¡Gracias por leer! (6)

Hey! Thanks for checking out the last blog post about my junior year abroad.. I've actually been back in the USA for over a week now, so I figured it was high time to wrap up the blog project and move on!

So in the last post I talked a bit about our geology course and one of the cool (and half-naked) excursions we went on.. Turns out we got to do some more cool stuff! For example, we traveled by boat to a bunch of different islands within the Bocas del Toro archipelago and took samples of rocks ranging from 6.9-1.4 million years old. "Taking a sample" basically means that you get to hack like crazy at the rock with geological picks, kinda like the ice picks used in lobotomies, but not exactly. Here's a pic of my friend Jacinto as he prepares to hack a sample out of the rock.


In case you're wondering, the rocks were pretty soft so it's not that daunting to chip away at them.

After taking samples, we cleaned and sorted all the invertebrates that had been inside the rock. It's neat, because you can tell a lot about climates that existed millions of years ago just by looking at the kinds of inverts associated with them. For example, we found corals in our younger samples and not the older samples, which is consistent with corals evolving and spreading in the Caribbean after the isthmus of Panama closed ~3.4 million years ago. Geology = fun fun fun fun

Our last class had an archaeology component in addition to the geo.. And the highlight was definitely a visit we made to a village of Embera Indians, a people proud of their strong cultural heritage and connection to the environment. The idea behind our visit was to learn about their way of life and, in exchange, provide them with funds for their new community center.

Much of our visit was spent learning how to make baskets. It was SO COOL (not kidding). We used dyed palm fiber and thread to construct these sweet little multi-colored baskets. I'd call it weaving, but it wasn't exactly that. Basically you add each new layer of palm fiber on top of the last and stitch them together with lots of little in-and-out connections. F'sho made for a unique "classroom" experience. Here's what my final basket looked like:


my 'lil basket! a little mishappen, but functional


an Embera child and me (plz note my tat)

The Embera also danced for us and made us a traditional lunch of yucca, rice, and chicken (served in a leaf!).. And the lemongrass tea they served was unreal. So delicious. Aand we got these nifty legit-looking-but-actually-temporary tattoos whose ink comes from a seed the Embera collect in the forest. Here's Karen getting her leg done up:


nnice

Another cool thing we did was to visit this old Indian burial site somewhere in the heart of Panama. Basically, for the past 5 years archaeologists have been excavating this site, which has produced an incredible array of skeletons, pottery, GOLD, jewelry, and other amazing artifacts. There will be a Nat Geo feature on it coming out in Jan. 2012, so look out for that.

At any rate, we saw the super-pro archaeological site and then did our best to imitate it by starting our own dig nearby. It was actually pretty legitimate, because we used all these fancy tools and had to dig down carefully and systematically. We found a lot of ceramic pieces, pottery, etc. which was exciting. Some EEBers even found some animals bones..! Here's a pic of our little plot after 2 days of digging:


hard at work


some of the boss tools we used


drigo's friend at the archaeology site


a boa that got into our dorm!

Everything that happened after the dig wasn't that exciting.. Papers, exams, etc. And man, when I first got back to the States last week, it felt really weird. The boondocks of Panama to Princeton houseparties weekend is a pretty stark transition. But still it's really, really good to be back and see many of you guys again!

Final Reflections
After a full academic year abroad and the process of growing through a whole slew of new experiences and opportunities, all I can really say is that I feel incredibly blessed by God. I've been so fortunate to have the cultural and language immersion in Europe and then the field biology immersion in Panama, and I'm really grateful for the friends and family (that's YOU ALL) I've been able to share those times with. It's funny, I've just sort of been typing away about my thoughts and doing my thing, but then hearing your responses and comments reminds me that others are thinking about me and have some interest in what I'm doing.. and that's been a wonderful realization that you guys have given me over and over. Thank you for that.

SO, I really appreciate your sticking with me throughout the blog's development. You guys have really been the heart behind this project. Without you, I for sure wouldn't have had the motivation to record what I've been up to. I'll miss traveling & blogging, but at the same time it's satisfying to bring my Estancia en el Extranjero to a close.

