PDS in Costa Rica

The bags are packed, and the bellies are full. Time for a last minute card game or a quiet spot to gather our thoughts.

Then it was on to catch our flight back to Charlotte.

And for my final entry into this travel blog, I say to my fellow travelers, it has been a pleasure. You have enriched this experience in ways that Mr. Willard and I would not be able to adequately express. And so to the PDS students, hasta leugo. And to our faithful viewers, Pura Vida!

-Mrs. Sebastian

Tags: travel

Today was our last day in Las Cruses before going all the way back to San Jose. After having a good breakfast of beans bread fruit and orange juice we were ready to go back to San Jose. Before we left we had to say goodbye to Rodo which was sad because he was a really nice and funny guy

After saying goodbye and leaving Las Cruses we drove all the way to San Jose through the mountains while going through the highest point in Costa Rica which was about eleven thousand feet in the air we were used to four thousand feet at Las Cruses so it was really different from Las Cruses. While driving we saw a ton of pineapple fields which a lot of coffee farmers went to when coffee was having a crisis. The farmers were harvesting coffee but the consumers were paying for the coffee at the price it was and the farmers weren’t getting a fair price for the labor they were putting in to grow the coffee.

After a long drive through the mountains we arrived at the volcano but the drive up their was very cloudy our bus driver Fransico was having difficulty seeing the road..

I Jonathan made the mistake of not packing a rain jacket and I was freezing during the volcano visit. We then drove to San Jose and arrived at the hotel that we stayed at before. After settling in to the hotel we went to cafe mundo or cafe of the world.

Pura Vida! This is a very common phrase that the inhabitants of Costa Rica use. It has a variety of meanings and can mean whatever you want it to. Before breakfast, I had already heard this several times from the natives of Costa Rica. It was another cool morning at the Las Cruces Research Station, partly because we were in a cloud but also we are in the mountains. Breakfast consisted of eggs, rice and beans, toast, orange juice, and fresh fruit.

After breakfast, everyone relaxed in the common area and prepared for our first stop, a coffee farm. Last night, we watched a documentary called “Birdsong and Coffee” and it centers around the farm that we visited today. In Costa Rica, there are two main ways of farming coffee – through monoculture or polyculture (agroforestry). In farms that practice monoculture, all the trees are cut down and all type of biodiversity are destroyed. This type of plantation is unnatural to the environment because an ecosystem has all types of life and not just one species. Also, coffee is traditionally grown in the shade of trees, so this type of farming is also different than most traditions. In polyculture farms, the farmers primarily use agroforestry in order to create specialized coffee. Agroforestry is the deliberate incorporation of trees and other woody species of plants in types of agriculture.

As we arrived at Roberto’s farm, I instantly thought that this was definitely a unique farm. On the walkway to his house and in the fields, there were plants everywhere and the constant chirping of birds and insects. This farm incorporates polyculture practices that include intercropping and agroforestry. Roberto, the owner of the farm, gave us a tour of his farm and the process in which coffee is made. His farm is the definition of sustainable agriculture. He explained to is how there is no waste. The leftovers go to the pigs and eventually a biodigestor, the trees help to hold the water, a natural spring is the source of all the water, the birds are a natural pest control,e and the leaves are used as a natural fertilizer. At the end of the tour, we got to taste the coffee and have freshly-made sugarcane juice. Many people attempted to describe the taste, but the most unique description was that it tasted like “really, really, really sweet wood.” What that means, I have no idea. It was all fantastic, and it was the first time I somewhat enjoyed coffee (it still will not be part of my daily routine). Roberto and his family were some of the nicest people you will ever meet and graciously opened up their home to us.

We arrived back to the research station with tired bodies and hungry stomachs, but soon everyone’s spirit rose greatly. The cafeteria had made pizza! No rice and beans either! It was so nice to have some good ol’ fashioned pizza. The cooks did somewhat of a Costs Rican twist to the dish, but it tasted like pizzas from Italy. They tasted great and everyone got large portions and some asked for seconds.

