After dinner I went straight to the lab. I started working about 7:00. I thought, ok I only have 10 plants to put into solution, so this should take me 2 hours 3 tops. I’ll be out of here by, at the latest, 10:00. That’s not too bad. I got out of there at 2:00 AM. That is just not right.
At around 8:00, Dr. Coleman (the fish guy) came around and visited me. He just wanted to check in on the brine shrimp. I told him that they were still dying. We ended up talking about it for a while. “Why was I limited to only do one experiment at once?” he asked. “It was the aerator,” I replied, “I only have one.” “Oh” he goes, “I have a bazillion of them” (ok maybe he didn’t say bazillion, but he said whatever the old person version of that word is).
Anyway, I got new salt, new eggs, a salt and egg mixture, new water, new aerators, new container, and some more variables. He got me a bunch of stuff and left me about 30 minutes later with 5 or 6 new experiments to set up. Now, setting these up shouldn’t be too much work, right? Wrong. It took me a good three hours to set up the tubing and the covers and the salt and the eggs and the water and the containers and the lights and the plugs and arg. I started working again on the plants at about 11:30.
Then I worked from 11:30 to 2:00 on the plant solutions and trudged home exhausted.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Day Nine - June 29th 2010
Today was much more productive than the last three days have been. In the morning I went out into the field with Jose the botanist and we talked and walked and collected plants. He’s quite a nice guy and we had fun. I am really getting over my fear of bugs – it is good. Now, I can walk into a spider’s web and meah, no big deal. The first time we went to collect plants together – oy vey. I was a wreck. But I'm getting better. I believe that we collected about 10 different samples today which is great!
Then, at lunch, the professor from Sacramento State (Ron Coleman) who works with fishes and has been a great help and just a nice guy, asked if I wanted to come to the river with them and snorkel around. I was like um… sure! It’s not like I have anything else to do!
So I went with them to a river about 30 min away. It was quite fun. There were sooo many little fishes that were adorable and I absolutely loved it. It was really quite cool.
I'm off to dinner now, and then after that I plan on being in the laboratory for awhile putting the plants we collected today into solution.
Then, at lunch, the professor from Sacramento State (Ron Coleman) who works with fishes and has been a great help and just a nice guy, asked if I wanted to come to the river with them and snorkel around. I was like um… sure! It’s not like I have anything else to do!
So I went with them to a river about 30 min away. It was quite fun. There were sooo many little fishes that were adorable and I absolutely loved it. It was really quite cool.
I'm off to dinner now, and then after that I plan on being in the laboratory for awhile putting the plants we collected today into solution.
Day Eight - June 28th 2010
Yesterday wasn't terribly productive but I got some stuff done.
It was terribly hard to motivate myself to get out of bed, but once I did that, the rest of the day was much easier. I don’t really remember how the day went… but I think it was good.
I decided that simply waiting for my brine shrimp to survive was really excruciating, and so I’ve started working on a secondary project. Right now the idea is that plants that have antibacterial properties are less likely to be eaten by insects than their counterparts in the same genus. There are some kinks to work out, but basically you use this program to calculate leaf area and you watch the plant for about a week and track the amount of damage that was done. Then you compare the two groups and voila! You have you answers… at least that is how its supposed to work. We’ll see if I actually do that project.
Then, in the nighttime I went over to another professor’s office and she taught me how to use the program I’ll probably have to use. It looks pretty simple, so I think I'm good. It was also good to get a second opinion about the project. After that, I went to the lab and counted some shrimp and then came back to the room and went to bed.
It was terribly hard to motivate myself to get out of bed, but once I did that, the rest of the day was much easier. I don’t really remember how the day went… but I think it was good.
I decided that simply waiting for my brine shrimp to survive was really excruciating, and so I’ve started working on a secondary project. Right now the idea is that plants that have antibacterial properties are less likely to be eaten by insects than their counterparts in the same genus. There are some kinks to work out, but basically you use this program to calculate leaf area and you watch the plant for about a week and track the amount of damage that was done. Then you compare the two groups and voila! You have you answers… at least that is how its supposed to work. We’ll see if I actually do that project.
Then, in the nighttime I went over to another professor’s office and she taught me how to use the program I’ll probably have to use. It looks pretty simple, so I think I'm good. It was also good to get a second opinion about the project. After that, I went to the lab and counted some shrimp and then came back to the room and went to bed.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Day Seven - June 27th 2010
Today has been very relaxing.
I got up late, and went to lunch which was yummy. I stayed for a little bit of the soccer game between Argentina and Mexico, but in the first 30 min Argentina already lead 2-0, so i figured it was safe to leave.
Then i trekked over to the lab to check on my brine shrimp that i had put in the day before. i thought that it may have been that the plastic container that i was hatching them in was leeching out some harmful chemicals, so i switched them to a glass beaker. So far, so good. they all seemed to survive their first 24 hours - we'll see how the next 24 go. I saw no dead shrimp at the bottom of the beaker which is a very good sign.
Then, i came back to my cabin and have been here, doing some calculations, and tidying up my lab notebook so its understandable. Its been a good day.
I got up late, and went to lunch which was yummy. I stayed for a little bit of the soccer game between Argentina and Mexico, but in the first 30 min Argentina already lead 2-0, so i figured it was safe to leave.
Then i trekked over to the lab to check on my brine shrimp that i had put in the day before. i thought that it may have been that the plastic container that i was hatching them in was leeching out some harmful chemicals, so i switched them to a glass beaker. So far, so good. they all seemed to survive their first 24 hours - we'll see how the next 24 go. I saw no dead shrimp at the bottom of the beaker which is a very good sign.
Then, i came back to my cabin and have been here, doing some calculations, and tidying up my lab notebook so its understandable. Its been a good day.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Day Six - June 26th 2010
Today I stayed in bed until 8:45. It was wonderful. Then I went to the lab, got my computer and then went straight back to bed where I watched a movie. It was so very nice.
Then I headed off to lunch. And came back to bed where I lounged around till dinner.
All in all, I’d say it’s been a pretty awesome day.
Then I headed off to lunch. And came back to bed where I lounged around till dinner.
All in all, I’d say it’s been a pretty awesome day.
Day Five - June 25th 2010
I don’t really remember what happened in the morning… nothing too exciting. I went to lab and worked. O but I did see our guide from when we were here the first time. That was cool. Other than that… I counted my brine shrimp.
Around lunch time I waited for the “y” girls to finish with their leaves and we all went to lunch. It was just the three of us at a table as the other Colgate table was all full. Oh my did we have fun. It started about as a calm discussion about how extraordinarily good the pineapple was, and then morphed into a complete giggle fit over everything that went awry. Where to start. Well, first the sugar wouldn’t come out of the container. The juice here has no sugar at all, and so one must add one’s own. I had just poured myself a glass of beautiful pink stuff over ice cubes, and it was just sitting there, waiting for me, and the sugar wouldn’t come out! It shock and I jiggled and I taped and banged and I tried and tried to get it to come out. (I later realized that it is so humid here that the sugar sticks together) Finally I got really angry and shook really hard and it went EVERYWHERE. There was sugar all over the table, all over my tray, everywhere. There was a couple sitting at the table behind us, and they just thought it was the funniest thing in the world. They pointed and laughed and oh my. It was so bad. There were other incidents involving plates and meat and pineapple, but I won’t bore you with the details. But, I had fun to say the least.