Love,
Dave

¡Soy arqueólogo! (5)

Well howdy there everyone.. Thanks for checking out the fifth (and, I think, penultimate) blog post detailing my time in Panama.

So we've finished up our stay on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), which is a rain forested-coated a few miles from Gamboa and (I learned recently) the best-studied rain forest in the world. Kinda cool!

If you remember from the last post, I was driving howler monkeys crazy with a big stuffed jaguar:


J-Diddy chilling in the beautiful old-growth forest (with a carpet of purple flowers) on BCI

Our freak-monkeys-out experiment turned out to be a success and was lots of fun. (We basically found that (a) howler monkeys reacted the same way to a 3D and 2D stuffed jag model; and (b) the only difference between the two models was that it took monkeys longer to decide that our flat, 2D model was a "threat" to them.)

While on BCI, I also got to see/film two poison dart frogs mating.. They are so intense! Check it out

I really grew to like a lot of things about BCI. The crazy-about-science attitude, the fridge full of Balboa and Panama beers that was treasured by the whole island, the samba dance parties on the patio, the AMAZING food (no joke), the friendly people, and - of course - the ridiculously cool natural life were all positives.


This is Big Tree. You can't really get a scale for the size here, and you can't even see the top of it in the pic.. But take my word for it: the tree is huge.

The only bad thing about BCI is that it's a small island with no more than 50 people around at a time. Which means the island is a great place to focus on research, but it can also become dangerously boring.. Think about it: it's just you, animals, and a few other researchers.. who you see ALL THE TIME. Even after just 3 weeks, I was ready to get back to the mainland - I can't imagine how people live there for a year!

---------------------------------------next topic------------------------------------------------

Soo right now, we're back in Gamboa, working on our fourth and final course. It's different from the others - focused on geology & archaeology, rather than tropical biology.

Today was pretty exciting. We went out to a few different field sites (ranging from 6-18 million years old) looking for fossilized marine organisms.. We saw a lot of bivalve (oysters, barnacles, clams) fossils, tons of snail shells, and some cool things like shark teeth.

I actually got lucky and made a pretty exciting find - some kind of vertebrate tooth which our prof thought might be from a killer whale. It's a neat fossil because marine mammal teeth are generally much more rare in the fossil record than shark teeth are, since sharks shed their teeth & mammals don't. The prof was excited and wants to send it off to a lab to get tested and stuff. Here's a pic:


Cool!

But even cooler than the tooth was doing paleontology in our boxers. At our second site, we had to get across this little bay to look at some rock formations, and we were totally unprepared for going for a swim. Our professor, an adventurous Englishman, had no problem wading confidently into the water (fully clothed), and it was so funny to see his reaction to our group's entry into the water. It was like those wildebeest herds on their great migration when they stop at the river to think about the crocodiles and then finally decide to make the plunge. Except for our group that meant that Princeton EEBers - guys and girls alike - started stripping left and right, pulling off shoes, shirts, and pants before making the plunge in underwear.

I happened to be in the water next to our professor and just watched his face morph into a blend of wry humor and mild contempt.

Some memorable quotes from the afternoon:

"What the hell are they doing?" [our prof, watching awestruck as everyone figured out how to get in]

"Is there anything unpleasant in the water?" [me, referring to things like jellyfish, crocodiles, sharks..]
"Just you guys" [prof, still incredulous]

"I bet no one listened to a word he said, since we were all standing around in our underwear the whole time" [girl in our class, referring to our 45-min lecture once we got out of the water, huddled around a 6 million-year-old wall of rock, in minimal clothing]

"Dang it, these white boxers are see-through!" [guy in our class after getting in the water. he held a hand over his sweet spot the rest of our time at the site]

"So people get in their underwear here a lot?" [Our group to our prof]
"Not really, no. Just you all." [Prof]

"Fossils have never been so sexy" [fb status after getting back to Gamboa]

Aaand here's a picture of our motley crew after our wet excursion:


Classic

A few final thoughts:

1) We've adopted an adorable kitten who hangs out near our schoolhouse in Gamboa. Its name is Lolly, in honor of our charming EEB departmental rep in Princeton. Some fotos:


Lolly the kitten

2) Today, a 24 oz bottle of insect spray (sent to me by my loving dad) really completed my already-impressive arsenal of poisonous chemicals for combating mosquitos et al.:


Totally absurd quantity of insect repellent
(Note: I just discovered two more bottles not included in the picture. Ostia.)

