Last full weekend in Monteverde

Today, Saturday, I woke up at a decent hour and went to the butterfly garden first thing in the morning. Since we are at the very beginning of the rainy season, the mornings are usually beautiful, it rains in the afternoon for a few hours and then again at night. If you are really unlucky it will rain from 11:30 all through the night (aka Wednesday). I wanted to try to get to the butterflies first thing in case it rained. Plus they are more active in the morning. The butterfly garden is actually four separate gardens with plants, environmental conditions and species from four different areas of Costa Rica. Having never been to a butterfly garden, I didn't know what to expect and when I walked into the first garden I was shocked. Flying around me were at least 100 butterflies, most prominent of them were the blue morphos. I just stood there (pretty sure my mouth was open too) for about 5 minutes. Within one minute though one of the butterflies lands on my shoulders! It was beautiful. The first garden was a lowland habitat, but strangely enough I saw some familiar species, including the blue morpho. Usually when morphos land, they close their wings because of the bright blue color that would attract predators. One of the reasons for the blue morphos brilliant color is that they only spend a couple weeks in the butterfuly stage and they need to mate before they die. The blue color is much more likely to attract a mate and when you are short on time you do what you can to make yourself wanted.

Me with an Owl butterfly on my backpackGiant swallow tail butterfly

Cantonephalie (probably spelled wrong) butterflyJulia butterflyPostman butterfly
Lucrea butterfly

The second garden was a mid-elevation habitat. Saw some really pretty ones! There were a couple that I couldn't catch with my camera, and then there was one species that they only had one butterfly of, it was hard to find.

Mexican silver spot
(undersides have silver scales on them and they shimmer when they fly)
Halloween butterfly

The third garden was a forest understory habitat garden. It was darker and a little more humid. Most of the species there are in the glass/clear/stained glass wing family.
It is very difficult to distinguish between the different species without looking at them under the microscope. I got a couple really good pictures though!


The last and largest garden was the cloud forest habitat. More blue morphos, more postman butterflies, and a couple I saw only a couple times and couldn't get photos of. It was wonderful. A blue morpho even landed on me! It was a wonderful place to spend two hours.

Cappuchino butterfly

The Blue Morpho!
Blue Morpho caterpillar
Monarch butterfly
The species that lives in the states migrates from Canada to Mexico to keep up with the warm weather and the food. This species doesn't migrate, it stays in Costa Rica the whole time.
Monarch caterpillar

After that, I walked down the hill and hit up the Serpentarium. Not too spectacular but fun to see the species. The one snake I really wanted to see, the eye-lash pit viper, was a bit of a let down. In all the pictures I have seen it has been bright yellow but the three I saw were green or greenand brown. I will have to do some research to see why the colors are different...could be something about where it is living, the food it is eating, the time of year or whether or not it is trying to mate. I'll look it up and let you know if you'd like.

After that, to complete the cycle, I went to the orchid garden. It was bigger than I thought and there were hundreds of orchids. Not all of them were in bloom, but with such a wide variety, you always see a good number of them with flowers. I don't have time to put up the pictures right now, plus my computer can't really hold any more photos right now, but I probably saw over 50 different species, and I'd only seen 4 before I went in there. Most of the species they have there are miniatures. and when they say miniature they mean really small! They have the smallest species of orchid in Costa Rica (maybe in the world) and the flower is less than one millimeter wide! They were fantastic! They even had five or six hybrids that they had created. It was facinating! Most of the orchids they had were epiphytes (live on something else but don't harm it) and I found out that over 80% of all orchids are epiphytic. So cool!

This isn't the smallest orchid. The "tree" it is on is only about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. The flowers are probably 5 mm across. The smallest is probably 2 mm across.

Octopus orchid!
Dracula orchid

Needless to say, it was a great Saturday.

