Thursday, September 8, 2016

Paradise in Panama

As I was planning my itinerary between Los Angeles and Quito, Ecuador, I noticed that my flight was routed through Panama City, Panama. Since my airfare was fully funded through the Earthwatch Institute, I decided to ask how much money it would cost to extend my layover in Panama City from 3 hours, to 6 days. The answer I received was astonishing:

$150.

In other words, all of my airfare between LA, Ecuador, and Panama would cost a grand total of $150. Needless to say, I quickly added a 6 day layover in Panama to my itinerary! Luckily for me, both Ecaudor and Panama use the US dollar, so I didn't have to worry about currency exchange.



I landed in Panama City, exhausted after a week of trekking through the Ecuadorian jungle in search of caterpillars. Anticipating this fatigue, I booked a few nights in the northern beach town of Bocas del Toro for some much needed R & R. Located in an archipelago on the northeast corner of the country, this 4,600 square kilometer province is a popular destination for surfers, water sports and  sailing enthusiasts.

The Province's capital, Bocas Town, sits on the water. Most hostels, restaurants and shops have docks that lead out to the ocean

I booked my stay at the Selina hostel, which has a wonderful deck that looks out over the ocean.  photo courtesy of Hostel World.

While in Bocas, I decided to explore the neighboring islands via lancha, (water taxi in Spanish):
The caribbean water was the warmest I've ever experienced. It was absolutely amazing!

Isla Bastimientos, a protected habitat for a variety of aquatic life

I stumbled upon this bar and restaurant on Red Frog Beach during my adventures. Unfortunately, the next boat back to my hostel didn't leave for another four hours, and mixed drinks were $3 US. It was absolutely awful being stuck there! 

One of the most memorable experiences I had during my time in Bocas was an unplanned adventure to Polo Beach. After speaking with some locals about cheap, authentic places to grab lunch, they informed me of an eclectic hermit named Polo and his delectable lunches. After a 40 minute walk along a secluded trail on a sparsely populated island, I finally found Polo and his beach. Polo speaks Wari Wari, a dialect of Creole English. According to him, he's been living on the beach for 50 years, and I can attest that he cooks up a mean chicken and rice! If you find yourself in Bocas, I highly suggest visiting Polo and his beach.

After a few nights in Bocas, I hopped a flight back south to Panama City. I booked a hostel in the historic neighborhood of Casco Viejo, located on the Pacific side of the Panamanian Isthmus. The Casco Viejo is the second oldest neighborhood in Panama City, dating back to 1673. In 1997, it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site: 
The ruins of the Church of Santo Domingo, which suffered a devastating fire in 1756.

A typical street scene in Casco Viejo

The Church of La merced 

It's centuries-old streets are punctuated with colorful, modern street art




The Catedral Metropolitana 
Casco Viejo comes alive at night, as the streets fill with locals and tourists alike patronizing restaurants, bars and clubs



A typical narrow street in Casco Viejo, designed long before and without any consideration for the automobile
Cassco Viejo as seen from Ancon Hill
The Palacio de las Garzas, where the president of Panama lives. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia




One of my favorite destinations in Panama City was the Panama Viejo.  Constructed in 1519, Panama Viejo is the first European settlement on the Pacific Ocean. By 1670, the settlement had over 10,000 permanent residents, making it one of the largest settlements in the Americas. In 1671, pirate Henry Morgan and 1,500 soldiers sacked and burned this coastal Spanish city to the ground.  This illegal display of aggression  violated a peace treaty between Spain and England, resulting in Morgan's expatriation back to England for punishment. In a cruel twist of irony, Morgan feigned ignorance of the treaty, and was instead knighted by King Charles the II. Morgan was then given the position of Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica.  He has since been immortalized through the Captain Morgan brand of rum, whose mascot bears his likeness.


This diorama shows an approximation of 17th century Panama City


The bell tower, which can be seen in the diorama photo on the right side. In order to build the tower, experienced stonemasons needed to be hired and transported from Spain to Panama. Apparently, after the first convoy sunk, (resulting in the deaths of all aboard,) a second convoy was sent. This convoy sunk also, which delayed construction even longer, ultimately resulting in the hiring of local stone masons instead.



A view from inside the bell tower, towards the modern Panama City skyline. A stark juxtaposition of antiquity and modernity

As I wandered around the Panama Viejo site, I tried to imagine the horror that must have unfolded as Henry Morgan sacked the city. I think it must have been quite similar to Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland: you know, the scene where the pirate ship is floating outside the Spanish town, barraging it with cannon balls? Eventually, the pirates over run the town's defenses, and proceed to sack, loot and burn the place to the ground.


I'm pretty sure that Morgan's sacking of Panama City in 1671 looked exactly like this scene from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. Minus Jack Sparrow, of course. 
A few miles from Panama Viejo is the Panama City skyline, an example of modernity at it's finest: 

According to my taxi driver, a condo with an ocean view sells for 250-300,000 USD

A view towards the skyline with the Panama flag in the foreground 

Any trip to Panama would be incomplete without visiting it's most famous tourist attraction, the Panama Canal. Built over a span of ten years, and finally completed in 1914, the Panama Canal stands as a testament to modern engineering. I traveled to the Panama Canal Visitors center and took in this modern marvel in person: 

A view of the Miraflores Locks

Construction of the canal was incredibly expensive: Not only did it cost $375,000,000, it also resulted  nearly 20,000 French and 6,000 American worker's deaths during  it's construction. However, those lives were not lost in vain: nearly 14,000 ships pass through the canal every year, making it one of the busiest canals in the world. 

Panama is a hot tourist destination, and rightfully so. This place is awesome! 

Overall, my trip to Panama was incredible. If you find yourself with a layover in Panama City, I highly recommend the trip!

