2019 Costa Rica International Research Experience

Today we got a tour of the research center. I got a bunch of pictures of plants and a few of birds and other animals.  I would if never thought that a species of a pineapple grew in the area. After the tour of the research center, we went on a hike down a trail to the Java river. It was a long hike but it was worth it because of diversity of trees and plants that I would have never seen. My group then got together and figured out our hypothesis’s and a plan on how to answer our hypothesis’s. We figured we would do a BMI sampling and habitat assessment sampling in one stream with three different habitats.

We started off the day by driving to the research center and had a few stops along the way. The first stop, we looked at the high elevation biome (paramo). It was very windy and cold. We then stopped to get some lunch, and I had an hard time ordering but managed to communicating by saying “no” most of the time haha. I also tried tongue which is not my favorite. After lunch we had a few rest room breaks in between the trip to the research center. I got to say it was a long day but I enjoyed the ride and scenery.

Today was a good day compared to yesterday. Yesterday was so long. Anyways today I got to met the mentors and fellow students. My mentor is Deb, and Jacob is also in the same group as me. Deb explained what types of data we would be collecting and it sounds like a stream habitat assessment. I am excited to get back into the stream and conduct surveys, but I am not excited about the snakes. The food here at the hotel is really good. Paula is pretty hilarious because of how she joked with the waiter all the time. I can’t wait for the rest of the Costa Rica experience.