After lunch, I decided that, as I didn’t have anything to do in the lab, I would watch the world cup game for a little while. I ended up watching the whole thing with a bunch of the guys that work here. It was very nice. In the middle of the game, one of the people from the front desk came up to me and told me that there was space in one of the cabins! This is very exciting news. Before I was staying in the “estacion del rio” aka the river station. The river station was fine, quite nice, with a lovely view of the river, but it was a good 5 minute walk in the jungle. Now, I’ve videoed the walk, and maybe I’ll be able to post it, but let me try to explain the sheer terror that overcame me when I had to take the walk in the dark alone. I know I’ve talked about this earlier, but I just want to reiterate it. I only had to walk in the dark by myself three or four times, but it was not pleasant. Imagine me with a flashlight that just barely illuminates the next three feet, trying to look above me (as I have been warned of spiders that descend from the leaves overhead), below my feet as to not step on another frog (they hide under leaves and then jump out at the most inconvenient times), and to both sides (to scan for venomous snakes that like to hide at the entrance to the bridges). So getting a cabin is very, very, exciting news. The director of the station also invited me to coffee with the
It was also perfect timing because I didn’t have any work I could do in the lab. So I thought, I’ll stop by the lab, grab my keys and go change cabins. Of course, when I got back to the lab I had an email from my mentor giving me a bazillion tasks to do. So now, I was FLOODED with work. I had lab stuff to do, and I had to shower, and change cabins, and go have coffee and three. There was just lots of stuff.
But I made it work and all was well. The coffee by the way, was delicious. It was strong, but not bitter, and warm but not hot yum yum yum it was delicious. Plus it gave me the extra boost I would need that nigh to stay in the lab until 12…
Anyway after finishing coffee I changed cabins, showered and went to dinner. After dinner I went to the lab, where I stayed until 12. But, I got all of the plants into solution thank god.
Around lunch time I waited for the “y” girls to finish with their leaves and we all went to lunch. It was just the three of us at a table as the other Colgate table was all full. Oh my did we have fun. It started about as a calm discussion about how extraordinarily good the pineapple was, and then morphed into a complete giggle fit over everything that went awry. Where to start. Well, first the sugar wouldn’t come out of the container. The juice here has no sugar at all, and so one must add one’s own. I had just poured myself a glass of beautiful pink stuff over ice cubes, and it was just sitting there, waiting for me, and the sugar wouldn’t come out! It shock and I jiggled and I taped and banged and I tried and tried to get it to come out. (I later realized that it is so humid here that the sugar sticks together) Finally I got really angry and shook really hard and it went EVERYWHERE. There was sugar all over the table, all over my tray, everywhere. There was a couple sitting at the table behind us, and they just thought it was the funniest thing in the world. They pointed and laughed and oh my. It was so bad. There were other incidents involving plates and meat and pineapple, but I won’t bore you with the details. But, I had fun to say the least.
After lunch, I decided that, as I didn’t have anything to do in the lab, I would watch the world cup game for a little while. I ended up watching the whole thing with a bunch of the guys that work here. It was very nice. In the middle of the game, one of the people from the front desk came up to me and told me that there was space in one of the cabins! This is very exciting news. Before I was staying in the “estacion del rio” aka the river station. The river station was fine, quite nice, with a lovely view of the river, but it was a good 5 minute walk in the jungle. Now, I’ve videoed the walk, and maybe I’ll be able to post it, but let me try to explain the sheer terror that overcame me when I had to take the walk in the dark alone. I know I’ve talked about this earlier, but I just want to reiterate it. I only had to walk in the dark by myself three or four times, but it was not pleasant. Imagine me with a flashlight that just barely illuminates the next three feet, trying to look above me (as I have been warned of spiders that descend from the leaves overhead), below my feet as to not step on another frog (they hide under leaves and then jump out at the most inconvenient times), and to both sides (to scan for venomous snakes that like to hide at the entrance to the bridges). So getting a cabin is very, very, exciting news. The director of the station also invited me to coffee with the
It was also perfect timing because I didn’t have any work I could do in the lab. So I thought, I’ll stop by the lab, grab my keys and go change cabins. Of course, when I got back to the lab I had an email from my mentor giving me a bazillion tasks to do. So now, I was FLOODED with work. I had lab stuff to do, and I had to shower, and change cabins, and go have coffee and three. There was just lots of stuff.
But I made it work and all was well. The coffee by the way, was delicious. It was strong, but not bitter, and warm but not hot yum yum yum it was delicious. Plus it gave me the extra boost I would need that nigh to stay in the lab until 12…
Anyway after finishing coffee I changed cabins, showered and went to dinner. After dinner I went to the lab, where I stayed until 12. But, I got all of the plants into solution thank god.
Day Four - June 24th 2010 (Part B)
Sorry I haven't posted in a while - everything here has been really really crazy!
Day 4 Part b
After my awkward morning encounter I went back to the lab and worked there until lunch time. On the way back from lunch a snake with a frog in its mouth ran across my path. It was green and about 2 feet long. I thought it was pretty cool so I pointed it out to the guard. Then I told a person walking by who I thought might want to take a look. He basically wet himself with excitement and sprinted off to go get his camera. The guard and I looked at each other like there’s no way he’s going to get back in time with a camera; the snake will be long gone by then. But he was pretty quick about it and the snake was still there, hidden under a leaf. He got really close to and started snapping pictures like nobody’s business. I suggested that he might move the leaf to get a better picture. No, no he muttered. I don’t want to disturb it. “Ok” I said as I walked away (I had had enough of the snake). After 3 seconds or so he sputtered after me that “the snake is just so beautiful” and he “didn’t want to interrupt this sacred process [of eating the frog]”. “Ok” I repeated, “it was just a suggestion, it’s cool,” and kept walking. It was quite an odd encounter. Then I passed by the same spot about 15 min later, and he was still there snapping away… There was also a HUGE crowd of about 15 people staring at the snake. I don’t know, it was weird. I kind of felt like it was all a lot of adieu about nothing.
