Alissa Wilson
Biology major/ Italian Studies minor
Class of 2017
Title: Costa Rica, Summer 2015:The Hardest and Most Amazing Course I’ve Ever Taken
Introduction:
Thissummer, 2015, I traveled to Costa Rica for three weeks as part of the“La Suerte - Rainforest Ecology and Primate Behavior” program. With my 8 fellow students (The LS Dream Team), I spent two days in the large city of San Jose, Costa Rica, three days being an eco-tourist in the Tortuguero National Park, and then spent the rest of my time learning how to conduct my own research in the rainforest at the EstaciónBiológica la Suerte. As part of my class, I developed my own research proposal to study diet composition in the mantled howling monkey (alouattapalliata or Howlers) and then performed my research by studying the monkeys every day at the field station. While performing my research, I witnessed between 9 to 15 juvenile Howler monkeys in a tree feeding and playing less than 20 ft. from where I stood. That moment was only one of hundreds of amazing memories I made. I grew closer to friends I already had, got to know other SCU students, made friends with students from other universities in the United States, and met several local people. This experience was so much more than I ever could have dreamed of, and every time I see one of my photos or share my adventure stories with someone, I wish with all my heart that I could live it all over again.
Housing:
For this program, the housing is already predetermined. There are no homestay options. In Costa Rica’s capital city of San Jose, the class stays at the Hotel Don Carlos at the beginning and end of the trip, so that everyone’s baggage arrives safely and the class has a chance to explore the city, visit the National History Museum, and buy souvenirs before returning home.
In the Tortuguero National Park, the class stays at the Laguna Lodge, an environmentally responsible establishment, so that they can see the role of eco-tourism in Costa Rica as well as have the chance to enjoy a zipline tour, and watch a green sea turtle lay her eggs on the beach.
Lastly, the class stays at the EstaciónBiológica la Suerte so that research can be conducted in the rainforest on site. Classes usually stay in the cabins, but for this smaller group, we stayed in the main house.
The Hotel Don Carlos (left) and the main house at the field station (right)
The class goes to the field station at La Suerte later in the summer, not only because it is a time when students are available, but also because it is a time, when visitors are low to the EstaciónBiológica la Suerte. It is planned this way so that the financial gap between seasons at the station is bridged somewhat by our groups housing fee. It is groups like the field course from Santa Clara that keep the station in business and allows them to offer educational classes to local people. We are supporting the field station just by staying on the property and paying for room and board.
Finances:
Seventy percent of the cost of this study abroad program is fees to Santa Clara University to cover summer tuition. The other thirty percent is to cover all meals, and the housing at the Hotel Don Carlos, the Laguna Lodge, and the EstaciónBiológica la Suerte. My fellow students and I discussed that one of the biggest problems in financing this trip is that Santa Clara financial aid cannot be used for Summer Sessions. This being said, my advice is to apply for local scholarships in the community. There are so many out there and people don’t always apply for them. Many can also only be used during the academic years as well, but I was fortunate to win one that could be used for any school sponsored study abroad programs. Aside from the cost of the program, the only money I spend was on meals and snacks I bought for myself, non-included experiences, such as ziplining, and souvenirs I bought for my family.
Because we spent the majority of our time in a rural area, students are told to bring American dollars with them to pay for things in bigger cities, and to get colones, the Costa Rican currency, before we travel to the rural areas. While in San Jose, there is an ATM right across the street. This is pretty much the only place, aside from the airport, that students can access money. I brought American dollars with me and then used my debit card to withdraw colones from the ATM. The exchange rate was around 528 colones per American dollar. In Costa Rica, tips are not included in bills, so it was nice to always have some colones on hand to tip waiters, guides, and chefs, at the hotel and lodge. At the station, it was important to set aside some money, because a group tip was made to divide up among the 7 members of the field station staff.
Academics:
Because this program is taught by a Santa Clara professor, Michelle Bezanson, the lecture and coursework part are actually very similar to classes at Santa Clara. You take two classes while abroad: one is an anthropology course in field work and the other is an environment science/biology course on tropical biodiversity. There are daily lectures starting on-campus before you leave for Costa Rica, as well as straight-forward assignments, including presentations on sustainability and ecotourism in Costa Rica, a research proposal, field notes, and a final paper. There is also a midterm taken while at the field station.
