Sloths in Panama

About four days ago we returned from a week in Panama. While there we visited two different Smithsonian research centers in Panama City. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute studies sloths amongst other things. The day we were there, an ordinate number of the creatures were climbing around in a line of trees between the road and the beach. Their presence here (not even close to a forest), and in such high numbers was suspicious and as we counted sloth after sloth (some said they saw more than ten), we realized that the three-toed creatures must have been planted for our benefit. The experience was sullied but being able to examine the animals at such a close range was still neat. I want to share this article written by one of the researchers at the Institute about his experience working with Sloths in the wild (credit goes to Sarah for showing it to me, thanks!). http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/18/why-do-animals-sleep/?ref=science

Also, if you want to see some great pictures of sloths, my friend Justin has an album devoted to the ones we saw in Panama. I highly recommend it : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=349914&id=612682362&l=12298ffbcb


Comments are welcome as always; more about Panama soon to come!

Off to Panama

Today's our last day in Costa Rica before we head to Panama for seven days. It's a chill day for hanging around the center, packing, and doing last minute errands. And of course, for me, that means it's time to do a huge project. There's a cob oven here at the center; we've been here a month and a half and it hasn't seen so much as one sorry loaf of bread. Therefore, today, is pizza day. Twelve hour marathon kitchen sesh. So so good. Off to Panama in three hours! Oh, and it was Edgardo's (tropical ecology professor's) birthday so of course cakes were in order.

Monkeys!

Organic Coffee in Atenas

We visited a local organic coffee farm on the other side of Atenas last week. We learned about agroforestry, the harvesting and processing of coffee, and the worldwide organic food market (only 1-2% of the entire food market).

Coffee's the second most traded commodity in the world after oil.

Here are some pictures from the farm.

Water water everywhere but not a drop to drink

Today seems to be the end of our three day water shortage. When we got back from our weekend away the taps and toilets were all dry. Water coolers were placed around the campus for drinking but the pool was the only thing resembling a shower.

This morning I got about two minutes of cold water before the pressure dropped and the flow slowed to a trickle. That's still promising though; it's the most water I've seen coming out of a shower for a couple of days.

It's the dry season here in Costa Rica and the conditions can get especially dry where we are in Atenas. All water must be piped from the wetter Carribean side of the country and we happen to be right about at the end of the line. Any water flowing through the aquaducts is accounted for by the time they wind their way through the mountains to us.

The Weekend

We returned last night from our weekend away from the center. Myself and a few friends went on a hiking adventure to a 300 m waterfall near the Tarcoles river. The sun was hot even at 8 am and we sweat all the way up and down but the views and swimming in the pools below the waterfall were totally worth it. The owner of the waterfall was a flakey woman from miami/ daughter of the CEO of the venezualan airline/ dancer/ who knows....? She told us all kinds of wild stories almost none of which made sense or held together. As we were hiking up the dirt road to the entrance to the waterfall she pulled up in a big 4x4, introduced herself, and told us just to be careful because she'd gotten pregnant in one of the pools. "I must be some kind of turtle or mermaid or something," she said and drove off. About three minutes later she was driving back the other way and we finally met her at the top of the hill. She introduced us to the waterfall, to her 'yoga studio' (a wooden platform overlooking the valley), and to her property which she claimed to be selling to the Chinese for $37 million. On the way back down she offered us a ride for $15 a person to the beach we were planning to camp on. When we finally agreed she said we'd have to wait until 5 o'clock (it was around 1). We decided to walk.

We made it to the beach on a public bus and after eating dinner in one of the 3 restaurants in town, we sat out on the sand, drinking Costa Rican rum and enjoying the stars. All of us were exhausted since we had hiked between 8-12 miles that day. We had decided to spend that night and the next day (Sunday) in a little beach town called Esterillos Oeste on the pacific side.

This beach was a lot quieter than tourist centers like Jaco but still, it was clear that the development was coming here next. Most lots had ‘for sale’ or ‘sold’ signs on them and we could see the beginnings of infrastructure creation in the form of entire communities with roads and cleared lots but no houses. The town was by no means unvisited. There were a number of other tourists and a good proportion were American but I’m sure that in the next ten years there will be massive hotels and resorts where the small houses and stores used to be.

We spent the rest of Saturday night exploring tidal pools with our headlamps and playing cards. The next day we woke up around 7, ate, and headed for the beach were we spent the rest of the day sleeping and reading in the shade of a tree. On the way back we were lucky enough to be offered a pretty cheap ride by a guy with a van who was going our way after the bus we wanted to catch was entirely full. The ride was a welcome surprise and ended up working out. Our planning for the weekend had been minimal but everything ended up working out.

Free Weekend!

the waterfall.



gulf of nicoya and pacific ocean.

black and green poison dart frog dendrobatus auratus.

the bottom of the waterfall.

Mi Familia

Hola! I got back from my homestay on Sunday night...

My family seemed great from the moment they picked us up in front of the church in the square of Atenas. Myself and two friends, Meagan and Caity were all with different related families. They lived in a building divided into three houses so we were basically next door neighbors. The first thing we did was go swimming at a local pool. Apparently the property was owned by an individual which seemed kind of strange to me. Pools are usually public or community owned in the states. We swam, had lunch, chatted in shaky spanish with the family, and of course, told them how delicious the food was.

Afterwards it was back to the house and then off to my 'mom's' friend's 25th wedding anniversary. We were picked up by one of her friends who drove us along crazy dirt and gravel roads which seemed to go straight up and straight down. He played American soul music for my benefit and talked about his trips to Vegas and Baltimore. After about 45 minutes we arrived on the farm/community/? where they were holding the ceremony and having the party. First there was a mass and a renewal of vows ceremony. People gave speeches, gifts were exchanged, communion was offered, a choir of kids sang, all overlooking the valley in this beautiful open air church with a dark-wood vaulted ceiling. It was a beautiful place. The service lasted about an hour and then we moved on to the party portion of the evening. Lots of dancing, drinking, and eating. A bit of garter and bouquet throwing and my rediscovery that I dance like a gringo. No surprise. Around 11 we headed back home this time with some different, much more sober friends of the family. Most of the people there had been friends with my host mom since high school; she told me that in August they're having their 35th reunion and a big party to celebrate. That's one distinct difference. Society is focused much more around small towns, the people you grow up with, and the family which is constantly around than in my experience in the states.

The next day I got up around 8:30 (sleeping in for me now), had breakfast (pancakes) with the daughters, and hung out while my host mom was at church. I had a chance to read and there was a beach volleyball tournament on TV. After a delicious lunch of starch on starch (fried fish, mashed potatoes, rice, beans, more potatoes with mayonaise on them), we set out for a walk. All three families went together and we walked across farms around central Atenas and eventually ended up at the top of a ridge overlooking the town and the entire valley. After navigating the cows and bulls on the way back down there was a bit of time to look at pictures from the walk (my host mom is a photographer), shower, and play with the new bunny my host sister had just received from a friend around lunchtime before it was already time for dinner.

We learned to make papusas (basically thick tortillas with beans and cheese inside) with repollo (a spicy, slightly pickled cabbage and carrot salsa) and once again, there was lots of music and dancing. Too soon we were saying our goodbyes before our host families drove us back to the field station.

There are some pictures on facebook and I'll try to post some here soon as well!

Comments are welcome as always!

Also, sorry if the change in my URL confused some people. It was danielatenascr.blogspot.com and now it's danielinatenascr.blogspot.com