but i figured it was time for an update. if i'm able to at least get most things in here then at least that's something, right? How long have i even been here? I believe it's been two weeks since my last post? and probably the most insane 2 weeks of my life! Monteverde is incredible. we live atop a big mountain at a biological station. my front yard is literally the cloud forest and we have to hike to get anywhere. running is quite a trick. it's almost a 200 m elevation drop to get to town, and when i run i probably go down at least 120 m, so the run back up to the station is BRUTAL. the first weekend we were here we went to the bar on saturday night. when we got to the bar my friend isa and i devided we were going to find something to drink. we ended up buying this super nasty stuff called Menta. it was BRIGHT green, and tasted like the dentist. ( i love Isa! she is by far my best friend here. we do almost eveything together and she is so much fun and so cute). we took it back to the bar with us and hid it in the bushes outside so we could come out and make drinks. eventually it got stolen. haha. we basically just danced ALLL night. and then got back probably at two or so, and then on sundays breakfast is always at 8, and if you know me at all you know i couldn't miss that. so sleep is a limited commodity around here. sunday is usually a mad homework day, but i went into town with isa and charlie and we bought mangoes and rubber boots and a few other things and then we hung out at a cafe and did some studying. That week was absolutely insane, monday we had class from 8-6, tuesday we had a field day. which means we got into small groups and went out to do a small research project. My group was looking at the ratio of plantlets to seedlings there were at varying elevations in the forest. so this required hiking all morning, and getting super dirty, and then after lunch we had to analyze our data until dinner at 6, and then after dinner everyone had to present. i think in the end we got all done at 9:30, and then of course it was time to study. Wednesday we had Humans in the Tropics. for this class we always have a morning lecture and a fieldtrip all day. we went to a small, organic, fair trade coffee farm and the growers taught us all about coffee and the process from growing to when the coffee is finally sold. we then continued to follow this process throughout the day, ending at a coffee shop that grows, processes, roasts, and sells their own coffee. it was pretty interesting, but another exhausting day. thursday and friday we had class 8-6 again, and Saturday we had a huge exam! we had to know the life and natural history of 106 plant and animal species, as well as the scientific names and be able to identify them all. on top of that, we had a short answer exam on 6 diversity day lectures: fruits, flowers, plants, snakes, mammals, and mangroves. Studying on top of our busy days was BRUTAL, but it the end it worked out rather well.
of course once that was over we had to celebrate. so saturday night we hiked (for an hour) to get to a girl in our programs house (she is like 26 and has lived here for 3 years, but she has always wanted to do this program). it was my dream house! so quaint and like, in the forest. haha. it was literally a kitchen/living/dining room, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a little loft. we had a little fire while we were there. then we went to the bar and danced until like 3 in the morning. sunday we were back to the books. this week has been a little bit more laid back. Monday we had class all day, tuesday we didn't have a field day but hiked up over the continental divide and down onto the atlantic slope. It was the most fun hike of my life. Pablo, our TA had to bush whack the trail with a machete! and we were right behind him so Isa and I picked up plants as he was cutting them and make outfits out of them (check it out on facebook). towards the end of this arduous hike we were at the La Seva insect exhibit. It was INSECT DIVERSITY DAY! which isa was super pumped about because she's an entomologist. her love of insects is definitely rubbing off on me. we went to the butterfly garden and got to watch butterflies come out of their cocoons and try to catch them. also something super cool was that at the humming bird feeders, if you put your finger up by the place they eat from, the humming birds would PERCH ON YOU FINGER! it was amazing. wednesday was another humans day, this time we were learning about livestock. We went to the Monteverde cheese factory and learned about cheese, and then we went to a farm. we saw the pigs and it was probably one of the saddest things ever. there were thousands of pigs. each in a single containment unit just big enough to hold them, standing. we were there during feeding time, so the pigs were all SCREAMING. it sounded like hundreds of trucks driving past you on the freeway honking their horns. they feed the pigs the whey that is left when they make cheese, and soy concentrate, and corn (what else?). then, they take the pigs waste, which still has about 25% of the corn in it, wash it, so they're left with the corn, and feed that to the COWS! WHATTTTT is wrong with this picture? everything. the most natural part of the whole process was the smell? maybe the sound? also, they were telling us all about how the pigs have babies, then like 2 weeks later the babies are taken away from the mothers, and the mothers are re-inseminated. they also have to cut off the piglets tails so that they don't suckle on the tails when they're under stress--which is constantly. i have read about all of this stuff before but seeing it was sort of traumatizing. then we went to another dairy farm that was all small scale and organic and everything. it was at least kind of reassuring. we got to milk cows! which was really cool. then, we learned about Gisela (another TA)'s pig farm. SHE HAS HAPPPY PIGS! they get to eat grass like they're supposed to, and they get to poop where they want. and they get to feed their babies until they're actually ready to be weened. AND they get to keep their tails. Thursday was just another class day. and now it's friday. we actually have the morning off. crazy. but it's "Reading day" because we have another exam tomorrow and another one on monday. but we have spanish this afternoon... for 3 hours.
Next week we head back out into the wilderness for field trip numero dos. we'll be backpacking for a day and then camping for 4 nights i believe. then backpacking again. We then go to Panama for about a week and then head back here for our homestays... I feel like this will be over before i know it and WAY before i'm ready for it to be. I've been meaning to change my ticket home so i can beach it with Isa for about a week and surf after the program.. i should get on that.
well that's all for now. i should probably do this more often to keep the posts shorter. but this is more for my own record i suppose...