The course differs from other classes in that you spend your mornings navigating the rainforest, monkeys are outside your window in the middle of lecture, and all of your “school” activities are intertwined with amazing and unbelievable adventures. I gave my oral presentation on Howler monkey diet selectivity while a bat flew around the classroom and circled my head. We took our midterm in a room with only screens for windows during the most amazing thunder/rain storm I had ever seen. Lectures were sometimes paused to go outside and observe the monkeys from the patio or watch as the geckos on the screen-windows eat bugs twice their size.
Michelle grades course work in the same way it would be graded on campus, but also factors in the rigor of physically doing research every day and not having access to resources such as the internet. Her grading is completely fair. This course, though academically very similar to classes at Santa Clara, transforms even the simplest assignments into unforgettable adventures and memories.
To succeed in this program, you should begin doing research for your proposal before you leave for the field station. I printed out articles that I thought might come in handy and outlined my paper, but I still wish I had done more. The major grade component of this course is based on a research project you design yourself and then perform over 5-6 days out in the rainforest; however, once you have completed your data collection, you have to compare your data to past research and discoveries to create a holistic and in-depth paper. This requires a lot of research about the species you have chosen to study. Although there is a small library filled with articles on site, writing the paper is much easier if you do some research ahead of time, either while you are in the States or while you are in the large city of San Jose, Costa Rica, two days before you leave for the field station. After you leave San Jose, there will only be internet access on two or three days. Being prepared not only helps to make writing your paper (which is handwritten unless you bring a computer) much easier, it also makes the experience more enjoyable because you can really dive into your research and better understand your subject species.
Also, take advantage of Michelle and the T.A.’s help. They are so knowledgeable about all of the species, especially the monkeys, and the forest. If they can’t answer your question, they know where to find the answer.
Another key to success: go to bed early. If you want to find monkeys, or the species you are studying, you have to get up at dawn and go out and look for them. The sun rises at 5:30, so for me, this meant getting up at 4:45 each day so I could find the Howlers quickly and collect as much data as possible. It may seem like a no brainer, to go to bed early, especially since the sun goes down around 6 o’clock, but in the case of my class, we all got along so well that some nights we stayed up talking and getting to know each other. This was a great experience and I am so grateful to have made such amazing friends, but there were definitely nights I regretted staying up late, as I dragged myself out of bed at 4:45 the next morning. Overall, just make sure to balance out fun with getting a good night’s sleep.
Lastly, the number one way to succeed is to give your all. Michelle knows that field primatology isn’t for everyone, and she acknowledges the students efforts. This course was one of the hardest and most challenging courses I have ever taken both mentally and physically. The combination of waking up very early, hiking around the rainforest, chasing monkeys, and then having to come back sit through (very interesting) lectures, and then sit down and do research for a paper, is a lot of work to do day in and day out for two weeks. Michelle knows this and makes sure to intersperse the work with fun and breaks. If you are struggling, let her know, because she always has a plan, and can help you figure out the best way to maximize your data collection while still making the trip an amazing, fun, and life changing experience.
Student Life:
Because we were doing fieldwork, the field station was our campus. Unlike SCU with its many buildings and centers, the single room where we had our lectures was our breakfast/lunch/dinner table, our study hall, our hangout, and our classroom. It was a simple space with some tables, a whiteboard, some sinks and several much-needed fans.
To the side, was the kitchen where the small staff prepared our food and brought it out at 7 AM, 12PM , and 6 PM. We cleaned up and washed the dishes after dinner every night.
Also attached to our classroom was a small library. Inside were several shelves filled with articles about many of the species that are found in the La Suerteforest. There was also one cabinet filled with books on the subject. This was the extent of the resources available to us for our research papers on top of what we brought from home.
Upstairs, there was a common room in the middle of all of our bedrooms where we would sit together and work on our papers and study for our midterm. The closer it got to a deadline, the more articles and resources covered the table.
