Officially re-activating this blog again!
Beinvenido
It's my plan to keep this up to date weekly or bi-weekly while I'm living in Costa Rica for the winter. Check in every now and again.
No one wants a minute-by-minute description when it comes to
blog posts. This is the place for
summarized highlights and good pics…. right?
Since it has been 10 months since my last post, I’ll do us all a favor
and summarize each month in a couple of sentences.
February 2012: working
at the University
of Oregon and completely
occupied with taking the written portion of my doctoral exams. Anyone that peeked into this weird distorted
world of a 6 week written doctoral exam will concur, I turned into a basement
dwelling (that’s where my office is) crazy lady. Thanks for the dinners and other support I
received from folks …. priceless.
March 2012: completely occupied with finishing the last two
weeks of the written portion of my doctoral exam and then studying/reviewing
for the oral portion of the exam.
April 2012: passed my
doctoral exams (oral and written) with flying colors. Reintroduced myself to my family and friends
that tolerated my exam-induced disappearance from the world. Celebrated my 42nd birthday on the
26th.
May 2012: Took a couple of breathes and regrouped. Got my cute little house in Eugene all set for renting out. Thank goodness I have such rad renters! Did a 5 day rafting trip on the Rogue River with the Bourghs group and my bestee
Elissa. AWESOME.
June 2012: finished
off the school term at the University
of Oregon and then moved
to Hood River, OR, then White Salmon, WA. Started working at
Inter-Fluve, Inc. in Hood River,
OR. Summer solstice sunset over
the Columbia River was witnessed from the
Mosier Hills. Mount Hood and Adams were both
dressed in shades of pink and gold for the occasion.
July 2012: worked and
started applying for grants to complete my dissertation research on the
geomorphology of the Rio Pacuare, Costa Rica. This didn’t leave much
time for play but I snuck it in when I could. I also rather clumsily realized
the fact that the fab guy I had been dating (referred to from here on out
simply as Todd) had become a “boyfriend.”
August 2012: worked
and took one long guilt-free weekend away from grant writing or homeowner/landlord
maintenance to celebrate Todd’s 42nd birthday. This included Goat Rocks Wilderness and St Helens.
Yawwwza! Was awarded the SYLFF
International Doctoral Fellowship ----- not enough for the whole project but
this meant that my doctoral research in Costa Rica was “on” for
2012-2013. Yawwwza! again……
September 2012:
worked and did more grant writing. Finalized the refinancing of my house fully
into my name. Steve and I filed our
divorce papers together … and then celebrated together.
October 2012:
submitted a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation for the
doctoral research. This was a major
undertaking! Had a weekend at The Hill
with family (Dad’s birthday). Closed out
my work at Inter-Fluve until next spring.
Took one week in late October exploring Oregon’s southern coast with
Todd before we both ventured off on our winter journeys – he to Mexico and me
to Costa Rica.
November 2012:
arrived in Costa Rica! Moved into my studio apartment with an insane
view in Verbena/Turrialba in the home of my Costa Rican family. Since arriving here a month ago I have:
- visited two study sites on the Rio Pacuare for my research but non-stop tropical rains and transportation issues kept data collection to a minimum. I did get some of the bugs worked out of the methods though…..we’ll see what else comes up.
- solicited for and found a student field assistant (maybe a couple) one from the Universidad de Costa Rica extension campus in Turri and one from CATIE.
- enjoyed an awesome Thanksgiving dinner with CR family and new friends.
- had the help and company of my friend Amanda R. from Oregon for a few days.
- walked 40 minutes from my house through coffee plantations to a beautiful waterfall with Amanda, Brett, and Gerri.
- bought a suzuki samari 4x4 to access my field sites (I discovered that buying a car is no small tasks in CR). This removes the transportation issue ….. now I need the weather to cooperate.
- flew to the Osa Peninsula to complete the 5 day Wilderness First Responder certification courses (tropical lands style). Course was held at the Osa Conservation research center in the mountains near Corcavado.
- TODAY = the rain has ebbed and so I am prepping to go to the upper upper river tomorrow to get on this research. Game on!
Animal Sightings:
countless butterflies including morphos & owls; countless birds
including red macaws, green parrots, numerous hummingbirds, oro pendulas,
toucans, toucanettes, hawks, eagles, pajaros of many colors and songs, egrets,
cranes, etc.; a lanky blond wolf-looking coyote up in the mountains; howler
monkeys; 3 terciopelo pit vipers, 1 bright green parrot snake; and countless
insects and spiders. Costa Rica is
bountiful!
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