After lunch, we had to catch up on our game playing so we set off back to the Wilson House. There, we played “The Clapping Game” and “The Drawing Game.” In “The Clapping Game,” everyone sits in a circle while one person leaves the room. The group in the circle then must decide who will switch the pattern of clapping or motions in secret, and the person who leaves the room has three chances to guess who it is. In “The Drawing Game,” the iPad goes around the circle and people switch from drawing a picture to writing a sentence about the picture. The catch is that you can only see the picture or sentence done by the person next to you. By the end of the game, the original drawing had completely change.

At 1:30, we headed off with Rodo again to perform a study on the Agouti. Each Hogwarts house was given two out of the six quadrants. The Hufflepuff house was not given any quadrants because its only member is Mr. Willard. Gryffindor found five Agouti, Ravenclaw found five Agouti, and, of course, Slytherin found the most with six Agouti. We were able to get up really close to the Agouti and it was pretty funny how they didn’t seem to be that afraid of us.

This is a picture taken from my iPad and was the source of our observations. Also, see http://pdsblogs.org/costarica/2013/06/12/midday-agouti-hunting/ to see a video of an Agouti running around.

During the analysis of the experiment, some bat excitement raged through the group. The mammal group ran off to take pictures because they only had found nine mammals at this point (ten different species are needed to complete the project). After several minutes and many pictures, the girls soon discovered that they had been taking pictures of a nut. While this adventure was taking places, everyone was studying and putting the final touches on their projects. Stress was in the air, but soon everyone remembered that the exam was open note and open book.

Then it was time for the inevitable – trying to scrub everything down to get through US Customs. Since we visited multiple farms, all our clothes and shoes must be free of dirt so nothing hazardous enters the US. For some, this took almost an hour, while others just decided to donate the majority of these shoes. Rodo will be dropping our tennis shoes off at a charity that provides clothing to indigenous people when they are visiting the city’s hospitals.

Soon dinner was served, which was made up of pork, broccoli, rice and beans, as well as a type of cake. At dinner, Beatrice, Emmy, and I sat with a professor from the University of Australia. He is a world expert in ecological research and is giving a seminar at an international council in San Jose soon. He had many interesting stories, including his spotting of a jaguar in Brazil. Everyone headed back to the Wilson House after the meal and did final preparations for the final exam.

The exam started around 8:00 and everyone finished in two hours. From a consensus, the exam seemed to go pretty well and everyone was in good spirits after. So many exciting things happened today, another great day in the diverse country of Costa Rica!

This photo was taken yesterday, but it had to be shared.

Tags: agouti, Coffee, Exam, Farming, Polyculture, Slytherin

While researching these guys at Las Cruces, we caught this cool little clip.

Tags: adorable, agouti, Ravenclaw for the win

First off, food:

This is queso. It it’s basically a block of cheese that you will have at every. Single. Meal. Especially if you’re a vegetarian, like me. And these are Chiky’s, chocolate covered cookies that make a great snack after trudging through the forest.

So, after we had queso, again, we went to our succession plot. This is a piece of land that was previously pasture. Las Cruces gave it PDS to study how plants change over time as the area regrows into a rainforest. The last group of kids wrote down and diagramed the species of plants other then the originally planted non-native grass, and although their “low tech” drawings were a little difficult to decipher, they gave us a good starting point as to what to expect.
Before(2011):

When we looked, most of us actually found many more species then the original group, a good sign of succession and that the rainforest is growing back.
After(2013):


Hopefully, the next group of students will again look at the spot so we can see what the future holds for this plot of land.
On our way to the plot of land, we took a beautiful hike through the rainforest and climbed up a canopy tower. There we stood 15m from the ground, but when we looked out at the canopy of trees below us and the gorgeous mountains in the distance, it seemed like much higher. As well as being super cool, it was a great photo opportunity, and really fun to be up in the trees like the famous sloth.

Along the way, Katie and I got handmade bamboo walking sticks from our awesome guide Rodo.

