On Frogs

So, last night we found something pretty spectacular in our room. I’ll start by saying that there are certain animals Melana normally has me remove from the house. Among them are things that need to be removed by necessity, bats for example, and other creatures that need to be removed because they are harmless but exceptionally creepy. I know, I know, not all animals can be super models, but when it comes to what gets to stay and what needs to leave, I DO discriminate (apologies, Buddhists). There is really only one class of critters that regularly causes disagreements when Melana hands me their eviction notice. The animals in question are frogs. I like frogs! Frogs like to snack on airborne pests, and thrive under the same conditions that mosquitoes do. The more mosquitoes in the house, the more likely there are to be frogs in the house eating mosquitoes. Sadly, they seem to creep Melana out in a special way. For Melana, frogs are guilty of a crime of locomotion. They jump to get around, and this means that they are always only one jump away from her face. I’m not sure why frogs would be attracted to this piece of real estate among all the other surfaces they could jump to, but there you have it. 

So I regularly eject frogs from the house. Humanely. Biologists, don’t freak out. I have a special, non-soap washed cup I use to catch them and I don’t touch them unless they jump on me first. 

Last night, however. I met my equivalent of a celebrity. Check out this beauty.

That is a Caribbean red-eyed tree frog. A beautiful specimen. Tree frogs like this are often centerfolds for the rainforest and it’s not hard to see why. Their big, red eyes and painted underside make them stand out against a white backdrop. When in trees, however, they are shockingly difficult to spot. They are just spectacular. 

Frogs have a special place in my heart due to the class of animals they belong to. Amphibians often get a bad rap. Like, Vanilla Ice bad. Folks think they’re slimy, gross, disease spreading, etc. Little boys smash them with rocks and little girls step on them after little boys put them in said little girls’ hair. 

Amphibians are the most threatened class of animals that exist today. Because of their permeable skin and sensitivity to climate changes, amphibians experience extinction and habitat destruction at alarming rates. The run-off from a single farm can be enough to poison a stream for all amphibians that live there.

Amphibians are not only important because they represent an evolutionary link that ties vertebrates to the ocean, but they also control mosquito populations in some of the most malaria ridden areas of the world. By the way, whereas many animals only eat airborne mosquitoes, frogs newts and salamanders will often inhabit the same areas where mosquitoes lay their eggs and also eat many of the larva before they can leave their nursery pool. Additionally they and provide important links in the food chain wherever they occur.

If you are interested in amphibian conservation and what’s being done in your area, you can get information at any local aquarium or zoo. Also, you can check online at http://amphibiaweb.org/maps/index.html to find out about amphibians that live near you!

Lucy continues to grow.

She's getting big!

Nerd Power!

Above: What work looks like for me some days

Today I will, once again, work to answering the ever nagging question: What exactly do I do everyday?

Normally, every day is different but I thought I would share some projects that I have been working on with you. 

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on developing a computer laboratory in the local high school. 

The room selected had been a storage room for the library and had been cleared out about two months ago. It was small, cement and completely unwired save for a line of florescent lights in the ceiling. I spent a few hours a day for the first couple of weeks installing desks with the shop teacher. He directed me in the fine arts of making cheap materials look nice and he even let me bevel! After we installed the desks (simple plywood beveled down and then stained) we had to wire the room. 

All things electronic tend to get me irrationally excited so I loved this part of the project. I got to sit down with a big spool of electrical wire and ethernet cord and run electrical wiring through PVC piping around the entirety of the room before installing outlets to pop out through the desks at each computer station. 

After electrifying the room, I sat down with the ethernet cord and stripped and put heads on about 30 different pieces. You know that little plastic head that fits into your computer? I went ahead and put those on. Pretty easy to learn, but it was so cool to do!

After that I had to return to the states for about 2 1/2 weeks and, sadly missed much of the work with the computers and final electrical wiring.

