Monteverde

Wednesday was another traveling day, so we cleared out of the campsite and loaded into the buses for more rocky rides. We made a stop at the cat rescue, Las Pumas, where we saw many of the large felines of Costa Rica, as well as some tropical bird and monkeys. While it is very noble to rehabilitate these abused or injured animals, it still made me sad to see them listless in their cages. After the frightening bus ride up the mountain, arriving to the biological station was exciting for everyone, and the facility is just so perfect for research, learning, and bonding! All in the same building, we have our rooms, the dining area, the kitchen, the classroom, the study room/library, and rooms for lab work. Truly a scientist's paradise in the cloud forest. 

The next day, we walked around town to check out the local stores, then bused over to the Monteverde Institute. There, we were welcomed with smoothies, a delicious lunch, and an introductory lecture about the the institute. They will arrange our homestays later in the program, and we will have our Spanish classes in their classrooms. Incidentally, it was Frank's birthday! And what's a celebration without cake? Everyone was blown away by the decoration, which was such an accurate depiction of His Frankness. I was very happy to be part of the big room that appreciated this amazing person. After cake, we had our very first Spanish class. I started out in the lowest level because I was so rusty with my Spanish, but I pushed myself to go onto the next level and I'm happier that I'm challenging myself with the harder class.

The next day, we had our first agroecology lecture from our instructor, Sofia, and then we took a tour of a local dairy farm and the Monteverde Cheese Factory. It was awesome to learn something in lecture and then see it applied in reality by local farmers (the practices aren't just in the books, they're real!!). We all got a chance to milk one of the cows too, and taste the fresh milk. Aside from it being oddly warm, Jersey cow milk is more rich with butterfat, so it was a very different taste from what I normally drink. The Cheese Factory tour was pretty interesting, since we learned about the history of the Quakers that first started it, and the process of making the cheese. At the end, we tried soo many samples, we were all cheesed out by end. Cheese is not my favorite food, but it was still a fun tour overall.

My favorite day so far was when we went on orientation hikes on the trails around the station. I was in Frank's group, and we hiked to the top of the continental divide to each lunch and check out the vista by the TV towers. Afterwards, we upped the ante and hiked through what Frank called the Elfin Forest, which was crazy steep and super fun to go through. It was sort of a backdoor entrance to the Cloud Forest Reserve, where we rested at a hummingbird garden before heading back and dropping by the Monteverde Quaker Friend School.

Giant Araceae leaf, and an awesome strangler fig!

Hummingbirds look SO different when they're actually facing you. They were NOT shy about going to the feeders and being around people. I even got one to perch on my finger while it drank nectar!

There was a recently cut strangler fig tree at the Friends School, and going inside was like playing in a natural jungle gym. Climbing a live strangler fig is definitely on my to-do list for this trip. As usual, the sunset view as beautiful and so pleasant to stop and admire.

Now that we're settled at the biological station, we'll have semi-regular routine for about three weeks before heading off to our next awesome location. Our days will have biology lectures in the morning and Spanish class in the afternoon. Fridays will be for agroecology and related field trips, and some evenings after dinner will have talks from the instructors to share their past research. Even though the camping trip was fun and exciting, it's nice to have a consistent place to call home.