San Jose and Manuel Antonio

On Friday we went on a walking tour of San Jose, which is a really pretty city.  There are a number of little parks every where.  The architecture is really interesting, a number of the buildings are modeled after buildings in Europe.  Did you know that San Jose was the third city in the world to have electricity?

Then 12.5 (one person was only there for half of the time) of us went to Manuel Antonio, which is a national park on the pacific coast.  It took us about 3 hours by bus to get there from San Jose and we stayed in a hostel Friday and Saturday night and came back Sunday afternoon.  On Saturday night as we were waking back from dinner we saw a baby sloth crawling along the telephone line to cross the street, it was one of the cutest things I have ever seen.  After a nice relaxing weekend with little sleep, (who can sleep in when there is so much exploring to do?) I am ready for another week!

San Jose

These are cork trees and they actually feel like cork does.

Pigeons are in every city

An indoor market.

San Jose is in a valley so you can see mountains in all directions.

the hostel- the open room was where we all stayed

Manuel Antonio National Park

the hostel

the hostel

Little shelled creatures make all of these lines in the sand

Hattie, Michael, and Emma

Margo, Maggie, Lauren, and Brandy 

This pelican was fishing while we walked along the beach.

Tide pools

Raccoons and monkeys try and steal you food and belongings.  This one was going for some bananas in the backpack.

Hanging out at the hostel

Lauren, Emma, Skye, Hattie

Beautiful sunset

Passing the time before the bus.

Maggie made a friend at the bus stop.

Murcielagos = Bats

I will be studying bats!  

My advisor is currently in Africa studying bats over there, but I met with his wife today, who also studies bats.  I will be going to an area called Tirimbina which is in the northern part of Costa Rica.  I will be recording the ultrasonic sounds of the bats in a populated area and in an undeveloped forest area near by.  I will then analyze all of the sounds to identify the number of species in each area.  What I am trying to find out is if there are more species in the populated area or in the forest.

I will be studying insect eating bats.  Insects will be attracted to the lights in the town.  Will there be more bat species on the town following the bugs, or will there only be a small number that have generalized to be able to live in the city?  Hopefully in a few months I will be able to answer that!

Molossus sinaloae: these bats have been found in the roofs of the houses.

A is where I live now in Sabanilla, which is part of San Jose (the capital).  

B is where I will be studying the bats.

First Day of Class

Yesterday was the first day going to school at the ACM (associated colleges of the midwest).  My host Mom showed me how to take the bus to school and I managed to do it by myself today!  Ok so I wasn't totally by myself, there are two other people who live a few houses in either direction of me that I took the bus with, but we all made it to school this morning with out help from our host mom's!

So far school is going well, a little hard, but not that much work.  I was supposed to meet my advisor today to learn about my research project but he is out of the country.  I talked to the director and I may end up switching advisors if this one doesn't have time.  I should find out tomorrow and will keep you posted.  This advisor studies bats, but the director mentioned that if the bats don't work the next possibility is sloths or insects or horses or dogs or something else...

Yesterday I got burnt enjoying the view from behind the building where school is, but it was worth it.  (Thanks Mom for the aloe.)

This is the view.  The part with all of the vines and the pink flowers is the wall around the backyard of the school.

This is where I was sitting with my class.  There are 15 of us, 3 men and 12 women.

This is the back of the building, the front is darker orangy color. 

The director of the program lives on a farm and brings bananas and other wonderful fruits, that I can't remember or pronounce the names, for us to eat.  These are the best bananas I have every had.  They are kept in a cage to keep the birds away from them.

Some of the beautiful flowers at the school.

 Luna, the two month old puppy that lives with my host family!  She is teething and loves shoes.

P.S Sorry there are only pictures from my school and inside the house it isn't very safe to carry my camera around the city where people can see it, apparently people will even take your phone out of your hand while you are talking on walking down the street.  Everything is just a beautiful outside of the walls are they are inside.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!

I hope you have a wonderful day, sorry I won't be there to celebrate with you.

Love, 

Amanda

I made it to Costa Rica!

I made it to Costa Rica, not that there was a question that I wouldn't make it, but I am here now!  So far what I have seen of the country is beautiful and amazing and that was just the drive from the airport to my host family's house.

Highlight of the day: Originally I thought my host family didn't have any pets, but last week they got a two month old puppy who is supper cute!  I think she is a mini schnauzer, basically a tiny little gray thing.  I will have my much needed puppy fix all the time!

Downside of the day: I am realizing how little Spanish I actually learned in school so I'm having a hard time speaking it, but understanding it is luckily not as hard.  My host family is very understanding and always willing to explain.
Some of my goals for this trip are to become more comfortable and more fluent with Spanish and to have a dream in Spanish. Those are both very much in reach!

I didn't want to be the annoying tourist hidden behind a camera today, but there will definitely be pictures soon.