Thursday, December 19th

Today was a very fun day! It was our last breakfast at the station, and afterwards we started the long journey back to San Jose. We stopped at a couple different places on the way back, one of which was the beach in Dominical. Even though we couldn’t swim (it’s a surf beach, the currents are not ideal for swimming), it was an amazing experience. We all had lunch together in Dominical, and I was a little brave with my order.

My lunch today in Dominical.

I’ve never had whole fish before, and I absolutely loved it! I would get this all the time, if I could. After eating, we had about an hour or two of free time to explore the beach area. Dominical is not only a surf beach, but it also has a variety of different shops and restaurants. We all walked along the beach, and looked at some of the things people were selling along the beach. 

An iguana we saw at the beach, hanging out in a tree.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay at Dominical all day. After we left, we only stopped one more time for snacks and a bathroom break. Surprisingly, we arrived at San Jose well before the sun set! I was really surprised when we arrived at the hotel, I definitely thought we had at least a few more hours of traveling to do. 

We had our last dinner together at the hotel, and while it was delicious, it was a little sad. I’ve com to really like the people on this trip, so it was hard to say goodbye to those who had early flights. Before we split off for the night, we all decided to exchange social media information, to keep in touch after we go back to our respective homes. 

I really will miss this place, and especially the friends that I’ve made on this trip. Until next time, my friends, have safe travels home! 

Wednesday, December 18th

Today was our last day on the station, and I am having some bittersweet feelings about it. While I am happy to be going back to the comforts (and freezing temperatures!) of home, I am also sad that I won’t have anymore field research days or super fresh fruit! I am also going to miss this incredible group of people I’ve come to know in this program. 

To make today special, a small group of us decided to get up to walk to the observation tower to watch the sunrise together. It was also an opportunity for the group’s videographer to take out the drone to get some nice footage of the station and the sunrise. It was an incredible bonding experience for us! 

A photo of the valley containing San Vito, just as the sunlight started to peak over the mountain. 

Today was also the day our presentations were due! Finally, all the hard work we did for the past week and a half came to fruition! It was amazing to see everyone’s results from all the hard work they put in, and to see how knowledgeable they’ve become on the subjects. 

One of the highlights of the day for me would have to have been the dinner tonight. All this time, I’ve been waiting for them to make their pasta, and they finally served it! We finally got that delicious pasta, and on our last day! It was almost like a farewell from the kitchen staff, I was really grateful for one last delicious meal. 

Tuesday, December 17th

Today was just about the last day we had to compile our data and work on our poster presentation! Needless to say, it was a very busy day in the lab. Almost every group was in the lab finishing things up today, so it felt a little nice to know we were all working hard.

Even though it was a day jam-packed with data analysis, we managed to squeeze in some time for some fun! After lunch, we all met in the lab to have Lucia teach us how to finish making the thread from the fibers we helped collect a few days ago. After demonstrating how to roll the thread, she asked a couple of us to try it ourselves, and I have to say that the ones who did try it out did really well! Or so it seemed to me, I’m sure Lucia would have something else to say, considering we’re all newbies to this sort of thing. After rolling the thread, Lucia showed us how she weaves the thread to make various items, like the bags and hats she sells.

While Lucia was finishing the threads and weaving, Celestino had a presentation that taught us a lot about his reservation. I had no idea the troubles his people go through, just to keep their land, and to keep their traditions alive! It hit me personally, because a lot of the things he talked about were things that I was taught. Some of the things he was talking about reminded me of things the government did to my people in the past, especially when he talked about how their government flooded the river they depend on so heavily. We had a very similar flooding situation with our tribe, and those are the kinds of things that never leave a communities’ memory.

The full name of the organization Celestino is president of.

After the demonstration and presentation, we worked on our posters for the rest of the day. Even though we had so much data to compile into one poster, my teammate and I managed to get most of the poster done! All we have left to do are really minor cosmetic additions and changes, otherwise, we’re done! I seriously cannot express how glad I am to have gotten to work with Ian and Jessica. They’re a really great team and helped me with so much! Especially when I was losing my mind over the little things that wouldn’t work correctly. They’re an incredible support system.

Finally, at the end of the day (after dinner), we all gathered in the reception hall to have our final cultural exchange with the indigenous folk from Panama. We got to share many things, and we got to learn many things from the different cultures that are represented during this trip. My mentor, Deb, brought a couple pairs of handmade earrings and asked me to help gift them to Lucia. I felt very honored that Deb allowed me to help gift them, and that Lucia so graciously accepted our gift.

The earrings Deb and I gifted to Lucia.

As one of my fellow Anishinaabe people said at the end of the night, giigawaabamin! Which is our word for ‘see you later’, because we have no word for goodbye. :) 

Monday, December 16th

Today was overall a good day! The group got off to a fairly rough start this morning, as there were some incidents last night, but after jumping over the initial hurdle of talking about it, the day moved along rather nicely.

