12/10/19 Tues.  This morning we got a tour of the Field Station and the Manager/Naturalist gave a tour of the Botanical gardens.  We learned a lot about the unique plants here and saw some wildlife like a Crested Guan (A bird with a big red crest, long neck  & it is the size of a big chicken) roosting in the trees.  Went on a 2 mile round-trip hike in the forest to the Rio (River) Java through the tropical forest.  Amazing trees and plants.   Spent the afternoon with my team of student mentors planning our research experimental design and our field stream sampling excursions for the rest of the week. Tonight we learned about and met 4  tribal people from Panama who will be demonstrating their knowledge of the ethnobotanical uses of plants over the next few evenings.  It was amazing to hear all of the group introduce themselves and share a little of their backgrounds many in their native languages. Scott and Juan were fantastic translators. A long but great day. Deb

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