Blogs from Costa Rica, Central America Caribbean - page 510

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 8th 2005

La Sopa. No, not soap, as yes I too once thought. Soup. I was happy today haha for the simple reason that we got to have soup again. Freshly made, no-part-of-the-chicken-spared ingredients (literally), it beats all other meals into the sand. Or lateritic soil. Whichever. Funny how being away from everything you know puts you in this mindset, where familiar things are exciting (like the random burger days and stuff), and you make them and other stuff (the soup) things to look forward to, to make the stay seem shorter. My stomach hurts again today, don't really know what to attribute it to other than the timing seems to fit with my chloroquine schedule. Hmm... I helped with clearing out the swamp transect for Stacy and Dave, and doing that really made me appreciate my work. ... read more

Finally in Costa Rica!!!

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 8th 2005

AndrewNCostaRica

Day 1 in Costa Rica: Today truly is the first day of the rest of my life. We made it to Costa Rica (meaning me and my friend Beth/co-partner in crime at the B&B) and are ready to start this new adventure. First, getting here…. Getting to Costa Rica was not so bad. We had about 15 pieces of luggage between us, nine of which we checked, so getting here was not as inexpensive as expected! Between overweight bags and too many bags (and I won’t assign blame!), it cost us a few extra colones (the Costa Rican currency). Surprisingly, it was not so bad given that we had very nice people both at Dulles Airport outside of Washington, DC and at San Jose airport help us with the bags. And, it only cost $35 for ... read more

Back on the road

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 7th 2005

White faced monkey - Costa Rica

russ

Sweet, finished with that whole working buzz again for now and I'm back on the road, yeeeeehhaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! In Costa Rica with Kim at the moment and loving it, hot all the time, foods great, surfs up and we've been seeing heaps of crazy new animals too which has been awesome! Even caught up with Dan Keys and Kat for a few days at the beach which was a nice suprise, didn't think I was going to see him untill this weekend but he majically turned up at the bar me and Kim were quietly drinking at on Saturday night, so if you know Dan at alll that turned intio an awesome night. sadly our 2weeks is nearly up now though, we're hopefully going to do a Canopy tour tomorrow then head up to Dans home town ... read more

Kim hucking into her first Casado in San Jose

Street vendors in Manuel Antonio, just outside the National park

Random Thoughts of the Day

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Heredia June 7th 2005

Janice

I´m having difficulties speaking English now because my brain is mixed up from all the Spanish. Today I ran, and I saw the mountains. They´re so beautiful. A ferocious little dog growled at me and tried to bite at my legs, attempting to protect his family´s territory. He was barely the size of a bunny. I was surprised, because one of the neighbors thought I was a Tica (that´s what Costa Ricans are called). Here, they say “adios” when people pass by, instead of “hola.” Not like the U.S. Everyone here knows each other. I drink coffee everyday, and I like it. I rarely did back at home. I like it because it doesn´t have the same jittery effect. They have this little contraption where there´s a bag over the mug, and they pour hot water ... read more

Pura Vida

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Heredia June 6th 2005

chicago a miami

Janice

Hey chicos! Im here in the lovely smokey internet cafe of san joaquin,costa rica. as you can see, i made it here safely. Life is sooo different here and i love it. i just started my classes today. i will post some pictures very soon! just to update, i{m living in a house with a mom and dad. they are the nicest people ever, and i have two sisters, 20 and 25 years old. i{m learning so much spanish.... read more

This Toads the Wet Sprocket

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 6th 2005

The Great Owl Butterfly

wheresmattnow

Insomnia sucks. I started having trouble sleeping, I think it has to either do with malaria medication or the very hot and humid nights. I hope it doesn't last... The tea down here is great. I'm on at least 3 cups a day (maybe therein lies my problem?). At least I'm still conducting my study just fine. Well, almost. The Field SUCKS. There is nothing there. I only added it as an area for my study because two years ago another student, Jack, found iguanas there. I have yet to see iguanas. That field is great for five things: *bird watching *5 foot tall grass *clear-wing butterflies *breezes *evil grasshoppers That's about it. No lizards. Just bought an El Zota shirt and hat for myself. Figure I'd support the station and its cool. I'm not normally ... read more

The Rain Keeps On Falling

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 5th 2005

wheresmattnow

Not much to add here, it's raining again. That messes with my study quite a bit, only two more observations in the past day or so. But, I just gotta do what I can with what I can. Machete gets sharpened tomorrow, that will make it slightly better for staving off Jaguars at night. The days are still rountine beyond that. I've been planning my future study on predation. I figure, 10 days, different time slots, on basilisks (since there are no iguanas left). I hope to have four different size classes to compare along with the time slots. Right now I have adults, juveniles, and neonates. We'll see what time has to offer. Sent out some postcards/emails yesterday. Got even more to send if we get out again. Hopefully I'll get to everyone but I'm ... read more

Get Out of My Dreams, and Into My Cariari

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 4th 2005

Heliconias

wheresmattnow

Today was a trip to Cariari, a small town a few kilometers outside the station, where we could get supplies (machetes) and check our emails. Email... haven't seen that since May 8th, around midnight. Cool, huh? My tequila is running low too, so we decided to buy more alcohol as well. (Thinking ahead, for the longrun). We got carted out by one of Hiners (Station Owner) daughters, Crystal. She always has to do things for the station so she's never too happy about it. But, whatever. We got to eat out and I got ice again. Cariari was a neat little town, much smaller than San Jose, lots of schools (catholic mostly) in the area and outdoor markets. Reminded me of a very small scale South Street. One guy tried to sell me a razor, as ... read more

Don't Hug the Trees

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 3rd 2005

A Hummingbird, Mid-Flight

wheresmattnow

Trees. There are thousands of different species. Very diverse. Species richness is a concept that this area overemphasizes. You can select a plot of land 10m square and be very lucky to find two of the same species. I'm serious. Go ahead, try it out. And yea, don't hug the trees. Many different kinds of stinging ants guard many of them. So yea, I started missing ham and cheese. It's been 13 days since May 22, the day I declared to be the official start of my study. Things are going pretty well. So far, I've observed 37 basilisks for my study. Each observation runs 40 minutes, of which I'll use the middle 30 minutes for my actual data analysis. Not too bad so far. At this rate, I should have close to 120 observations by ... read more

A Broken Lizard and A Nagging Woman

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica June 2nd 2005

Desktop Wallpaper, anyone?

wheresmattnow

The iguana Chub-Chub isn't eating, and as far as I know, not drinking either. Stacy is nagging for me to release him and is mad I brought him back. Although I could have stopped it, I really was oblivious to what was going on, as my translation skills at this point are less than admirable. I had a plan to make a skateboard for him to move on, but that was only if he took to eating, and since he didn't, it's either let him go or try to force-feed him. I'd take more time to care for it but I do have a study to attend to. I miss ice. I've had ice twice so far, and once in San Jose. Also pizza. Got confirmation: Casey and John are coming to visit me!! Not till ... read more

Brief history of Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a Central American success story: since the late 19th century, only two brief periods of violence have marred its democratic development. Although still a largely agricultural country, it has expanded its economy to include strong techn...more history

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