We have made it to La Anita Rainforest Ranch. Some of us met at 2am at the front circle at SG, others joined us at Logan at 4am, and the rest of the crew met us around 11:30am in Miami. We had a longer layover in Miami due to some thunderstorms but everyone seemed more than okay with having a little time to relax and get some food. We landed in Liberia, Costa Rica about two hours late as a result. At the airport we met John Doleman, the director of the program and got organized.
On our way to the rainforest ranch, we stopped in Liberia for lunch. The food was excellent - fresh fish, chicken, or veggie options. After a good meal, everyone seemed happy to climb on the buses for a little ride out to the rainforest. The drive was about 2.5 hours passing by towns, volcanos, farms, schools, and lots of sites. It rained pretty heavily on the ride but lightened up as we arrived to La Anita. We got everyone settled into rooms and then met at "the deck" for a little orientation.
Pablo and Ana are the owners of La Anita and they introduced us to the rules and expectations of this beautiful site. We all feel lucky to be spending time with them in their amazing facility. Then, everyone got fitted for their rubber boots that they will be wearing everywhere while out here before having dinner in the main building. We had another delicious meal and the cooks are already aware of food allergies - and happily customizing meals wherever that is needed.
After dinner students are heading back to their rooms to gather passports and cellphones to store in the faculty safe. There is not much access to wifi here, so we will be using almost all communication through email. As I mentioned before, in case of an emergency please contact La Anita Rainforest Ranch directly. If you have anything non-emergency information to pass along, you can email me or Bob as we will check email regularly when we can. Students will also have access to the computers to send out personal emails when they need to do that as well.
Students are going to be in cabins by 9pm tonight because it has been a full day of travel. Breakfast will be at 7:30am, but there will be an optional rainforest walk at 6:30am before breakfast. After breakfast we will start to explore our surroundings more, sample some local chocolate, and start to get an idea for what the research opportunities will be.
Devon
Below are a few photos of La Anita and where we are staying:
Below are a few photos of La Anita and where we are staying:
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