The other day, however, I was able to participate in the installation of about 15 disembodied hard disks that were stacked in a corner awaiting installation. When I entered the room and dusted off my first lobotomized computer and attempted to bring it back to life I knew I was in for a treat. As I brushed off the faded “Made for Windows 2000!” advertisements, I wondered just how much fun bringing these computers back from the great beyond would be. I spent a good three hours taking apart these modern antiques. I’ve included some pictures below for your enjoyment. It is my hope, that after this laboratory is finished, the average high school student will have a place where they can feel free to explore the internet and pursue academic or personal interests in the carefree nature that many US students take for granted.  

Below: Everything that used to be in the storage room. 

Below: one of the computers in need of a hard drive

 Below: Various hard drives stacked for my convenience

Above: the wiring we were working with along with the ethernet cabled that I had to "head" - go ahead and take a look at one of these sometime, they're surprisingly intricate

Below: the room as it was when I put everything back. Only a few more steps to go!

More Lucy!

Lucy continues to grow and be generally adorable. I'll be posting more pictures periodically.


She's much healthier that she was when we got her and has befriended Melana's dog, Lisa. You may remember Lisa from some films as "The Tour of Our House".

And with Rainy Season...

Come rainy season bugs!!

Ok, seriously? Look at the size of this fly.

The swarms of mosquitoes are one thing. The ants, I can deal with. The cockroaches, fine.

What in the name of great googly moogly is a fly doing that big?

Not to mention the giant beetles that clumsily fling themselves through the house, drunkenly smashing into things and occasionally KNOCKING THEM OVER.

Melana has charged me with removing all things that creep, crawl and/or fly from the house. (except for geckos, we like geckos)

It's like living in the Carboniferous period down here sometimes. (look it up, kids!)



PS - This is not my pictures... but we've seen this guy! I swept him out of the house with a broom. He came back in twice before I finally threw him into the jungle.

Rainy Season

June has been the start of the rainy season in the north of Costa Rica. Of course, because of the micro-climates that the country has, each region experiences the change in seasons differently. You see, true rainy season for the majority of the country doesn't really start until late summer or early fall in the States. Here, however, it never really ends.

My host father described the dry season in the northern provinces perfectly one day when he said,
 "There will be absolutely no rain for three months. Totally dry."
I: "Wow, no rain at all?"
He: "None"
I: "What happens to all your crops? Do you have to bring water in from the river?"
He: "Sometimes, but it's not that important."
I: "How do all your crops survive with no water?"
He: "Oh,  it rains at night, of course."

And so you have an accurate description of the weather in northern Alajuela province. It rains all the time.

So, when I say that we had the start of the rainy season this month, what I really mean is that we've gone from midnight sprinkles to late afternoon torrential downpours. It just gets so hot during the day that the rising hot air creates some serious thunderstorms as the day tries to cool down around four or five o'clock.
...And in Costa Rica, they don't mess around with their thunderstorms. It gets so loud in the house from the falling rain that Melana and I cannot understand each other even if we're yelling while standing right next to each other.
The rain might be loud, but nothing compares to the lightning strikes that can happen all around us and the thunder that follows it, sometimes only barely. Often, when there is flooding in town, we lose electricity and huddle excitedly in the darkness and watch the flashing sky as the rain around us turns into an indistinguishable rush of sound. This auditory overload coupled with the near visual black out seems to turn our little wooden house in the jungle into a ship adrift in stormy seas.

It is not often in the more developed parts of the world that nature snatches from us all distraction and forces us to face it head on. When it does, the circumstances are often so dire that fear and tragedy become the prominent distractions. But when, as in our situation, our modern diversions are pulled from us at low enough a threshold as to withhold any real threat of mortal peril, nature reveals itself to be a thing a great beauty, even in the darkest of storms.

A view from our living room.

Beautiful sunsets are not uncommon around Costa Rica. In the last week or so, however, they have been uncommonly beautiful.

At times the sky and all the world of twilight resonates with a deep pink or even green depending on the weather.

Here are two of the sights we were treated to as the rainy season started last week.

Chickens!

Along with our new puppy. Melana and I have decided to start raising some farm animals of our own. So I went to the store a bought some chicks.

I'm going to start building a home for them soon. Pictures to come!

Lucy

Well, Melana and I just had to adopt some animals of our own.

So, Melana talked to our host family and got me a puppy... and here she is!

We don't know how big she's going to get, but her mother is a Lab. We'll see!