La Selva

Our last night in Costa Rica.  It's been more than fun.  Words can't even describe what the past few weeks have been like for me.  Enlightening, adventurous, informative, scary, uncomfortable, the list could go on.  I just want to take a second to thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to come down here.  First, my wife and kids, for letting me leave them for a month so I can come down here.  I love you and I miss you and I'll see you soon.  To the directors at the OIEC and ICLC, you have a great program.  Thank you for letting me and my companions experience Costa Rica.  To my host mom, thank you.  You were like a second mother to me.  To Ron and Laurie, who somehow managed to put up with 14 college students for a month.  It's been a real treat to know you.

On to the pictures and stories.  You can find all the pictures here.  There was so much to see and do here, it's hard to pick out any one story.  La Selva is a real research station.  You can feel it in the air.  Our guide told us that La Selva produces 2 scholarly journal articles a day.  That's amazing.  The campus is beautiful.  They have a computer lab, a small little library, washing machines that we can use ourselves (YES!), and lots of housing for residents and scientists.  The dorms are nice and clean, and they even have somewhat hot water!

The trails here are all very well maintained concrete paths.  There's a massive canopy bridge that separates the two sides of the campus, and I've seen more biodiversity on that bridge than I could describe.  A two-toed sloth, fish that are related to piranha, countless birds like toucans and parrots, and a troop of howler monkeys, complete with baby.  In the rainforest, we've seen a bunch more birds, white-faced capuchins like in Cabo Blanco, an eyelash pit viper, big spiders, millipedes, peccaries, armadillos, frogs, and I don't even know how many different kinds of trees.  It's really beautiful.

Tomorrow is our trip back home, so this is probably the last big post I'll make here, unless I get links from some of the other students to post.  I hope you all had fun following along on my adventure.

Pura Vida!

Update From La Selva Research Station!

Just a quick note that I've finally made it to the last stop on this crazy, wonderful trip, La Selva Research Station.  But Clint! you ask, you haven't uploaded any pictures or told us any fanciful tales from Monte Verde or Cabo Blanco!  Fear not fellow vicarious travelers, I will be doing some updating in the next day or two with all the events and sights from the first two stops on our tour.  Updating this blog and uploading photos has cost me more money than I've spent on food this entire trip, so I hope everyone out there is thoroughly enjoying these updates.


Stay tuned!

Welcome!

Hello friends and family!  If you're here, that means you either received my email or someone conned you into following a link here.  Surprise!

For those of you that don't know the details, I am a part of Rogue Community College's Study Abroad program here in Grants Pass, Oregon.  Myself and 14 other students are headed to Costa Rica for a month.  Two weeks of Spanish language immersion, and two weeks of field biology and ecology.  For the first two weeks, we stay with a local Costa Rican family.  For the last two weeks, we stay at three different research stations. The first is in Monteverde, a non-profit reserve in the cloud forest mountains in the northern part of the country.  The next is Cabo Blanco, a private nature reserve on the western Nicoya Peninsula only open to students.  Our last stop is the La Selva Biological Station, a research station in the rain forest near the eastern Caribbean Coast.

Time and Internet access allowing, I am planning on updating this blog with witty stories, beautiful pictures, and enlightening commentary on my travels in Costa Rica.  So be sure to follow me to keep updated on all the awesome details that will be coming!  I leave on June 25th!

Pura vida!