My Maiden Voyage

Tuesday was my first real field trip as a group and my first time in the Atlantic Ocean. All of the REU students arrived today and we had our first orientation meeting! The group is full of so many smart people and I know this summer is going to be a blast working with all of them!

There are 9 of us total and here are their names.
Immanuel- University of Puerto Rico                Angelica- University of Puerto Rico
Jonathan- University of Puerto Rico                 Kathryn- Virginia Tech
Kristina- Williams College                                Maureen- Stockton College
Nick- Connecticut                                           Me- Utah State University

Our first activity was to head into San Juan today and sign some paperwork and then to have fun! The bus ride was fun because we attempted to take group photos, yet we sadly failed in our attempts! We went to the largest mall in the Caribbean. Its literally the biggest building I've ever been into in my life! It has 3 levels of stores and then a skyscraper for the office building. Everyone in Puerto Rico seems to go there and its NEVER empty. Just strolling through the mall I saw every store that we have in our malls in Utah and then tons more that I had never even heard about!

        

     

For dinner we went to the beach and got Alcapurias, Coconuts, and Tacos! Then the best thing of all; Maureen took me through the Tide Pools and we had an amazing time finding shells, fish, sea fans, and crabs! It was so much fun! Its awesome being around other biology and ecology students because it gives us free reign to act like nerds. We literally walked around the tidal pool spouting off the scientific names and such of each organism. It was awesome! 

 

The sunset was beautiful!

 I'm holding a crab... first time!

 This is a special kind of rock called Coquina. Its a mixture of rock and red pigment!

Memorial Day

I've been here now for 5 days and have already had so many experiences that I will remember my whole life time.

Early Monday morning I went to collect soil samples with Ava and Bene. We trudged through the forest to find the roped off areas that are to remained untouched by human feet. I had to sterilize my hands, and then we plunged 20 centimeters into the thick, clay-like soil. We did this for a few other plots. It was nice getting to know them. Bene is a French doctorate student at Columbia University and Ava is her aid and she's also attends a college inside of Columbia University called, Barnard. It started raining lightly and then it gradually turned into an absolute downpour. I was drenched in a manner of minutes! It was fun.

This is after about 10 mins of raining!

When I finally returned and dried off, Omar took me to the El Yunque Rainforest on a hike. He knew everything about all the bugs and plants. I got to hold my first stick bug!

The two most amazing parts of El Yunque are the waterfalls and the fort on the top of Mt. Britton. There literally no mosquitoes here in Puerto Rico because the water is constantly moving and not allowing much time for the mosquito larvae to develop. So, as the water is constantly moving from the top of the mountain it falls over giant slabs of rock. Its the prettiest thing. 

On the top of Mt. Britton is a fort the American's built when they first arrived here to Puerto Rico. The view from the top allows them to see alot of the major ports. You can see the ocean from here! Its also located in what we call a dwarf forest because the water is constantly running down and foliage here don't get all the water they need. The best part of Mt. Britton is that's a cloud forest. This meaning the entire area grows within the clouds. So, I can consider myself a Furby now and breathed in a cloud. Its absolutely breathtaking!

More pictures of the mountain:

 

The descent from the mountain top was equally as beautiful... Omar even bought me some Alcapurias which are these banna bread/ corn meal meat pockets.. Greasy Good! It was quite the day and I'm loving this place more and more each day!

Here are a few fun facts about El Yunque-

Its the only National Rainforest in the USA.

This is one of the smallest orchid species found on the island. Its about the size of my pinky nail!

This is a Tody and is the size of a ping-pong ball- They should make him an Angry Bird character!

Lastly, this is Snail, and the lime-green section on its back is it's shell. They look just like a leaf when you first see them! There are so many species of animals here and its amazing!

                       

The Crib

Holy Cow! I was exhausted and I slept nearly 12 hours lastnight! I presume that I didn't eat any bugs because my mouth didn't have any weird flavors in it! I was able to meet a few of the other people living up here! Its about to get crowded though as the other REU students arrive!

The rainforest comes alive at night, I fell asleep listening to the Coqui frog and crickets chirping. The Coqui are  beautiful little frogs that make a sound like,"co....qui!" When you get a whole bunch of them together its a very calming and peaceful sound.

 This is just one of the species of coqui. Each species has their own sound they produce. Oh, and they live with us also! 

So, I decided to take you on a picture tour of my new home: Enjoy!

 This is where I do my laundry

 The Throne!

 

 Here's my bed!

 These little guys run around everywhere!

 We store our food in bins so the mice don't get in it!

 Visitor by the water fountain

 The dairy here is SO SO expensive.... I have to drink SOY MIlk! Yuck!

                              

 This is where I eat! Its the place I go to study, write, and eat.














Alright, there's the photo tour of my crib for the summer. Its got a lot of character!