Day 3: 8/28/2009

Today we began the day in search of crocodiles down by the river in front of our hotel with no success. After our excursion down by the river we headed to Professor Hubbell and Professor Gowaty's house to observe some of the flies we collected from the pipeline road baits we had set up two days ago. Just by the first sorting we were able to determine that there were differences in species from the flies surrounding the house to the ones found on pipeline road and the flies collected on pipeline road showed an extreme female biased. This is exciting news as we continue to collects flies from all across Panama.

This morning we observed some hummingbirds enjoying some feeders that we set up yesterday below are some pictures that we were able to capture of them.

Then it was time to move locations, we prepared our baits for the next site, packed up all our stuff and set out on a four hour journey to El Valle.

We got into El Valle at around 3:30 local time. It's a small town built in the valley formed when a volcano cone collapsed in on itself. It was a very small and rural, yet full of local personality. At first we decided to get acquainted with our Bed and Breakfast, wandering around looking at the various plant life. While roaming the area we came across a rooster and hen in the street. We figured they were harmless as we passed the home they appeared to belong too until an entire swarm of them noticed us and began charging at us. We deduced they were just used to associated humans with food as the reason for the mobbing, but we couldn't be sure. We managed to get video of the traitorous scene and will post it if we can figure out how to. After the excitement we set out to find a good spot to eat. With Joel behind the wheel we stopped and various locations checking out menus, and finally ended up picking a small hole-in-the-wall called Del Mar y Tierra. The food was described as classical Panama cuisine, which we are coming to learn are typical chicken, fish, and steak meals served with either rice, fries, or patacones (fried plantains). Since it gets dark by 6:30 here in Panama we decided to go back to our room and enjoy some down time before our long ride (about 6 hours) to David.

Walking around El Valle.

Getting chased by the chickens and geese.


Dinner at Del Mar y Tierra.

Day 2: 8/27/09

Yesterday we started our day with an orientation on the identification of different fly species caught in a trap outside the house in Gamboa. We also took pictures of insects that we observed walking around our neighborhood.

At noon we all went into Panama City to register at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). We got ID cards to identify ourselves at official research technicians. Then half of us went to fill up CO2 tanks for knocking out the flies while the other half went to the Artinisal Center, where local merchants sell hand-made carvings, baskets, and other Panamanian goods. Both groups got to explore the Panamanian capital on the way.