Panama 2015.07.29

My time in panama is quickly drawing to a close. I've been here working for 8 weeks now. I've been quite busy with research and traveling, and finding a time to write has been difficult.
My experiment is reaching the first month mark, meaning this week I am collecting and processing and analyzing seeds that have been in the ground for a month. Life has fallen into a pretty standard routine here. I work in the lab most of the day, have lunch and dinner in the dinning hall with the other scientists. Usually I will be done with work around 5:30-6pm and will spend my evenings on the balcony overlooking the bay and enjoying the company of other island goers. Occasionally, such as this week, I will have work in the field, meaning I hike out to one of our research plots deep on the island. The hike is pleasant and about 30 minutes each way. The work in the fields varies, but mainly composed of either burying or retriving seed bags. One can see many neat things in the forest. I am commonly watched by howler monkeys while I work, and I startle guans while I walk. I've seen pleanty of toucans and agoutis. I've seen a few kawatis and anteater. There are tons and tons of golden orbs spiders everywhere. They're scary and they make their webs right at head level, which is quite inconventient and startelling and gross, but its suprising how quickly you get use to them. These are spiders that would cause me to run screaming and burn my house down if encountered them in the states. But here they are just part of life.
Usually on tuesdays I'll take the boat into panama city with a bunch of other BCI people where the REU program will have a talk or workshop and then there is a seminar by a visiting scientists. After the seminar theres a reception with food and I'll go into the historic district of panama city with the kids from the REU program. We'll get food or ice cream and drinks and have a nice time. Then we go to the grochery store. Since all the food is provided for the island, its basically an excersize in buying chocolates and toiletries. Then the bus picks us up and we go back to the island. Its a nice break from the routine and I've been learning a lot at the seminars.
 I have had a chance to travel and relax.  There is a large resort in the town where the bci boat docks. I've spent a few afternoon in their pool. This past weekend another of the girls from the REU program, Carolyn, and I went to Santa Clara, a beach on the pacific side. It was a blast. The water was beautiful and warm. We spent two days just hanging out in the surf and enjoying ourselves. We ate ice cream for dinner and whole fishes for lunch. We met a high school teacher who was making lesson plans based on STRI research and he and his companion traveled with us and were just generally lovely company. The trip was a great break. I don't have any photos from it because I decided to spend the weekend off grid and leave all my electronics behind.

Panama 2015.06.18

Hello! Things have been exciting and new but largely steady here on Barro Colorado Island, thus daily entries have not been very necessary. I've started working in my lab. I'm learning quite a lot, and it's a lot of fun. I'm working with seeds, so while the work is interesting, it is also pretty repetitive, since the average size of an experiment is a few thousand seeds. So I've been working in lab everyday and listening to a bunch of podcasts. Work has fallen into an easy rhythm. I get up at 6:30, have breakfast in the cafeteria, work till noon, eat, work till 6:30, eat dinner, then work till 8 or so. Then I spend time in the lounge where there is wifi and good company until bed. Meal time are delicious and enjoyable. The company on the island is hella awesome. About 80% of the residents are women scientists in their twenties and the remainder are men scientists in their twenties. Everyone is so smart and interesting to talk to. There are a lot of students from Europe or Central America here and everyone is doing really fascinating research. Every night a group gathers on a balcony overlooking the bay and drinks beer and talks and listens to the bats and geckos. Its quite a lot of fun.

I've had two days off so far. Saturday I took basically a half day off where I spent the morning reading and applying to jobs and spent the afternoon over a microscope. Then on Sunday a group of us went to the Albrook Mall, which is something like the 13th largest mall in the world. It's huuuuge! The place is so big we never made it to the end of it. A lot of stores repeat and there were huge animal statues everywhere. I went in hoping to buy hiking socks and guitar strings for the guitar in the lounge. I found several stores named "planetarium", two religious book stores, a store that sold cameo and guns, tons and tons of "circuit city" stores, a grocery store, a store that sold cellos and marching glockenspiels, to name a few. I did find socks, but they were expensive so I bought cool marvel socks. And I bought a bunch of candy and a sandwich from whichwich. It was a bundle of fun.

