2 of the student here have designed for a local hotel. Very cool, I am keeping an eye on it because I think I may be interested in building them in the future.

This is Erin, Tate, a Volunteer and I (I am taking the pic though) planting a few cuttings that we just got from a garden. These plants will be used for the garden that Tate and I are designing for the study center.

Oh I nearly forgot. There were the three random horses in my driveway one morning. After a brief explanation I figured out that my brother (tico) was being a guide for the day to the waterfall in San Louis for a couple.

That is all for now, although I have a whole bunch more to say about my Holy Thursday outing… but no pictures yet so that can wait for another day. I hope everyone’s Holy Week is going well. I am getting very excited for the Way of the Cross parade tomorrow! Peace…