Friday, August 3, 2012

Day Seven August 2nd

Day Seven August 2nd

Hola Minnesotans!
Today is August 2nd and we now are all very close to concluding our experiments and wrapping up our leaf cutter research. The day began off a little rough for me, last night TORRENTIAL rainfall kept me from uninterrupted slumber. After a nice breakfast consisting of rice, eggs, toast, and frrrruit we met up with Adrian, finalized some of our lab experiments, and then Dane, Mr. Holmes, and myself went on a beetle larvae retrieval mission in the forest. A few days ago my fellow colleague, Dane, chanced upon a group of rotting logs tucked away by the river. Gabrielle asked us to search the logs for beetles after he had left and collect anything we found for a scientific study he and Adrian were contracted to carry out. So today we went in search for beetle larvae and found quite a few creepy crawlies. First, Mr. Holmes found an earthworm inside of one of the logs that was bright blue (we asked both Adrian and Pablo and neither of them knew why it was blue!). After that Dane hit the larvae jackpot, and we put several of them in a Tupperware bin to bring back to the lab, they were around 2 inches long! The last creature our epic trio found was a a spider. This wasn't just any spider, it was probably the ugliest living thing we've seen yet. It was  light brown and not too big, but for some reason it looked very prehistoric and a little like a dried up octopus. Dane spotted right away that the spider had huge fangs and venom sacs, so we decided to put that in a plastic Tupperware bin as well, to save it for later until we could talk to Pablo. Turns out it's a very poisonous spider, it's Spanish name roughly translates to "horse spider", and Pablo has scars on his hands from the bite of a horse spider. Pablo told us the story behind it's name: it's venomous bite is so powerful that if a horse gets bit by one in the leg or foot it loses the corresponding hoof for over a year. Jumping back to the original mission, as we were leaving the beetle hotspot and traveling back across the river by hopping from one slick rock to the next, Dane took a spill. He fell on a deceptively slippery boulder and landed hard on his tailbone, as I'm typing I  can hear him saying "Dude. My butt hurts." After he fell the first time, he slipped once more only this time instead of falling, he stuck his hand out to the nearest overhanging tree. Unfortunately for him, the tree he grabbed was a type of Palm with massive thorns/spines, many of which punctured his skin and broke off the tree, remaining in his hand and wrist. So that was fun! Following that ordeal and a very good lunch (lasagna), everyone piled into a pickup truck and range rover for a long drive to a special rainforest reservation-type-deal owned by an acquaintance of Pablo and Ana's. The owners of the property try very hard at keeping excessive amounts of people out of the primary forest (a very old and well established woods) as a means of preserving the natural beauty. Our group was very lucky to be allowed entry and man oh man was it great! The plot of land had hot springs and several waterfalls, which we toured as a group for a few hours. We got to see 3 different major falls, exploring and swimming in each one (the water was nice and toasty :)). On our way back to Finca La Anita, the sky was the clearest its been since we got here last Friday, and the clarity of the volcanoes set against the rosy, gold sunset provided for a truly breathtaking view. Dinner was tasty as usual, with savory pork slabs and steamed vegetables followed by some sort of rainbow colored cake that was muy bueno! Now we're abut to cap off a great day with more late night field experiments with the leaf cutters. For the boys back home, this one goes out to you.

-Toshi Higashi <3 <3 <3

2 comments:

  1. Hey Tosh,

    Sounds like you're having a rootin-tootin good time, and frankly I'm a bit jealous! I'm liking all the photos that are popping up on this blog; my favorite is the one of you on the horse, though you looked a bit like an "oversize load" (nice pose in that picture by the way). Anyways I hope you're having an experience of a lifetime, and I would advise you to avoid getting bitten by horse spiders or any other creatures that may result in you loosing any "hooves":)

    Love,
    Sis

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  2. Hey Toshi,
    I miss you buddy, hope your trip is going well. When you come home you should bring me some cool plants and animals from costa rica.
    Thanks,
    -Sam Illies
    P.S. We built the native american TP. It is so cool you gotta come see it. TTFN

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