The walk back was a little more difficult to say the least, mostly because we were all so tired and the sun had actually come out, a rare occurrence for the unusually cool Las Cruces. After lunch, we watched an impact full video on coffee farms and agroforestry. It helped explain the importance of buying organic and fair trade certified coffee to ensure that you not only get great tasting coffee that helps keep the environment clean, but by buying this product you are insuring that the laborers and farmers are getting paid fairly for their work. It really helped raise awareness at least for me, and I’m excited to meet one of the stars of the video tomorrow when we visit his sustainable coffee farm.
Tonight after dinner we went for a final night “stroll” through the park. We saw a lot of really cool things, including giant spiders and minuscule frogs. You can read about all the animals we saw on the major taxonomy page!
And finally, to end the day, a little more hauntings from Mrs. Catherine Wilson, may she rest in peace. This morning she turned off all the water around Las Cruces, leaving us soapy, thirsty, and of course scared. Thankfully, the water came back on by the time we got back from our hike so we could all take amazingly relaxing showers.

Tags: canopy tower, Hauntings, queso, succession

Mafia, machetes, ghosts, and Slytherin seems to be the highlights of today’s adventure in Costa Rica. With the day starting out with another yummy breakfast we quickly returned to the Wilson house (where we are staying) to get some work done. With the trip nearing an end projects have been rushed to be finished.

After about an hour of work our fabulous guide Rodo joined us and told us what we were going to be doing this morning. It turned out that we would be going into the garden and finding the number of epiphytes on palms, ferns, and trees. So of course we had to make this a competition. We split up into our Hogwarts houses and got to work. With Ravenclaw tackling trees, Gryffindor covering ferns, and Slytherin doing the palms. Hours were spent plucking epiphytes and placing them in plastic bags. As time passed we finished our collecting with Slytherin finding a whopping 36 specimen. On the way back to the Wilson house we ran into something that was truly spectacular. We saw what was possibly is the biggest moth ever.

We returned to the Wilson house where Rodo and an expert named Miguel helped us identify the specimen that we had collected. In the end Slytherin had won the epiphyte competition winning a prize of 100 points. For those of you who don’t know the people in the Slytherin house are Alex, Isabelle, and myself. The score now stands:
1.Ravenclaw= 360 points
2. Slytherin= 270 points
3. Gryffindor= 220 points
4. Hufflepuff= 45 points

Lunch came along and more exciting events happened. At lunch you always have a choice of water or juice. A researcher who was sitting with told us that the juice was passion fruit juice. Excited at the thought, Carly Britt eagerly jumped in to try it. After drinking two and half glasses she had the entire table laughing which caused Mr. Willard to come over and ask what was so funny.

After lunch we experienced a little bit of a weather setback. In order to pass the time we played a game called Mafia with Rodo. In Mafia you have a mafia (also known as the killer), a doctor, and a detective. The whole point of the game is to discover who the killer is before they kill off everyone in the circle. With Eli Barr getting killed and then getting saved twice, suspicions rose and it was discovered that Mrs, Sebastion and Alex Heintze were the mafias and Eli Barr was the doctor who had saved himself almost every round.

After the rain had slowed down we set out to save biodiversity and give back to Las Cruces. There were two jobs we did in the rainforest: picking weeds that were an invasive species and cutting down the ginger plants to help Rodo with an experiment. The key component to this was the machetes. We all got to use them to cut down try ginger plants and it was a lot of fun. We worked fairly quickly and our outcome was amazing.

Before

After

After our little service project in the rainforest we headed back to the Wilson house to shower off all the dirt. This is where the practical jokes began. Last night we discovered that the upper level of the Wilson house was haunted by the ghost of one of the founders, Catherine Wilson. Carly Britt decided that it would be funny to turn the lights on and off during our showers in order to convince us that The ghost of Catherine Wilson was among us. We later discovered this when she came into the bathroom dying from laughter. Another joke that was pulled was when Carly was walking back from dinner. She was leading the way and was without a flashlight in the dark. Next all you hear is her screaming. We all of course come running to make sure she is okay. We find her on the ground in the ball. Grant had jumped out and scared her. Luckily she is okay, just a little freaked out. To make this evening even better, when some of the girls were walking up the stairs to our room Emmy Adams decides to scream. Thinking it is the ghost of Catherine, we run back downstairs. With many people looking at us like we are crazy, we make the journey back up the haunted level of our house. Emmy then jumps out from behind the couch and causes us all to scream and fall on the floor laughing from the great prank she had pulled.

