Life fills every void in the rain forest. Especially in the case of the trail-spanning tree I saw in the forest today. Check out that picture, I almost looked up expecting to see an abdomen and head. Everything is so covered with green and dense. Just now on the way back from dinner to the lab we walked over some leaf cutter ants harvesting from a tree and returning to their colony. Amazing stuff; thousands of ants carrying giant chunks of leaf at such speed. I’m planning on taking a video.
So I was up for breakfast today. The La Selva breakfast: eggs, ham, toast, banana, and rice & beans. After breakfast I took a few minutes to go on a short nature walk. Saw a big blue butterfly, the tree that collapsed into the river overnight, the big grandpa tree pictured, and a bunch of loud birds flying overhead. Still waiting to see a monkey and some snakes.
Workshop continued today and proved to be just as informative and hydrated as yesterday. At the first break we had some warm empanadas, yum. Met a lot more of the researchers/grad students, all of which are leaving this week. Probably going to have some social downtime before the interns from Wellesley and the REU students get here, but WORK starts tomorrow.
Talking to some of the scientists who spend a lot of time here, learned a lot about the Chiquita banana plantation nearby and the recent cultivation of pineapples in the area. Our juices at meals are typically either passion fruit or blackberry, definitely worth checking out.
After two relaxing and air-conditioned days at the station it’ll finally be time to start working on my project tomorrow by learning to use the laser rangefinder (pictured)…going to read the manual tonight. After lunch we’ll head out to the closest plot to start using it in situ. The rest of the week looks like many hours of learning and data preparation so in 8, 9, 10 days I can start doing some real science, yay!
We’ll settle for a short entry today since I need sleep and tomorrow will be sure to warrant many good stories. ¡Hasta mañana!
BP
2 comments:
Hi Ben from dad test measage
WOW BENNY IT WORKED!! I Figured it out by myself too. Love your BLOG DUDE, Great to know you're ok on a daily basis. Nothing much happening here. Dad XOXOXO
Hi Benny Boy from MOM! You are quite a good writer. You get that from me!! Miss you more cuz you're so far away. Can't just say come home for dinner. I'm sure you are not homesick yet and probably won't be. Please decide where you want to go on our family vacation when you get home. Only kidding!!! LOVE YA
MOM XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO(more than DAD)
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