E. O. Wilson

Last Wednesday (22 August), Carlos and I along with my friend (and former OTS classmate) Arietta traveled to San Jose. The main goal of this trip was to pick up our renewed permits, but we also all wanted to see a much-publicized lecture by the eminent Dr. E. O. Wilson held that afternoon at the Unversity of Costa Rica. Well, when we went to the MINAE office to pick up our permits, they weren't there so we said we would pick them up in the future and next we all went out to lunch. We ate Italian food at a little restaurant near the university called Il Pomodoro. It was pretty good--especially the garlic bread. Next we ran errands until 1:30pm when we wandered over to the auditorium for the talk. E. O. Wilson is a pioneer biologist well-known for his extensive research on ants, sociobiology, and island biogeography. It was really great to see him give a talk. Afterwards, Carlos, Arietta, and I took a bus to the Automercado to pick up some groceries then took the last bus back to Puerto Viejo and called it a night.

More Moleman!

I went to San Jose a couple of days ago with Carlos to turn in the renewal reports for our research permits at MINAE--the ministry of energy and the environment in Costa Rica. This has to be done every 6 months. While in the city, we stopped by the San Pedro mall to watch the Simpsons movie. It was in English with Spanish subtitles (yippee!) and it was a pretty good movie. I definitely think that it coud have been better had they put in more scenes with Hans Moleman (see picture above if you have no idea who this is). He is my favorite Simpsons character and was most definitely underused in this movie, but it was still worth a see!

Days 10 & 11--Back to Costa Rica

After a busy day yesterday and a late night/early morning, I took a 10:30am bus from Morelia back to Mexico City with my friend Julia. We next took a taxi from the bus terminal to the airport, checked in, and walked around to find our gates (I was flying back to Costa Rica and Julia was headed back to Germany). We ran into Susan (who also was at the conference and works in La Selva too) and the three of us ate some food and waited until our flights boarded. Susan and I were on the same flight back to San José which left at 6pm Mexico time. We arrived in Costa Rica around 10pm and I met Carlos outside the airport around 10:30pm. We went back to the Dunn Inn and called it a night.

We spent the next day in the city and had a nice lunch at one of my favorite San José restaurants: a Lebanese restaurant called Lubnan. We ordered a “mezza para dos” (table for 2) which consisted of tons of little dishes of food. My favorites were the hummus, labne, cucumber yoghurt salad, falafel, and sweet pork on stick-things. There were a lot of great things to eat and I can’t even remember them all! We also went to the San Pedro Mall (near the University of Costa Rica) and watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I really liked this one (although it was my least favorite Harry Potter book). We spent another night at the Dunn Inn and left the next day for the bus back to Puerto Viejo Sarapiqui and La Selva. It was nice to take a relaxing break with Carlos since we are always working (day and night) on our respective dissertations when we are on-station. Mexico was great, but it was nice to come home to Costa Rica!

Day 9--ATBC day 4, Judgement Day

Today was the last day of the conference and, more importantly, the day that I gave my first presentation of my dissertation research! I woke up really early (due to nerves) and bought some snacks and water at a corner store before I went to the first talks of the morning. I had turned my talk in to the ATBC administration yesterday so that it would be prepared on the computer for today. I was scheduled to give my talk in the morning session of the symposium entitled “Seed dispersal and seed predation in Neotropical palms.” There were many people in this symposium that I was very excited to meet (since I had read all of their papers and they are working or have done work similar to mine). I watched the first four talks (which were excellent) while trying to calm my nerves. At 11:40am I got up on stage and after a brief introduction by the symposium organizers, I gave my talk. The room where this symposium was based was HUGE with a big stage, microphone, and everything. It was pretty intimidating and I was nervous at first, but after the first 2 slides, I hit my stride and was more comfortable. After my 15 minute talk, there was 5 minutes remaining for questions and I was able to field all of them with no problems. Phew! I was so glad that was over and everyone was very complimentary both towards my research and the talk itself--I felt very happy and relieved by this point and watched the last talk after mine before going to lunch.