Overall, I've mostly been on the island. I went into the city to watch a lecture on Tuesday about petrified wood and then went out to dinner at a really cool place called "The Fish Market" which was a restaurant on picnic tables within the hollowed out shell of an old reclaimed building. I had excellent key lime pie and fish tacos. That's mostly what's been happening here. I'll post again next time things change up a bit

Panama 2016.06.10

Hello from Barro Colorado Island!
When we last left off we were about to take a tour of the city. That tour kind of happened, it ended up being more of an expoloration of the historic district. That portion of the city is very pretty but the gentrification of the area makes me a little sad. We wandered the area, had lunch, I got sepearted from the group but found them eventually and all was well. When we returned to Gamboa it was pouring rain, but warm. The group played a few games then we decided to walk to the small corner store in town to pick up some supplies for dinner. We got thoroughly lost, and were soaked by the time we found the store. Its this cute little place behind some houses with only the bare essentials. We returned home and made rice and beans for dinner and everything was delicious.

The next day (Monday) we were taken to Tupper in the city for an orientation of the REU in general and about saftey and security. Turns out STRI has a system in place where one can log whatever trip their going on and if they don't sign back in when they are set to return the saftey team will got on the hunt to figure out where they are. So thats a nice feature. We were given a tour of Naos, a research facility in the city, and then we returned to Gamboa and had a nice group dinner again.

Yesterday was my first day on Barro Colorado Island, where I will be staying for the rest of the trip. The island is so cool. The only buildings on it are STRI research buildings or housing for STRI employees. other than that it is all wild and forests. I will be doing research on seed pathogens here. My mentor showed me around the lab space and told me all about the project. An intern in the lab and I hunted for seed pods and then I was tasked with separating the seeds from the pods with tweezers.
Every tuesday there is a talk back in the city. This week was about Mantis Shimps Occular Systems and it was hella cool. So around 2pm I took a boat back to land and then a bus back to the city. We listened to the talk and there is a small reception with food and drinks afterwards and everyone mingles about. All the scientists know one another and its feels like such a close community here. Then I tagged along with some of the butterfly researchers and we went and got all you can eat chicken wings at Hooters of all places. So that was bizzare. I've never been to a hooters before. The wings were meh but the company was great. Then I took a taxi back to the bus pickup site, met more people who live on BCI, and we bussed then boated back to the island where I quickly went to bed and fell asleep

Greetings from Panama!

Hello All! Greetings from Gamboa, Panama. I arrived yesterday on a 7am flight from Chicago to Miami, and a quick flight from Miami to Panama City. Interesting things from the flight, on my flight from chicago to Miami, the middle seats were blocked off. No neighbors elbows! On the flight to Panama, while people were boarding a metal concerts worth of mist flooded the plane. It was very rave like. I suspect it was water vapor to rise the humidity of the airplane, but I was sitting there the entire time like "If this was a movie, this would be a neurotoxin mist and we're all just sitting here calmly accepting our fate." The flights were uneventful, the best kind of flights. We landed a little early, and I got through security, immigration, baggage and customs smoothly. I worried that my bags would get lost or unnecessarily searched through, the worry of all travelers. The customs agent exclaimed about my 70 day stay. It would be pretty long if I was just a tourist going around the country. After leaving customs I found the shuttle driver quickly (The big "Smithsonian" sign helped quite a bit) and he showed me to two other students who had already arrived. There are 10 of us total, from all across the country. There will be one other girl from Harvard on Barro Colorado Island with me, and the other 8 students will be staying in other locations in the country. For the next few days I will be staying at a small town called Gamboa with the other students and then on Tuesday we will be moved to BCI for the duration of our trip. We've been told that our accommodations on BCI will have fans, but no AC. On BCI we will be given 3 meals a day prepared by a kitchen staff, to be eaten communally which is a pretty freaking sweet deal. The shuttle driver took us to a grocery store for supplies for the next few days Gamboa. I stocked up on tuna, PB and J and fruit.  I can easily eat PB&J for every meal, so it's always my goto. We drove to Ancon to drop of two students who will be staying there and then headed to Gamboa. It's so lovely here. There is a large fancy hotel up on the hill with a spacious and tropical lobby and an elaborate pool system. The hotel overlooks misty mountains and a lake. We took a walk through the grounds and so many parrots and water birds. The grounds has a lovely little orchard nursery and a tropical frog habitat. Next to the hotel are streets full of identical, brightly colored stilted houses. For the next few days we will be staying in one of them. There are 4 appartments in each house, and they are lovely, all airy space and wicker furniture and tree top views. We are sharing the place with another undergrad student who is a intern with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, not an REU student. She's been here for 3 weeks already and when she saw that we arrived she baked us cookies! We had a potluck style dinner after our walk, where all the students in our building brought ingredients and we cooked rice and beans with cookies and fruit for dessert. The surrounding area is full of mango trees that you can pick off the ground and eat at your leisure. After dinner we sat around and talked until it became hard to keep eyes open.

