Los maravillosos del bosque tropical

Walking into Tirimbina

Everyday I look out my window and see the mountains surrounding the San Jose valley. On my walk to school I pass a variety of palm trees and exotic plants yet somehow San Jose has never felt like "the tropics." This past weekend I finally got to experience the tropics for real! One Saturday morning my Tropical Ecology class and I embarked on a journey to Tirimbina Biological Reserve in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica. Just over two hours outside of San Jose exists a wildlife reserve teeming with life. Tirimbina is a private park protecting 345 hectares of rainforest on the Sarapiqui river. Less than 10% of the park has been altered by humans which makes it a great example of Primary Forest (a forest that hasn`t had to regenerate in 70 years or more. Tirimbina is definitely a RAINforest. Therefore, one needed to have a rain jacket on them at all times. During one of our walks it rained more than 8 different times.

We went on two walks, one during the afternoon and another after dark. Both walks began by crossing the hanging bridge into the park. The bridge hung over the river and blew in the wind. With each step you wanted to grab the railing to steady yourself but each time you had to check to see if bullet ants were walking along the railing. Bullet ants are nearly an inch long and can be extremely aggressive if you are not careful they will bite you and it will knock a person out for a day. Once we entered the forest there was an array of stimuli to take it. If you walk into the rainforest, stand perfectly still and remain perfectly quiet you hear an orchestra of chirps, sqwaks, croaks, and flapping wings. The forest isn`t silent, on the contrary its like an all natural rock concert. The tree are a lot different than you`d think too. There are some palm trees but many look like the trees back at home. There is little vegetation on the forest floor since the soil lacks many nutrients, most of the tree roots are above ground to get the most water possible. Moss grows everywhere blanketing the forest in a permanent green hue.

Preying Mantis

Insects are literally everywhere! During our evening walk a bunch of us got bit by small black ants. It felt like a bunch of pin pricks all over my ankles and they itched really bad. Throughout the night hike we came across spiders big and small, a 5 inch long preying mantis, and the giant flying cockroach of Costa Rica. Despite the fear of these bugs falling on you at any time it was really neat to see the diversity of insects in the forest. Frogs were not hard to find either except we heard them more than we saw them. One frog we saw a lot of was the Blue Jean Frog. This little guys is red with blue legs but watch out because when he feels threatened he secretes a black poison from his back. They are tiny things but they are packing.

Waterfall we saw on the way home

Overall the rainforest was a really cool experience. On Sunday we had presentations in the morning and then we were suppose to have more free time but we had to leave early. The road we used to get to Tirimbina was closed because there was a mudslide due to the amount of rain the night before. We took a around about way back to San Jose but saw some amazing things along the way. We drove through a city that had been destroyed by an earthquake about 3 years ago...it was very eerie to see the destruction and abandoned buildings. Near the ghost town we stopped at a Soda for lunch. Side bar: A soda is a mini restaurant that they have all over Costa Rica. They are owned by families and most make really good food but it can get a little expensive. This Soda was right along the road over looking a steep valley into a river. Amongst the mist and fog we saw tiny waterfalls forming along the walls of the valley from all the rain. The food was very good too! I had chicken in homemade salsa with rice and homemade tortillas yum! Our next stop was only minutes away where we found an amazing waterfall! This country is so beautiful and I cannot believe the new things I find everyday. This quote resonates with me and expresses my thoughts on Costa Rica well

Discovering this idyllic place, we find ourselves filled with a
     yearning to linger here, where time stands still and beauty
     overwhelms.

-Author Unknown

Sunday was also my birthday! It was a pretty uneventful day, traveling and doing homework for the most part. I was surprised  though when my host family brought out a cake during dinner. We celebrated AJ (one of my housemates) and my birthday that night. AJ's birthday was our second day in Costa Rica so it was good to have a proper celebration for him that night. Following cake we danced some Bachata in the living room. All in all it was a great birthday.