A regular work week and a new beginning

This post begins my story time, rather than my laundry list of daily activities. We are starting normal field work not, and thus my daily routine is going to be the same for the next three months. So far, I'm really enjoying it. We work in teams of three, with two measuring and identifying trees and one data recorder. For my team, I record data while Tuber and Alejandro measure trees and yell info back to me. It's a very efficient system, and as Tuber can tell you, more efficient than other systems we tried :P We have thus far been making it through a little more than a quadrat (20m x 20m) per day, which is the goal that Chris and Jill had in mind for us! Success!

However, because our days have started to become a routine, I'm going to use this blog more as a descriptor of our not-so-usual goings on. For example, on Wednesday we had a few more arrivals into our room. The chronosequence people showed up, adding two more bodies to our room--Rocio from Maine, and Kathy from Hawaii. We also welcomed Morgan, who has been to the field station many times before. She used to live here in Puerto Rico, though now resides in Montana. She is back doing some last minute data for her lab, and is only here for the next few days. As I get to know her more and more, this fact makes me sadder and sadder. She is such and asset for all of us to have here, as her personality keeps us grounded and her experience on the island is vast and wholly beneficial. I am getting to know her really well, and it makes me sad that she is only here until this coming Thursday. Sadness. More stories involving Morgan to come, I'm sure.

As for the weather here on the island? On Thursday, we literally got rained out of the forest. We were working on our census when we started to feel some drops. Being hardy people, we obviously continued working, thinking nothing of it. Over the next few hours, some amount of water only slightly shy of the entire Atlantic ocean poured down on us in batches of 5-10 minutes of varying severity. One round was sprinkling, one round was literally a bucket being overturned, and another was a shower head with the pressure turned all the way up. And why did we finally decide to call it a day? Not because we were soaking wet (which we were); not because we couldn't see 20 feet in front of us because of all of the water falling (which it was); not because of the worry that we were going to slip and die on the walk back because of all of the water flowing (which I didn't quite do, but I did obtain a quality bruise on my butt). Nope. We turned in because we COULDN'T HEAR EACH OTHER OVER THE RAIN. We were four feet apart, yelling "THE DBH IS 55." "6?!" NO, 55." "9?!?" NO!!!!!!!"

The hilarious thing? El Yunque doesn't get enough rain to qualify it as a rain forest. It qualifies only as a "wet" forest. And after last Thursday, I can only respond to that in one way--Yes. It most definitely does qualify as a "wet" forest.

On top of the Chronosequence people arriving, we on the tree census had quite the realization. We had all thought we were quite the lovely bunch of coconuts when we arrived. Oh no. This truly is a motley crew. First you have Rocio, who is a very happy outdoorsy girl and is absolutely gung-ho on us going salsa dancing. Then you have Anna, who wore the shortest shorts I have ever seen to walk around in the rain forest (excuse me...WET forest). Next there's Brian, a tall black guy with the thickest dreads and beard I have ever seen in my life. Finally, there's Kathy, who is in her 40's and from Hawaii. All seem super excited to be here, but good lord did we all get a nice giggle watching that pack walk through the forest.

Life around the station is really quite busy, to be honest. With all these people around, there is always something to do, and always someone to talk to. Personally, I find balancing it to be much easier than I would have expected. It's amazing how well we are all getting along, and how enjoyable the whole experience here is turning out to be. I can start a conversation with anyone here and find myself really exploring a whole new friendship that I never knew would blossom. It really is a magical place here, and I'm discovering more about the botanical, the social, and the spiritual every day. To be here is a very unique experience, and I hope that you who are reading this area getting at least a little bit of a sense as to what life here is like. If anything, that is the goal of my blog.

For tonight, I'll end with a picture of a Coqui--a frog that inhabits this island, and really is their national icon. This little guy, thought maybe not always in sight, is ALWAYS able to be heard at night. I got a chance to snag a picture of one last night, so here you go!

For a frame of reference, Here is how big they are--the size of not quite half of my finger. Also, if you want to hear what they sound like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-YKkyadflo