Long Awaited Monteverde

Well Monteverde turned out to be an awesome trip. Of course, with ziplining how could it not be? Not so sure Casey liked it though, especially hiking through the cloud forest. On the way there we saw the largest bird in Costa Rica...2 of them. There are only 12 Jabiru nesting pairs in the country because they were and are still hunted for meat (illegally). They are nearly 5ft tall! We saw these birds driving to the mountains, but once we got to Monteverde we were greeted by hummingbirds, a swallow tailed kite, gorgeous views and thrilling adventures.

Jabiru - you can't tell but it's neck is bright red.

Ziplining through cloud forest.

Our guide Alonzo with unripe coffee beans.

Hanging bridge hike

Not much has happened since my mom left on Wednesday, and her last two days here were pretty chill. On Monday we did "family dinner" with the staff here at the Goldring Marine Biology Station, thanks to Mama's cooking. The next day we went out on the estuary tour and saw crocs, an anteater, ctenosaurs, the howler monkeys, and many birds. After all the go, go, go, it was nice to just sit in the boat and observe. Too bad they did not get to see any turtles. Two came up the night after they left (a ridley and a black), but even though I was patrolling, I saw neither. It's starting to get really frustrating. Fernando ("Fern"), the sushi chef predicts 1 week and 4 days till we get a turtle...I hope sooner than that. The black turtle that false crawled two nights ago came back and nested right behind the house...I hate when that happens, makes me feel like there is no excuse to miss it. However, Volcom was having a shin dig at Kike's with an auction to raise money for the school and an hour of free beer, so we were there for four hours...but it was our night off!

Family dinner at the station.

Anteater



Pigmy King Fisher-female in front

A Whirl Wind Trip

My mother and cousin Casey got in last Wednesday...since then it's been go, go, go! The first day we spent at Fijoles Locos trying to plan the entire trip so that they could do everything they wanted. Believe it or not, it took a while. We went turtling that night, but found nothing

The second day I brought them surfing. Ha ha...I got up on my board the first try! Eventually my mom got it down and Casey did pretty well. I managed to run home just in time to grab the camera and get shots of my mom on a wave and 2 for Casey. They were also fortunate enough to see the howler monkeys and listen to their crazy calls.

The next day we went horseback riding through the mountains and on the beach. It was beautiful, but my horse hated life and wanted to walk 500ft behind, then play catch up. My mother and I walked away in absolute pain from the trip, but Casey rather enjoyed it. Must be nice just getting back from horse camp and not being sore at all. Casey also tried sushi, prepared by Fernando, for the first time. That was entertaining. She doesn't like raw fish, but was okay with shrimp tempura.
We went to Monteverde yesterday and did the whole mountain hike/zipline thing and saw the largest and rarest bird in all of Costa Rica 30min after leaving Playa Grande (and us without a good camera in hand)...but I'll post about that later!

The Hunt for Ridleys

Well, I moved to Playa Grande, Costa Rica about 3 weeks ago. Moving was a chore but it is exciting to finally be here and working on my Master's project! The beach is beautiful and the people are soooooo friendly. Fortunately it is the rainy season, so the weather is staying relatively cool for turtle work...nothing like it was working with the turtles in Florida. Also, the bugs are no where near as bad, at least not yet, so hopefully it remains that way.

Upon my arrival I found the "lab" where I would be working was nothing more than a storage unit with an ATV inside making it impossible to get to the sink. I managed to clean myself off an area, and eventually the park guards moved the ATV to another location. However, I still have some supplies to order before I officially start my project. I have my permit though, so as soon as any turtle decides to show up, I'm ready for collecting some data!

It has been just Tera and myself at the station, with a few people coming in and out. Most recently the kid doing his Master's with iguanas showed up with his field crew and advisor, Bibi (who also happens to run the station down here), as well as two girls who graduated from Colorado College studying how development influences the local communities and biodiversity.

Other than that, there have been no turtles so far, there is a bat living in my lab, I'm having difficulty obtaining blood for blood agar, and I'm walking 6+ miles of beach a day. My mom and cousin Casey come next week and I will finally get to do some fun activities like surfing and ziplining...so I should have more to post then!