Then, after that interesting encounter I finally had a chance to pick out which plants I was going to use from the HUGE database of all of the plants here in la selva. Once that was done, I went to go visit Jose, an old man who is a botanist here. He said he would be happy to help me find the plants I was looking for. I arrived at this office armed with a list of about 80 different plants. He said that he had time right then and there to go looking for plants. I was shocked but also happy that we were going to get it done right then and there. So I went off to my house to go change. Once I got to my room, I went to go put on tennis shoes instead of the flip flops I had been wearing. As I put my foot into the second shoe I saw something black and large move in there. Now, people had warned me about checking shoes before putting them on, but I was in a hurry to get back to Jose so I wouldn’t keep him waiting. Once my heart rhythm had returned to its normal rate, I took the shoe outside and threw it a good 5 feet from my door. Gathering up all of my courage, I poked at the shoe a little bit with my finger. Nothing. I kicked it even further from the room. Nothing. So I oh so cautiously picked it up and held it upside down. Finally a frog came hopping out. Oh thank goodness I thought. Only another frog. Then I was about the put the shoe back down and a SECOND one hopped out. There were two frogs. IN MY SHOE. It was quite startling. Then I heard the door shut behind me. Now, the doors here automatically lock behind you. And, of course I didn’t think about getting my key as I rushed out of the room with an infested shoe. So I had to trek ALL the way back to the dining hall where reception is and ask them for another key. It was SUCH a problem. I got the key, and returned to the house. I put on the tennis shoes and some shorts and arrived back at Jose’s office ready to go. Then he asked if I had higher shoes. Oh… right. Boots. So I walked all the way back to the house changed into pants and boots and came back, ready this time for read. All in all, I walked to the dining hall (for lunch) to the lab, to Jose’s office, to my house, to the dining hall (to get the key) to my house, to the office, to the house, to the office, and then to the parking lot past the dining hall. Now, you guys don’t know those distances, but everyone of those is a good 5-10 min walk. I was exhausted even before I got into the field.
I got into his car, and we drove for about 5 minutes to a fire station. “What?” I asked. “Why are we at a fire station?” I thought that we were going to collect plant samples in the forest…?” He replied that la sleva used to own this land, and the start of the trail was here. Before we even got down the trail we found one or two specimens. It was incredible how he could just rattle off the scientific name of any plant there. We walked for about 2 hours. As we walked we talked about all sorts of stuff. It was really cool. He told his wonderful stories about plants and about la selva and about everything. It was getting late, so we turned around. I think we collected about 17 specimens though which was incredible! Then I went to his office to label and bag all of the plants I got. After that I went dinner. Someone at dinner told me I had to go hear this lady talk. I wasn’t planning on it, as I was completely exhausted, but I went anyway. She talked about climate change. The long and short of it is that we’re basically fucked because trees are only going to speed up global warming. Then, afterwards, the professor who convinced me to go the lecture helped me figure out what is going on with shrimp. He didn’t really know, but he said do more control tests. I realized that I had to count the plates of shrimp before I could go to bed. By this time it was already about 9:00 at night and my eyelids were drooping. But I absolutely had to count the shrimp, so I sucked it up and stared through a microscope for the next two hours. (for the record it is really straining to look thought a microscope. Not only do you have focus your eyes, but for me I was squinting and trying to figure out if a brine shrimp was twitching or not. It was really difficult). I left the lab at about 11:00 I think and headed home.
The walk from the lab to my house is only about 6 or 7 minutes but it is really really scary. It is dark and spooky and the trees seem to enclose you and you never know when something is going to jump out at you and it is SO dark and the leaves look like frogs and there are poisonous snakes that can kill you. Anywho it is quite scary but I made it home alive. I brushed my teeth and crashed at about 12 o’clock.
Day 4 Part b
After my awkward morning encounter I went back to the lab and worked there until lunch time. On the way back from lunch a snake with a frog in its mouth ran across my path. It was green and about 2 feet long. I thought it was pretty cool so I pointed it out to the guard. Then I told a person walking by who I thought might want to take a look. He basically wet himself with excitement and sprinted off to go get his camera. The guard and I looked at each other like there’s no way he’s going to get back in time with a camera; the snake will be long gone by then. But he was pretty quick about it and the snake was still there, hidden under a leaf. He got really close to and started snapping pictures like nobody’s business. I suggested that he might move the leaf to get a better picture. No, no he muttered. I don’t want to disturb it. “Ok” I said as I walked away (I had had enough of the snake). After 3 seconds or so he sputtered after me that “the snake is just so beautiful” and he “didn’t want to interrupt this sacred process [of eating the frog]”. “Ok” I repeated, “it was just a suggestion, it’s cool,” and kept walking. It was quite an odd encounter. Then I passed by the same spot about 15 min later, and he was still there snapping away… There was also a HUGE crowd of about 15 people staring at the snake. I don’t know, it was weird. I kind of felt like it was all a lot of adieu about nothing.
Then, after that interesting encounter I finally had a chance to pick out which plants I was going to use from the HUGE database of all of the plants here in la selva. Once that was done, I went to go visit Jose, an old man who is a botanist here. He said he would be happy to help me find the plants I was looking for. I arrived at this office armed with a list of about 80 different plants. He said that he had time right then and there to go looking for plants. I was shocked but also happy that we were going to get it done right then and there. So I went off to my house to go change. Once I got to my room, I went to go put on tennis shoes instead of the flip flops I had been wearing. As I put my foot into the second shoe I saw something black and large move in there. Now, people had warned me about checking shoes before putting them on, but I was in a hurry to get back to Jose so I wouldn’t keep him waiting. Once my heart rhythm had returned to its normal rate, I took the shoe outside and threw it a good 5 feet from my door. Gathering up all of my courage, I poked at the shoe a little bit with my finger. Nothing. I kicked it even further from the room. Nothing. So I oh so cautiously picked it up and held it upside down. Finally a frog came hopping out. Oh thank goodness I thought. Only another frog. Then I was about the put the shoe back down and a SECOND one hopped out. There were two frogs. IN MY SHOE. It was quite startling. Then I heard the door shut behind me. Now, the doors here automatically lock behind you. And, of course I didn’t think about getting my key as I rushed out of the room with an infested shoe. So I had to trek ALL the way back to the dining hall where reception is and ask them for another key. It was SUCH a problem. I got the key, and returned to the house. I put on the tennis shoes and some shorts and arrived back at Jose’s office ready to go. Then he asked if I had higher shoes. Oh… right. Boots. So I walked all the way back to the house changed into pants and boots and came back, ready this time for read. All in all, I walked to the dining hall (for lunch) to the lab, to Jose’s office, to my house, to the dining hall (to get the key) to my house, to the office, to the house, to the office, and then to the parking lot past the dining hall. Now, you guys don’t know those distances, but everyone of those is a good 5-10 min walk. I was exhausted even before I got into the field.
