San Gerardo

The San Gerardo field station is nestled in the Children's Eternal Rainforest. Inside this 70,000 hectare preserve, six life zones create one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Without the help of a group of Swedish school children, this breathtaking cloud forest might not still exist. When one primary school class in Sweden heard about the growing need for rainforest preservation they set to work on a fundraising campaign that spread like wildfire (no pun intended). Because of their efforts two million dollars was raised by people all over the world. This money is what was used to by the first land that became The Children’s Eternal Rainforest. Now the preserve also works to teach locals and tourists about the importance of rainforest conservation. This preserve is particularly important because it provides water runoff to Arenal Lake. Arenal provides hydroelectric power that accounts for 40% of Costa Rica’s electricity. For forty years San Gerardo was also the prime viewing spot for the world longest continuously active volcano (Arenal Volcano). Lava could be seen spilling out every night until 2012. It wasn’t until day two when we were finally able to see the stunning view of the volcano and lake (thanks to the vast number of clouds and rain). San Gerardo quickly became the favorite field site for several of our students, thanks to the views and our guide to all things nature, Mark Wainwright. Stay tuned for the play by play of our adventures down on the Caribbean side of the continental divide.

Early on a Monday morning, we were all reluctantly pulled from the comfort of our fresh La Calandria beds and scrambled to pack three days worth of our things into our backpacks (which for the record is easier said than done). After a short, but very crowded, van ride to the small station at Santa Elena, we were faced with a daunting task: hiking down 4km (and down 500m in elevation) on an extremely steep, muddy, and rocky road to the San Gerardo field station. Of course it was drizzling on us the entire way, not surprising given that we were hiking through the clouds that frequently cover the Caribbean side of the mountain, giving our long hike an even higher level of difficulty (resulting in a few slips and falls). However, luckily for us, we had Mark Wainwright with us to distract from the gloomy, chilly weather and treacherous hike by giving us a peek into his vast knowledge as we stopped to examine several different types of life forms that appeared around us. From the wide array of epiphytes (orchids, bromeliads, mosses, fungi, etc.) that covered almost every tree to the beautiful calls of different tropical birds to having us smell all sorts of plants and insects, Mark was overflowing with stories about some of the smallest but often some of the most crucial details that many people overlook when trying to understand the complex nature of a tropical ecosystem. Mark’s biologizing (which is now a word if it wasn’t before) made the hike down to the station extremely interesting, and several hours long. So, naturally, we were all starving and relieved when we finally arrived to the station just in time for lunch. We all quickly slid out of our mud covered boots and scurried (carefully over the slick hardwood of the station’s floor) towards the enticing smells that were coming from the kitchen. And oh man was it was delicious. After lunch, we headed out to set our traps on three different transects around our new location. Once back at the station we had a little bit of free time to get settled in and associated with our little home for the next few days, but we were soon summoned to the main area of the bottom floor for a presentation. Mark talked with us about the history, missions, obstacles, and other important aspects of the Children’s Eternal Rainforest preserve (along with other protected areas around Monteverde). That night, after another delicious meal, we put our rain jackets back on and headed out for a night hike. The slight drizzle didn’t stop us, or the animals we were looking for, from coming out and exploring the night. Being enveloped by the sounds scattered throughout the darkness was incredible, and Mark quickly found and showed us some small frogs (Spot-shouldered Rain Frog, Common Rain Frog, and Rufous-eyed Stream Frog), two Ringed Snail Eater snakes, and some really cool bugs (Web-casting Spider, Funnel Spider, and the Leaf Katydid). Once back to the station, all of us were exhausted and ready to get to sleep, but our slumber was stalled a while due to the (historically) freezing showers and an uncomfortable number of moths and other large bugs circling our bedroom lights. However, we were quick to adapt (having some practice from past field stations) and were soon able to go to bed.

