Hola from Costa Rica!
We made it to San Jose with little difficulty, except that upon arrival we discovered that Professor Shea’s bag had been sucked into the airline black hole (thankfully it reappeared at midnight the next night!) We were met by our CATIE guide for the month Vanessa and driver Carlos. After a late night dinner and a diversion to our hotel because one of the roads was mysteriously closed, we all fell into bed exhausted.
We awoke the next morning to another busy day. We spent the morning at INBio, a non-profit organization dedicated to education, research and protection of Costa Rica’s rich biodiversity. The most memorable and unusual organisms we observed on our tour at INBio included a sloth, a giant praying mantis, Dutchman’s pipe, many iguanas sunning themselves in trees, and two white tailed deer! (Oddly to us Midwesterners, they are endangered here in Costa Rica).
In the afternoon we went to the Associated Colleges of the Midwest office on the other side of San Jose. We were pleasantly surprised to meet the St. Olaf Spanish class students who are taking classes there. Chris Vaughan, the director of the ACM Costa Rica program, gave us a lecture about Scarlet Macaw conservation. We are now eager to see the birds in the wild!
On the 7th we started out for Turrialba, where the CATIE headquarters is located. On the way we stopped at the largest Catholic Cathedral in Costa Rica, located in Cartago, as well as a bank to exchange our dollars to colones (the Costa Rican currency). Upon arrival at CATIE we had lunch and then listened to a talk by Elena Florian on the National Program of Biological Corridors. Afterward we went on a tour of the CATIE Botanical Gardens, which was fascinating. Marco introduced us to many new types of fruit- some sour, some sweet, some that smelled like decaying flesh, and some that were extremely
toxic!
After a discussion of a paper on agriculture (we will be visiting a coffee plantation tomorrow) we are all once again exhausted. Hopefully the weather stays warm tomorrow!
Hasta luego!
Christina and Aly
(pictures provided by Aly and Dr. Shea)
