Week One

Hello!

I've officially been here for a week, which has consisted of lots of training and exploring.  I was going to write a full blog post, but then I realized I had a whole bunch of photos to share.  So I'm going to do a photo dump this time instead.  Here are some of the photos I've taken this week, in chronological order:

Very common meal here for lunch and dinner: rice and beans, salad and veggies.  Up to 10-15% of the food that's served here comes from the farm that's right on campus.  Which means it's super fresh and delicious. 

The view from the porch of the main building, which has the comedor (dining room), the kitchen, reception, the naturalists' office, the library, and the reservations office. 

The casitas bromelias, where I live

My address!  I'd love to receive letters/cards here if you're so inclined.  Apparently mail takes about a month to arrive.

I've already seen several snakes while here (which are definitely found here, but not necessarily a common sighting).  This was a bird snake and it was the first time this species has been seen here on UGA's campus. Pictured are Ernest (check out his research page here) and Riley (check out a blog post about his work here). 

Not a great photo, but we found an eyelash palm pit viper on the first night hike I shadowed!

...pretty self explanatory but still a beautiful sign. 

Beautiful strangler fig along one of the paths here.  A strangler fig does not describe a particular species of fig tree, but rather a growth pattern.  These trees start life on a high branch of the tree, then send roots down that eventually reach the ground.  Over time, several roots fuse together and encase the host tree, which can ultimately kill the host tree.  So this particular example has a hollow in the middle where the host tree used to be, which is crazy. 

The view from the farm here, with one of the greenhouses on the right (not a true greenhouse, instead more of a protected area for some of the plants grown here)

View along the road to town

Marisa (my roommate) and me on a very windy day

Last weekend there was a big soccer game in town, so we walked into Bajo San Luis. 

The view of the game (before it started pouring...it is the rainy season after all)

The view from behind our seats at the soccer game

One of the courses here now has students staying in home stay houses nearby.  Naturalists are responsible for dropping them off at their houses and introducing them to their families. I tagged along for this last weekend, which was a good way to start getting an idea of where everything is in town.  We dropped kids off at farms with cows in them, and some of the cows definitely thought they had the right of way.  

View from one of the houses

It was crazy slippery walking down one of the driveways to drop a student off...and I fell 😨

The aftermath

One of the houses

Typical breakfast here: gallo pinto (rice and beans), platanos (sweet plantains, so yummy), and fresh fruit (some combo of pineapple, mango, banana, watermelon)

One of the biodigesters on campus!  Merriam-Webster actually gives a pretty good definition: "a device or structure in which the digestion of organic waste matter by bacteria takes place with the production of a burnable bioas and a nutrient-rich slurry."  Here, the kitchen uses the biogas for cooking purposes, and the slurry is used as a fertilizer at the farm.  This is an awesome way to use waste products efficiently (both human and animal waste), and it prevents a ton of nutrients from entering the watershed here, which can lead to eutrophication.  

Sedimentation ponds that receive the water that comes out of the biodigester (plus some water from a stream up the mountain).  Basically, these pools give the water another opportunity to become cleaner before re-entering the watershed.  Solids, like ammonium, ammonia and phosphates, sink to the bottom of the pools.  

The final step before the water re-enters the watershed: a tilapia pond!  The fish get to enjoy some of the yummy nutrients from the water before it leaves. 

One of the waste sources :)

Part of the garden up at the farm...the crops in the front are beets (so delicious)

The view from the garden

The compost room

View of the Rio San Luis from Camino Real, one of the trails on campus

Leaf cutter ants are so cool.  They exist in huge colonies that move in very visible lines along the forest floor.  They cut and carry into their nests pieces of leaves which they use to cultivate fungus "gardens."

Last photo: one of the professors here with the course from UGA, Eva, gave the interns a Spanish lesson this afternoon, which was awesome.  I'm trying to learn Spanish while here--my issue right now is that I understand a reasonable amount, but I don't have the vocabulary or confidence to speak too much. 

Whew!  That was a lot.  If you made it this far, thank you :)  Please let me know if you have any topics you'd like to hear about or questions about anything I've posted.  Also always looking for tips on best ways to improve my Spanish--please share if you have any advice!

Good night!