Mucho

     I've been up to so much lately! This week has been really busy. To recap:

1. Sunday: Five of us from STRI (Smithonian Tropical Research Institute) walked up to the park at the top of the hill behind the apartments. 

Fig 1. The view at the top of Cerro Ancon (Ancon Hill) of Panama City.

2. Monday: Did field work in the sun at a sandy intertidal beach, collecting egg masses from moon snails (family Naticidae) and female C. marginalis, a small (~10 mm average) gastropod.

Fig 3. A transect to count moon snail egg masses.               Fig 4. A moon snail egg mass.

3. Tuesday: Did field work in the sun at a rocky intertidal beach, counting C. marginalis under wet rocks.

Fig 4. Counting C. marginalis in a 2 x 2 m transect.

4. Wednesday: Went to Panama International Jazz Festival in the evening to see Herbie Hancock play jazz piano. It was amazing.

5. Thursday: Made bean burgers for friends upstairs and chatted over other food items. Allan fried some plantains in vanilla extract and had a sour cream dipping sauce, and they were delicious.

6. Friday: On my birthday I got to explore the planktonic community of the Bay of Panama, eat lime coconut pie, then in the evening go to Panama's International Beer Festival and stay up late playing guitar on the stoop of our apartment.

Fig 5. Lime coconut pie made in Panama.

7. Saturday (today): Going running by the ocean at the entrance of the canal for a couple hours with a friend and then seeing more jazz music downtown.

Pura vida!