I returned to the second half of this symposium after lunch and saw some more superb talks--this was by far the best symposium I attended at the conference (and not just because I was in it--ha!). By the end of the day I was pretty exhausted, but I met up with my friend Danielle and a few others for a quick dinner/snack before heading out to the ultimate fiesta of the ATBC 2007 conference. We had to take taxis there, but the venue was great. I chatted with a lot of people and soon the party really took off. There were tango dancers, a belly dancer, a guy twirling flags, a live band, people on stilts, and even a (fake) bull. The party ended at around 2am and we taxied back to the hostel to get some sleep. Tomorrow I take the bus back to Mexico City and fly back to Costa Rica.

Animal Rescue Team--GO!

Wow, this was a very interesting morning. It started off normal enough with Carlos and I making breakfast when we heard a little scratch at the front door. I opened it to reveal a small, quiet little puppy--Salchichita! Usually she zooms right in wagging her tail and jumping around wanting to be petted, but this morning she was slow and limping and she went straight to her little bed. She had a big cut under her armpit and a scratch on her back. She was also really bruised. It turns out she had a fight with a tamandua--an arboreal anteater that is bigger than she is. These things can be really mean and have sharp claws…you should never muck with them! Salchichita is OK now, she was given an injection of antibiotics by a vet and her wounds are clean and healing. We will take care of her some more tonight, but for the day, Carlos and I brought her to the neighbor’s house.

In more animal rescue news, an Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis) flew onto our screened-in porch wall this morning and started chirping at me. What the heck? I moved over to it and it just calmly walked up the screen using its beak and feet--this was obviously someone’s pet (though these are native and this guy was probably taken from the wild…grrrrr). We found a stick and got the parakeet onto it, but the parakeet walked onto Carlos’ finger and wanted to be petted. I fed it some bread and Carlos went next door to try and find a cage for it. Well, it turns out this little parakeet actually belonged to the neighbors! It accidentally flew out of their house and we returned it safe and sound. Woo-hoo, go-go Animal Rescue Team Alpha! It all started with that baby sloth!

Day 8--ATBC day 3

This morning my lab-mate Ana and I left the hostel on a mission: to find hot chocolate (of course!) and churros. Eventually we found a little café called Mesón Agustinos where I had a Chocolate Champurrado (hot chocolate thickened with a corn mixture called atole) and churros con sabor. The four flavors of my churros were: 1) cinnamon and sugar, 2) chocolate, 3) leche condensada (sweetened condensed milk), and 4) cajeta (caramel). They were really good and went well with my thick chocolate!


After breakfast, I went to the “Debating the tropical extinction crisis” symposium in the conference and stayed there for the morning listening to a lot of big-names talk about some (debatable) general trends in tropical ecology.

I had another lunch at the conference with friends then went to the “Multispecific interactions in changing environments” symposium. This was a really great set of talks and I spent the rest of the afternoon in this symposium. After viewing more posters, I went to this evening’s keynote speaker who talked about generalization and specialization between pollinators and plants.

Tonight was the ATBC banquet which started at 9pm but before we entered the Governor’s Palace to eat, there was a fireworks show staged in front of the cathedral. I couldn’t really believe that they were setting off huge fireworks right in front of the cathedral’s main entrance (this building is a UNESCO-designated world heritage site) where it could get damaged/burnt, but they were! The banquet was fun and I got to talk with one of my professor’s from UM about my field-work. Dinner wasn’t very delicious (mushroom soup = good, fish in mole sauce = blah, tequila ice cream = BARF!) but the venue was really pretty and spacious. The banquet was still going strong by 11:15pm and I had to have a good night’s sleep in order to be coherent while giving my talk tomorrow so I left and went back to the hostel. Tomorrow is the big day--my first presentation in an international conference!

Strawberries!

Weeeeeeeeee! I went to town today to get some supplies for my experiments and on the side of the road (near a bar called Y Griega) a farmer was selling STRAWBERRIES! These are really rare in this part of Costa Rica (but we have mangos, pineapples, and guanabanas everywhere) so I bought 2 bags. Yay!

Day 7--ATBC day 2

On the second day of the conference I really wanted to hear the keynote talk this morning (there are 2 keynote talks given by world-renowned tropical biologists each day: one in the morning and one in the evening). I arrived at the Centro Cultural Universitario at 8am for the 8:30 talk entitled “Ecological theory, political reality and the role of agroecosystems in a new conservation paradigm.” I enjoyed the talk and it is always interesting to see what the big-name biologists look like in person after getting a mental image from reading their papers and books! I spent the morning attending the Ecological Theory symposium (which was very popular and crowded).