Despite the fact that we were able to sleep in until breakfast (and you know it’s sad when breakfast at 7am is considered sleeping in), the morning came too early. We were all slow getting out of bed and ready for the day but we eventually made our way downstairs, motivated by the smell of breakfast and the prospect of a hot cup of coffee. After breakfast, we made our way outside and gathered up the equipment and made the hike out to check our traps. This first capture was alright, with only capturing 5 mice. As we finished up checking the last transect, Mark joined us so that we could do some more biologizing on our hike back to the station. In natural rainy season fashion, it started raining on us pretty hard throughout the hike. But once again, that didn’t stop us from finding some really interesting plants and talking about their natural histories and importance. Getting back from our hike, once again just in time for lunch, Don David talked to us about what we were going to do after we ate. He gave us the assignment of going out to a spot on a trail, situated where we were spread out and couldn’t see or hear one another, and sit for 15 minutes to listen and watch the forest around us. We were then told to find a plant that particularly interested us and study it for 20 minutes, writing down a description of it. We all came back together about an hour later and presented our selected plants. It was incredibly interesting seeing what people chose (especially because it happened that no one picked the same thing) and how everyone described the key features of their plant and began hypothesizing what those features were used for in the function and reproduction of the plant. After our little plant show-and-tell, we had to rush out to set our traps in order to get back to the station in time for dinner. During dinner, we were surprised that the weather was still really nice (especially for the rainy season) so we all decided to do another night hike. The night was absolutely beautiful, with the clouds clearing enough to be able to see some stars. On this hike, we saw a few more frogs (Golden-groined Rain Frog, Brilliant Forest Frog) and Mark was even able to follow the unique sounds of the Emerald Glass Frog and capture one for us to look at (he was so small and fragile that Mark put him in a clear bag so that we could look at him).

The next day came quickly once again as we awoke to the smells of breakfast and the hopes of catching more mice. We also quickly realized how blessed we were with the beautiful weather from the day before, because it proceeded to rain fairly steadily on us throughout the day (which is when I was completely soaked and came to the realization that my “rain jacket” was sucking because it was, in fact, a windbreaker). Anyway, the mouse traps were a little more successful, with us catching 11 mice. We hurried back to the station to get out of our soaking wet field clothes and into something nice and (relatively) dry. Once changed, some of us made ourselves a nice cup of coffee or tea and sat together in the common area to hear Mark present about the amphibian decline and recovery within the reserve. He went through several different factors that could have led to a drastic decrease of the amphibian population between 1987 and 1988. After discussing several plausible factors, we concluded that it was actually a Chytrid virus that caused the sudden decline of several species across different areas throughout successive years. There was a happy ending however, in that many of the species that were affected are steadily making a comeback, and some are actually growing immune to the disease. From this presentation and after eating lunch, we all begrudgingly put our cold and wet clothes back on and made our way out into the rain to reset our traps for the last day of collection. After we set all the traps, Mark joined us once again to biologize about the vast array of different plant species that we could find along one of the trails. We found some really interesting things: Hot Lips, Soris, some more epiphytes (of course), Spiral Ginger, African Violet, and a really cool parasitic root. Once back to the station, we were able to put our dry clothes back on (and for good this time) and had some free time to enjoy our last day. After dinner, we joined together one last time in the front room, this time to discuss some cultural and historical factors that helped shape Costa Rica. From the importance of coffee, banana, and dairy farms on the economy (and the resulting deforestation caused by these businesses) to the influence of political leaders on both local and global agendas, it was really interesting to learn more about the country in which we are spending so much time.

On our last day, we had our best number of captures yet, with 16 mice! This count lifted our spirits and distracted us (somewhat) from what was ahead of us after breakfast: that beloved hike back up the mountain. We were all trying to figure out how to shove everything we brought back into our backpacks and tried to distract ourselves with the amazing view of the valley that we would all soon miss. After checking that we had all our things, after saying goodbye to the amazing staff that helped us out and cooked for us, and of course after taking a few pictures, we were all (more or less) ready to begin the long journey back up to Santa Elena. Eventually we all made it up (with only minimal slipping casualties) and were ready to head back to the wonderful station at La Calandria (where a hot shower and laundry were calling our names). However, I know that the rain-soaked valley in the Children’s Eternal Rainforest where we spent three days at the beautiful San Gerardo Station, will be an experience that we’ll all remember for a long time.

San Gerardo offered new experiences for all of us, this being the first time we were able to handle the mice. Spending three days under the shadow of a volcano learning more than we ever had about our surroundings (thanks to the ever knowledgeable Mark) and experiencing all that field biology had to offer (cold showers notwithstanding). This adventure left us with the excitement needed to push us into the second half of our journey that is all things Costa Rican Ecology.