A banana flower with small bananas that Rodo showed us in the gardens.
After our tour with Rodolfo, we met up with Scott at the
laboratory. He showed us a few things about the station, mostly where to find
things, and how things worked. After that, we went to the observation tower to
see above the canopy. Space was limited on the observation tower, so we had to
go up in two different groups. Afterwards, we continued our hike down to the
Rio Java (Java River). I underestimated how hot it was going to be,
and underestimated how much water I would need to bring with me to keep
hydrated. Even though the hike down and back up was difficult, it was
completely worth it.
We ate lunch after our hike, and got acquainted with our
mentors and research partners. After lunch is when we finally broke off into
our separate groups to begin our research. My group consisted of Jessica, Ian
and myself, but we had a Ngobe guide, Celestino, and our resident shampoo
ginger expert, Rodolfo. Rodolfo was only with us for today, to show us how to
identify the shampoo ginger, and how to distinguish it from the native ginger.
Though they can be hard to tell apart, Rodolfo showed us many different ways to
differentiate between the two. By the
time we were done counting in our first transect, both Ian and I were much more
comfortable identifying the plants.
Finally, after dinner, we all got together with our Ngobe
and Embera guides to introduce ourselves. It was very interesting to hear
everyone speak their own native languages, and to hear how far some people
traveled to get here! For our Embera friend, who lives in a very, very rural
part of Panama, it took him about 3 days to travel here - that's some incredible dedication! The part of Panama he lives in doesn't have any modern roads, and has only trails to travel by less conventional methods.
I can't wait to learn more about Costa Rica, and about other peoples' cultures!
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