I got into his car, and we drove for about 5 minutes to a fire station. “What?” I asked. “Why are we at a fire station?” I thought that we were going to collect plant samples in the forest…?” He replied that la sleva used to own this land, and the start of the trail was here. Before we even got down the trail we found one or two specimens. It was incredible how he could just rattle off the scientific name of any plant there. We walked for about 2 hours. As we walked we talked about all sorts of stuff. It was really cool. He told his wonderful stories about plants and about la selva and about everything. It was getting late, so we turned around. I think we collected about 17 specimens though which was incredible! Then I went to his office to label and bag all of the plants I got. After that I went dinner. Someone at dinner told me I had to go hear this lady talk. I wasn’t planning on it, as I was completely exhausted, but I went anyway. She talked about climate change. The long and short of it is that we’re basically fucked because trees are only going to speed up global warming. Then, afterwards, the professor who convinced me to go the lecture helped me figure out what is going on with shrimp. He didn’t really know, but he said do more control tests. I realized that I had to count the plates of shrimp before I could go to bed. By this time it was already about 9:00 at night and my eyelids were drooping. But I absolutely had to count the shrimp, so I sucked it up and stared through a microscope for the next two hours. (for the record it is really straining to look thought a microscope. Not only do you have focus your eyes, but for me I was squinting and trying to figure out if a brine shrimp was twitching or not. It was really difficult). I left the lab at about 11:00 I think and headed home.
The walk from the lab to my house is only about 6 or 7 minutes but it is really really scary. It is dark and spooky and the trees seem to enclose you and you never know when something is going to jump out at you and it is SO dark and the leaves look like frogs and there are poisonous snakes that can kill you. Anywho it is quite scary but I made it home alive. I brushed my teeth and crashed at about 12 o’clock.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Science Update
So I’ve had a request for more science stuff. So here’s an update.
Yesterday I started a control experiment that subjected the shrimp to different mixtures of ethanol and h20. The ethanol and the water were meant to simulate the solution that I will soak the plants in, to make sure that the solution wasn’t killing them. So I put the shrimp in the wells at about 11:30. Then I came back after lunch and they were all dead. It was a very large problem. There were also many dead at the bottom of the hatchery. Maybe they just didn’t have enough salt. So I dumped out the hatchery and started again, this time with a 25000 ppm solution instead of 10000ppm. I also thought maybe the ethanol was killing them. So, before I dumped out the old solution I put some brine shrimp into two culture holes to see if they died in the 10000 ppm ASW (ASW = artificial salt water).
Today I got in the lab and counted the dead in the two ASW-only wells. 32 in one and 18 in the other. That is bad. That means that it wasn’t just the ethanol killing them, but something about the ASW. I hope to run two more experiments today as well as start collecting my actual plant samples. First I will test with new shrimp three different concentration of ethanol as well as three different concentrations of methanol. I will also test my positive control substance (postassium dichromate k2cr2o7) to see what concentration of that I will need.
Yesterday I started a control experiment that subjected the shrimp to different mixtures of ethanol and h20. The ethanol and the water were meant to simulate the solution that I will soak the plants in, to make sure that the solution wasn’t killing them. So I put the shrimp in the wells at about 11:30. Then I came back after lunch and they were all dead. It was a very large problem. There were also many dead at the bottom of the hatchery. Maybe they just didn’t have enough salt. So I dumped out the hatchery and started again, this time with a 25000 ppm solution instead of 10000ppm. I also thought maybe the ethanol was killing them. So, before I dumped out the old solution I put some brine shrimp into two culture holes to see if they died in the 10000 ppm ASW (ASW = artificial salt water).
Today I got in the lab and counted the dead in the two ASW-only wells. 32 in one and 18 in the other. That is bad. That means that it wasn’t just the ethanol killing them, but something about the ASW. I hope to run two more experiments today as well as start collecting my actual plant samples. First I will test with new shrimp three different concentration of ethanol as well as three different concentrations of methanol. I will also test my positive control substance (postassium dichromate k2cr2o7) to see what concentration of that I will need.
Day Four - June 24th 2010 (Part A)
Why didn’t my alarm go off? I most definitely set it! Wait… did I? Well even if I didn’t, it should still go off. It’s still right at the head of the bed. I should have heard it. Oh… maybe it’s because I'm using my iPod as an alarm… and my iPod is in my backpack…
This was the basic thought process when I woke up this morning 30 minutes late. Breakfast ends at 7:30 and I got up at 7:08. It was a problem. I scrambled and got out of the room at 7:25. I hurried to breakfast and got in the line at just about 7:29. Thankfully, no one here really seems to care about time and so the line was still open at 7:45 when I left.
I looked around for a place to sit, and saw a guy sitting by himself reading a book. Oh, well, I’ll be nice and go sit by him, I thought. Bad idea. I asked in English if I could sit there and he replied that yes I could. He asked if I was a student here. He almost seemed to stutter, but not quite. I couldn’t quite place my finger on what exactly was off about him. Anyway I replied that yes I was a student. We talked a little bit about this place and what we were each doing here. It turns out he wasn’t a lonely researcher with no friends, in fact he was a tourist from Austria, whose English was well let’s just say it was a “developing skill”. Anyway I struggled through the conversation, trying to shovel my food down as quickly as possible. It was a quite awkward. See, this is what I get for trying to be nice. An awkward breakfast that leaves you with a mixture of pity and the same feeling you get when you discover that the cute little mice you just picked up was in fact a rat.
This was the basic thought process when I woke up this morning 30 minutes late. Breakfast ends at 7:30 and I got up at 7:08. It was a problem. I scrambled and got out of the room at 7:25. I hurried to breakfast and got in the line at just about 7:29. Thankfully, no one here really seems to care about time and so the line was still open at 7:45 when I left.
I looked around for a place to sit, and saw a guy sitting by himself reading a book. Oh, well, I’ll be nice and go sit by him, I thought. Bad idea. I asked in English if I could sit there and he replied that yes I could. He asked if I was a student here. He almost seemed to stutter, but not quite. I couldn’t quite place my finger on what exactly was off about him. Anyway I replied that yes I was a student. We talked a little bit about this place and what we were each doing here. It turns out he wasn’t a lonely researcher with no friends, in fact he was a tourist from Austria, whose English was well let’s just say it was a “developing skill”. Anyway I struggled through the conversation, trying to shovel my food down as quickly as possible. It was a quite awkward. See, this is what I get for trying to be nice. An awkward breakfast that leaves you with a mixture of pity and the same feeling you get when you discover that the cute little mice you just picked up was in fact a rat.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Pictures! 4
A nice little gift I found on my lab bench this morning...
Mommy monkey and baby monkey
mommy and baby again
just mommy
mommy and baby (baby's kind of hiding, but you can see him if you look hard. it's like where's waldo)
Pictures! 3
Monkeys! These were the monkeys that i saw in the tree outside the lab
A weird turkey-esque bird outside in a tree
A HUGE egg someone found outside.
Pictures! 2
A cute little lizard I found on the path
A picture showing how high the water was the day after the flooding
A funny sign by the suspension bridge
THE suspension bridge
The Safety Zone? No one really knows what it is for... There are various theories. In case of a terrorist attack? High ground for flooding? A place for important people to meet in case of an emergency? A place for everyone to meet in case of an emergency? A place protecting animals? Protecting a special species of plants? Can you go there if you are being chased? is it like a permanent "home base"? We all have our own theories...