Today, we awoke early, since we went to bed at 9:30 the previous night. I had breakfast and took a walk around the grounds and finally took an extremely cold and refreshing shower. At this moment I am waiting for the shuttle to arrive and give us a tour of panama city! It should be an exciting day.

Costa Rica Day 8

It's Sunday, and time to say good bye to Costa Rica. Many of my friends are already back on campus. We got up early, ready to go. One final breakfast at the cabins (rice and beans and eggs and fruit). And then it's onto to the bus for the 3 hour drive to the airport. I've been enjoying the drives. I'm listening to a really good book on tape, so it's been really pleasant to sit an listen to it. We drove past the pacific ocean and stopped so we could put our feet it. Officially on both coasts within just a few days!
When we're near the airport we stop at a Chinese restaurant of all things for lunch. I'm still a little shaky after last night, so I don't eat much. We got to the airport and hour of so before boarding. We got through the exit tax line, then get stuck at check in. We finally made it past security 20 minutes after boarding was supposed to start, but the plane ended up being delayed so it turned out fine. The first flight was fine, though on the descent we had to make a couple loops to avoid some birds. By the time taxis and lets us off our connecting flight is already making the last call for boarding. We bolt through the airport, and have to go through security again for some reason, but we make it onto the next flight. Then another flight, more books on tape and we landed in Chicago and headed home.

The trip was simply amazing. I learned so much about the natural world and so much about Central American culture. I'm incredibly grateful that I had this experience and I will cherish these memories forever.

Costa Rica Day 7

Our last full day in Costa Rica!
I went birding in the morning with Dr. Kanter and few other students. It was incredibly windy, so there weren't many birds out. We had breakfast at the cabins (rice and beans and eggs and cheese).
We went to MVI and got a really cute lecture from on of the original Quaker settlers in Costa Rica. He talked about the reason for the immigration and the difficult journey into the country. It was really inspiring. After the lecture, we took a walk through the forest and got to a gigantic strangling fig tree. The strangling fig is a vine that climbs up an existing tree and out competes it for light. Over time the original tree will die and rot away, leaving a hollow tree in its wake. This hollow tree is very easy to climb. It was so fun! The tree is all tangled and full of foot and hand holds. I got 20 ft or more up the tree without even noticing.
We got lunch at a local restaurant. I shared lunch with Laura and Dr. Kanter. We got a soup, and a salad, and a cheviche and a plantain chip with dip and it was all delicious and entirely too much food. We were then picked up by a van for our free afternoon activity. Some students went zip lining, some students hung out on the cabin grounds or hiked. Dr. Kanter and Laura and I went for a hike on the Suspended Bridges at a park nearby. It was very cool. We were the only ones on the trail the entire time. We got within 5 feet of a family of howler monkeys as they crossed one of the bridges. The bridges themselves were very cool. The traveled across ravines in the forest and let us get right into the canopy of the trees. The plant life here is so diverse and complicated and beautiful. I had a great time on the hike. The running joke was that it looked like a was a kid out for a hike with Mom and Dad.
On the way back we just missed the last bus so we got a taxi and rushed back to the cabins. We went to a nice restaurant for dinner. I had steak and potatoes and peppers with soursop juice. Then the group went to a Quaker compound where we were taught some square dances. It was a whole lot of fun and my partner, Kris was very enthusiastic and great to dance with.
Then most of the kids went to town for more dancing and I went back to the cabins. Partially because I was completely out of cash and partially because I wasn't feeling great. I then spent most of the night puking. Oh well.

