On Friday, we went on a walk around the grounds. The station is located in the midst (and sometimes the mist) of a botanical garden, and then the forest surrounds the garden. There are so many cool animals and plants around the grounds! Here are a few highlights...
First to step up to the plate is the agouti! I had never heard of these funny mammals, and have yet to snap a photo, but here's what they generally look like:
They seem to be the equivalent of squirrels, except less frenetic and don't climb trees (as far as I've seen!). They casually stroll around the greenery, scoping out the food scene. They're the chill, vegan scavengers, it seems.
Moving down to the insect world, the leaf-cutter ants leave me super impressed!
There are long lines of busy pathways of ants moving their leaf cargo from their tree origin to their colony--think DC Beltway-sized volumes of vehicles (in ant form) moving, but with about 10 times the efficiency. Although, it might help that these ants don't seem to mind crawling over each other, and a similar situation would leave the beltway with some nasty lane closures. I watched an ant gnaw away at the leaf, gingerly carving it out and beginning to whisk it off its stem. It was dreamy.
Other highlights include multiple varieties of bananas growing on trees, sky-high bamboo that will leave you bamboozled as you strain your neck to see the tops, among other insects and plants.
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| Apparently commercial bananas grow hanging downwards, while natives grow upwards! |
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| Non-native bamboo reaching upwards |
Among rainforest living, we have multiple classes daily, and field trips too. Today we went to a local EBAIS. Since I'm studying health for the semester, how would you like to get a real quick run down od the Costa Rican health care system? Ready? Ready. Let's go.
Basically, having healthcare is mandatory for all Ticos (this is what Costa Ricans are called...because they like to add -itos (meaning little) onto words. Like instead of being gordo (fat) you'd be gordito (kinda an oxymoron, but go with it). So "itos" sounds like Ticos. Thus the name). Both employers and employees contribute to the system. For every 5,000 people or so there is an EBAIS (a health clinic team--Equipo Básico de Atención Integral en Salud) with a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, medical records technician, and ATAP (someone who gives vaccines and goes into the community to do health surveys). And this works. Hard core.
So today, we toured one EBAIS. The whole building is very open, with both waiting areas inside and out. Each client gets 15 minutes with the nurse then doctor. There's education information in the waiting room. If someone just needs a vaccine, the ATAP will give it to them, no hassle. Also, what impressed me was how people receive their prescription medications before leaving, since there's a pharmacy on site. About 80% of Ticos are satisfied with the system, the government spends $634 per capita on healthcare, and the system is ranked 36th in the world. The US spends $6,347 per capita and ranks 37th. Apologies for getting so technical...don't they say stats are worth a thousand words? No? Whoops. But still, Costa Rica must be doing something right! #gettingitdone
We also went into a local Red Cross and talked to a staff member (in Spanish!) about their role as a private organization in Costa Rican care. They have ambulances and will transport people to larger hospitals if need be.
Tomorrow we go to Ngöbe indigenous area to check out health over there, and then bus back to San José Wednesday to our homestays!
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