Hugs!
K

La Fortuna - Possibly the last post

My last adventure in Costa Rica was going to be to the Tortuguero, on the Caribbean coast. That plan didn’t work out because it would take too much time and money. Instead my friend and I went to La Fortuna to visit Volcan Arenal. My parents and my Aunt also visited there and I felt strange being the only one who hadn’t been there. We did two tours while we were there. One was the volcano tour where you go for a small hike in the forest around the volcano to learn a little about the ecosystem there. It is only 350 ft above sea level so it is really warm, but rains a lot making it humid and the ecosystem is a real rain forest. It was really interesting to see. It rains more in La Fortuna than it does in Monteverde, so of course we got to see some of the warm humid rain. Naturally, it rained while we were on the hike and didn’t stop raining until almost 7 pm. After the hike we went to a viewing point where you can (in theory) see the volcano and at night you can see lava! With all the rain and clouds, we couldn’t see much of the volcano, and that meant no lava. Oh well. I did get almost 50 mosquito bites though, exciting!

After the “lava viewing” we went to one of the hot springs resorts where we spent a couple hours swimming in the pools there. There were 25 pools and more than 7 different temperatures. Some were bars, some were just for soaking and one even had three water slides. It was a wonderful, relaxing trip!

The next day we went on a boat tour of Rio Frio in the Cano Negro area, very close to the Nicaragua It was a muddy river, but one of the top 10 locations in Costa Rica for bird watching. My parents did the same tour when they visited and saw over 20 species of birds. I saw only 15 or so but it was still a wonderful tour. Three hours on the river, searching for birds and other species was wonderful! We saw howler monkeys and caimans in addition to all the birds. Some of the trees on the banks of the river were fascinating. There were so many bromeliads on the branches of some of the trees that they looked like they were going to collapse under all the weight. It was really astounding. I caught some amazing photos of some of the birds we saw and hopefully they turn out ok when I crop them so you can see the birds better. border.

The next day and a half we spent the day in very low key activities and didn’t leave the air conditioned hotel room much because it was so darn hot outside. It was wonderful to catch up on sleep and just relax. It felt so good!

I’m going to miss Monteverde so much. I have learned so much here that I don’t think I could write it all down. The people I have met here (Jane, Stacey, Cait, Amy, Adrienne, Anna and the wonderful, fantastic Bethany!) are amazing and I hope to cherish the friendships so they last a very long time. I’ll miss my fantastic host family and all the support they have given me (whether they know it or not) during my time here. My life here wouldn’t be what it is without all the support I have gotten from all of you back home! The reading, writing comments or emails, praying for me or visiting have been invaluable and I can’t thank you enough. You have all made my 5 months away from home much easier. My time here has been fantastic and one of the best experiences of my life. I have learned so much about myself and what I want from my life in the future. The teaching experience I’ve gotten here are priceless and I have a good base of Spanish that I can build on once I’m back home and then I will have a skill to use in the future.

I will be home very early in the morning on the 8^th of June, about a week and a half away. I am looking forward to seeing my family (both real and chosen), my bunny, my own bed, cheddar cheese, sourdough bread, real hamburgers (aka Burgerville burgers) and Dr. Pepper. Once I get home, and although Oregon is one of the greenest states, I will miss the trees and the sounds of the birds that I see and hear daily. I’ll miss the slow pace of Costa Rica, getting 8 hours of sleep a night and the fact that not everyone has a cell phone that rules their life. Life here is so much slower and low key. I don’t have somewhere to go every night and things are so much easier to deal with. It will be an interesting switch back to life in Oregon.

Thanks again for everything!

Hugs,

K

More Family!

Hello again!

For those of you who didn’t know, my Aunt Mary (my mom’s eldest sister) and her friend Natalie came to visit me here in Monteverde. Their plane had issues and so they got to Monteverde a day later than planned. We had a great time during the four days that they were here. They went to the reserve and saw quetzals and some wonderful plant life. We had dinner together at one of the little Sodas in town where the food is really good and authentic.