3) And FINALLY, the Barca pride from last semester definitely hasn't worn off. Why do I bring this up? Because, for the first time in history, FC Barcelona -- the good guys -- and Real Madrid -- the bad guys -- will be facing off FOUR TIMES in the next 18 days, starting this Sat, 4/16. At stake is a lot of glory and bragging rights. First, they'll play each other in the second installment of La Liga action, with Barca trying to maintain its substantial but not unsurmountable 8 point lead in the standings. Second, the two Spanish powerhouses will face off in the final of the Copa del Rey. And third, they'll do battle in the home and away legs of the Champions League semifinals. So the four Clásicos should make for some really exciting action - enjoy!

Una maravilla a un lado y un bosque al otro (4)

Hey! Thanks for checking out blog post #4 from Panama. It's hard to believe, but only 1 more month of Central America before I head back to Princeton. Wild.

Alright so this update picks up over spring break, when I had the pleasure of my parents, brother, and the bro's gf visiting for most of the break. It was great to see them, hang around the city, and even show them a bit of the rain forest. However, the coolest part was definitely crossing the Panama Canal..

Some fun facts:
>The French tried to build the canal first. They attempted to blast through 50 miles of solid rock. They failed.
>U.S. engineers developed a far more elegant solution involving two sets of locks that raise and lower ships across the isthmus, using gravity to move water.
>After its successful completion, the canal was billed as arguably the most impressive engineering feat ever and the 8th wonder of the world.
>In 1928, British adventurer Richard Halliburton - a Princeton grad! - paid a whopping fee of 36 cents and became the first (and only, it's now illegal) human to swim across the canal.
>The Panama Canal uses the same iron locks today as it did when it first opened almost 100 years ago.
>A current expansion project (due to finish in 2014) will allow the canal to handle the ever-larger container ships being built.

For more background on the canal, I recommend checking out my big brother's well-written, informative post here.

Getting back to our crossing: As we embarked, I was really excited to get a better idea of how a ship 3x as long as a football field could be hoisted up and down just by water power. Our trip started out on the Pacific (south) side of the canal, where our passenger boat steamed ahead toward the famous Bridge of the Americas. It was cool seeing (and passing!) all the giant boats patiently waiting their turn to enter into the canal, which saves them roughly 8,000 miles of travel and hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance costs by providing a direct conduit between the world's two great oceans.

As we got to the first lock, our guide explained how the immense amount of water in the Chagres river provides the incredible power that raises and lowers the dozens of monstrously big ships that pass through daily. Via vents in the bottom of each lock, water rushes in or out of a lock to move the boats 27 feet vertically in just 8 minutes. That sounds pretty slow, but having seen & experienced it, that's actually a remarkably fast rate!

Our boat shared a lock with a larger ship (the canal obviously tries to maximize the number of vessels that go through), so we were able to observe first-hand how a ship gets through. I'll spare you a detailed explanation of the process, but there's a cool little simulation here.

Some pics from the crossing:


me & the bro


the panama canal is the only place in the world where a ship's captain is required to relinquish control of his vessel.. he has to hand it over to a specially-trained canal pilot. here's the big-shot pilot for our boat, about to board


a big cargo ship coming the other way, 20-some feet above us


the boat we shared a lock with.. notice how close the edges of the boat are to the sides of the lock!


the lock gates are HUGE


Bridge of the Americas


Next topic - our third class is taking place on an island called Barro Colorado, in Gatún Lake. BCI is a sweet place, because there's really great rain forest and a ton of amazing flora & fauna that are super easy to study - they're literally right next to the field station. Our course is focused on the ecology & evolution of predator-prey interactions, and we're working in groups to study predator response in howler monkeys, agoutis, and tungara frogs.

My partner and I chose to study howler monkeys and see how they respond to different jaguar models.. The idea is to see if the monkeys exhibit different anti-predator responses according to the presence or absence of three-dimensionality in a predator stimulus.

