Tuesday, December 10th

Today was another early day, just as the rest of the week will be. We started by having breakfast at 6:30am, which is the usual breakfast time here on the station. Almost immediately after breakfast, we met with Rodolfo, one of the experts here, and he gave us a tour of the gardens. He showed us many things, but he did it in a way that was very engaging, and encouraged us to make our own guesses about certain aspects of the garden.

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!