Palo Verde

This weekend's field trip took us to the northern Pacific province of Guanacaste. We visit Palo Verde National Park, which is one of the country's prime examples of a tropical dry rainforest. The foliage is visibly different with a thinner understory, more vines, compound leaves predominating, etc. It was very beautiful and was distinctly different from the other regions of the country I have been visiting! This park also hosts the second most important wetland area in all of Central America! The depression was massive and absolutely gorgeous - great for bird watching and frogs too!

We arrived Saturday around noon, ate lunch, and then headed our on a hike. We walked along a backroad and stopped at all species or sites of interest. It was a treat for me because we shared this field trip with the Plant Taxonomy class. At the beginning of the semester I had asked if I could attend Plant Tax field trips without taking the class and I was told no, but here I was getting to anyways! At one point I just broke out in a smile at the thought - again, God providing. =) It was fun to recognize a few families (and actually remember their features!) and learn about those that are unique to the tropics.

We returned for a lazy afternoon hang out on the patio (rocking chairs made this ideal), ate dinner, and then watched a jaw-droppingly gorgeous sunset.

After this, we went out for a night hike in search of frogs and other nocturnal amphibians. We spotted:

Again we stayed the night at the park's station. FUN FACT: The beds were all equipped with mosquito nets because the bugs in this area can be so bad.

We woke early this morning, ate breakfast, and then headed out on a hike, which would take us to the top of a ridge with a spectacular view of the wetlands.

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This view blew me away - no picture will ever do it justice. Honestly. So cool.