Translation? We're scaring the bejeezers out of howler monkeys using a huge stuffed jaguar. As you might imagine, it's really really fun.. Here's the jaguar we've been using to scare the howler monkeys:


J-Diddy

We'll also be using a 2-D version of the stuffed jaguar and a flat, rectangle-shaped control to try to see just how good monkey vision is.

I'm not really feeling the writing flow too much today, so I'll spare you some verbage and leave you with neat videos of (a) a devil dance we saw at a festival in Colón; (b) howler monkey alarm call (showing monkey); (c) howler monkey alarm call showing J-Diddy the jaguar; and (d) leaf-cutter ants in Gamboa.. They're all short!

I have really bad luck with uploading videos to blogger.com, so I've put the videos on youtube.

Devil Dance
Howler Monkey 1
Howler Monkey 2
Leaf cutter ants

Los bichos marinos (3)

What's good everybody.. Spring break is here, we've finished up two classes, and the stay in Panama is halfway over! I haven't posted for a while so I've got a lot to update you on BUT first, major props to Princeton Men's basketball for their stylish W yesterday over Harvard.. Check out the winning buzzer-beating shot if you haven't yet. I've watched this so many times.. So proud to be a Tiger right now.

Alright so we just finished up our three weeks in the coral reefs.. The first leg of the trip was to the San Blas islands where the Kuna Yala - a native people of Panama - exercise self-rule and preserve their unique culture. To get there, we had to fly in this super-sketch airplane that was probably made in the '80s. It had like algae or fungus or something growing on the wings, this retro wood paneling along the sides, and pilot controls that looked like they were made for a toy.. However, 25 minutes of exhilarating flight and we were in San Blas! At the airport island where we landed, we were treated to some traditional Kuna dancing.

Close by the airport was the tiny island, which (like many of the 300+ islands in San Blas) was smaller than a football field. We stayed at a little Kuna- run hotel with no internet, running water, or round-the-clock electricity.. the toilets even flushed directly into the Caribbean! Despite the lack of normal amenities, the island was actually really awesome. In addition to the friendly Kuna, we had two dogs, two cats, and a personable little parrot to keep us company.



Ok as for the reefs - so, so amazing.. I knew coral reefs were the tropical rain forests of the ocean or whatever but there's nothing quite like being surrounded (literally: under, above, and to either side of you..) by the dazzling array of colors and life found on a reef. I saw wayy too many species in San Blas to name (and the species list to your right is woefully incomplete) but some of my favorites were parrotfish, lion fish (introduced), french angelfish, the slippery dick (i promise it's real), a spotted eagle ray, a spotted drum, and some way cool squid.

As much as the species richness in the water bowled us over, San Blas is actually home to pretty degraded reefs.. The Kuna rely heavily on the sea to eat, and as a result they've fished out almost all the big predator and herbivore species that are normally found on healthy reefs.. Because the big herbivores aren't there to eat the algae (normally responsible for only 10% cover on a pristine reef), algae has taken over where coral used to be and the whole system suffers.. Also, the absence of sharks, big jacks, hefty snappers, and other top-dog predators was noticeable. The San Blas leg showed us first-hand how tough conservation challenges often involve a balance between people's needs and the environment's health.

Although it was a bit sad seeing the reefs in a less-than-ideal state, there were still so many other positive things to focus on.. Like the Kuna culture and the beautiful molas the women embroider, the absolutely picturesque beaches where we got to eat lunch, the bath-tub warm water in the shallows.. Maybe most of all, I loved that "going to lecture" meant learning about coral reefs over breakfast, in bare feet, with a dog and cat playing under my feet and a day of boat-riding & snorkeling in tropical waters ahead. You know those get-away advertisements with the white sand beach, the coconut trees, and the teal/aquamarine waters?? That's where we were.


the good life on San Blas

Ok, Part 2. After San Blas and a quick pit-stop in Gamboa, we headed out to Coiba, Panama's biggest island and a formerly notorious prison. Until 2004, the island housed a number of penal camps where some of the most ferocious criminals, and later Noriega's political prisoners, served harsh sentences. Stories of tough prison gangs, beheadings, and hangings abound.. But the good part of that past is that, because Panamanians always kept clear of Coiba, the natural environment today is virtually untouched.. And now Coiba is one of the most important nature reserves in Latin America!

