Rock River Rain ..... and the holidays

Each of my six rainy season field sites on the Rio Pacuare is different and each day’s weather differs from the forecast predictions of the night before -- ranging from deluge to clear and sunny.  Field work in the tropics is an incredible lesson in flexibility, evaluation, and decision making.  Then ... how might one go about measuring, counting, and surveying all of these rocks and the raging river that delivers them?

Tres Equis site boulder bar

setting control points in bedrock - Mollejones canyon site

Good condition section of an access road

Access to all sites is on 4x4 single track dirt roads of varying condition that twist and drop or climb through the jungle or next to partially cleared small scale fincas of sugar cane or cattle and often through creeks that swell quickly with rains.  So far my 1988 Samari 4x4 (I have named Mula) has putted through the bumber-high mud and crawled over steep rocky grades.  Sometimes the road turns into more of a foot path deeply pocked with the prints of horses that are used by the farmers or the indigenous Cabecar that traverse these bi-ways from their lands within the reserves along the Pacuare and Chirripo. At those points the field gear goes into our packs and we walk the remaining meters or miles to the sites.  

With the help of my great field assistant Octavio as of Friday I have set up 6 field sites for rainy season data collection.  Now I wait for some serious rain that will make the river rise over the boulders ,,,, and then we will return to measure the changes at each site.  

On Friday we were at a site in the upper sections of the river.  We parked at the end of a small steep spur road next to a trail that leads to a foot bridge over the river and into the indigenous reserve.  On the other side of the river we walked downstream a bit to my most upstream rainy season field site.  A mix of rain and sun throughout the day led to quickly shifting clouds that sometimes clung to steep surrounding mountains thickly vegetated with jungle. In the late afternoon two Cabecar fishermen walked up the river casting their nets into the current.  The river is strong here but they moved slowly upstream with each cast - dangerous.  Their lives are tranquil but hard, and dependent on this river that transects their lands. 

Cabecar fisherman casting his net in the Rio Pacuare near Paso Marcos -- Dec 28, 2012

Some have asked ….. so here are a few sentences about my research and why I am in Costa Rica working on the Rio Pacuare: I am interested in the sediment transport of bedload material (gravels to large boulders) in tropical mountain rivers and how this relates to channel form and system connectivity in such dynamic systems.  I am also interested in how the bedload transport/geomorphology will be affected by changes in discharge related to dam construction and/or climate change – both very real threats. Thus, my field sites are depositional areas (boulder bars) within the active channel (area that is flooded frequently) in the geomorphic reaches (characteristically different sections) of the mountainous Rio Pacuare.   

I dig my office!

If anyone is interested in the details of my doctoral research drop me an email and I’ll send you the proposal.

The holiday season in Costa Rica is full of festivals.  And though field work has limited my participation in a lot of the activities, I have joined in here and there with my Costa Rican family.  Making, sharing, and eating tamales is a big holiday tradition here.  And lucky me, the women in my CR family make some of the best tasting tamales in Costa Rica – and I was able to help out.   We ended up ~75-80 of them.

Angela and Geri and me -- making tamales

In CR tamales are wrapped in banana leaves and then cooked in water in big pots -- most commonly over an outside fire. In the days leading up to Christmas the smell of wood smoke and cooking tamales permeated the country side.

Winter Solstice – my favorite day of the year! was shared with friends in Pavones on the other side of Turrialba valley.  A hike up the highest hill in Pavones with Kurt and his dogs for a vanilla sky sunset over the mountains marked the close of the solar year.  We returned to make and enjoy dinner with his family just as the clouds closed in and rain washed everything clean once again.

On Christmas eve I worked a 10 hour field day on the beautiful Rio Pacuare, returned home and made an apple pie in time for the family dinner.  Customarily the formal Christmas eve dinner is late and festive – we had dinner at 9:00pm.  This was followed by gifts, treats, and silliness.  And though I am not an obligatory gift giver on Christmas I did enjoy being included in the festivities.  It was especially fun to watch the three kids handing out the gifts to everyone and getting so excited about the gifts they received.  When I went to bed at 11:45 that night the party was still going strong.   

My Costa Rican family is so incredibly kind and good. I am grateful.

A few days ago I went on an early morning run on the dirt road that winds through the coffee and banana plantations below my apartment.  On my way back down the hill that I had just ran up minutes before, I saw a 1.5 meter long coral snake crossing the road slowly.  It was calm and made no never mind of me in its casual crossing into the vegetation on the other side of the road.  These are incredibly colorful and venomous (deathly) snakes but they are also non-aggressive if you don’t bother them.  I was able to get a look at it from just a couple of feet away --- so beautiful! Wish I had had my camera – but here’s an image from the internet.

 

Ready for the new calendar year to begin!  

December full moon from my apartment