Today was a eventful day in Costa Rica. As you know we will returning home soon so we have been running around trying to finish out projects before our final exam. I am frankly exhausted, scared out of my mind of ghosts, and have a lot of work to finish. Sweet dreams and Good night from Costa Rica. May the ghost of Catherine Wilson keep you safe at night.

Tags: Catherine Wilson, epiphytes, invasive, machete, mafia

There’s just something about war paint and strangler fig climbing contests that seems to boost people’s spirits. Mix that with the intense inter-house rivalries and some heated games of Mao, and you’ve got a pretty intense day. And don’t worry, there was some education mixed in there too!

After breakfast we went on a tour of the extensive botanical gardens here, led by our amazing guide Nana.

As we toured the garden, which was absolutely stuffed full to bursting with plants, she pointed out this fig tree.

Fig trees can grow figs from basically anywhere on their trunks and branches, so this tree was just covered with figs! Well, actually, it wasn’t. According to Nana, there wasn’t a single fruit on that tree.

Yeah, I didn’t get it either. So what are all those suspiciously fruit-shaped objects? What did you pick and hold in your hand?

Flowers.

Still confused? Me too. Or I was, until she explained that the fig tree wasn’t pollinated at all since its natural pollinator didn’t live here. No pollination means no seeds, and no seeds means technically no fruit. Everything you see there was all ready to be a fruit, but could never develop the seeds. So not a fruit, but still able to be a delicious snack (once ripe).

I thought the fig was cool, but then she showed us the rooms full of orchids and cacti and carnivorous plants and so much more that’s its easier to just show you.

There was just so much, and I wish I could show it all. But you’ll have to make do with this for now.

So to make up for not giving you every picture I have, I’ve got something particularly interesting. Do you like grass? No? Well what if I told you that bamboo is a grass? More interested? Well then look at this:

Massive bamboo. This stuff was thicker than our heads, and much much taller. Here’s Grant for comparison:

I thought for sure this would be the pinnacle of amazing plants, but the final plant Nana showed us beat the rest easy. Commonly called the Lipstick Plant, its fruits contained seeds that held an orange dye.

And of course, give kids dye and they will inevitably end up with war paint.

I may have taken it a bit past face paint.

We actually ended up wearing this stuff the rest of the day. Don’t worry, it washes off.

After our garden tour with Nana, we had lunch, and then prepared for a hike down to the Ria Java. The weather had other plans though.

I look like a Smurf. Anyway, the rain drove us indoors for a bit, but it let up and we set off!

The path was muddy and wet, so don’t expect to see clean boots anytime soon. But while the hike was great, the best part came here:

This is a strangler fig. Strangler figs grow on trees and gradually overgrow them in a battle for sunlight. So where’s the tree? Well, it died. The strangler grew so much the tree couldn’t take it. The tree decomposed, but the fig still stands.

The inside is a totally hollow circle, and the vines make for great climbing. A literal jungle gym.

We decided to have a climbing competition between the Harry Potter houses we’ve split ourselves into. Grant (Ravenclaw) was the first to make it past the easiest parts to climb, but was surpassed right after by Alex (Slytherin). Jonathan (Gryffindor) proceeded to easily beat Alex, due to him being 7 feet tall and having quite the reach. However, he should have kept trying to go up, because I was next. I (Ravenclaw) made it far past him and secured victory! Or so I thought. Katie (Gryffindor) was able to both make it higher and get down much quicker than me. And so we were down to Eli (Ravenclaw). He was the last climber, and the bar (pardon the pun) was set. Of course, he went easily above and beyond Katie, securing both victory and a whopping 100 points for Ravenclaw. For those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the score, here’s how it stands:
Hufflepuff: 45 points
Slytherin: 155
Gryffindor: 215
Ravenclaw: 335
Ravenclaw represent.

After our brief stop, we went on to our final destination: the Rio Java.

Today was packed pretty full. After the hike was dinner, then on to a class on ecorestoration. After that was some time to work on our projects (and for me to work on this post), and then off to bed.

Today was tiring, but fun. We got some great pictures and great memories, and I for one am ready for what tomorrow brings. But for the moment, I’m ready to get some sleep. Goodnight from Costa Rica.

