Days 2 &3: Cerro de la Muerte and Sierpe

Hello friends and family of biodiversity students!

We're here to fill you in on our happenings of the last week, most of which was spent without electricity, much less service or wifi.

We departed for Sierpe on Tuesday morning. The long bus ride was broken up with a hike in Cerro de la Muerte to experience the first of many ecosystems that Costa Rica has to offer: the paramo. Paramo is a high altitude (approximately 10,000 feet in elevation) forest, where the trees and ground were blanketed in moss and not many species were to be found. On our hike, we discussed different adaptations plants in the paramo must have to survive in the harsh conditions and students searched for the bolitoglossa subpalmata salamander under rocks and logs. We were unsuccessful in our quest; the population has been on the decline in recent years due in part to climate change and pollution affecting their habitiat. We were, however, able to find several types of mushrooms who were happily growing in the cold, wet forest. We, as humans, were less happy to be outisde for a long period of time in the cold and wet, and so we ventured to La Georgina for lunch to warm up and watch the many hummingbirds feed right outside the windows. Some of us were lucky enough to have a hummingbird perch on our fingers as they drank from the feeders! Fun fact: La Georgina is the restaurant at the highest altitude in Central America! 

After a bus ride that was longer than the students would have liked, we arrived in Sierpe to spend the night. We promptly found a crocodile lurking in the water. Though it was at a safe distance, it's eyes seemed to say: I hope one of you falls. Luckily no one did and we spent the evening merrily wondering what the next day's boat ride would bring.

In the morning (after sending warning texts to loved ones about the lack of service for the next few days), we loaded ourselves and our belongings into two boats and set out to explore our second ecosystem: the mangrove forest! The mangrove forest is a special place where the freshwater from the river meets the salty water from the sea and as such, the plants and animals need special adaptations to live there. The mangrove trees have a root system that exists partially above the water, so that the roots can take in air and also release some of the salt from the water. On this boat ride our skilled guides spotted animals such as: scarlet macaws, howler monkeys, sloths, and a caiman. Just when we thought the ride couldn't get any better, we popped out of the Sierpe river and onto the Pacific ocean--the biggest and deepest ocean in the world--where we were lucky enough to see a mama humpback whale and her baby come up to the surface repeatedly for air. None of us speak whale, but the general consensus was that they were welcoming us to the next stage of our jourey, which was to be quite an exciting one! But you'll have to check back in soon to find out what happened next...

Pura vida!

Max, Amanda, Gisella and Ignacio