**Now back to our regularly scheduled programming**
The bird group was up bright and early with Jeremey at 5:45 AM. The birders (well, 2 of the 3 birders) reported they had a lucky spotting of three Quetzals! The insect group was up next and deployed their insect traps in a record-setting 13 minutes! (Go ‘Gate!). Meanwhile, the bloggers and the plant group stayed cozy in bed until the delicious smell of scrambled eggs, rice, and beans drew them downstairs. By 8:00 AM, the group had put on their field gear and filled their water bottles, ready for our first hike up to the mirador. Although the hike was short, it was all uphill – and the lower oxygen levels at high elevations meant we had to take many breaks along the way to catch our breath. Ana, the daughter of the owner of Cuerici and our fearless leader, led the way with her machete and slashed overgrown vegetation, blazing the trail for the rest of the group. We were lucky to make it to the mirador before the clouds moved in and had a fabulous view. We had a class photoshoot, and some of our tropical ecologists were even lucky enough to get their new LinkedIn profile photos taken! We headed back down the mountain to start 4 modified gentry transects. We finished in no time and headed back to the mirador where we munched on rice, beans, plantains, and scrambled eggs that we packed in our lunch boxes.
After a satisfying lunch – and a select few full of seconds, even thirds – we began the last of our beloved gentry transects. We finished the day with a record-setting 8 gentry transects in a single day! We returned to the cabin shortly after 4 o’clock, buzzing about the dining hall and working on our group and personal projects (and of course the blog!). A few of us even managed to squeeze in a brief yoga session, great for circulating blood and muscle recovery after three weeks of fieldwork.
Dinner time arrived in a flash – with dessert being a riveting talk from the best tree-climbing TA, Jeremy Quiroz, about forest and animal conservation strategies. Fueled with new knowledge, we once again split up into our groups, working on our projects and staying warm by the fire late into the night.