On Saturday I had a commitment at the school until about noon, so they spent the morning at the Ferria (like a farmers market with fresh fruit and veggies) and just relaxing. I was up at the school by 8:30 getting ready for the spring fundraiser for the school called the Miniferria, kind of like a carnival. I had organized a tie-dye event! I ordered a kit from the states, had it shipped to the new volunteers that were going to come to the school the week before the fair. We had a lot of school t-shirts (that were white) and they wouldn’t be able to use them next year so we lowered the price on them, charged about 2 dollars for the dye and the kids could dye a school uniform shirt! It was a hit! Kids were asking their parents for an extra couple dollars so they could have one of the coolest shirts ever! This had not ever been done here and it was so much fun!! One student made three tie-dyed t-shirts! We had so much fun. The director and some of the teachers were really happy to see the students having so much fun!

At about noon, Aunt Mary and Natalie got to the school and they each made a t-shirt (supporting the school!) and then we had a small lunch of fresh mango, avocado and some yummy food from the Ferria. It was wonderful. After lunch we headed into the forest around the school. We hiked up to the kiosk, past some wonderful trees and plants and saw a very pretty view from the top. It was a little hazy so the view wasn’t the most spectacular but it was wonderful. On our way down we found the little aguacatillas (mini avocados) that the quetzals love to eat and often nest in the trees. I’d never seen them before so it was fun to peel one and see the inside. It was a very fun hike.

Then we took a cab up the hill to the women’s cooperative, CASEM, where there are lots of handmade crafts made by local women: embroidery, wood carving, jewelry and even some clothes. Then we walked a little ways to the Argentinean café and art gallery. They have the most amazing food, at a decent price too. We watched the clouds as the sun went down and enjoyed good food, coffee and company. Finishing our meal with a couple handcrafted Argentinean chocolates, we called a cab and went back “home”.

Sunday morning we got picked up at 8 am for our tour at the Selvatura Sky Bridges. It is a 3 km walk and there are 8 suspension bridges through the tops of the trees in the forest. It was so beautiful! My parents would have loved it, except my mom may not have been able to get across the bridges. They had a tendency to swing when you walked across them. We heard quetzals, bell birds and the heavenly sound of the black-faced solitaire. We only saw the black-faced solitaire, but I couldn’t find the bell bird that, I swear, was in a tree right above us at one point. We found some plants I had never seen and then there was this fascinating phenomenon we saw twice on our walk. There was a line of fuzzy white caterpillers moving together, with barely any space between each one. We thought they were connected at first but they were just really close together. It was amazing!

After our calm and laid back walk through the forest we went “home” to rinse out our tie-dye. They all turned out so cool! After a simple lunch of cheese, crackers, apple, fresh mango and avocado we walked to my house where I introduced them to my wonderful host mother Marlenne. My Aunt had taken photographs of my great grandmother’s crochet art and had them printed up as a gift. Marlenne loves to crochet and she is VERY creative and makes things, usually, by pictures alone and has been working out of the same crochet magazine for some time (given by how worn it is). She was entranced and her friend that was over at the time was also impressed. Along with the pictures she brought blue, yellow and multi-colored thread for her to use. It was wonderful! She has already made something with it! It was wonderful!

It was a fantastic weekend! I had a great time showing my “family” around my new home town. I was exhausted for school on Monday, but it was totally worth it. Monday afternoon they left to go to La Fortuna for a couple days. The weather was glorious all weekend and then a couple hours before they left the skies opened up and poured for an hour or so. It was so pretty and sounded gorgeous. I’m just glad it happened after all our weekend fun!

Hugs to all!

K

Two weeks ago: Adventure to Chirrio Mountain

My parents visited a couple weeks ago and we had an absolutely fantastic time for almost 5 days! We saw sloths, quetzals, and some amazing plants in the forests. We did zip lines (hooray for mom!!) and lots of walking. They got to meet my host family and some of my friends that I have made here, plus my Dad had a blast helping out in the chemistry classes here at school. I hated saying good-bye, but they had a great visit and it was wonderful to share this with them!

