Day 2 at Las Cruces Biological Field Station

Today was our first full research day in the field. My students (Cristy, Cecilly, and Jaiden) and I spent the entire day hiking to sites along the Rio Java in various stages of forest succession-from recent clear cuts/pasture lands to primary forest. Beautiful hiking, untold flora and fauna, and the river habitat changed along with the land use changes, as we had hypothesized. On the way back we hiked to a beautiful waterfall and stopped to allow Victoria, our Ngabe Bugle visitor and friend to point out medicinal and edible plants.
At dinner last night some of the mentors and students from North American tribes had a beautiful cultural exchange of  creation stories with our Ngabe Bugle elder, Armando. It was touching to witness and I felt fortunate to be able to assist in translating the exchange. I finished my day stargazing above the forest canopy in observation tower. Good, long day.

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