Day 5 at Las Cruces Biological Field Station

Took my group to the headwaters of the Rio Java, just beyond the far northeast end of the Reserva. We hiked all the way up the Ridge Trail, which is the steepest of the rainforest trails to get there. Norys and Armando joined us for the hike with Senor Armando, a Ngabe-Bugle shaman, pointed out various rainforest medicinal plants. It was really interesting-but I struggled to get my students to wait for him. He is a tribal elder, so I expected a bit more patience and respect from my group-but they were in a hurry to explore the source of the Rio Java. Our final site was at an elevation of 4400ft and was nearly completely lined by bedrock with very little deposition. We finished our protocol (and the field portion of our study) and I dismissed the girls to do what they pleased while I hiked back more leisurely with Armando and Norys and we enjoyed the rainforest.
It was neat to see the entire river from source to mouth.

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