Holy Shit

Our plane left New Jersey at 6am and we touched down in beautiful Costa Rica around 10ish (Costa Rica time). I caught my first glimpse of Costa Rican wildlife when our plane had to wait for an iguana to leave the runway before we could be taxied in.

Once outside of the airport Professor Shepherd and the two professors we brought to be our drivers (Vic and Jeff) left us to go rent vans. What happens when you leave 16 college kids alone for an hour (many who suddenly became a legal age to drink when entering Costa Rica)? They find beer. So, we sat outside drinking Imperial (the beer of Costa Rica) waiting for our lovely chaperones to come back for us.

We drove to a small town outside of San Juan where we had lunch before heading to Pocosol. At Pocosol we had to ditch our vans and get in “open air taxis” (cattle cars) to be driven another hour to the research station we were staying it. This taxi ride was one of my favorite parts of the trip. The views were absolutely breathtaking.

At one point we had to get out of the taxi’s and walk over this small wooden bridge because the cars weight would be too much with all of us in it to cross the bridge. On the walk over we heard Shepherd say “Holy Shit!” as he pointed at a gorgeous bird he had never seen before (a sunbittern). Pocosol Biological Station itself is a beautiful log cabin type place in the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. There was a tree full of ora pendula bird nests outside the station and a wonderful view of the rainforest.

They fed us a delicious meal when we got there. The freshest fruit I’ve ever had. We did a night hike after with our flashlights down to the lagoon. It had rained briefly and there was a ton of critters out. Ground toads, stick insects, scorpions, crabs, giant moths, and floor birds to name a few.

Here's a picture of Evan as we climbed up the mountain in the cattle car to Pocosol Biological Station.

Quote
"Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure."
-J.K. Rowling,