field trip part one!

the beach sunset at corcovado 

this is where we stayed, you can see our tents.

A giant tree you could walk under in the wet rain forest

the waterfall at corcovado

me holding a anole lizard that I caught

from the top of the waterfall (corcovado)

corcovado wet forest

half of a flower in corcovado

my friend/roommates (left to Right: Hannah Katie Lindsay)

A beach we passes in corcovado during the long hike

The primary wet forest of corcovado during the long hike

primary forest corocvado

the beach we went to on our long hike in corcovado

the beach after our long hike in corcovado

a basilisk lizard (it can run on water)

Another anole showing his dewlap

A fer-de-lance (venomous snake of Costa Rica)

the brittle star grabbing my finger

the sunset at our fancy hotel

cerro de la muerte forest

from the river in cierpe

river in cierpe

the mangroves

a view from the ocean of the place we stayed

the view outside my tent

I have had quite an adventurous two weeks! The first week started from the hotel in San Jose. We left Wednesday morning and drove to cerro de la muerte (hill of death). It is a high elevation forest and I almost died from not being able to catch my breath at the top of the hill. We saw tons of humming birds at this forest they are a lot bigger than the ones at home and are really loud when they fly. This forest was about 50º ( which is cold in Costa Rica). After learning about a few plant species we got back onto the bus for the rest of our 6 hour bus ride. On the way we stopped at a pineapple farm. I got to see some cool frogs, toads and a tree boa. The town we stayed in was called sierpe. It was right next to a river and had air conditioned rooms!!! Sierpe was EXTREMELY humid and you would sweat even if you weren’t moving. The next morning (morning meaning 7am which is the time that I have been getting up at everyday) we got onto boats and headed out on the river. The whole morning was spent in a mangrove forest. We got to climb in the roots and jump into the river at the end. It was really cool looking and the river water was really salty. We went back to the hotel for lunch then packed up our things and got into another boat. This boat took us all the way down the river and into the Pacific Ocean. The ocean was extremely blue and we say two dolphins jumping out of the water!! I didn’t get sick on the boat at all! When we got the Corcovado there were pelicans diving into the water all around us to grab fish. We set up our tents like 30 ft. away from the ocean. Once camp was set up we had some free time to go in the ocean. The waves were so much fun! Also, fish were jumping up and hitting us. We called it getting “fished”!

            We split into groups and went on different hikes. There were lots of butterflies and lots of anole lizards. During one of the hikes we saw an anteater in a tree. During our free time we hiked to a water fall to swim and relax. That first night we had a campfire on the beach with lanterns instead of actually fire while people played their guitars and we had a sing along. It sounds lame but it was actually pretty fun! Haha

            The rest of the trip consisted of a really long hike to a beach where we saw an AMAZING waterfall! There were monkeys everywhere!! We went to an island and played in the ocean and also went snorkeling. I saw tons of cool fish including a puffer fish and a white tipped shark. Also a sea turtle surfaced right next to me and I got to reach out and touch it. That night (as if the day hike and snorkeling wasn’t strenuous enough) we went on a night hike. There were a lot of giant bugs and we also saw a caiman. There was also a huge frog called a smoky jungle frog. The hike was exhausting but it’s difficult to get a good night sleep when you’re sleeping in a tent that is full of sand from the beach!

            The last day at this beach was spent doing a scavenger hunt. We were sent out into the woods with a camera and a list of critters and things to find. We saw a venomous snake called the fer-de-lance, lots of bats, a coati, and tons of anole lizards! I also chased a caiman through the river because I wanted to catch it. It was just too fast….After our hike we went to the tide pools and look at all the sea life around there. My favorite was this brittle star fish that would coil around your finger if you put it close enough. The next day was spent traveling on boats and busses to this super nice hotel right by the ocean. It was so nice to have a real shower and a bed to sleep in! This concludes part one of the first field trip! It was absolutely amazing!!!!! I attached a few pictures for everyone!