Costa Rica Day 6

It's Friday! The trip is almost over! I can't believe how fast it was going. We start the day at 6, which has been pretty normal for me since I've been birding so much, but was still pretty early. We went to our guide's family's dairy farm. I milked a cow. They had so many little calfs! We took a walk around the property and saw the small coffee crop they grow and learned about dairy farming practicing in the country.
Back to the cabins for breakfast (french toast, fruit). We took a walk around the cabins, which our guides own. We went to his gardens, where he grows vegetables hydroponically. We gathered carrots, and hacked down a sugar cane. We walked through the woods and had to run through a fire ant nest. We juiced the sugar cane in this interesting old press. It was hard, but a whole lot of fun. We had a little free time to hang out on the hammocks, and then lunch at the cabins.
We went on a tour of a coffee plantation. The plantation grows organic coffee. The plantation was full of fruit trees. Apparently the fruit trees will feed animals that will wander onto the plantation so they don't eat the coffee beans, which is interesting. They served us coffee and sweet corn cakes. I only drank a little of it, because coffee hurts my stomach, but it was very tasty.
We headed over to the Monteverde Institute and had a little free time. A group of us wandered to a Woman's Coop nearby where they sell locally made crafts. I got a whole bunch of chocolate to bring back as souvenirs. We received a lecture on Bats. The lecturer emphasized the importance of bats to the ecosystem and all the difficulties they face. Then we went into the forest to catch bats! It was incredibly cool. They set up mist nets around us. If a bat runs into a net, they fall into soft little pockets and need assistance to get out. It doesn't hurt them, just softly catches them. We caught a bunch of varieties. We caught two pregnant bats too! Some of the bats were very docile and agreed to being held and showed off. Some of the other one were aggressive and gnawed violently on the guides gloves. The bats weren't hurt, but they were stretched out so we could see and feel the wings and we were given a little anatomy lesson. Then the bats were released and flew right away to go catch more food.
We got dinner at the cabins, and hung out, talking on the porch for the rest of the night.

Costa Rica Day 5

I got up early in the morning and went Birding with Dr. Kanter, a few students and a famous Costa Rican Naturalist, Mark Wainwright. He was very knowledgeable about the animals in the area. We saw Toucans, and a whole lot of Humming Birds. It was an excellent outing. We had breakfast at the cabin, pancakes and fruit. 
We took the bus to the Cloud Forest, a strip of forest high in the mountains. Most of the year, the forest is completely immersed in mist. Not today though. It was bright and sunny and very pleasant the entire time. We were seperated into a group and guided around the forest with a naturalist. We stopped first in the humming bird gallery. The gallery was a little patio with a half dozen bird feeders and TONS of humming birds. The birds were really tame. As soon as they got used to our presence, they were everywhere. They even would perch on fingers to get to the sugar water. We were followed by a Coati, a raccoon like animal, which climbed a tree and drank all the sugar water out of some of the feeders. It was quite funny. 
We walked through the forest. Our guide knew I was studying edible plants so she pointed out loads of species to us. We say edible ferns, and bean pods that are used in parkinson's medication, and black pepper and a whole variety of orchids. There really are a lot of orchids in this area. During the hike we also saw many birds and insects, and we got extremely close to a hawk. 
We then went to the Monteverde Institute. The Monteverde Institute would be our home for the next few days. We had lunch there (chicken, beans and rice, plantains), then a lecture, a small hike around the grounds and another lecture. We had a hike into the Childrens Eternal Rainforest. The Children's Eternal Rainforest, which is terrifyingly named, is really a swatch of rainforest that was purchased using money that children from all over the world had raised. We took a night hike through the forest with a local guide. It got dark quickly and we were using flashlights to navigate. We saw a few sleeping birds, a tarantula in her home and some really scary spiders. We had dinner at the hotel. I tried to take photos of the starry sky with my camera and ended up dropping it. It wouldn't take photos correctly after that and I was very worried until I realized I had messed with the settings before taking the photo and then had forgotten to set them back. We got a beer at a local restaurant and watched a soccer game, but mostly just hungout.
.

