Rambutan

I am really on a roll with all these exotic fruits recently! Yesterday, after lunch, we knocked some ripe Rambutans (also called Mamon chinos here) off a tree that is absolutely full of them.
These fruits are related to lychees, but aren't as good (in my opinion -- lychees are one of my favorite fruits!). These rambutans look like little red spiny urchins (but they aren't sharp) and once you open the fruit, you see the ovoid seed inside covered with shiny squishy pulp. The taste reminds me of a sour green grape, but I like it.

Maracuya

I had my camera at home and took some pictures of our last maracuya (passion fruit). Here are three pictures showing the outside, halved fruit, and innards.
Yum. A lot of people use this fruit in juice, but you can also just eat the innards straight from the fruit. The pulp is a little sour and has a really slimy texture, but I like it.

Maracuya juice

Last night Carlos made some juice from some Maracuya fruits (AKA passion fruits). I don't have any pictures (I left my camera in the office) but the fruits are about the size navel oranges and shiny/waxy yellow on the outside. The inside is full of lots of little slimy orange/green seeds. Carlos makes the juice by sieving it through a strainer and adding milk and sugar. The final result is a really delicious creamy juice -- one of my favorites. We still have one fruit left so I will try to remember to take a picture later!

Nothing exciting

Hmmmm...nothing really exciting has been happening here, hence the dearth of blog posts. Blah. The days are starting to become rainier -- that means we are entering the wet season. Woo-hoo! I like the wet season here because it means (a) no more tourists and (b) more healthy plants and animals to see. I have been keeping busy here with field work and applying for fellowships. I am pretty stressed right now because I am having a hard time trying to plan out the rest of my summer and next fall semester. There are too many things that need to be juggled and in this profession "plan" is a word that doesn't fit into things too well. We shall see.

Oh yea, I am also scheduled to fly back to Miami for another few days on 3 May -- that really sneaked up on me! I don't know how long I will be there (for the shortest amount of time possible hopefully) since the length of stay is contingent upon my plans for next semester...which I haven't decided on yet...ARGH!

Chai

I really like Chai! This is a delicious tea that is really spicy and best flavored with lots of sugar and milk. I haven't had any chai for a while, but when I was in San Jose I was able to find a box and now I am able to have delicious chai every morning (but only for 20 mornings since there are only 20 packets). I should have bought more! I also bought some cinnamon hot chocolate for the mornings (I don't really drink coffee -- I prefer SUGAAAARRRRR!). hehe.

San Jose pictures

Here are a few pictures I took while at the hotel in San Jose. I try not to bring my camera with me when I am walking around the city because of the high stealability factor. Too bad. Well, San Jose is pretty ugly so I guess it's no real loss...

Here is a sitting area near our room at the hotel -- really nice and with a view of the pretty gardens. Squirrels like it here!

This is a really cool poster that I found in another part of the hotel. It depicts some of the birds and other animals you can see in Monteverde.

We're back!

Have you ever read the Book We're Back? It was one of my favorite stories as a little kid about dinosaurs who wander around New York -- it's really good.

Anyways, Carlos and I returned from San Jose two days ago, but the internet hasn't been working here so I couldn't make an update. We had a really nice time in the city starting with a delicious dinner and fun party on the night of 8 April for the OTS 45th anniversary celebration. We stayed at a great hotel and ate good meals and played in the mall the following day. We played skee-ball and video games in the mall's arcade before watching a movie -- Vantage Point -- that night then going back to the hotel. We came back to La Selva on Thursday and now I feel a bit more energized after getting away from the monotony here for a little bit. We also turned in permit renewals and bought some supplies in the city before we came home. We had a great time and were pretty busy, but it was fun. I will post some pictures in the next post once I get more caught up on e-mail things (and before the internet probably conks out again!).

San Jose trip tomorrow

Tomorrow Carlos and I, along with lots of other researchers in La Selva, are traveling to San Jose for the 45th anniversary of OTS (the Organization for Tropical Studies). The party includes a dinner at the restaurant Tin Jo (a really delicious pan-Asian restaurant) followed by a reception on the University of Costa Rica campus. I am excited to see my advisor there (along with a couple of other professors from my department).

While everyone heads back to the station after the party, Carlos and I are planning to stay for 2 nights in the city. We have to renew our permits and run a few more errands while we are there. On the list of things we plan on doing are:

- Visit the Mall San Pedro to play skee-ball and video games in the arcade and to watch a movie (although I have no idea as to what's playing)
- Haircut for Carlos
- Have a nice dinner at Lubnan (Mediterranean food)
- Go to the fancy grocery store for luxury food items (i.e. pretzels!)
- Relax and watch some TV at the hotel

This is a little "mini-vacation" for us (since we never take breaks/weekends from work) so it should be nice to just be away from the station for a couple of days.

White-crowned Parrot

There are a couple of White-crowned Parrots (Pionus senilis) that have made a nest in the trunk of a dead palm outside the lab. I see them quite often, but it has been difficult to get a good picture of them peeking out of the hole in the tree. I usually hear them scratching around and the baby(ies) squeaking around in the trunk. However, yesterday I was finally able to take a few good shots of one parent. They are so cute!

Boa II: The Return of BOA

There was another Boa constrictor hanging around the lab clearing -- this one is much bigger than the first one I saw. Here are some pictures.
This Boa was really nice, soft, and huggable. The most interesting thing about this Boa's skin was that the scales were iridescent, shining in a rainbow of colors. After taking a few pictures, we let this big Boa go back to the forest.

Kryzpo

I think I’ve mentioned before how the snack options are a little limited here in Costa Rica. The grocery store in Puerto Viejo doesn’t contain many of the brands that you find in the states, but there are a few interesting snack offerings. One snack that I thought I would try was Kryzpo. These chips looked like Pringles knock-offs in a smaller can. The most interesting chip flavor I could find was jamón ahumado (smoked ham). I tried some of these chips and they didn’t taste too bad...just different. They didn’t really taste like what I would think of as smoked ham though; Kryzpo had more of a light BBQ chip flavor -- but really heavy on the salt. I eventually finished the can (due to lack of other snack items, hehe) but I don’t think I will buy these again.

Thyroptera tricolor

Whew, I am glad that NaBloPoMo is over, but when I came into the office this morning and turned on my computer, I automatically logged into my blog! I guess I am in the daily blogging mode (for now). I will still try to post as much as I can (and if I have anything interesting!). Since I spent the last month making lists, there are a couple of things I saw that didn't fit into the listing category. One super-cool (and uncommon) animal that I was lucky to see was Thyroptera tricolor -- Spix's disk-winged bat. These bats are really small and delicate. They live inside the rolled-up leaves of Heliconia, Calathea, and banana plants. They stick to the sides of the leaf using little suction cups located on their thumbs and feet (you can see them in the pictures).

The little fella that I was able to photograph was captured and brought to the lab, where he stayed inside a large glass graduated cylinder. After getting a few pictures he was returned to the wild. I am always looking for Thyroptera in the field, but they are very difficult to find. Whenever I look into rolled-up leaves, I usually just end up finding huge spiders!