Pictures!
A bug a swished... i may have gotten its guts on the floor...
a weird looking spider i found on my bed.
two pictures of the toad i found in my room
A failed attempt to capture a picture of a cute little lizard i found
Day Three – June 23, 2010 (Part A)
This morning, I woke up relatively rested, got ready and went down to breakfast. They had beans and rice, again. Good thing I don’t mind having the same thing every day! On the way to the lab I found a tiny little poison dart frog in the woods. It was so cute!
Then I met with a professor who is here with a bunch of other students from Colgate University. He has lived here for about 5 years and knows a bunch about medicinal plants and just this place in general. He gave me the names of a bunch of people who I can talk to, and advice on how to collect the plants. It was wonderful.
Then I got to the lab and my brine shrimp had hatched! This is very exciting news because I can now start some experiments. I really couldn’t do anything until they had hatched and I didn’t think that they would be ready until about 1:30 today.
At about 10:00 I was bent over my lab counting brine shrimp when the aforementioned professor came over to my bench and asked if I wanted to see some howler monkeys “up close and personal”. I said sure and went outside. There was a troop of them right outside the lab! One of them had a baby; it was SO cute. I took some pictures and I’ll try to upload then if I can figure out how.
There has also been an infestation of little ants. They are crawling all over my lab bench and are quite annoying. It’s not so much that they are harmful, just that they are a constant distraction.
I also finally got my computer fixed! Now I can use my wifi instead of being confined to the room with all of the scales…
When I got back from lunch I checked on my brine shrimp, who I had put in about an two hours before, and THEY WERE ALL DEAD. They weren’t supposed to be dead… it is a quite a problem. So I’ve started a new batch and we’ll see how they do.
Then I was sitting at my computer looking up plants, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a bullet ant coming towards me. Now, normal ants I am fine with. But the pain people experience when they are bitten by one of these guys has been compared with child birth. So I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my shoe and smacked it repeatedly. It was pretty satisfying.
Then I met with a professor who is here with a bunch of other students from Colgate University. He has lived here for about 5 years and knows a bunch about medicinal plants and just this place in general. He gave me the names of a bunch of people who I can talk to, and advice on how to collect the plants. It was wonderful.
Then I got to the lab and my brine shrimp had hatched! This is very exciting news because I can now start some experiments. I really couldn’t do anything until they had hatched and I didn’t think that they would be ready until about 1:30 today.
At about 10:00 I was bent over my lab counting brine shrimp when the aforementioned professor came over to my bench and asked if I wanted to see some howler monkeys “up close and personal”. I said sure and went outside. There was a troop of them right outside the lab! One of them had a baby; it was SO cute. I took some pictures and I’ll try to upload then if I can figure out how.
There has also been an infestation of little ants. They are crawling all over my lab bench and are quite annoying. It’s not so much that they are harmful, just that they are a constant distraction.
I also finally got my computer fixed! Now I can use my wifi instead of being confined to the room with all of the scales…
When I got back from lunch I checked on my brine shrimp, who I had put in about an two hours before, and THEY WERE ALL DEAD. They weren’t supposed to be dead… it is a quite a problem. So I’ve started a new batch and we’ll see how they do.
Then I was sitting at my computer looking up plants, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a bullet ant coming towards me. Now, normal ants I am fine with. But the pain people experience when they are bitten by one of these guys has been compared with child birth. So I jumped out of my chair, grabbed my shoe and smacked it repeatedly. It was pretty satisfying.
Day Three - June 22nd 2010 (Part B - My Day)
Today was fairly normal compared to last night. I woke up at about 6:45, and went to breakfast. Breakfast was “casados” which is beans and rice and some eggs. Then I went to the lab and started working. My wireless internet is still not working, which means that if I want to be online, I have to plug in to the box. The box is in the room with all of the scales, so I’m confined in here if I want to be online.
I also had to move back from my temporary home to my room by the river. This doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but I basically had to lug a 50lb suitcase for ½ a mile. That is bad enough, but the pavement here is hard to drag the suitcase on, and there are huge leaves that kept getting tangled in the wheels. O and one of the wheels is broken. So it doesn’t spin anymore. After that exhausting adventure I took a shower and went back to the lab.
I worked most of the day and got my brine shrimp into the hatchery but 1:30 which means that tomorrow I’ll be able to start doing experiments with them. I was also able to talk over skype with a bunch of people which was really nice. One of the people I talked to was my mentor who was really helpful and straightened out a bunch of issues for me.
Then, when it was time I went off to dinner. Now, going to dinner doesn’t sound like that big of an adventure. But, it was. First of all, it was POURING. It had been raining for a good hour and I kept waiting and waiting for it to die down. The rain on the roof was so loud that the people I was chatting with on the internet could hear it through the crappy microphone on my computer. Oh yeah, and the power kept going out. So it would become pitch dark for about 2 or 3 seconds and then it would come back on. So, I went outside armed with an umbrella and a rain coat. The only problem was that I was wearing my toms. Now, if you’re not familiar with Toms, they are a brand of shoes that helps children bla bla bla. You can look them up online. They are pretty cool. Anyway, they are basically a rubber sole and cloth. They were completely soaked in about 3 seconds. Another issue was trying to hold my flashlight AND the umbrella. I'm a pretty uncoordinated person and to try to fend off the occasional bug and hold both of those things was just a disaster. Also, it was completely dark. Like pitch black. And I’ve been warned about the descending spider over one’s head, so I'm trying to swing the flashlight up, down, and side to side. All of a sudden something on the ground catches my eye. It’s a frog. Yes. A frog. And a large frog at that. It was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk just staring back at me. If I would have stepped two inches farther I think I would have squished it. I hop over it and keep going, now alert for living animals under my feet. Then I see a flash of lighting that lights up the whole sky. Ok I know that people always say that but I mean to tell you that it completely lit up everything as if it were daylight. Immediately afterwards I head CRASH BA BOOM BOOM BOOM. I didn’t even have a chance to remember to count between lightning and thunder to figure out how far away it stuck. That is how close it was. Now, kind of worried about crossing over a huge metal suspension bridge that is clearly the tallest thing around, I keep walking. Luckily I make it to the cafeteria unharmed.
Then on the way back I was swinging my flashlight as I was crossing the big suspension bridge and my eye caught something on the overhead wire. IT WAS A SLOTH. I couldn’t tell if it was two-toed or three-toed, but it was certainly a sloth. I came up about a foot away from it and shined my flashlight on it. I guess it didn’t like the light in its eyes because it turned its head away. I stood there for a couple minutes awestruck. Unfortunately I hadn’t brought my camera because of the rain, but it was so cool. Something I noticed about it though, was that it had bugs all over it. In its fur, on its tale, on its face. It was quite icky. And those bugs were starting to become attracted to my flashlight and were flying towards me. When the sloth’s moths started to fly towards me was when I decided I’d seen enough. I walked the rest of the way home without incident.