It was a long, long laboratory day. Most of us were in the lab from right after breakfast, all the way until dinner time, myself included. One of the only breaks from the lab and data analysis I had today was right away this morning when I went out to the field to collect the last two cameras and kestrels. After that, it was all loading our data onto our computers and compiling it into one easy-to-read spreadsheet.

My teammate and I had a few hours of collaboration on our project, and we got to share some really good ideas about our presentation and our project! We got to take a first look at all the camera footage we got, and we were so pleasantly surprised! We saw a band of coatimundi on a couple of our trail cams. Everyone in the lab took a quick break from their work to come look at our footage, I guess we were making it sound just too exciting to ignore!

In the afternoon, right after lunch, we took a short break as a group to join the Ngobe and Embera as Armando performed a ceremony and showed us different plants and their medicinal uses. Even though we don’t speak the same language, it was really refreshing to walk with them as they taught us about their plants. Because they’re so expressive when talking, it almost feels like I can understand what they’re saying before it’s translated. Maybe not all of it, but I get the general idea.

Photos of plants taken during our walk with Armando. 

At the end of the day, we all gathered for a quick sharing session. It was really nice to be able to openly share our positive feelings about this adventure we’re on, especially since I know so many of us are starting to feel the affects of being on the go for so long. Personally, I’ve been feeling very homesick for the past couple days, wondering how I’m going to make it through this next week. It really seemed to lift a weight off my shoulders to be able to talk so positively, and to hear everyone else say such nice things about the limited amount of time we get in this amazing country, and on this wonderful station. 

I truly feel like we all walked out of the reception room with uplifted spirits, ready for whatever the rest of this trip has in store for us. 

Sunday, December 15th

Today was another adventurous day! We finally had a free day, and we all went to town to explore. A smaller group of people chose to hike the trails to town, and I’m a little sad I didn’t chose to go with them - apparently they saw a really beautiful snake, and a group of vampire bats! Even though I’m a little upset that I missed some exciting sightings, I am glad I chose to take this day to catch up on some rest.

We all agreed to meet in town for lunch at a pizza place called Pizzeria Lilliana, most of us got there at about the same time. For the most part, we all broke off into separate groups to explore San Vito. Seemingly everyone needed snacks, so we stopped at a grocery store, as well as a clothing store! At the end of it all, we decided to all get crepes together.

The beautiful crepes we got at the end of our exploration. 

Even though we didn’t do as much today as we’ve been doing for the past week, it was really tiring. By dinner time, around 6:00pm, I was ready for bed - though I didn’t want to go to sleep so early. A few of the other students and I decided to play a few rounds of cribbage. It was fun, even though I had to relearn it a little bit! A few rounds was just enough to keep me awake until it was a decent bed time - not too early, but not too late either. 

Hasta luego, friends! 

Saturday, December 14th

Today was a very laid back, nearly relaxing day. Since we completed all the field work yesterday, I got to sleep in (even if only for a little bit longer than usual) before heading down to breakfast and getting work done in the lab.

We only had half a day available for lab work - we had a cultural enrichment experience planned for the afternoon. Lazaro, our Embera friend, collected all the materials he needed to give us traditional temporary tattoos!

Traditional Embera temporary tattoo made with a natural dye. 

According to Lazaro, the dye will take a few hours (or maybe even a day) to fully develop and darken. In any case, I really, really love this design! Everyone else got tattoos as well, and they all look so cool! Tomorrow, Lazaro said he would try to touch up and darken some of the tattoos for us.

Dinner was also very eventful, we all had a great time talking and laughing - it was really loud in the dining hall, but it was full of good vibes. After dinner, Lazaro (Embera) and Lucia (Ngobe) set up some handmade items on a table for us to browse and buy. I got myself some beautiful beaded earrings, and I got my mom a pretty sea turtle carved from the tagua fruit/seed.

Tomorrow will be our first free day - we are going in groups to the nearby town, San Vito! Some people are hiking there, they have to leave early to get there at a decent time. Apparently the hike will take at least a few hours - I think those who choose to hike have some serious dedication! The rest of us are planning on taking taxis and shuttles to town around 11:00 am so we can all have lunch at a delicious pizza restaurant together. It should be a very exciting day, I can’t wait to wake up in the morning!

Friday, December 13th

Today was a long, long, long day. We started out immediately after breakfast and didn’t get done until just an hour before dinner. We had to count plants in 11 transects to replicate the study done last year. We managed to do counts in 5 or 6 transects before lunch, and we were able to complete the rest of the transects after lunch! Thank goodness another mentor, Mandy, came to help us count - I don’t think we could have finished it in time without her.

Topside view of the shampoo ginger’s inflorescence.  

Today was almost entirely field work, so not a whole lot of interesting things happened. The most interesting thing to me would be how the numbers this year compare to the numbers from last year and from the original study in 2007. Overall, we’re seeing an incredible increase in plant numbers. Although, we won’t know the actual numbers or comparisons until we start compiling our data - which we should begin doing tomorrow, and continue doing throughout next week!