We quickly learned that one of our island neighbors was Tition, a huge >7 foot american crocodile.. Park rangers feed him fish and raw meat, so he's learned to hang out near people (not great). But, it meant that we could get some cool views and pics, like this one:



Right after our first time snorkeling around Coiba, the difference in the reefs was obvious for two reasons: (a) different species of fish and coral and (b) a stark contrast in the quality of the reefs. The algae cover was greatly reduced by enormous parrotfish and other herbivores and the predatory fish were MUCH bigger and more abundant than they'd been in San Blas. We saw whitetip sharks, jacks, snappers, and moray eels patrolling the water... oh and also SEA TURTLES. I swam with some greens & hawskbills and two little hawksbills even let me touch their shells. unreal.

The only bad part was that, part way through the trip, the jellyfish community decided to invade our snorkeling sites and torment us.. A couple of the times we went out, we literally got stung every 10 seconds - on the arms, neck, face, chest.. Aaah those little cretins were so miserable.

Our last day at Coiba we visited one of the old maximum-security prisons.. It was eerie to see the run-down building with its bare concrete, rusting iron bars, and painfully cramped cells. One of the guards told us all about the horrific violence that occurred once upon a time within the prison walls..

But an unexpected and very beautiful side of the visit was seeing some of the hopeful art - unpreserved and fading but still visible - made by some of the prisoners in the midst of brutal conditions.


This means "With the fear of the Lord men depart from evil" (Proverbs 16:6).


This painting contains phrases that mean "There is no friend like Jesus," "God is Love," and "Jesus is our Savior"

Part 3 (hang in there, almost done). To finish our trip we headed to the Azuero peninsula to stay at a beautiful tuna-farming facility. This trip was inspiring for two reasons: (1) The Irish-American that runs the lab is basically trying to find ways to produce cheap, sustainable tuna that could change the way the world gets protein. (2) The same guy is doing a really neat re-forestation experiment.. If his idea works (and it looks very promising), cattle ranchers - instead of cutting down forest - could plant hardwood and lumber trees that would provide habitat for animals, restore forests, and result in 10x more income than cattle grazing does. Money trusts could absorb the set-up costs and provide loans during the 35 yrs it takes the trees to grow.


little tuna guy

That's it for now! I'm currently chilling at a hostel in Panama City, waiting for the fam to show up and being taken care of/gently chided by the maid who alternately calls me mi amor or mi corazón.

Oooh and my friend almost got hit by a sloth falling out of a tree.. this video of the dazed sloth gathering his bearings is really cool/funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rly4Hpz74RI

Aventuras en la selva tropical (2)

Well howdy there everyone.. Thanks for tuning into installment #2.

First things first - I want to publicly exonerate the Panamanian police and apologize for casting false aspersions on their character (see panama blog post #1).. I learned later that they were not, in fact, guilty of accepting a bribe from us. (Turns out my TA made that story up.)

Second, we're already done our first course! Crazy, right? Here are some cool/funny/ridiculous things that happened to us while we were in the field:

1) "Explosivos No Detonados": So we get to our third field site and we're prepping our stuff for the day etc.. And I happen to glance at a yellow-and-black sign that says "Important Safety Warning." So, figuring it's talking about like poisonous snakes (rare) or wearing hard hats under the canopy crane (really?), I lazily read the first few words. Then this sentence jumps out at me: "It is imperative for all researchers to be aware of the possibility of encountering unexploded live ordinance." I don't know what live ordinance is exactly (at this point), but my attention has been sufficiently won. So I read the adjacent sign in spanish which says "Es imperativo que todos los investigadores estén alerta a la posibilidad de encontrar explosivos no detonados." EXPLOSIVOS NO DETONADOS = UNDETONATED EXPLOSIVES! So of course I'm thinking "What the.." and I ask my TA if this is a joke and her response is "Well, you know, it's very unlikely that you'll run into anything.. But it is possible. Last year someone found a grenade." !!!! Translation = we're going to be walking around on a veritable mine field.