Costa Rica day 4

I explored the topiaries today. I got a lot of pictures hoping to send them to my old horticulture professor who particularly likes them.

Topiaries at the hotel. TRex

Spider

London Bridges

Bird in a tree?

Breakfast at the hotel , then a hike up an active volcano. The hike was nice, if hot and without much canopy.

Our Trail

The volcano in the distance.

 The top was very neat. Rocks were falling down the slops of the the volcano and lava was pushed out. We sat at the top of the trail and got a lecture on Costa Rican's energy consumption practices. Then we were encouraged to hike back down and explore the nature. We found a whole bunch of bizarre sounding birds, a clan of monkeys,  a viper, scorpions, and a Tarzan swing.

We realized half way through the hike back that we were gonna be late. We double timed it through the rest of the half and still people were 40 minutes later than is. The we took a water taxi across the lake and then drove to the Monteverde residence. The drive was long and Scary, but very cool to watch. Then we had dinner at the hotel and it was a pretty quiet night over all.

Costa Rica day 3

During the morning of day 3 I wandered the grounds of the hotel a bit and walked along the beach. I found sea weed for my project and two poison dart frogs. After breakfast, we took a ride to limon, a neighboring port town. we received a lecture on imports and exports of Costa Rica and got a tour of the facilities, which were interesting but also hot. We wandered the town a bit, got lunch at a fast food place, and bought souvenirs. Then it was our 6 hour bus ride to get from the coast to the central valley. I had a lot of fun. I read books, listened to books, got a whole bunch of food from a convenience store and shared it around. Costa Rica is a really pretty country and its a lot of fun to see it by bus. We eventually stopped for dinner and bathing at the baldi hot springs! The dinner, when we walked in, was a buffet with a whole bunch of food and waiters but no patrons at all! It was kinda creepy actually. The food was OK, a little fly ridden, and as we ate the dinning room filled up, so I felt better in that regards. But the springs themselves where the main act and I was excited to get on with it.
The springs were elaborate! There were a whole bunch of tiers of pools with different levels of heat. One was about bath temperature, the one above it more like a hkt tub. One had water so hot I couldn't put more than my feet in, but it had a sauna hidden away that was really cool to hang out in. The springs were designed in a Vegas manner with swim up bars and pulsating changing color lights on everything. It was a little too processed,  but it was so much fun to explore. I had a blast!
All too soon it was time to head out. We froveto our next hotel at 10 or so and checked in. The hotel was filled with topiaries, it was kind of cool. But I went to bed pretty quickly after we arrived and I got a shower.

Costa rica day 2

The second actual day of the trip has arrived. I started early, catching the sun rise over the ocean with Erin. I went birding with Dr. Kanter and found so mabybedible plants! It was really exciting and productive. I'm getting a kick out of this DSLR camera I have rented from the library. Then we have breakfast at the hotel and we head off to the reserve near the hotel. I'm not feeling completely well, but as we hike I feel better. The trail is beautiful and packed with animals. We say a whole gang of monkeys, Capuchin and howlers. We saw a sloth, and sting rays and lots of birds and reptiles. We got to the beach and a bunch of monkeys got very close, within 3 ft of me, trying to get food.
Then it was time for snorkeling. And how I live snorkeling. There is very little that makes me happier than being in the water and watching this whole other world go by. The reef was dynamic and full of fish and anemones and corals. We had two swims and had peanut butter and tamirind sandwiches on the boat between stops. Some students got sea sick, but I've never had that problem much, so I had a blast. I reapplied sunscreen but I still got an angry red burn on my back, unfortunately. It always seems to happen. Should have worn my long sleeve bathing suit. The swimming ended all too quickly, and we went back to the hotel to shower. Then a group of us went to town and wandered around. I had very nice homemade ice cream and bought some soveniers and we hung out at a little resurant. The town is so cute and sleepy. We had a pizza party for dinner with pizza homade in an oven right next to us. Another sloth climbed a tree right next to where we were eating.
Once dinner was done, we went on a hunt for green eyed tree frogs and played some pool. Over all it was an amazing day.

