Day 8

Today was the day we put all of our hard work and research together. I sat at my laptop for hours analyzing data and putting together a poster presentation. While doing my work on the beautiful deck off of the cafeteria we saw some monkeys. It was a rewarding sight at the end of a long day.

Day 7 San Vito!

We had the day off from research and got to learn some things from the Ngäbe people and then after lunch we went to town. We got to be on our own to explore the town and buy food and other things we needed. We all met for dinner at pizzeria Lilliana and ate pizza. After the day was over we got some rest and got ready to do data analysis for Monday.

Day 6

We took the ridge trail today that ended near the head waters of the Rio Java to get our very last site of research in. The hike to the site was a steep incline and took 2 hours to get there. We hiked with Arrmondo the Ngäbe medicine man and Norris a Ngäbe biologists. Arrmondo showed us multiple medicinal plants and Norris helped him identify some as well. The Ngäbe people despite age are very active and in shape. The older man did the hike without any water and refused any of our help because he says that’s how the culture is. We told him he could walk in front but he told us that the elders always walk in the back of the group and the youngest in the front. Because we are on his lands we respected him and his teachings.  The day ended with a refreshing swim in the river and I had a nap and then some dinner. Our research will continue on Monday morning.

Day 5

Our research group decided to head to the San Vito today to find a site in a more urban and degraded area near the mouth of the river. We found a spot on google map followed it and ran into a dead end.  Luckily, our mentor speaks Spanish so he spoke with the farmer who owned the area if we could use his property to access the river. The man was nice and complied with us and even helped us find the access point. It was very difficult to get to and one of my group mentees almost sank and lost her boot in the mud. The area was heavily grazed and deforested and at least 1,000 ft lower in elevation than the forest we had been in the previous days. The area was very hot because of this and we were all exhausted by the end and very sweaty. We ate some lunch in town and headed to our next site that was next to a road. After that we went back to the station ate dinner and got settled for the night.

Day 4

Our second day of field work proved to be be both tiring and rewarding. We took a shortcut to the end of the Gamboa trail and hiked towards the town of San Vito. We got to our site which had an artificial concrete dam and a bridge and was much more urban than the sites we had the day before in the primary forest. We choose three sites in this area then walked on the road for one mile to town. We found a corner convenience store and waited for a bus to take us back to the biological station. After getting back and showering the day of hiking in the hot and humid forest off we ate dinner and got ready to go to the first cultural night. This first cultural night we got introduced to the ngäbe-buglé people that are to join us in our research for the next week. They shared a special harvest dance with us and also some knowledge about their regalia and culture. A few of the other students also had something to share.

Day 3

Today was our first day in the field to gather data for our research. The project I am working on is Geospatial habitat and riparian vegetation mapping in freshwater streams along a land use gradient. My mentor is Alex Alexiades, from Heritage University. He has been very helpful in teaching my group and also making sure that we get the most out of this experience which is awesome. We hiked 7 miles today to reach 3 different sites where we went through 4 protocols to collect data that we will later put into a spreadsheet. Victoria from the Ngäbe-Buglé tribe of Panama came with us and she was so helpful and taught us a lot about the plant and animal life in the forest. She knew the names of plants, whether they are invasive or native, and how her tribe uses that plant as either medicine, food, or for tools and crafts. The hiking was beautiful we got to see a beautiful little waterfall that was off of the trail a littles ways. We almost lost our trail in one area but luckily we were able to find it and get back onto the main Rio Java trail. I am pretty tired from the work we did today so I am expecting to not have any trouble getting a full nights rest and getting back on the trail in the morning to hit more sites.

Day 2

Today we toured the Wilson Botanical garden with the onsite Biologist named Rodo. The garden features an incredibly diverse and vast amount of species of tropical and subtropical plants. There are many native to Costa Rica, and some that are invasive, for example, the giant stands of bamboo found in the garden and in the forest. After exploring the garden we ventured out into the rainforest on the Rio Java trail down to the river. The topography was very rugged and incredibly full of life. With about 4 meters of rain per year, there is enough water to sustain a tremendous amount of flora and fauna. Overall it was a great first day, and I can not wait to get out into the field this next week.