Until next time...

Earthwatch Ecuador

This summer, I was fortunate enough to participate on an Earthwatch Teacher Fellowship to Ecuador.  The fellowship is organized, administered and funded through the Earthwatch Institute, an environmental advocacy organization whose mission is to engage citizens in the scientific research process and raise awareness of critical environmental issues. One of their most popular initiatives is teacher education and outreach. This means fully-funded trips for educators to experience scientific research in the field with the hopes that they return to their classrooms and teach their students. 


Our Earthwatch trip embodied the idea of citizen science. The idea is simple:  anyone, with the guidance of a professional scientist, can participate in and contribute to the scientific research process in meaningful ways. This symbiotic relationship between researcher and volunteer provides increased data collection and manpower for the scientist, and an unforgettable, empowering experience for the volunteer. In the case of my colleagues and me, the experience also meant innumerable teaching opportunities for our students.

Myself and 12 other teachers spent a week at the Yanayacu Biological Research Station in Napo Province, Ecuador to study the effects of climate change on the caterpillar population. Anybody can rent space at the station, which provides room and board facilities as well as research equipment. The station sits on the edge of one of the most biologically diverse cloud forests in the world, providing ample opportunities for research. While we were there, a number of teams from various universities were simultaneously carrying out their own research projects as well. 




The Yanayacu Biological Research Station

This was home sweet home for a week

The weather was rather unpredictable, but consistently cold and wet. Torrential downpours would spontaneously appear and disappear. The weather never rose above a chilly 60 degrees, and we didn't see the sun for a week. 


This was the view from my dormitory balcony

Our group was assisting a longitudinal study about caterpillars in Ecuador. The actual research aims are complicated to explain, but the Earthwatch website did a wonderful job summarizing our project: 


"The Climate Change and Caterpillars project in Ecuador examines factors that affect interactions among plants, caterpillars, and their natural enemies. This is an important area of study for both agricultural and basic ecology. This three-tiered study system allows for insights into “tri-trophic” interactions— in other words, it examines the relationships among three distinct levels of the food web. 

The natural enemies of caterpillars that the project studies are called “parasitoids.” They include many species of wasps and flies that kill caterpillars by depositing their eggs on them. This ensures that the parasitoids’ offspring will have both a safe environment in which to grow (inside the caterpillar) and a good supply of food (caterpillar tissue). We are rearing caterpillars of over 300 species and recording the mortality caused by the parasitoids. In addition, we isolate specific chemical compounds from some species of caterpillars and food plants to examine them as potential defenses against parasitoids.


The white worm-like creatures on the top part of the photo are parasitoids. They lay their eggs in the body of the caterpillar, and feed on it's host from the inside out. Parasitoids were the inspiration for the most famous scene in the movie "Alien," where the alien pops out of the guy's chest.


In order to collect the caterpillars, we hiked through the cloud forest, and searched high and low for these furry little guys. The biodiversity was absolutely breathtaking: 



Hiking through the cloud forest in search of caterpillars


We routinely crossed these wood bridges. They're covered in moss and quite slippery!





The flora was so thick that sunlight barely reached the ground

The plants that inhabit the forest floor are forced to grow larger in order to capture the little sunlight that reaches the bottom



Below are a few photos of the various species of caterpillars we collected: 




After the caterpillars are collected and bagged in the field, they are taken back to Yanayacu. From there, they need to be photographed, catalogued, and reared: 



The caterpillars need to be photographed to document their current instar, or pupation period. It's tedious work that requires  great attention to detail.  I was not particularly good at this.



The caterpillars live in a plastic bag until they pupate into moths. Naturally, they defecate in the bag, as any living creature would. This necessitates regular cleaning, or "rearing" of the caterpillars, which includes stocking the bag with fresh leaves and cleaning their feces. I was very good at this.

Notice those round brown pellets below the caterpillar? Those things are poop. For reference, that caterpillar is the size of your index finger.

After the caterpillars pupate into moths, they are then placed into the freezer to meet their demise. Afterwards, they are pinned for display. This is the first step of pinning a moth. Much like photographing, this is tedious, detail-oriented work. I was not very good at this either.


The finished product. Many of these moths are sent to the Natural History Museum in Quito, Ecuador to be displayed!



Much like the caterpillars, the diversity and vibrancy of the moths was astonishing: 

























While the Earthwatch trip was an incredibly enriching personal experience for myself, the true aim of the project is to increase awareness of global environmental issues in K-12 classrooms. In order to receive our reimbursements for the trip, we need to plan, design, and carry out a lesson plan that related to our Earthwatch experience. I taught a lesson about descriptive language and moths:
First, I gave each student a picture of a moth from my Earthwatch Ecuador trip. I then taught them the different anatomical parts of the moth, and had them identify each part on their own moth
















Next, using a teacher provided graphic organizer, I had each student describe their moth in detail. For example, this student said that "the hindwing has a zig zag along it and it's faded yellow and green." 

Finally, I gave the description to a student who hadn't seen the original moth picture. Then, they draw the moth according to the description provided. Afterwards, I hand the drawing, along with their description back to the original author. The original author then compares the drawing with the picture. What could they have described in more detail? 


Overall, the students very much enjoyed working with moths, and found the Earthwatch trip to be quite interesting. We had an insightful discussion about the man-made and natural threats to moths and butterflies, and they used lots of Tier III, content-specific vocabulary as well. Hopefully they also learned something about moths along the way!


In addition to my lesson plan, I also published an article about my Earthwatch trip. Check it out!

http://laschoolreport.com/commentary-a-caterpillar-curriculum-the-importance-of-environmental-education-in-k-12-urban-classrooms/


Until next time...


Until next time...