The Radisson of the Jungle
Aug. 1st, 2004 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Well, some researchers call La Selva Biological Research Station the Hilton of the Jungle, and those same researchers also refer to the Smithsonian Institution's Barro Colorado Island Research Station as the Radisson of the jungle. Now, I can see why! Once again we're in private, two-person rooms with our own bathrooms, we've got the higest-speed of the high-speed internet we've had the entire trip, and there's a gorgeous shoreline and all that. Quite a nice way to end our trip!
But first I'll back up a bit. The day before yesterday, July 30, was our last day as an OTS class, so at the end of the day we had our end-of-course dinner and party. It was, of course, a bittersweet event since it meant saying goodbye to people that I don't know if I'll ever see again. We tried to go dancing after our Costa Rican-Italian dinner, but the only bar close to Las Cruces was having a Karaoke night and so dancing didn't really happen. Oh well.
The following morning at 5 am was full of goodbyes and packing in preparation for the trip here. The goodbyes were hard, because the past 7 weeks were absolutely amazing and all of us have gotten to know each other so well over that time, since we've eaten, slept, drank, researched, learned, and partied together for the whole time. So it was a subdued, reduced group that headed towards Panama.
The trip to Panama occupied the entire day yesterday. We were whisked away by 6 am, and reached the Costa Rica-Panama border by 7:30. The border was the craziest border I've ever been to. We spent two hours going back and forth from one official building to another, paid a bit of money here, a bit of money there, got our visas and some other weird stamps, and finally we were through. The bus that we were on was smaller than the Pepto-Bismol Turismo bus that OTS used throughout the course, so it was a bit of a tight fit. That made sleeping rather challenging, so I spent most of the ride talking to a student named Ben, who is an avid birder and who has traveled all over the western U.S.
We were initially told that we were supposed to arrive at Gamboa, the place where the boat to BCI is moored, at 5:30 pm, and hop onto the boat shortly thereafter and go straight to the island. Yet it was 8:30 pm by the time we pulled up, after a smooth drive through Panama, so it was a bit frustrating to find that things weren't as well organized as they could have been. The only leadership that came with us was the course TA, so she made some frantic phone calls and was told to try and stay at the school in Gamboa. So it was a bit of an adventure last night. I woke up this morning to hear that we had to get moving ASAP, so I threw my stuff together and hightailed it to the boat. Then it was a 45-minute boat ride and now here I am.
BCI is an interesting place in many respects. The island was formed as part of the process of building the Panama Canal, so it has a pretty unique history. The fact that BCI is an island is great for many researchers because it limits the migration of many organisms and provides a nice, neat, packaged study system. However, this means that work from BCI is often criticized as not being representative of any larger tropical area. But at the same time, the problem with the tropics is that it is far from being a single, nice, neat, packaged study system--every place has its special quirks. So anyway, lots of interesting work is going on here these days, on all sorts of organisms, and it's a great place to check out.
But first I'll back up a bit. The day before yesterday, July 30, was our last day as an OTS class, so at the end of the day we had our end-of-course dinner and party. It was, of course, a bittersweet event since it meant saying goodbye to people that I don't know if I'll ever see again. We tried to go dancing after our Costa Rican-Italian dinner, but the only bar close to Las Cruces was having a Karaoke night and so dancing didn't really happen. Oh well.
The following morning at 5 am was full of goodbyes and packing in preparation for the trip here. The goodbyes were hard, because the past 7 weeks were absolutely amazing and all of us have gotten to know each other so well over that time, since we've eaten, slept, drank, researched, learned, and partied together for the whole time. So it was a subdued, reduced group that headed towards Panama.
The trip to Panama occupied the entire day yesterday. We were whisked away by 6 am, and reached the Costa Rica-Panama border by 7:30. The border was the craziest border I've ever been to. We spent two hours going back and forth from one official building to another, paid a bit of money here, a bit of money there, got our visas and some other weird stamps, and finally we were through. The bus that we were on was smaller than the Pepto-Bismol Turismo bus that OTS used throughout the course, so it was a bit of a tight fit. That made sleeping rather challenging, so I spent most of the ride talking to a student named Ben, who is an avid birder and who has traveled all over the western U.S.
We were initially told that we were supposed to arrive at Gamboa, the place where the boat to BCI is moored, at 5:30 pm, and hop onto the boat shortly thereafter and go straight to the island. Yet it was 8:30 pm by the time we pulled up, after a smooth drive through Panama, so it was a bit frustrating to find that things weren't as well organized as they could have been. The only leadership that came with us was the course TA, so she made some frantic phone calls and was told to try and stay at the school in Gamboa. So it was a bit of an adventure last night. I woke up this morning to hear that we had to get moving ASAP, so I threw my stuff together and hightailed it to the boat. Then it was a 45-minute boat ride and now here I am.
BCI is an interesting place in many respects. The island was formed as part of the process of building the Panama Canal, so it has a pretty unique history. The fact that BCI is an island is great for many researchers because it limits the migration of many organisms and provides a nice, neat, packaged study system. However, this means that work from BCI is often criticized as not being representative of any larger tropical area. But at the same time, the problem with the tropics is that it is far from being a single, nice, neat, packaged study system--every place has its special quirks. So anyway, lots of interesting work is going on here these days, on all sorts of organisms, and it's a great place to check out.