I went to bed really early (about 8:30) because I was just so exhausted.
I also had to move back from my temporary home to my room by the river. This doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but I basically had to lug a 50lb suitcase for ½ a mile. That is bad enough, but the pavement here is hard to drag the suitcase on, and there are huge leaves that kept getting tangled in the wheels. O and one of the wheels is broken. So it doesn’t spin anymore. After that exhausting adventure I took a shower and went back to the lab.
I worked most of the day and got my brine shrimp into the hatchery but 1:30 which means that tomorrow I’ll be able to start doing experiments with them. I was also able to talk over skype with a bunch of people which was really nice. One of the people I talked to was my mentor who was really helpful and straightened out a bunch of issues for me.
Then, when it was time I went off to dinner. Now, going to dinner doesn’t sound like that big of an adventure. But, it was. First of all, it was POURING. It had been raining for a good hour and I kept waiting and waiting for it to die down. The rain on the roof was so loud that the people I was chatting with on the internet could hear it through the crappy microphone on my computer. Oh yeah, and the power kept going out. So it would become pitch dark for about 2 or 3 seconds and then it would come back on. So, I went outside armed with an umbrella and a rain coat. The only problem was that I was wearing my toms. Now, if you’re not familiar with Toms, they are a brand of shoes that helps children bla bla bla. You can look them up online. They are pretty cool. Anyway, they are basically a rubber sole and cloth. They were completely soaked in about 3 seconds. Another issue was trying to hold my flashlight AND the umbrella. I'm a pretty uncoordinated person and to try to fend off the occasional bug and hold both of those things was just a disaster. Also, it was completely dark. Like pitch black. And I’ve been warned about the descending spider over one’s head, so I'm trying to swing the flashlight up, down, and side to side. All of a sudden something on the ground catches my eye. It’s a frog. Yes. A frog. And a large frog at that. It was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk just staring back at me. If I would have stepped two inches farther I think I would have squished it. I hop over it and keep going, now alert for living animals under my feet. Then I see a flash of lighting that lights up the whole sky. Ok I know that people always say that but I mean to tell you that it completely lit up everything as if it were daylight. Immediately afterwards I head CRASH BA BOOM BOOM BOOM. I didn’t even have a chance to remember to count between lightning and thunder to figure out how far away it stuck. That is how close it was. Now, kind of worried about crossing over a huge metal suspension bridge that is clearly the tallest thing around, I keep walking. Luckily I make it to the cafeteria unharmed.
Then on the way back I was swinging my flashlight as I was crossing the big suspension bridge and my eye caught something on the overhead wire. IT WAS A SLOTH. I couldn’t tell if it was two-toed or three-toed, but it was certainly a sloth. I came up about a foot away from it and shined my flashlight on it. I guess it didn’t like the light in its eyes because it turned its head away. I stood there for a couple minutes awestruck. Unfortunately I hadn’t brought my camera because of the rain, but it was so cool. Something I noticed about it though, was that it had bugs all over it. In its fur, on its tale, on its face. It was quite icky. And those bugs were starting to become attracted to my flashlight and were flying towards me. When the sloth’s moths started to fly towards me was when I decided I’d seen enough. I walked the rest of the way home without incident.
I went to bed really early (about 8:30) because I was just so exhausted.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Day Two –June 22nd 2010 (Part A – The Evacuation)
Utterly exhausted after being awake and traveling for 20 hours, I fell asleep at about 10:00. My roommate was still not back, but I figured that she would come in eventually.
Then, at 12:30, I heard pounding at the door and a bunch of commotion outside. My roommate (who had returned to the room and was sleeping) got up and answered the door.
An old man who apparently knew her said, “Ok this is it. You know what’s happening. Get your stuff. You have 3 minutes.”
When she closed the door I asked, “umm… hold on. I don’t know what is happening. What is going on?”
She replied that the water was only about a meter below the bridge and they didn’t want us to get stuck. So we had to move out. She said that as I hadn’t really upacked, I could just take my suitcase and all of my valuables. As we waited outside our room for more directions, I heard someone say that we would be sleeping in the cafeteria. Well, I thought, at least we’ll be indoors. Thankfully though, when we got to the cafeteria, someone directed us to some empty cabins. There, a man with a walkie-talkie was putting people into rooms. He put me in a room with one young guy and one really old guy. O well, I said… I guess they aren’t separating by gender. But, it wasn’t really that awkward, as no one knew what was going on, and by this time it was 1am and we were all exhausted.
I collapsed on a bed and fell into a fitful sleep.
Then, at 12:30, I heard pounding at the door and a bunch of commotion outside. My roommate (who had returned to the room and was sleeping) got up and answered the door.
An old man who apparently knew her said, “Ok this is it. You know what’s happening. Get your stuff. You have 3 minutes.”
When she closed the door I asked, “umm… hold on. I don’t know what is happening. What is going on?”
She replied that the water was only about a meter below the bridge and they didn’t want us to get stuck. So we had to move out. She said that as I hadn’t really upacked, I could just take my suitcase and all of my valuables. As we waited outside our room for more directions, I heard someone say that we would be sleeping in the cafeteria. Well, I thought, at least we’ll be indoors. Thankfully though, when we got to the cafeteria, someone directed us to some empty cabins. There, a man with a walkie-talkie was putting people into rooms. He put me in a room with one young guy and one really old guy. O well, I said… I guess they aren’t separating by gender. But, it wasn’t really that awkward, as no one knew what was going on, and by this time it was 1am and we were all exhausted.
I collapsed on a bed and fell into a fitful sleep.
About My Project
For those of you who don't know, I am here at La Selva biological research station in Puerto Viejo, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica for 5 weeks (from June 21st to July 23rd).
If you're curious, here is what i am doing:
With thousands of medicinal plants already identified, and the number continuing to rise every day, ethnobotanical research is coming more and more to the forefront of the minds of many. Researchers, who are trying to search though the multitude of plants attempting to identify biologically active plants before they disappear from this world forever, need methods to narrow their search. As we lose more and more precious rainforest every day, the need for ways to accelerate this process is immediate. In addition to the fast rate that the plants and their habitats are disappearing, the culture and knowledge of native people is just as rapidly vanishing. Oral traditions that hold the knowledge of thousands of years of trial and error are vanishing forever. It is crucial to protect not only the plants that have such important powers, but also the traditions that hold secrets locked in its leaves. Surprisingly, there exists a great lack of research about the use of ethnobotanical consultation and by how much it increases the probability of finding biological activity.
The main objective of this research is to determine if plants plant chosen though ethnobotanical consultation have a higher probability of having a greater amount of biological activity than plants chosen at random. A secondary objective is also the discovery of the biological activity in previously untested plants. By comparing the level of biological activity in a group of plants selected through ethnobotanical consultation with a group that was chosen at random, I hope to determine if one can increase the probability that the plant will have medicinal qualities by using this kind of consultation. By measuring the lethal concentration of plant extract necessary to kill one half of the test specimens (LC50) one can find the level of biological activity in the plant easily. A Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay (BSLA) will be performed on the plants from the two groups, and the results compared. From this assay the LC50 and, subsequently, the level of biological activity will be calculated and compared across the two groups. If plants that have been previously untested have notably low LC50s, that may prompt more research to be done.