Tags: Big Barr climbs to victory, climbing, Jungle, Mao, Ravenclaw for the win, strangler fig, tree, war paint

Today, we woke up ( Heintze, Coney, and I) at 6:50 am and ate breakfast at El Jardin ( in which I had five buttered toasts) and then got to the bus. We were exhausted despite bring able to sleep in. I slept on the bus as usual in a most uncomfortable position with a smelly, wet towel on my face. After an hour or so of driving with Francisco, we stopped at a riverside shop, where I bought White Sap fruit, lychee, passion fruit, and guava.

We then saw crocodiles at the river and tried to guess how long we would last if we fell into the river. It was really cool that we got to see that!

After driving again for a little while, we stopped by the pacific coast and got some pictures of the beautiful coast. We then drove again for a little while and went on the beach

When we got to our destination, Las Cruces, I said a quick prayer to the wifi gods and headed out with my stash of fruits. During dinner, we had the fruits cut for us. I do have to say though that the white sap fruit was a little rotten so that is why it was so soggy, but still it was delicious! Everyone liked them (except a certain someone *cough* *cough* *wink* *wink* *looks in Mr. Willard’s direction*)

After dinner, we were given a very informative briefing by Zak, the station director. We learned about the history behind Las Cruces and the extremely diverse plant and animal life inside Las Cruces. I personally found it quiet interesting.

Tags: coast, fruit, Fun, pacific, sea

Today, although we were on the move, was very eventful. We woke up at the early time of 5:15 and after our last breakfast at EARTH, loaded onto the bus to start our drive back to San Jose. On our way we were finally able to do the tram ride. During our adventures through the canopy layer of the rainforest, we were able to see the jewel animal of our visit. The three toed sloth. We were more than excited, running around with cameras to get a picture of our beloved sloth, Pedro.

From the tram ride we went to our next stop, the serpentarium, which ended up being a small zoo. After seeing six of the most venomous snakes in the world we found ourselves wandering around on the nature walks going through a butterfly garden and seeing spiders and frogs. While navigating the paths we found a maze and yet again decided to split up into our wizarding houses and re-enacted the tri-wizard cup. Gryffindor, of course, coming in first place. This small zoo brought out a lot of house pride in us.

In the past few days we have found ourselves bonding through games. When we have down time or are traveling we all get together and play big group games. Many of these games are old camp word games or confusing mind games that you have to figure out the method to. The game that seemed to have dominated today was mao. A confusing card game where the players are not told the rules of the game but instead receive penalties for doing things wrong. For instance, not saying a certain phrase when a card is played. When someone wins they get to make a new rule where they only tell one other person. After receiving many cards for playing this game wrong I finally got the hang of it and started giving cards myself. After dinner we wound down with some projects and blogging. This day of traveling became a day of competition, adventure, bonding, and fun.
Next stop coffee plantations.

Tags: Maze, serpentarium, travel

This morning, we woke up at the usual time of 5:45 and went to eat a delicious breakfast of none other than rice and beans. At 8:00 a.m. we met with our tour guide and drove to the main drive of Earth University. While we were there, we learned the process of planting a tree and why it’s important. We then planted 54 endangered trees along the main road of Earth U.

After that, we drove to an Earth University student project about agriculture. One of the students gave us a tour and taught us a couple different ways they are experimenting with agriculture. But before our tour, we saw a few pretty amazing plants, such as the cocoa bean, before it ripens. We even got a little taste of the seed!

We then got a fantastic tour of the student project by one of the sophomores included in it. He taught us about agriculture for urban areas and explained some of the projects they were working on.

After lunch, we were brought to a dairy farm with pigs and cows. Unfortunately, the cows were not being milked today, so we were unable to see them in action. However, we did see Mother pigs and their piglets (which were adorable!)

Our last tour of the day was to a polyculture farm, meaning that the goal of the farm is to have a high biodiversity. In simpler terms, this farm had a ton of different plants, trees, and flowers; It also was not manicured.

We ended our long but fulfilling day with dinner, class, and some well deserved sleep.

Tags: Agriculture, farm