This last weekend Anna and I took the 9 11th graders to Chirripo Mountain in the more southern part of Costa Rica. Chirripo Mountain is the tallest point in Costa Rica, with a cloud forest but in a different mountain range. Monteverde is in the Tileran mountain range and Chirripo is in the Talamanca mountain range. The class had been fundraising for the past 4 months to try to raise the $500 it would cost for us all to stay there for 3 nights, food for 11 people (6 of them growing boys) and the donation to the reserve we were going to be working with. Each of us had to pay $40 for our transportation, which in the grand scope of things was practically nothing for how far we went and what we did.
The date of the trip was perfect because here May first is “Workers Day” and there is no school or work for most people. That way the students only missed one day of school, Thursday. At 5:30 am we met our car and began our adventure. In private transportation, it takes 4 hours to get from Monteverde to San Jose, from there you go up the mountains and through the pass (reaching 10,000 ft at the highest) and down to San Isidro. There we bought $180 worth of groceries, hoping it would last us the 3 days we were staying, and then began to climb Chirripo itself. The road was winding and relatively narrow and once we entered the official National Park the road was rather rough. Almost as bad as the road up the hill to Monteverde, made worse by the pouring rain and steep drop-off to our right. After stopping three times to ask if we were still headed in the right direction toward Casa Mariposa (our lodging) we finally got to this little house looking thing on one of the steepest parts of the hill. Anna went inside to ask if we were in the right place and sure enough, this was our stop.

From the front door. Two rooms on both the right and the left.

Wonderful kitchen

Down the stairs to the river was a little waterfall with chairs and flowers

This modest little house was heaven on earth! With high ceilings, comfortable beds, literately in the middle of the forest, at 5,000 feet, it was a perfect place to spend three days away from school and work, even with 9 high school kids. There was a small kitchen where we could cook our meals, windows open to the forest to allow easy viewing and hearing of birds and other animals, and a sitting area where it was wonderful to read, play games or chat. How the boys dressed to go on our hike in the forest. An interesting first impression.

We unpacked our stuff into almost all the rooms in the place, the 6 boys together in a bunk room, then three other rooms for us girls and I got a room to myself! A REAL QUEEN size bed all to myself!!! I was in heaven. All the food got stored in my room, so the boys couldn’t just help themselves any ‘ol time. After settling in the manager from the Cloudbridge reserve, Eric, came down to meet us and we went for an orientation walk/hike in the reserve. He showed us the three simple buildings in the reserve and then we hiked up to the waterfall, with about three different views. Daniel (one of our crazier boys) jumped into the 12 C water for a bit of entertainment and then we hiked up to the upper viewpoint and saw the labyrinth that one of the owners had made. It was really pretty up there.
Returning to the house by about 6:15, the sun was setting and the boys set about cooking dinner in the kitchen, which was defiantly a sight to see. A couple of the boys took it upon themselves to cook some beef and chicken, with some good spices and Lizano salsa. A huge green salad and some potatoes cooked with garlic (although they got a little carried away with the butter and oil so they were pretty interesting). For the most part it was really good!
Getting stuck with all the dishes that the boys used in the kitchen wasn’t too fun, especially when one of them burned almost 2 inches of rice to the bottom of the pan. Most of us tried to get to bed early because the next day was going to be a full one!
Up at 7:15 to make breakfast (gallo pinto (rice and beans), eggs and cereal), get dressed and pack up a lunch, we walked up to the reserve to begin a day of hiking and surveying plants and insects. Split into two groups we headed into the reserve for some of the most intense hiking I have ever done. As we went up and down and up and up and up and then down, down, down, we looked for insects for the graduate student doing research with insects. I had a blast. I tried to catch one of the dragonflies, but they were too smart for me (I did catch a picture though!).