If you're curious, here is what i am doing:
With thousands of medicinal plants already identified, and the number continuing to rise every day, ethnobotanical research is coming more and more to the forefront of the minds of many. Researchers, who are trying to search though the multitude of plants attempting to identify biologically active plants before they disappear from this world forever, need methods to narrow their search. As we lose more and more precious rainforest every day, the need for ways to accelerate this process is immediate. In addition to the fast rate that the plants and their habitats are disappearing, the culture and knowledge of native people is just as rapidly vanishing. Oral traditions that hold the knowledge of thousands of years of trial and error are vanishing forever. It is crucial to protect not only the plants that have such important powers, but also the traditions that hold secrets locked in its leaves. Surprisingly, there exists a great lack of research about the use of ethnobotanical consultation and by how much it increases the probability of finding biological activity.
The main objective of this research is to determine if plants plant chosen though ethnobotanical consultation have a higher probability of having a greater amount of biological activity than plants chosen at random. A secondary objective is also the discovery of the biological activity in previously untested plants. By comparing the level of biological activity in a group of plants selected through ethnobotanical consultation with a group that was chosen at random, I hope to determine if one can increase the probability that the plant will have medicinal qualities by using this kind of consultation. By measuring the lethal concentration of plant extract necessary to kill one half of the test specimens (LC50) one can find the level of biological activity in the plant easily. A Brine Shrimp Lethality Assay (BSLA) will be performed on the plants from the two groups, and the results compared. From this assay the LC50 and, subsequently, the level of biological activity will be calculated and compared across the two groups. If plants that have been previously untested have notably low LC50s, that may prompt more research to be done.
Day One - June 21st 2010
When I arrived at the Costa Rican, I had no idea where to go. I kind of turned around in circles a couple of times, and then followed some other people. First we went throught immigration. Very uneventful, thank goodness! Then I got my bag, which was a little nerve wracking. It wasn’t coming out onto the conveyor belt. I waited and waited and waited. Finally if emerged from the tunnel and we went through customs. I went outside and looked for the taxi driver that was supposed to take me to La Selva. I saw the sign taped to the window with my name on it and met the driver. He was very nice, and we talked about accents and learning languages for most of the 2 hour ride. Some of the time he listened to the world cup. Apparently Spain won over Honduras. Which is a good or bad thing, depending on who you talk to. Towards the end of the trip, he confessed that he thought that I would be a professor from the university of Georgia. He assumed a professor, because students usually come in groups, and I guess that bus company gets a lot of people from the University of Georgia.
When we arrived at la selva, the guard didn’t have my name on the list of people and almost didn’t let us into the park. I just assumed that it was a mistake. I got reception and it turns out that I was registered for June 26- July 23 not June 21- July 23… So I was like well… I'm here… so what do you want me to do? Eventually the guy at the front desk figured it all out, and said that it was OK. He said that my room was kind of a long way off in the woods, so I might want to talk to people at the lab before trecking to the room. He sent me to go talk to bernal (the lab manager). Bernal was very nice, and showed me the lab and all the buildings etc. I have my own lab bench plus locked cabinets to keep everything in! The labs are much better than I expected, and I'm looking forward to working in them.
Then he showed me to the rooms. They are forever away! To get there you have to go over two bridges, up like 8 elephant stairs etc. Finally after lugging a 50lb suitcase for about ¼ of a mile, I got to me room. I really didn’t know what to do about my roommate. I felt kind of bad, as she didn’t know that I would be coming, and I felt like I was invading her space. As of 9 o’clock I still hadn’t met her… So I just put my suitcase down in a corner. She had already taken the safe box and my key didn’t work on that lock, so I just left my stuff in my backpack and kept carrying it around. Then I went back to reception to talk to Carmen Ramos about getting a cabin (rooms for researchers here for more than a month). She said that it probably won’t happen, but I'm on the list. Then I went to talk to Ronald Vargas, the director of the station because I still didn’t have a permit number. Which was a problem. So he emailed Francisco Campos again to see what the status is.
*side note* it is SO humid here. You step outside the air conditioning, and instantly start sweating. Its intense.
Then I went back to the lab to see if my computer’s wifi was working. I had been having troubles with the wireless back at home and hoped those problems would go away when I got here. They didn’t. But while struggling to get my wireless to work I met Victoria and two other girls from Colgate. I forget their names, but they both start with y. Then I left, and went to talk to Bernal about my wifi situation. But when I knocked on the door the other lab guy told me that Bernal had gone home for the night. SO I explained that my wireless wasn’t working, and was looking for a hardwire way to connect. He got me an Ethernet cable but the only place to plug in was in the room with all of the scales. Then it was 6 and people started going to dinner. So I heard the colgate girls leaving and I asked if I could go with them, as it had suddenly gotten dark and I didn’t have a flashlight. (plus, I was feeling pretty disoriented as it was dark and I wanted some company on the long walk to the cafeteria).
As we walked out of the building, the girls had to put on their big boots. They started shaking them out. They saw the puzzled look on my face and said that they were doing that so nothing would crawl into their boots and they would stick their foot down in there. It was pretty smart, but at the same time, it was kind of a wake-up call that there are bugs. Lots of bugs. And not just big scary-looking bugs. The actually scary kind that can kill you. The colgate girls were very nice, and we talked all the way to the cafeteria. The cafeteria is on the other side of the big bridge over the big river. That bridge is one of those suspended ones, and it wobbles. A lot. It was quite frightening.
Anyway we made it to the cafeteria and there was a big table of people from colgate. As we went through the line I was trying to figure out who I would sit with in the cafeteria. There are a surprising number of people here. I would say that there were around 50 or so at dinner. But the girls suck with me and showed me through the line and stuff. And how to get water and ice. Then they asked if I wanted to set with them at their table.
Dinner was pretty good. Some brown stuff and some mashed potatoes. There was also rice pudding which was delicious. I was quiet for almost the whole meal, as were the girls I was with. Then towards the end some people started to ask who I was. And then I explained. It is kind of cool to have everyone be like wait… you’re here by yourself? And you’re still in high school? Then one of the colgate professors asked me what I was studying and so I told her. (I’ve gotten pretty good at the whole spheal as ive said it so many times).
Then I walked back with the two “y” girls as I still didn’t have a flashlight and the treck from the cafeteria to the house is quite a long one. On the way they told me tips like I should swing the flashlight up and down so that i don’t run into spiders. They told me stories about bullet ants being inside their bug netting. About venomous snakes and howler monkeys. About poisonous frogs, and about the difference between the flying cockroaches and the just-abnormally-large ones. It was lovely. They helped me find my room and showed me the taranuala’s nest right outside my door. They also spotted a second lock-box that I could use, so I didn’t have to carry everything around with me. Then they showed me the bathrooms, which were surprisingly nice.
