May 30
We got
up nice and early, around 5 a.m. to go bird watching in the rainforest near
the Learning Center. Getting up at 5am sounds early but the birds are a built in alarm clock. As the sun starts to rise the birds start their song. You know the sun is coming before you can see it! After getting coffee and pan, spanish bread, we began our four hour
long hike into the rainforest. Because it had rained the night before the ground was soggy. We each grabbed a pair of rubber boots and headed off towards the cloud forest. Along the way, we saw a variety of new birds and
plants and many of us were able to have “teaching moments” about the things we
saw. Before we left Arizona, Dr Mo had each of us choose one plant, one animal and one interesting fact so we could be the group experts in this area. Our teaching moment was an opportunity to share with the group what we learned about our selected topices. Dr. Mo made sure Margherita knew our topics so she could point them out. There were a lot of birds to hear and many to see. Bird watching takes time, patients and quiet! The birds are so colorful here. Tanagers were black with deep red breasts. Yellow thigh finces were tiny birds that had small yellow poofy feathers at the tops of their legs. There were wrens, hawks, Trogans, sparrows, toucanettes and warblers etc. Adrian, Dr Mo, and Margherita ran back and forth with binoculars in hand trying to find the birds so we could take a peek. Margherita could hear a bird and name it. Amazing! We also saw multiple caterpillars and millipedes on our walk. Once we left the main road and entered the cloud forest trail our path started to climb. Slipping and sinking in the mud added to our laughter.
Boots would get stuck and at times pulling our legs out left the boot still submerged. Half way along thecloud forest trail
we stopped to have boxed breakfast. Nestled in our containers we found fruit, bread, cheese and a hard boiled egg. Every meal was delicious! After our short stop to eat we continued on towards the river.
The hike through the cloud forest was strenuous, but definitely rewarding. The
river was a beautiful sight to see in the middle of the cloud forest. As a group we worked to get across the river stone by stone. Yep, some of us fell in while others made it across without a wabble. Once on the other side of the river we explored the vegetation. The Poor Man's Umbrella was 'huge'. They were so big a few of us could fit under each one. The hike
back to the lodge was really muddy and slippery.
After a
delicious lunch cooked by Blanca, we started our cloud forest field project for
Armonia Natural Learning Center. We were split up into three groups and were
responsible for cataloging five leaves in each of our sections on the nature trail. One
group had an agricultural area, one group had a light gap and one group was in
a regenerated part of the forest. To prepare for our research project each group received a maker, plant staking tape and a plastic bag. With these tools were were to collect, mark and record our leaves. We each had a job in our groups. Once person was responsible for recording our groups data, one collected the sample and the other person tagged the plant and took a picture. The goal was for us to gather a sampling of the plants found on the nature trail in this area to start a record of the plants in the area. We saw really large plants, such as the Poor
Man’s Umbrella and the large plantain trees, it was a great experience and it
was fun to be able to give back to the community through our research. We returned to the lodge with our plant treasures and as a group attached our finding to a large piece of paper that would aid our research presentation scheduled for later that evening. Ffinally we were able to shower and wash off the mud, and then were able to relax
and enjoy the rain. The rain storm intensified and before we knew it we were sitting in darkness! The storm caused a power outage leaving us in the dark enjoying the sounds of the rain and lightening show. Lanterns were gathered and lit to help us see. We sat around the table talking and telling stories. It turned out to be a fun time, memorable
nonetheless.
We got
up nice and early, around 5 a.m. to go bird watching in the rainforest near
the Learning Center. Getting up at 5am sounds early but the birds are a built in alarm clock. As the sun starts to rise the birds start their song. You know the sun is coming before you can see it! After getting coffee and pan, spanish bread, we began our four hour
long hike into the rainforest. Because it had rained the night before the ground was soggy. We each grabbed a pair of rubber boots and headed off towards the cloud forest. Along the way, we saw a variety of new birds and
plants and many of us were able to have “teaching moments” about the things we
saw. Before we left Arizona, Dr Mo had each of us choose one plant, one animal and one interesting fact so we could be the group experts in this area. Our teaching moment was an opportunity to share with the group what we learned about our selected topices. Dr. Mo made sure Margherita knew our topics so she could point them out. There were a lot of birds to hear and many to see. Bird watching takes time, patients and quiet! The birds are so colorful here. Tanagers were black with deep red breasts. Yellow thigh finces were tiny birds that had small yellow poofy feathers at the tops of their legs. There were wrens, hawks, Trogans, sparrows, toucanettes and warblers etc. Adrian, Dr Mo, and Margherita ran back and forth with binoculars in hand trying to find the birds so we could take a peek. Margherita could hear a bird and name it. Amazing! We also saw multiple caterpillars and millipedes on our walk. Once we left the main road and entered the cloud forest trail our path started to climb. Slipping and sinking in the mud added to our laughter. 
Boots would get stuck and at times pulling our legs out left the boot still submerged. Half way along thecloud forest trail
we stopped to have boxed breakfast. Nestled in our containers we found fruit, bread, cheese and a hard boiled egg. Every meal was delicious! After our short stop to eat we continued on towards the river.
The hike through the cloud forest was strenuous, but definitely rewarding. The
river was a beautiful sight to see in the middle of the cloud forest. As a group we worked to get across the river stone by stone. Yep, some of us fell in while others made it across without a wabble. Once on the other side of the river we explored the vegetation. The Poor Man's Umbrella was 'huge'. They were so big a few of us could fit under each one. The hike
back to the lodge was really muddy and slippery. 
After a
delicious lunch cooked by Blanca, we started our cloud forest field project for
Armonia Natural Learning Center. We were split up into three groups and were
responsible for cataloging five leaves in each of our sections on the nature trail. One
group had an agricultural area, one group had a light gap and one group was in
a regenerated part of the forest. To prepare for our research project each group received a maker, plant staking tape and a plastic bag. With these tools were were to collect, mark and record our leaves. We each had a job in our groups. Once person was responsible for recording our groups data, one collected the sample and the other person tagged the plant and took a picture. The goal was for us to gather a sampling of the plants found on the nature trail in this area to start a record of the plants in the area. We saw really large plants, such as the Poor
Man’s Umbrella and the large plantain trees, it was a great experience and it
was fun to be able to give back to the community through our research. We returned to the lodge with our plant treasures and as a group attached our finding to a large piece of paper that would aid our research presentation scheduled for later that evening. Ffinally we were able to shower and wash off the mud, and then were able to relax
and enjoy the rain. The rain storm intensified and before we knew it we were sitting in darkness! The storm caused a power outage leaving us in the dark enjoying the sounds of the rain and lightening show. Lanterns were gathered and lit to help us see. We sat around the table talking and telling stories. It turned out to be a fun time, memorable
nonetheless.
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