(Switch to past tense) I was also really worried because my group of three was going 150 m into the forest (farther than anyone else) over and over.. But we got together and prayed and braved the forest.. And nothing happened which is great. But I feel like seeing these kinds of signs is just one of those things that wouldn't happen in the U.S.. It feels so foreign to me for someone to know that ppl could get hurt/killed doing research and then put a sign up and leave it at that.. rather than safety-checking this park that researchers use all the time! (Ironically though, U.S. forces were the ones using the place for training..)

Anyway here's a photo:


no me digas!


2) This next topic touches on something I forgot to mention in my first post.. Which is that it's REALLY EASY to lose your way in a rain forest. I discovered this my first day in the field after I made a short detour to a nearby stream to get a rock for one of our traps.. As soon as I had turned a couple of times, I realized that I didn't know which way was which - all the forest looked the same! Luckily a friend was nearby and led me back to my group, but it was a good first lesson for me.

Building on that, last week someone in my group got lost in the rainforest for realz.. It was funny at first because the person in question is a pretty confident dude and generally good in the forest. Butt after over an hour of not hearing him, we all got pretty worried. Soon enough the prof was driving up and down the road honking his car horn super-loudly, and a bunch of students were yelling in unison to try to attract him to the road.. Still no luck. Eventually a last minute phone call (seconds before the lost person's phone died) reminding him that the sun sets in the west ended up saving the day..

Some reflections: We found him a little after 4:00 pm, but what if it had gotten dark sooner? This guy happened to be without a compass, without a knife, without food or water, and with only a dying cell phone.. With a tiny bit less luck, he'd just be chilling with the howler monkeys, jaguars, and mosquitos for the night!.. AAAH that'd be so bad. The whole situation makes me cringe and hopefully reminds you to not take nature lightly. And the crazy part is that he was just walking from 150 m into the forest to the nearby road (with flagging marking the way).. and ended up kilometers away! While my buddy made a few avoidable mistakes prior to getting lost, it's totally the kind of thing that could happen to anybody, so take note.. It's really true that the biggest dangers in a forest are not getting bit by an eyelash viper or eaten by a jaguar. Rather, it's things like getting lost, or falling & breaking something, or contracting malaria..

3) In typical Panamanian/not U.S. fashion, simple things fail to be executed properly. Locked gates that shouldn't have been locked (2x).. Guaranteed reservations that weren't guaranteed (and vice versa actually).. Poorly translated signs..

I hope I don't sound like I'm complaining.. B/c actually I think this laid-backness/tranquility is pretty funny and charming MOST of the time, but sometimes it just makes me shake my head in disbelief! Just like in Spain, the overriding attitude of most people here, I think, is something like this (don't get craaazy.. these are obvy generalizations):

US ATTITUDE
A) Was something done? I'll go check.
B) If not done correctly, we need to fix it right away
C) If it wasn't fixed properly, immediate and drastic response needed. And possibly a big apology. Ensure problem will never occur again.

PANAMA ATTITUDE
A) That something was probably done. No need to double-check.
B) If not done correctly, no big thang.
C) If something important didn't happen properly, then just chill and
smile anyway

--Again, not raggin on panamanians.. They're great. Just my observations of broad cultural differences--

Ok in other news: My splinters-caused-by-vicious-forest-plants count has continued to rise.. But that should stop since WE'RE GOING TO THE CORAL REEFS NEXT!.. Umm rice and beans are the staple food here, like no joke.. For two nights we stayed in a quaint little town that had this amazing relaxed feel to it (see "Panama Attitude").. People had chickens and cows and things in their front yards, and there were THREE CHURCHES on just this small little <1 mi stretch of road. Such an amazing, quiet place.. (Except for the brightly-graffitied party buses roaring by a few times a day.. Still haven't completely figured out this fascinating aspect of panamanian culture.)

So that's pretty much all I can think of for now. It's so nifty to have these three-week courses. They're cool because you can focus intensely on something for awhile and then be done and go to the next thing.. HEADED TO DA REEFS THIS WEEK BABY!