I went back to my room, and tried to unpack. Well I didn’t really unpack. I more reorganized so I could live out of my suitcase as there aren’t drawers or anything to put my stuff in and I didn’t want to take up too much space.
Then I saw out of the corner of my eye in the corner of the room, what looked like a toad. I squinted more closely and yes. It was a toad. In. my. room. I was OK with a couple of spiders in my room, but a toad? Really? Not ok. It was in the corner and I didn’t know how to get him out. Eventually I did, but it took some smart maneuvering. Then I saw a weird looking bug on my bed. Kind of like a large large fly. So I squished it. Then I squished it again. And I got its guts all over the floor. Oops.
Then I went to go shower. The two showers that I knew of were already taken, and so I sat on a nearby couch and waited. Then a guy came by and went into his room. On the way out he said that there was another bathroom that I could use. The sign said that it was for women and men, but it was all guys. Oh well I said and I walked in. these bathrooms were not nearly as nice as the other ones. They were kind of sketchy. But I was so hot and exhausted that I didn’t care. Same with hot water. I was so hot I didn’t care my shower was cold. I got in and out of the shower as fast as I could, brushed my teeth and then came back to the cabin.
Finally after being awake for 20 hours, I got to go to sleep.
When we arrived at la selva, the guard didn’t have my name on the list of people and almost didn’t let us into the park. I just assumed that it was a mistake. I got reception and it turns out that I was registered for June 26- July 23 not June 21- July 23… So I was like well… I'm here… so what do you want me to do? Eventually the guy at the front desk figured it all out, and said that it was OK. He said that my room was kind of a long way off in the woods, so I might want to talk to people at the lab before trecking to the room. He sent me to go talk to bernal (the lab manager). Bernal was very nice, and showed me the lab and all the buildings etc. I have my own lab bench plus locked cabinets to keep everything in! The labs are much better than I expected, and I'm looking forward to working in them.
Then he showed me to the rooms. They are forever away! To get there you have to go over two bridges, up like 8 elephant stairs etc. Finally after lugging a 50lb suitcase for about ¼ of a mile, I got to me room. I really didn’t know what to do about my roommate. I felt kind of bad, as she didn’t know that I would be coming, and I felt like I was invading her space. As of 9 o’clock I still hadn’t met her… So I just put my suitcase down in a corner. She had already taken the safe box and my key didn’t work on that lock, so I just left my stuff in my backpack and kept carrying it around. Then I went back to reception to talk to Carmen Ramos about getting a cabin (rooms for researchers here for more than a month). She said that it probably won’t happen, but I'm on the list. Then I went to talk to Ronald Vargas, the director of the station because I still didn’t have a permit number. Which was a problem. So he emailed Francisco Campos again to see what the status is.
*side note* it is SO humid here. You step outside the air conditioning, and instantly start sweating. Its intense.
Then I went back to the lab to see if my computer’s wifi was working. I had been having troubles with the wireless back at home and hoped those problems would go away when I got here. They didn’t. But while struggling to get my wireless to work I met Victoria and two other girls from Colgate. I forget their names, but they both start with y. Then I left, and went to talk to Bernal about my wifi situation. But when I knocked on the door the other lab guy told me that Bernal had gone home for the night. SO I explained that my wireless wasn’t working, and was looking for a hardwire way to connect. He got me an Ethernet cable but the only place to plug in was in the room with all of the scales. Then it was 6 and people started going to dinner. So I heard the colgate girls leaving and I asked if I could go with them, as it had suddenly gotten dark and I didn’t have a flashlight. (plus, I was feeling pretty disoriented as it was dark and I wanted some company on the long walk to the cafeteria).
As we walked out of the building, the girls had to put on their big boots. They started shaking them out. They saw the puzzled look on my face and said that they were doing that so nothing would crawl into their boots and they would stick their foot down in there. It was pretty smart, but at the same time, it was kind of a wake-up call that there are bugs. Lots of bugs. And not just big scary-looking bugs. The actually scary kind that can kill you. The colgate girls were very nice, and we talked all the way to the cafeteria. The cafeteria is on the other side of the big bridge over the big river. That bridge is one of those suspended ones, and it wobbles. A lot. It was quite frightening.
Anyway we made it to the cafeteria and there was a big table of people from colgate. As we went through the line I was trying to figure out who I would sit with in the cafeteria. There are a surprising number of people here. I would say that there were around 50 or so at dinner. But the girls suck with me and showed me through the line and stuff. And how to get water and ice. Then they asked if I wanted to set with them at their table.
Dinner was pretty good. Some brown stuff and some mashed potatoes. There was also rice pudding which was delicious. I was quiet for almost the whole meal, as were the girls I was with. Then towards the end some people started to ask who I was. And then I explained. It is kind of cool to have everyone be like wait… you’re here by yourself? And you’re still in high school? Then one of the colgate professors asked me what I was studying and so I told her. (I’ve gotten pretty good at the whole spheal as ive said it so many times).
Then I walked back with the two “y” girls as I still didn’t have a flashlight and the treck from the cafeteria to the house is quite a long one. On the way they told me tips like I should swing the flashlight up and down so that i don’t run into spiders. They told me stories about bullet ants being inside their bug netting. About venomous snakes and howler monkeys. About poisonous frogs, and about the difference between the flying cockroaches and the just-abnormally-large ones. It was lovely. They helped me find my room and showed me the taranuala’s nest right outside my door. They also spotted a second lock-box that I could use, so I didn’t have to carry everything around with me. Then they showed me the bathrooms, which were surprisingly nice.
I went back to my room, and tried to unpack. Well I didn’t really unpack. I more reorganized so I could live out of my suitcase as there aren’t drawers or anything to put my stuff in and I didn’t want to take up too much space.
Then I saw out of the corner of my eye in the corner of the room, what looked like a toad. I squinted more closely and yes. It was a toad. In. my. room. I was OK with a couple of spiders in my room, but a toad? Really? Not ok. It was in the corner and I didn’t know how to get him out. Eventually I did, but it took some smart maneuvering. Then I saw a weird looking bug on my bed. Kind of like a large large fly. So I squished it. Then I squished it again. And I got its guts all over the floor. Oops.
Then I went to go shower. The two showers that I knew of were already taken, and so I sat on a nearby couch and waited. Then a guy came by and went into his room. On the way out he said that there was another bathroom that I could use. The sign said that it was for women and men, but it was all guys. Oh well I said and I walked in. these bathrooms were not nearly as nice as the other ones. They were kind of sketchy. But I was so hot and exhausted that I didn’t care. Same with hot water. I was so hot I didn’t care my shower was cold. I got in and out of the shower as fast as I could, brushed my teeth and then came back to the cabin.
Finally after being awake for 20 hours, I got to go to sleep.
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