No hubo invierno

So, I've been away for a bit. Last Saturday a student's father, who is a naturalist, invited all of the teachers on an overnight. Sunday internet wasn't working so blog updates did not happen. So here I am. Two weeks later. And here is my favorite story: This morning my landlady knocked on my door. I thought, as I always do, that I was in trouble. Was I washing clothes too early in the morning? Was there a leak somewhere? Was I making too much noise with the blender? Nope. She just wanted to show me the hummingbird that had crashed into her window. It was too dazed to fly away, so it sat quietly on her finger with it's thread like tongue (is it even a tongue?) flicking in and out. I took some pictures, but they will not appear here for awhile. This made me extremely content for two reasons:
1. Hummingbirds are beautiful and I am glad to have them in my daily life.
2. My landlady is wonderful and thoughtful. I was touched that she would bring me such a treat. Sometimes she brings me cookies or fruit. I am lucky to live where I do.

My trip to San Gerardo, which was amazing, told in photos:
We drove about 30 minutes to the Santa Elena Reserve and then had to hike down to the station. What kind of station? I don't know, it seemed like a hotel to me, but they call it the station. Our guide, Mark, is wonderful and patient and kind and took his time to explain plants along the way in a useful, clear way. This is the first plant he showed us:


He taught with questions, which I really like. Knowledge sticks better for me this way. He asked: What kind of animal do you think feeds off this flower? We were silent. What do we notice about this flower? We were silent. Is it wide or skinny? Does it have bright colors? We determined that this flower gave food to a bat. Wide for a big bat with a wide face and not brightly colored because it doesn't need to grab attention during the day. This flower is in the African violet family. I think.


The walk down on the main road. About halfway down we took a trail that looked more like, well, a trail.


And this is where I realize that some pieces have fallen out of my head in the last two weeks. This is an orchid. You can tell orchids are orchids because they all have these two bulbs at the base. The word "orchid" in Greek translates to "testicle". Orchids are testicle plants. The woman next to me leans over and whispers, "That's funny, because orchids look like vaginas."


This is the only carniverous plant in the area.The top part is a flower and this is a bulb in the roots. Somehow, it convinces ants to burrow into it (the promise of food?) and then it keeps the ant in the bulb and digests it to get nutrients.


How do they do this without rulers???



Dark and foggy in the afternoon forest.


Arrival at the station was magical.


Our view from the balcony that evening. Can you see Lake Arenal? Volcano Arenal?



Chillin' before dinner.


The view the next morning. You can just make out Lake Arenal on the left.


Yummy breakast.



This horrendous beast was there to share food with us. You could watch him munch away on the fly. I did not gag, or vomit, or cry, even though I thought about doing all three. At the same time. I just took some pictures and then walked away.


Monkeys up in the tree.



Seed packet.


Blue morpho butterfly.



Hibiscus fruit tastes like...nothing.



Blue morpho wings on my knee.




Butterfly that didn't fly away.



The cool thing about this little dude is the bright orange patch of skin he has under his throat. We also learned that most lizards need to move according to climate to survive, but this guy can stay in one place and regulate himself to different temperatures. This means he can have territory that other lizards like himself will not occupy. The trade off is he can't move as quickly or as agilely as others.



At last, right before we left, we got to see the volcano! You can see it smoking. It lay dormant for hundreds of years and then in July 1968 erupted and has been active ever since. There were changes in the land in the years leading up to the 1968 eruption. The lake on the top of the volcano dried up and all the fish died. Cows would not drink out of streams that they had been using for decades.


Little boy boots.