I again ate lunch in the conference venue (a good sandwich on a baguette this time!) and for dessert we had popsicles--I ate two: horchata and pistachio. They were really good. After eating, I listened to talks in the Ecology and Conservation of Mammals oral session and enjoyed one talk on white-lipped peccaries. I spent the last half of the afternoon in a symposium on the use of agricultural landscapes in conservation and reforestation.

I met up with a big group of people (La Selva friends and UM friends) for early dinner around 7pm. We walked a short distance to Café Virrey, a café that bordered the main square and cathedral area. Here I ordered one of the more adventurous local foods on my trip: charolitos frescos de Patzcuaro. These are translated as “tiny fried lake fish (from the nearby Patzcuaro lake).” Other people at the table said that these were delicious and that I should try them--they would help me eat them. They were good (salty, battered fishies) but too spiny, bony, and full of exploding eyeballs for my taste. I also had a cream of avocado soup which was better. A couple of us went to a gelateria for dessert afterwards and I had a tasty mascarpone gelato.

This evening’s special event organized by the ATBC was a symphony within the cathedral which was very nice to see and hear. They played some classical songs and even had a special organ-playing guest for one song. This was a nice, low-key way to end the night.

Day 6--ATBC day 1

Today is the first day of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation (ATBC) conference with the first set of talks beginning at 10am (a little later than I expected). I spent the majority of my morning (10-12:20) in the Ecology of Seed Dispersal oral sessions and saw some great talks. The morning talks were mostly about bird-mediated seed dispersal and secondary seed dispersal by dung beetles. Interesting, but I would have enjoyed more mammal talks (what can I say…I’m biased!).

Lunch was pretty crazy, but included (each day) in the conference registration fee. I met up with Ana and we waited for ~half an hour (!) in line for sandwiches, salad, cake, and agua de jamaica.

After lunch, I listened to more talks in the second half of the Ecology of Seed Dispersal oral sessions. These talks were nice and more theoretical than this morning’s (which I liked). I also made sure to catch a talk on how seed dispersing bats in the New and Old Worlds affect forest succession--this talk was part of a bat symposium and was given by one of my committee members.

At 4:30pm, the poster session began in the Colegio San Nicolas de Hidalgo and I looked at all the posters for a little less than an hour. I met up for dinner with a group of friends around 6:30pm and I had more tacos before the special event of the evening (organized by ATBC). At 8:30pm, we went to a concert of Latin American music by a group named “Bola Suriana” in the Conservatorio de las Rosas (this is the same room/auditorium where I will give my talk on the last day of the conference!). I didn’t think I would like the concert but I actually did. The group played a variety of songs from many different genres with my favorites being those modeled on the style of indigenous Mexican music. Around 11pm I walked back to the hostel with Ana and Danielle for some sleep--what a busy but great first conference day!

Day 5--ATBC registration

Today was a relatively leisurely morning and I took my time getting ready and eating a snack before I headed back downtown for more exploration. I walked the four blocks to the main square and admired the huge cathedral and surrounding buildings, gazebo, park, and fountains.

After exploring and wandering, I walked to the (nearby) Colegio de San Nicolas de Hidalgo to register for the ATBC conference. This is one of the 4 buildings where talks will be held during the tropical biology conference. I received my registration kit and walked back to the hostel to check it out and plan which talks I would go to each day. The registration kit included: a pen (mine imploded after only one use!), a rattan folder, burlap-type bag (meh), a name tag, the program, CD of abstracts (> 700 of them!), and, the best thing, a souvenir rattan lizard!

I spent the rest of the afternoon resting and reading (and watching TV!) until my friend and lab-mate Ana arrived. We went back to the Colegio to get her registration taken care of then walked around downtown some more before the opening plenary talk tonight at 7pm. The talk was nice (if a little long) and afterwards there was a performance by a traditional Michoacan dance troupe. My favorite dance was when a guy was dressed like a big white fish and hopped around until he was caught in a net thrown out by the fishermen. The fish costume was really cute and even had a little tongue sticking out.

After the talk/performance (~9:30), Ana and I went out to dinner at Café Catedral. I had some really good chicken tacos (they weren’t spicy--yay!) and we met up with our fellow UM graduate students Tanya, David, Eric, and Nate. There are a lot of people here from my university! After dinner, we want back to the hostel for some sleep. Tomorrow is the first real day of the conference and the beginning of the talks!