Butterfly Killaz

I had to give a twenty minute oral presentation in Spanish on Friday.  Although it seemed pretty daunting, in retrospect it was cool to recognize how much of the language I have learned in just two weeks.  Our class is just four students and the professor, Jose, who tends to be quite a character.  Much of our time is spent simply discussing various topics in Spanish, and Jose manages to steer the conversation effortlessly, slyly integrating new vocabulary and grammar that we are working on.  Anyway, I decided to give my presentation on the Homestead, which ended up making it pretty easy for two reasons.  One is that there is a lot to say about it, most of it interesting, and the other is that since I have already had lots of practice explaining it to my host family, I already have most of the requisite vocabulary (e.g. "We poop in an outhouse," and "Showers are a rarity").  Looking through pictures to choose some to show, I felt pangs of Homestead nostalgia and wished I could visit.  Then I remembered that it's the middle of gloomy Ohio winter and I was cured of such wishes.

Yesterday we had our first Costa Rican Natural History session, which took the form of an all-day hike and presentations on the wide variety of plant growth forms that abound in the cloud forest.  My group focused on canopy trees, sometimes also called emergents on account of the way they pop up out of the canopy.  We saw some pretty incredible views and hiked to the highest point in the region (at an elevation of around 6,000 feet).  Interestingly, the TV towers for the Monteverde Zone are up on that ridge, which means that in the rainy season the technicians have a hell of an ATV trip up flooded dirt roads at 70 degree slopes to do maintenance work.  The roads are not very good here, generally speaking.  The country is only the size of West Virginia, but it can take a full day or two to get from one place to another because of the state of the infrastructure.  Although our focus was primarily on plants, we saw some birds, lizards, and millipedes too.

We also used fancy compasses and trigonometry to estimate and compare the heigh of several old growth trees.  Here is a scientific measurement action shot:

In other news, my friend Sam's host dad runs a canopy ziplining tour company and generously offered us a discount for a tour, which we took him up on this morning.  In addition to ziplining, we swung on a huge "Tarzan swing," rappelled down to the forest floor from the canopy, and climbed back into the canopy through a ropes course installed inside a strangler fig tree.  Even as someone who isn't too afraid of heights, it was pretty humbling to stand on the small platforms in the crowns of giant trees and sway with them when wind gusts came through.  On one particularly long "zip," Mirasol (fellow student) struck and killed a butterfly in mid-flight, which gave us pause to think about the casualties of ecotourism.

I got my first choice of internship, so I'll be experimenting with worm "tea" (i.e. poop), trying to find a way to make it mimic the nutrient ratio of synthetic fertilizer currently being used at a nearby hydroponic greenhouse.  I'm excited to work with Orlando (the farmer) and learn all about hydroponic horticulture.  OK, time to finish an essay.  Hasta luego.