This black iguana suns in a tree near our cabins.

For me the beauty of science lies in its honesty; straight, objective quantitative data collection. For example, the rainfall measurements I regularly collected from the gage network in Baltimore and the macro-invertebrate data we recently collected at Braulio Carrillo National Park had no agenda. There are always sources of error and there are different potential data interpretations but the numbers are real.

Something that makes me irate is when people make up numbers or statistics just to have an answer or to support their agenda. It’s appalling to discover that an organization or person has falsified information; I feel like I can’t trust anything else they say.

This iron wood tree species is practically extinct due to over extraction because its wood is strong and rot resistant and was a popular choice for boat construction.

Now the connection to study abroad: while in Costa Rica I am living as a part of the SFS community. I see the same 32 students, 3 interns, 2 community directors, and 3 professors at least 3 meals a day, 6 days a week. My fellow students and I are in close quarters for 24 hours a day—including 12:30 PM when some are trying to fall asleep and at 6:00 AM when others are trying to stay asleep. We share showers, bathrooms, common living space, dishes, clotheslines, and the responsibility to keep everything neat and clean. This provides for an interesting dynamic when you have young adults from vastly different socio-economic and geographic backgrounds. (Personally, I think I’m one of the least wealthy because the only reason I can afford this study abroad program is that I have an academic full ride at UMBC- Thank you Bobbie Shapazian in the scholarship office!)

I am amazed how this tree survives on the dry mountain top. Look at it's roots!

I am surprised and impressed that there has not been much conflict in our group. It bothers me that people smoke and drink and wake me up when they come back from the bar—but they are adults who like I have the right to make their own decisions. (Wow, that line is my politically correct way of saying that I’d rather just get along with everybody than deal with confrontation and critical conversation because I don’t believe I have the power to change people. It’s also a matter of picking and choosing your battles. And actions speak louder than words. Note: one night, with a small group I did have a respectful conversation in which I expressed my opinions and found out people like using such substances as a means to relax—words are good but they didn’t change my or their actions.)

 

A young Howler Monkey leaps to a new branch.

 

Drinking and smoking don’t bother me nearly as much as spreading false information. There is one student who has told groups of us that our mangos are a species that always stays green. She also proclaimed to the group that a distinct bird was the wrong species. Both examples I questioned if she was sure, to which she adamantly proclaimed that she was positive. Afterwards, I checked and found out she was mistaken and then politely let her know the correct information and she snapped at me. I don’t know if these examples were just misunderstandings or if she cares more about sounding like she knows what she is talking about than the actual truth. It is tiring to constantly second guess a person and wonder if what they are telling you is true or false.

(Note: in an effort to be as truthful as possible I will let you know a rather stupid mistake I made in a previous blog entry. In my song there is a line “skinny girl from another hemisphere.” This line is false because I am from the North and I still am in the Northern Hemisphere. Oops!)

 

Bats rest during the day on the underside of this dead tree.

In summary, community living is extremely fun and you get to learn a lot about other people and their exciting lives but you have to be more accommodating of others and work with and get along with people even if you don’t agree with all their actions.

 

Waterfowl nesting on a tree along the Tempisque River in Palo Verde.

 

Steve holds one of the invasive cattails (typha) that is taking over the Palo Verde National Park wetland which serves as habitat for thousands of migratory birds.

 

At Palo Verde, we visited a women's paper co-op that uses invasive cattails to make high quality homemade paper products. Living by the national park is difficult for these families because they have to travel to access resources. Their project is fantastic because it helps the park deal with the invasive cattail problem and offers the women a source of income.

 

I chat with the best painter at the co-op and Mike who is a biologist at Palo Verde National Park. Some hotels and bussinesses have expressed interest in large orders of their handpainted stationary, evelopes, picture frames, gift bags and other paper goods but they cannot fufill these orders because their large blender is broken and they don't have the funds to fix it. It's frustrating how a small amount of money could make such a difference for this community.