I did catch a couple really pretty butterflies and this fuzzy red fly-like insect. I had so much fun! Although I was completely exhausted by the time we finally got back to the lab and kitchen buildings to eat lunch. Although I usually don’t eat tuna with only mayo (no mustard or pickles) but that was one of the best sandwiches I have ever had! I was starving!Haven't identified this one yet, but it sure is beautiful.

Luna, the reserve coordinator's dog. SO sweet!

We chatted about the different things we saw and trails we blazed, drank water and just lazed about for an hour or so. Then we went to the lab house where we used their limited supply of insect and plant books (some had been compiled by past researchers there) to identify the plants and insects that we had found. It was so much fun! I found myself wishing I had the text books I had used when I took my insect biology course. They only had field guides and some were only for North American insects…Costa Rica is a little too far south for that book. We did our best, I just had fun playing around and everything! The students didn’t think it was such a cool thing, but I had a blast.
We finished around three and walked back to our little home. We took turns in the shower and then we had the afternoon to relax. I took a nap in my big comfy bed. At about 6 I was awoken by one of the students serenading me with a very obnoxious version of “You Are My Sunshine”, accompanied by his interesting guitar playing. Needless to say I was a little out of sorts when I finally woke up.
The boys once again made dinner, but this time with them cleaning the pots and pans that they used. We had two varieties of pasta with another large green salad. After dinner we just had time to relax and go to bed early because the day had been long and exhausting for most of us. I think the kids stayed up talking, but Anna and I went to bed at a very decent hour.
In exchange for giving us our last night at the hotel for half price (so we could afford to stay for 3 nights, 4 days) we were enlisted to help the owners, Jill and John, with the little fair happening in town on Saturday. The community of the nearest town, San Luis de Rivas, was only about 300 people and most of them were very conscious of the fact that they lived in a National Park area and everything they do has the possibility of affecting the environment. Jill had been working on several projects for the event. She had talked to a company that makes a lot of soaps that don’t have ammonias or other chemicals that damage the environment. There was a basket of bottles of concentrated soaps from that company for clothes, dishes and hand that they were raffling it off at the fair. A graduate student who was living in the area and doing research had prepared several water samples with different contaminants that might be found in the water there and had measured the level of phosphates, nitrogen, ammonias and other chemicals for the community to see how certain substances affect the water quality. She had samples that had been tainted by soaps, ammonias, sediments and so forth. Also some recycled products were being sold. Jill has perfected the art of making plastic fabric, which she makes reusable shopping bags out of. She takes used plastic bags (garbage bags, bread bags, shopping bags, pretty much any kind of plastic bag), sandwiching about 5 layers of them between sheets and ironing them, melting them into one very strong piece of “plastic fabric” that can be sewn together and used in many different applications. She taught us how to do it before we left. Here in Monteverde we use plasticized cardboard cartons (everything here comes in these), a little electric tape and a small square of Velcro to make little wallets that are unique, sturdy, recycled and just plain fun! They were a big hit there. The whole thing was fascinating and the community responded really well to everything. It showed that they really did care about what happened to the land that they lived on.
Unfortunately we had to leave the next day. Our time there had been fun, relaxing and informative. The drive back was long but uneventful for the most part. I had a wonderful time on the trip though. I saw another cloud forest, I saw new plants and new plants, I saw such a wonderful opportunity for me, and the students. I had so much fun!!
I apologize for the tardiness of this blog, but between school work, substituting and taking Spanish classes 5 days a week at the language institute I don’t have very much free time. Hope all is well at home and I miss everyone! I’ll be seeing you all in three weeks or so. I return to Oregon on June 8th.

Hugs!!
K

Simple update

Just to let everyone know that things are well with me here! This week has been especially busy since I have begun taking spanish classes as the institute here AND some school drama left me to teach science solo this week.

I'll try to update everyone with my adventures of last weekend, but know that all is well and I miss you all!!

Hugs,
K