Yesterday we went to Altos De Campana National Park and the drive there was absolutely beautiful (yes I managed to stay awake on the bus). We drove up into the mountatins and the road was lined with small houses and families in their Sunday best coming back from church. Ian loves to talk and will frequently stand in one spot for 10 minutes talking about a bird or plant so our progress up the trail was rather slow, but the cool mountain breeze was a welcome relief and I barely broke a sweat. Orchids are also more common in the mountains and we did spot a few.
The evening was spent preparing for and giving our presentations. Everything went smoothly and the clip we used from A Bug’s Life was a big hit. In fact, we ended up finding A Bug’s Life on netflix and the whole gang watched it on the projector screen in the dining room. It was a lovely way to celebrate the completion of our first presentation.
Today we visited the Smithsonian Agua Salud site, which is a thirty year project looking to improve conservation and biodiversity efforts in Panama. One of the sponsors of the project was a man who got fed up with the city and he and his wife moved out to start a farm. When his wife passed away some years later, he gave the land to the Smithsonian with the condition that it be used for cattle. So the STRI owns and maintains the land but farmers own the cattle (a pretty sweet deal for the farmers). STRI is working to find ways to replenish nutrients in the soil and raise healthier, happier cattle.
Hiking up and down the hills of the countryside gave us all a great work out and along many of the trails were various fruit trees. Our guide encouraged us to try the Mandarin Lime which is known for being very sour. You can see the results for yourself.
Yeah Netflix. Reminds me of your DVD player in Denali.
ahahahah I can picture you giving the stink eye right after trying that fruit! Looks amazing Clipp, miss you!