I'll be home before you know it

Sorry, my internet access is very limited and sometimes I don't get around to blogging, as you can surely tell.

So, after we got back to La MICA we were able to hang out for awhile and get homework and research done. Then we headed off to a small town called Santa Marta on a different side of the park for some homestays. Once we arrived all of the families were gathered at the main house and people were introduced to their families before we went to the school to help prep for the first day of school (the following day).

I ended up in the house with both of my professors and as Chad pointed out later it was more like staying in a hotel. That night we were able to just hang out with our families and in my case that meant sitting there while Marc talked to the only son still at home (who was probably in his 30s), Chad reading a book, and me watching. The dad of the house was gone a lot working and the mother typically stayed to herself. I tried to help her out but she never ended up getting me to help with dinner and in the morning when I gestered stirring to her she just talked, smiled, and laughed while not making any indication that I could help. Additionally, I did have my own room, I got experience taking bucket showers, and learned to avoid the restroom whenever it's semidark because that is when the cockroaches in the toilet are the most active and near the rim (yuck). The trip overall though was great.

The first full day was spent hiking up to see Omar Torrijos' plane, which was near the top of a mountain, it took us hours to reach the top which by that point many people were cranky, crying, or just plain tired. I was doing surprisingly well but sad because my camera stopped working after I fell into a river we had to cross. The plane wasn't to fascinating to me but listening to a man that had seen the plane crash was pretty neat. Afterwards, we went up another 5 minutes to the very top for lunch and the view was easily the best of the entire trip and thats saying something (considering the fact that we live in the mountains, work in a cloud forest, and lived on an island for awhile).That night Chad, Marc, Macedonio, and my Santa Marta brother went out looking for frogs, lizards, and snakes which we found but it was definitely exhausting and hard to climb on the rocks in the stream.

The next day we helped out with community projects. I choose to help out the water group that carried sand up a hill to maintain one of the three areas that they pipe their water into town from. Which was followed by eating fresh oranges from a tree. Later that night there was a fiesta at my house which involved a band and a lot of dancing (Panamanian style).

The following day we divided up into two groups and went to visit the hotspring that is said to having healing powers, at least for arthritis, and two different waterfalls. On this trip I  got to see my first poison dart frog that was green with black dots and sit behind a waterfall both of which were awesome.

Our last day we got to help make a mud wall for a house, and found another larger poison dart frog and then had a community lunch, arroz con pollo. They also sold us some items that they made and then both parties thanked each other.

Once we got back to La MICA we just continued with school work and projects. Emily aka Snakey Momma came down to hang out with us and help out with research. Her first night in town, Chad and her went out with Courtney and me and we were able to see our third venomous snake (1. eyelash viper, 2. fer de lance, this time another eyelash viper). Then we had some more free days in which Chad, Emily and myself came to El Valle, and I immediately got to start working at EVACC, the amphibian center in the zoo run by Heidi and Edgardo. I got to see all of the very rare species that are near impossible to see in the wild after chytrid came through. They taught me how to do spot checks (locate frogs, their food, and remove their feces while taking notes on all three) and then put me to work. I also got to help look for Atelopus zeteki tadpoles and relocate some Atelopus varius tadpoles. Then, we all went to an amazing dinner at Brachettas followed by internet and drinks at Edgardo and Heidi's house. I ended my day by sleeping in my own house with a choice of 6 different beds, two of which are double size.

The next day I was able to continue helping out with frogs until 330 when we headed back to La MICA. As always we went back to working while at La MICA but we also did get to have a birthday party, which involved a pinata, music, dancing, and a gigantic grasshopper. We also took a day trip as a class to El Valle, but Dan, Courtney, and myself extended our stay another day helping out frogs and also doing some souvenir shopping.

The day after we returned to La MICA the class took another day trip this time to Santa Rosa (a sugar refinery), a small town for lunch, and El Cano (the archeological dig site were a few of my classmates are working). The sugar refinery smelt pretty bad but was really neat to see and El Cano was gorgeous and it was neat looking at the pottery, remains, and more that they have found.

The next day Courtney, Dan, and myself headed back to El Valle (yesterday) and continued working with frogs and eating really good food. We got to help catch katydids and worms, and then today we got to completely clean out and bleach 11 tanks, while trying not to lose any of the frogs. Tonight were watching Iron Man and in the morning we'll head back to La MICA and continue with research.

The glass frogs and Panamanian golden frogs are definitely my favorites. I would share some pictures with you but my computer doesn't like uploading photos while I'm in Panama.