Finally, some fotos below. Thanks for reading!


hawksbill sea turtle.. pretty endangered

so these ants will just bite your hand and can't get through the skin.. except when they find a soft spot (this one eventually did)


nice!

kickin' it w/ the prof in the canopy crane

got to check out the panama canal on the water today.. yehea

prof tryna hack through lock that was keeping us from leaving ha

sweet little church

Panamá: ¡Qué guay! (1)

Watsup everybody! After a January hiatus, the update blog is back, but this time it's Panama-style.. I probably won't be posting as frequently this spring as I did last semester, but I'll shoot for at least biweekly blurbs. You'll notice that the box w/ Barca's Liga standings (on the right) has been replaced by a growing "Cool Animals Spotted" list, but otherwise the blog's layout is pretty similar.

Cool, so let's get to it: our group of 18 Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB) majors got here a little over a weeek ago. We'll be moving around to different parts of Panama throughout the next few months, but currently we're in Gamboa. Gamboa is located in both the middle of the country and the middle of the Panama Canal (directly next to us), and it's also known as the world record-holder for most bird species counted in a single day: 385! While it's a quiet town, Gamboa also boasts a new resort, a cool church right next door to us, and a friendly population of local people. (I knew I was outside the U.S. when I found a pick-up soccer game within my first 3 hours here.) Our home base is affectionately called the "schoolhouse," which is actually a historic building operated by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (or STRI). We're lucky to have (mostly) hot showers, (mostly) decent internet, and an awesome Panamanian lady named Frances who cooks for us.

For our first class, Tropical Biology, we have a French professor, two Panamanian TAs, and a Panamanian student who's studying with us. Class is a lot of fun: the first three days we just had a few hours of lecture and then went hiking through various rain forests. Now, however, we've started our research projects, so we're in the field most days and then come back for dinner and a 1-hr lecture in the evening. In my project, I'm using ant pitfall traps to see how the diversity of ants changes between forest edge and interior habitat. Basically my partner and I place these cups in the ground and bait them with tuna surrounded by a moat of soapy water. The ants fall into the water on their way to the tuna and drown. A bit morbid, I know, but it's kinda fun to see all the different ants that end up in our traps.


looks like a pair of lips, right?


da rainforest!

The other thing about my project is that it requires walking 150 meters into the rainforest, over and over. I quickly experienced first-hand just how ultra-adapted tropical plants are for protecting themselves.. Evolution has blessed some of the plants here with huge thorns, fearsome spines, super-sticky seeds, ant armies that protect their hosts like it's nobody's business, and a variety of other ingenious characteristics that are no fun for humans. The flora seem to take great delight in deploying their defenses at the expense of the rainforest explorer, as my cuts, scrapes, bruises, and other assorted wounds (physical and psychological) can attest to.. As for animals, I've noticed that my initial impression of rain-forest fauna was incorrect: it's not like there are snakes dripping off every tree or frogs jumping over your boots non-stop. The biodiversity is absolutely present, but many animals are nocturnal, or come out more when it rains (it's the dry season now), or hide when they hear people coming. I keep waiting to step on a poisonous snake or get bit by one hanging overhead.. the possibility is always kicking around in the back of my head as I stomp clumsily through the forest.


gecko guy


one of a number of wonderful & beautiful flowers in the forest

Ok to wrap up I will tell a story. We had a rest day today, so we went to a beach on the Pacific side of Panama. The beach was over 2 hrs away, but when we had finally almost arrived, we were stopped in front of a police station by five Panamanian rifle-wielding officers. After our driver spoke with the policemen for a few minutes, we were told something about how a law passed "moments ago" would prevent us from driving the remaining 6 miles to the beach in our bus. Now, Panama isn't exactly known for enforcing its laws perfectly, AND it was a Sunday, so the idea of a law passed just an hour ago or whatever seemed absurd. (I suspect something was lost in the translation we were given by our TA..) Then our TA told us that the law had to do with whales, walls, or waves, but we couldn't understand which he was talking about since he had problems with that particular word. As you might imagine, our whole group was very confused by this point. Eventually, a $100 bribe from our driver seemed to satisfy the officers, and after a passport check (no idea why) and a second, unexplained stop, we finally hit the beach. I'm not sure what the moral of this story is.. but where logic fails, money seems to speak.