Blogs from Puntarenas, Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 13

First day of classes today! I am taking Intro to Tropical Marine Biology. I am super excited to finally take a Marine Bio class. Bad thing is that it is at 8AM - 11AM and 2PM - 3PM everyday... except we don't have the afternoon session on Fridays. My teacher is pretty chill. It's kinda crazy how much he looks like my electric fish lab professor. Same eyes and similar beard and they both have a similar sense of humor. He modified the syllabus to a much simpler one and we spent majority of the class time talking about watching videos about ocean currents and sponges. When 11AM came, I took a long walk with a few USAC students to buy some towels. We were drenched in our sweat...it was very nasty and humid out. Afterwards, ... read more

It was such a long and exhausting day of traveling from NYC to Panama. I was kinda excited to land in Panama for a 5 hour layover. I've never been to Central America before! It was definitely fun exploring the airport. Right when I got off the plane, it was blazing hot. People were literally stripping off their clothes when they stepped off. The airport was cute; it was decorated with Christmas trees, gingerbread men, and snowmen. How ironic lol. I must say it felt great taking my first flight alone. Felt so independent, but it was definitely annoying always carrying my bags to the bathroom. I spent $12 on a small sandwich and water..go figure. But that's alright. It was hot and it hit the spot. It was an hour before boarding time. Since I ... read more

Tuesday Took an early (6am) walk today through the big bamboo forest. It's up the road in the opposite direction from Uvita. Very bumpy, rocky roads, definitely four-wheel drive territory. A pedestrian bridge crossed a river just before the forest. Construction was ongoing on an replacement auto bridge. Now the four-wheel drives have to drive through the river. The forest was definitely awesome, especially in the early morning sun. It went on and on. Didn't realize that the bamboo sheds its outer bark. On the road back we noticed a pair of bright yellow birds up in a nest atop a utility pole. We were taking photos and they were definitely mad at us. Many cats and dogs in this area. The dogs are very territorial, barking fiercely at us but stopping at the edge of ... read more

Sunday The howler monkeys got crazy at 5am this morning. The male is very loud. We were told that it is normal for them to be loud at this time. No need for an alarm clock here! But it is actually good to get up early and start the day before it gets too hot. The balcony is so nice early in the morning. Bob made some coffee and we just enjoyed the view for a while. We read at the hotel that there is a lovely view atop the hill past the waterfall. We looked for wildlife along the way, saw many small butterflies and the blue morpho. We ran into a tourist at a fork in the road. He said the road to the left led up to a beautiful overlook, was about two ... read more

Friday Today is our day to visit the nature reserve, Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio. It was declared a national park in 1972, preserving it from being bull dozed and razed for a coastal development project (they say with just minutes to spare!). It is Costa Rica's smallest national park and one of Central America's top tourist attractions. We caught the 6:20am bus just across the street from the hostel. The bus stopped along the ocean in Manuel Antonio, with just a 300M walk to the park entrance. We thought the park opened at 6am, but it was 7am, so we had a short wait to get our tickets. In the meanwhile, about five guys asked if we wanted a guide. We said we wanted to go solo. They wanted $65 for a private guide and $20 ... read more