Costa Rica day 1

Today is the official second day of the trip, but really the first day of the trip. We start the day with a early breakfast of eggs and fruit and rice and beans. Everything is very tastey. We drive away from the hotel and stop at a national park for a hike. The hike was very neat. The forests are so dense here! We saw a few birds, but mostly a ton of interesting plants and bugs.

We then drove to a fruit stand on the side of the road. There were so many fruits I've never seen before! I couldn't even name most of them. I had a fruit from a palm that was deliciously savory. I had an interesting purple fruit that I think was caimita that was a cool purple on the outside and a kinda passion fruit inside. There was an orange fruit filled with clear egg sac like fruits that was absolutely delicious! I had some amazing mango, and coconut and many others. I was in fruit heaven.
We then went across the street to a cool road side buffet/cafeteria kind of thing. They had a very long line of tons of different foods. I got a fish ceviche, a lengua stew, and a heart of palm salad. All of it was great.
Then more driving to get to out next location of cahuita, a sleepy sea side village. Our hotel is really cool, all the rooms are little cabins that you have to go through jungle paths to get to. The hotel has a bunch of parrots. We went to the beach and played in the waves for hours before dinner. I missed the ocean quite a bit. We had a lovely dinner provided by the hotel, then had a bonfire on the beach. Over all, QN amazing day.

Costa Rica day 0

The first day of the Costa Rica trip is spent traveling. Myself and two other students left Urbana at 2am to get to the airport in Chicago at 6. We made it with plenty of time, so that's was nice. Then it was through security and hanging out in the deserted international terminal until our plane boards.

Hiba and Sharif

George and Erron

Dr. Kanter

Elena bubbly even at 5am

Kris and the long awaited danish

The airport had this weird Jameson promotional booth with really comfortable couches

I found the sunrise

The plane to panama was nice, with lots of inflight movies.

Then we had a short layover in panama. The panama airport was bizarre! Its like a weird cross between a high end mall and black market knock off stores in new york city. Then it was a short flight to Costa Rica. We disembark the plane, go through the maze of customs and baggage and stuff and we get to out hotel.

The hotel. Is. Cool. Its open air, the inside full of plants. There's weird catwalk things between rooms.

The tropical hotel

Its very neat. We get dinner at a restaurant near the hotel. I got amazing garlic sea bass. We go back to the hotel after, I explore the hotel a little and then conk out with a really nice deep sleep.

Blog Entry 3: Basic Outline

This my plan for my Costa Rica project where I will be investigating the medicinal and edible plants of the region.
Before the trip, I will research plants that I can expect to find in the region. I will print out information used for identification  and how to properly prepare the plants.

During the trip, I will try to find these plants in the wild. I will document the location, amount, and appearance of the plant through writing. If I can sample the plant in a sustainable manner, I will and I will note that as well. I will photograph the plants that I find. I will interview local residents about their edible plant knowledge and whether they forage for their own food and medicines.

After the trip, I will assemble what I learned into two hard cover books that I will bind myself. One portion of the books will be different plants, how to identify them, and their uses. There will be a section about local customs and a section about how foraging fits into view of environmentalism. There will also be a section on how to forage food wisely, whether in Costa Rica or right in your neighborhood

Blog Entry 2: Refining Your Project

In this blog I will more concretely define the prject I will be working on while I am in Costa Rica
I am interested in the edible and medicinal plants in Costa Rica. During the project I would like to investigate the prevalence of edible plants in Costa Rica, in rural vs. wilderness vs. urban areas and inland vs coastal areas. I will ask locals and guides if they could identify any plants that can be eaten and if they forage any of their food regularly.
The questions that I hope to address though this project include:

a. How many species of edible or medicinal plants can be easily identified in a given area?
i. In urban areas
ii. in rural areas
iii. in wild areas such as forests
iv. in mountinous areas
v. in coastal areas

b. Are locals able to identify these plants correctly?

c. Do locals forage food for their own uses?
i. if so, how often?
ii. if so, what sort of variety?
iii. if so, for what purposes?
iv. How do their habits compare to midwesterners' habits?

d. Is foraging food sustainable in this region? What sort of governmental policies are in place about it?

