The Rants of Issachar
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Dad and I went up the the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute on Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal today. We woke up at 6 to catch the taxi up to the boat launch just past the Mira Flores docks. (About a 45 minute drive). The boat was another half hour on top of that.
The research station is pretty much what you'd expect with a bunch of scientists out studying the jungle and it's creatures. One funny thing is that it strangely reminds me of SFU. I don't know if they use the same cleaning solvents or if they just have the same mold growing in the stairwell, but the smell is identical. Weird...
Our guide Sonja (local Panamanian despite the name) took us out on a walk through the forest that lasted a few hours. Then lunch, then a shorter walk, then boat back to shore. That's pretty much the day. The important part is obviously seeing the forest and the animals. I was hoping to see a Puma or an Ocelot, but in daylight that would be more than a little unlikely. We saw many leaf-cutter ant colonies and I find them fascinating. IIRC they're actually using a shortest-path algorithm when creating their trails from their home to the place they're harvesting leaves. I think that's what I learned in my algorithms class at SFU... Quite a cool part of nature I think. Sort of like Fibonnaci numbers and the golden mean showing up all over the natural world.
We also saw an owl, some bats, (roosting because it's day obviously), an ant-eater, army ants, water filled trees that sound hollow, termites and a lot of other cools stuff. Oh, and did i mention that there are a couple of crocs making nests right near the boat dock? They were cool obviously, but I didn't get a very good look at either of them, and I wasn't about to walk up to them. They have fencing that doesn´t look much stronger than chicken wire to keep the crocs from wandering up, but it does apparently work. Obviously pictures are what this story calls for, but I still can't do that. I'll post some when I get back.
One thing I don't have a picture of is the ticks. I do know what they look like though. Despite tucking my pants into my socks as instructed they were still getting on to me. I picked close to a dozen off after the last hike. And a couple more off my arms after the shower back at the hotel. Annoyingly hard to kill, but they don't actually seem to have bitten me. And they don't carry lime disease here, so I guess they're just annoying the way mosquitos are back home. (Our ticks carry lime disease in Canada I believe and they're a lot harder to get off).
The bus wasn't there when we got back to the shore, so we walked a short stretch into town. Well almost into town, the bus came part way out. Then the long drive back to Panama. And that's the end of the day. I'm going out for dinner. I've got an early flight to Bocas Del Toro tomorow. (I have to get up at 4:30am).
I miss you all. Thanks to the people commenting, it keeps me feeling connected. :)
The research station is pretty much what you'd expect with a bunch of scientists out studying the jungle and it's creatures. One funny thing is that it strangely reminds me of SFU. I don't know if they use the same cleaning solvents or if they just have the same mold growing in the stairwell, but the smell is identical. Weird...
Our guide Sonja (local Panamanian despite the name) took us out on a walk through the forest that lasted a few hours. Then lunch, then a shorter walk, then boat back to shore. That's pretty much the day. The important part is obviously seeing the forest and the animals. I was hoping to see a Puma or an Ocelot, but in daylight that would be more than a little unlikely. We saw many leaf-cutter ant colonies and I find them fascinating. IIRC they're actually using a shortest-path algorithm when creating their trails from their home to the place they're harvesting leaves. I think that's what I learned in my algorithms class at SFU... Quite a cool part of nature I think. Sort of like Fibonnaci numbers and the golden mean showing up all over the natural world.
We also saw an owl, some bats, (roosting because it's day obviously), an ant-eater, army ants, water filled trees that sound hollow, termites and a lot of other cools stuff. Oh, and did i mention that there are a couple of crocs making nests right near the boat dock? They were cool obviously, but I didn't get a very good look at either of them, and I wasn't about to walk up to them. They have fencing that doesn´t look much stronger than chicken wire to keep the crocs from wandering up, but it does apparently work. Obviously pictures are what this story calls for, but I still can't do that. I'll post some when I get back.
One thing I don't have a picture of is the ticks. I do know what they look like though. Despite tucking my pants into my socks as instructed they were still getting on to me. I picked close to a dozen off after the last hike. And a couple more off my arms after the shower back at the hotel. Annoyingly hard to kill, but they don't actually seem to have bitten me. And they don't carry lime disease here, so I guess they're just annoying the way mosquitos are back home. (Our ticks carry lime disease in Canada I believe and they're a lot harder to get off).
The bus wasn't there when we got back to the shore, so we walked a short stretch into town. Well almost into town, the bus came part way out. Then the long drive back to Panama. And that's the end of the day. I'm going out for dinner. I've got an early flight to Bocas Del Toro tomorow. (I have to get up at 4:30am).
I miss you all. Thanks to the people commenting, it keeps me feeling connected. :)
5 Comments:
Posted by: 
GravesU.S. military personnel use nylons to keep the ticks off...
GravesU.S. military personnel use nylons to keep the ticks off...
Posted by: DreaI can only imagine how awesome that day would have been . . . minus the ticks. Sounds like you are soaking up the goodness!
DreaI can only imagine how awesome that day would have been . . . minus the ticks. Sounds like you are soaking up the goodness!
Posted by: 
calebGorman in nylons….must….dig….eyes…out….with…..spoon. It would be a perfect fit for the musical atrocity that was in your cd player when I drove your car back from the airport. No straight man should ever under any circumstances own that much Aqua.
Seriously though man sounds like you're having a great time. I look forward to hearing more about it when I pick you up on Sunday. (speaking of which you still haven't emailed me with your flight info.....I'm going to look funny wandering around sea-tac asking if anyone has seen a lost looking canadian man who may or may not be wearing nylons and listening to teeny dance music)
calebGorman in nylons….must….dig….eyes…out….with…..spoon. It would be a perfect fit for the musical atrocity that was in your cd player when I drove your car back from the airport. No straight man should ever under any circumstances own that much Aqua. Seriously though man sounds like you're having a great time. I look forward to hearing more about it when I pick you up on Sunday. (speaking of which you still haven't emailed me with your flight info.....I'm going to look funny wandering around sea-tac asking if anyone has seen a lost looking canadian man who may or may not be wearing nylons and listening to teeny dance music)
Posted by: westcoastloonSo I'm thinking to myself, "I wonder what Andrew's up to these days? Maybe he has a blog..." And here you are traipsing through Panama. How classically you :)
Sounds like you're enjoying yourself.
~ Claire
westcoastloonSo I'm thinking to myself, "I wonder what Andrew's up to these days? Maybe he has a blog..." And here you are traipsing through Panama. How classically you :)Sounds like you're enjoying yourself.
~ Claire
Posted by: pasivirtacaleb, that was funny, I laughed out loud. yeah, andrew, you better forgo the whole nylon thing, unless you also have army fatigues and a big gun...
at the same time, doesn't the end justify the means?
you are coming back to bizarro world. its cold enough for the mountains to open their ski lifts again, and I built a snowman the other day.
pasivirtacaleb, that was funny, I laughed out loud. yeah, andrew, you better forgo the whole nylon thing, unless you also have army fatigues and a big gun...at the same time, doesn't the end justify the means?
you are coming back to bizarro world. its cold enough for the mountains to open their ski lifts again, and I built a snowman the other day.