Research proposal writing party (top), my spot (bottom left), and our study notes (bottom right).
One afternoon after a major assignment deadline, we asked Augustine, the young man in charge of certain jobs at the field station, to walk with us to the small village. There we played a soccer match against some of the local school boys for an hour or two before heading back to make sure we back at the field station before dark and in time for dinner. This one of the few interactions we had with locals, but I am very glad we took the time to do it.
Engagement: Research
One of the greatest aspects of this program is that the major grade component, is a very personalized experience. As an undergrad, I don’t often get much say in the types of experiments or research I do, but for this course, my research project grew from my own ideas. Starting in Santa Clara, weeks before we leave for Costa Rica, Michelle holds classes to educate the students on Costa Rica and the primates and other species we will encounter in the rainforest. She encourages then students to perform research topics that interest them and come up with ideas for potential research. This was extremely important to me, because it allowed me to incorporate my love of plant biology with my interest in the Howler monkeys that live in Costa Rica.
After we had experienced the rainforest firsthand, we could alter our project ideas to make them more relevant and design our own research methods. For me, this meant changing my original research design to make it more manageable. Throughout the course, I had read about the very diverse diet of Howler monkeys. Their wide range of food choices comes from a need to avoid toxic compounds within the leaves of many tropical plant species. For my research, I decided to take instantaneous data every minute and record what the Howler monkeys were doing, as well as record the tree and plant species they interacted with. With this data, I hoped to compare the diet of the La Suerte Howlers, to the diets of Howlers that had been studied in other parts of Central and South America.
To collect my data, I entered the forest at sunrise and began my search for Howlers. They often fed in the same areas for several days and the males make very loud howling calls, so they are never too difficult to find. With a repeating timer on my watch, I recorded the activity of one focal animal every minute, and switched to a different focal animal if I lost sight of the first one,of I had collected data for over an hour. If I recorded a Howler eating, I attempted to identify the tree species. If I couldn’t identify the tree, I would take a leaf sample to compare to the literature in the library. By the end of the week and a half, I had logged nearly 20 hours of observation time with the Howlers.
From my data, I found that the Howlers of La Suerta did not seem to have the diverse diet that we expected to see. They instead ate primarily from one species of fig tree. The Howlers did, however, utilize different parts of the tree such as young leaves, buds, and petioles (the stem of the leaves). This consistent with other research that says young leaves and petioles have less toxic compounds that adult leaves. From my study, I concluded that the Howlers limited diet could be a product of the time of year we were at the field station, the beginning of the rainy season. To strengthen my study, I proposed that similar research could be conducted during different seasons for a longer period of time.
This experience taught me how much work goes into doing field research. There are no computers at the station, so all data is recorded by hand and analyzed with descriptive statistics, such as averages and percent difference. I was fortunate enough to type my research on a tablet, but other students wrote 20+ page research papers by hand.
Overall, I think this program gives students an amazing opportunity that they might not have in a traditional setting. Designing and performing an entire research project is a big task. This program let us go through the entire process and get feedback and advice along the way.
Social Life:
I began to get to know the other SCU students while we waited for out delayed flight in the San Jose airport. All of us bonded while panicking about catching our connecting flight at LAX. I am very glad that all of the SCU students booked the same flight to Costa Rica. For this field course, I definitely recommend flying together. If you are lucky enough to sit next to eachother on the long plane ride, it is a great opportunity to get to know other students. As a class, we all got to know them over breakfast, making an effort to introduce ourselves and ask about their lives and how they found out about Michelle’s field course.
I recommend getting to know the small class as soon as possible, starting during the lectures that take place at SCU. The field station is quite small, so really do your best to make friends, because there are only so many places you can go to avoid someone you don’t get along with. In my case, there was someone whom I didn’t think I could work with, but once I made the effort to get to know them, we actually got along quite well.
Because of the program structure, there was never really a chance to get to know local students our age. The high school was nearly hour away from the field station, so the time we spent playing soccer with middle school buys was really the only interaction we got to have with local students.