We had been warned that the howler monkeys might wake us up around 4:30am. I wore earplugs. I awoke around 5:30 and though I did hear the monkeys I was ready to get up. I went to our meeting area where others were already bird watching. Thank goodness one of the participants was fairly familiar with Costa Rican birds and he was able to identify some. We helped each other spot them; I had no idea if we were seeing something fairly common or rare because they were all new to me! (In the far right background where a tree transitions to the ocean you can see three birds perched.)
We had an introductory class then hiked down to the intertidal zone. We stopped and looked at many things, but you can only see an intertidal zone at low tide so we were encouraged to speed up.
I admit, I am more of a “stop and look” hiker so I usually end up in the back. By the time I carefully climbed over the rocks most of the group was seated and instruction had begun. There were so many things to see and the waves made hearing a bit difficult. I watched crabs skitter across rocks. I saw shells creep. There is a lot to consider in the intertidal zone. How do organisms protect themselves from the waves and rocks? How do they handle salt water? How do they adapt to the changing tides? Are they camouflaged and why? We spent some personal time observing an organism. I’m still not sure what mine was.
We had a bit of free time to enjoy the warm ocean. I joined a few women and we talked while jumping the waves. We hiked back and took some time to observe the diverse life.
Capuchin monkey!
Meals were always delicious and fresh. There was a large round table with some long tables facing the ocean. Meals were excellent times to get to know others better and we all did a good job of mingling with those we hadn’t spent as much time with.
We all moved to our next session which was at the yoga studio to begin learning and practicing pieces of biomimicry. Since my room was above the meeting area I had yet to see much of the property. The trail to the yoga studio was nice and the view of the ocean was distracting.
After dinner it was time for the night hike! This was my favorite. We were given instructions to use our flashlights sparingly and when using them to put the flashlight on one side of our face next to our eye so what we were seeing would be illuminated. And try to have the light around the organism and not in its eyes. It was amazing doing a night hike with naturalist Chris who grew up in Costa Rica who knew how to handle what we saw and teach us about the organism. We saw a sleeping toucan, red-eyed tree frog, cacao pod, ceiba tree (sacred), fungi, and a whip scorpion of Harry Potter fame. For those of us who kept hiking after the required hike, we were out for about 4 hours. We probably only covered 1.5 miles. We were hiking for observation and not for speed!
