The little vegetation that is left in the wetland at Palo Verde is being punished by cattle. The patch on the left is primarily water hyacinth, some of which is actually living (although cattle do a good job of taking care of that). On the right… nothing but sparce patches of some spiny plant.
While at the station in San Ramon, we decided to hike the 12 km down the mountian to buy some beer at Soda Los Lagos, a small restuarant at the bottom. On the way down, I took some pictures of ornamental plants being grown in the foreground, with mountainous rainforest in the background…. kind of sad but cool at the same time. The other picture shows Erin and Mike reaching Los Lagos with a team time of 2:23… which won me 2 free beers.
More cascades from Rio San Lorencito. We pseudo-repelled down the larger waterfall. 
This is a veiw of the laguna from La Roca, another small mountain overlooking the flood plain of Rio Tempisque. Those dark areas may look like water, but they are just dark, dry soil. There is no water and my research plan is now in the midst of changing…
On one of the day hikes Hugo led, we stopped at a swimming hole on Rio San Lorencito. The water was about 8 ft deep and crystal clear. On the deepest side, there was a cliff we were able to jump off of… It was a much needed break from our trailless hike.
Hugo is in the background of the first picture.
Do you recognize this cascade?
This is Rio Sue and Mike climbing up it. We sampled six, headwater streams feeding the Rio San Lorencito, each of which seemed to have a surprise waterfall around one of the bends. 
The moment we arrived at La Reserva biological Alberto Manuel Brenés, we jumped into the nearest posa (river pool) and snorkeled in search for fish. With no luck, we moved to the cascade shown here and allowed the flow to massage our backs. It was beautifully clear, but bitterly cold.
A river Mike sampled for fish was named after the land it drained: Brian’s grandmother’s house and surrounding farm. Brian, Mike’s assistant and friend, is an 18 year-old Costa Rican born and raised on the Osa. His grandmother’s farm, pictured here, was unbearably hot. The picture doesn’t really do the terrain justice; are there any suggestions on how to reduce a flattening effect in photos with lots of depth of field? (or maybe that’s impossible without stereo-lenses)
Soon, I’ll be experiencing this tropical, premontane, river surrounded by wet forest with the folks in the sequence of photographs below: Mike and Erin. We may be more prepared for a hike through the river this time though….