Exporation of Costa Rica Project Topics

During our time in Costa Rica, each student will be exploring a specific topic that interests them. Students will be making final projects based on that topic. Some students in the past have made podcast or videos about their project, and there is a lot of freedom around the final product. There are a few topics that I personally would be very interested in exploring. I'm personally really interested in beverages and sodas commonly drunk in the region, I'm interested in the local bird populations and   I'm interested in the edible plants native to the area.
        I am particularly interested in beverages. I have a blog where I try and rank interesting sodas from around the world. I have tried hundreds of sodas over the years but I haven't had many from the Central American region. I'm excited to try what the region has to offer and compare it to sodas that one might find in Asia or America. The taste pallet of Costa Rica must be much different than that of Americans.  
    I enjoy studying ornithology and the vast variety of birds in Costa Rica is really intriguing. I studied abroad in New Zealand and a lot of my program was focused on the native birds in the country and how they adapted and developed. A comparison between the birds in Costa Rica and the birds in New Zealand would be a neat topic to explore. For example, Costa Rica has many species of song birds and many migratory birds that are only in the country for part of the year. New Zealand also has song birds, but it also has a large variety of flightless birds. Not many birds are migratory in New Zealand because it is an island nation that is very far from other land masses.
    Edible plants are also interesting to me. I enjoy urban foraging here at home and harvesting food from the environment around me. Since Costa Rica is a tropical region the plants don't have to survive harsh winters. They can develop vastly different traits from their northern counter parts.There are a large variety of fruits in Costa Rica and a variety of medicinal plants. There are also edible plants that one could find in both Costa Rica and in Illinois, such as basil, cabbage and dill. The comparison between the two might also be interesting. A topic that could be explored is whether the locals forage for their food. Hunting is illegal in Costa Rica and this might change how the culture changes regarding acquiring ones own food from nature.
    I am not sure which topic I will pick. All of them are interesting. It might depend on what topic will have the most information on it. Birding has a lot of resources around it, though edible and medicinal plants might be more difficult to find sources.

Questions for Erin Murphy

This wednesday in class we will have a lecture by Erin Murphy to talk about the coral reefs in Costa Rica. The questions I would like to ask him include:
What sorts of coral bleaching are being seen in Costa Rica?
What is the govenment doing to help in sustaining the reefs?
Are poor fishing practices or global warming more of a threat to the reefs?

Questions For Professor Marshak

In class on Feb 4th we have a guest speaker Steve Marshak, U of I Professor of Geology and Director of the School of Earth, Society, and Environment.
The questions I am excited to ask Professor Marshak are:
How does the oceans on either side of costa rica effect the landscape?
What sort of volcanic activity is on costa rica?
I would like to hear more about the Poás Volcano Crater, What can you tell me about that?

Welcome to Costa Rica!

Good news, everybody! This spring break, I have the very exciting opportunity to travel to Costa Rica with UIUC's  Earth, Society and Environment department to study environmental and sustainability issues. I am extremely excited for the course, and will be posting class assignments here until the trip.
As a bit of background, Costa Rica is a teeny tiny, neotropic country in central america, sandwiched between Nicaragua and Panama. Population size 4.5 million, compared with Chicago's 2.7 million, with most people living in the capital San Jose. First, let's compare how Costa Rica compared to the United States:

Size 
Costa Rica: 129th
USA: 4th

GDP Rank

Costa Rica: 79th
USA: 1st

Human Development Index (A composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and income indices used to rank countries based on human development)

Costa Rica: 68th
USA: 5th


Happy Planet Index (Countries ranked in index of human well-being and environmental impact)

Costa Rica: 1st
USA: 105th

Environmental Performance Index

Costa Rica: 54th
USA: 33rd

Rankings like these don't give us a full, nuanced view of Costa Rica, but it does give us a little context about where Costa Rica fits with the rest of the world. Costa Rica isn't the richest country in the world, or the biggest, but it's environmentally conscientious, and ranks respectably in human development and well-being. Costa Rica is within the "Blue Zone", areas of there world where people live measurably longer lives.

Other interesting things of note, there are 894 species of birds in Costa Rica, more than the US and Canada combined. Rain fall is 196.9 in per year on average, compared to 35 in in Northern Illinois. Costa Rica is 19,653 sq mi, compared to Illinois, which is 57,914 sq mi.