Three computer science students and their professor are traveling to Panama to assist with rainforest research conducted by a Smithsonian group. Their efforts are part of their senior capstone course.
From Mark Overholt ‘09…
Wednesday morning we had another amazing breakfast with Ivan at the bed and breakfast. We were picked up at about 8:15 and went to the STRI headquarters in Panama City. We worked all morning on the data entry scripts for the project. We encountered quite a few problems with many parts of the code that confused everyone at the meeting.
We took a break for lunch around noon and ate with the head of the CTFS group, Stewart. He was a great guy, and we talked about the future of the project a little bit. After lunch we got right back to work on the code that we were having problems with. Not to bore you with all of the details, but suffice it to say, some things would work in Internet Explorer and not in Firefox, and other things would work in Firefox and not IE. It completely confused all of us.
But by about 3 p.m., we finally figured it out, and after that, it made the rest of the day much better with that weight lifted off our shoulders. We then made a plan for the future of the project. We figured out what needed to be done, and we decided what we would finish this semester back in Peoria, and what future groups’ tasks would be.
After working, we went to the top of the STRI complex and took in an amazing view of Panama City. Afterwards we went out to the Causeway, which is a man-made island just off the coast. We walked around the forest a bit and saw a two-toed sloth, eating mangos in a tree. We also ate dinner there at an amazing seafood resturaunt. After dinner we started to drive home and stopped at a grocery store to buy some food for our trip to the beach on Thursday. When we arrived in Gamboa, we enjoyed the rest of the evening, talking with Ivan before going to bed. Tomorrow we are taking a two-hour trip to Portobela beach, a nice beach on the Caribbean side of Panama.
The Beach Beckons on Thursday
Today was our off day from project-related activities. We woke up and ate some breakfast with Ivan again this morning. Rick came to pick us up about 10 a.m., and we began our two-hour drive to Portobela beach. The drive was fairly uneventful other than some nasty potholes in some of the roads. We arrived in Portobela and met with our boat driver. He took us to the small beach where we would enjoy our day.
But we couldn’t leave until we picked up one more passenger! Right before leaving, we were handed a small turtle to take with us. Apparently, he had managed to swim to shore, and we were going to put him back in the water farther from the shoreline on our way out. After about 15 minutes on the boat, we reached the spot where we let the turtle go.
Then we were off to the beach. We were the only people on this beach; it was wonderful. We ate some of the sandwiches we brought with us, and then donned our snorkels and masks and headed out into the water. We spent a majority of the time snorkeling around the area of the beach. Many spectacular fish and coral made the experience a memorable one. Ed also says he saw a seahorse, but no one else saw it, so we are having to take him at his word on that one.
We left the beach around 3:45 and made our way back to the mainland. We cleaned up and then headed to a resturaunt on the coastline. It was quite spectacular. We ate a somewhat early dinner because we had a two-hour drive back to Gamboa ahead of us. Despite some heavy traffic on the way back, we made it in one piece. Now we are all cleaning up, heading to bed, and getting ready for the trip to BCI tomorrow. The boat for BCI leaves at 7:15 a.m., so it will be an early start.
From Ed Gillen ‘09…
We were up at 7 a.m. and ready for our first day in Panama. The day started with a delicious breakfast from our host Ivan who runs the bed and breakfast where we are staying. As we ate, Ivan and another guest, Ken, taught us the finer points of bird watching, and we also had an in-depth conversation about classical rock. Who said this trip wouldn’t be educational?
We headed to Rick’s house around 9 a.m. where we started working on our project. For the next three hours we reviewed the database that we have been working on for a semester and a half and received a lot of great feedback from the group. Turns out we have a lot more work to do.
At noon we left Rick’s and headed to a restaurant situated on the river that dumps into the Panama Canal. We finally had some interaction with the wildlife of Panama as we waited for our food. In the water below were a handful of turtles fighting over the pieces of bread we were throwing to them.
We later returned to our meeting place and spent a few more hours working until we were done for the day. After sitting all day, we decided to take a walk to a lookout post situated upon a hill overlooking the canal. We had an amazing view of Gamboa and the Panama Canal while we received a short history lesson about the area, as well as some of the local wildlife from Rick.
In the evening we had another fantastic meal at a local resort where we discussed the events of the day and what was in store for us for the rest of the week. We headed back to Rick’s around 8 p.m. and returned to Ivan’s shortly after to turn in for the night.
From Will Herring ‘09…
We managed to stay up most of Sunday night, working on one of our computers so it would be ready for our trip. We got up at 4:30 a.m. and caught the 6 a.m. bus from Bradley’s Student Center to Chicago. Arriving in Chicago around 9:30 a.m., we checked in and went through security relatively quickly (where else but an airport can you be treated like you’re 12 years old again?), and then waited for our plane. Leaving Chicago around 12:30, we got to Atlanta about 3 p.m. their time. Our plane from Atlanta to Panama got delayed a bit and we left around 6:30 p.m. and arrived in Panama at 9:30 p.m. (we moved back to our Central time). Thanks to the storm cell in Atlanta, not only was our plane somewhat delayed (and we experienced some slight turbulence), but I got a massive headache.
Once we finally touched down in Panama, and after going through customs (and filling out some paperwork that was so confusing it reminds me of trying to do my taxes), followed by a van ride, we got to our sleeping location. And by this point, we had left the air pressure of the weather cell, and my headache was gone.
The bed-and-breakfast is extremely nice, and around midnight I was finally able to lay down and go to sleep after a long day. Finally, I had arrived in Panama.
From Mark Overholt ‘09…
Over Spring Break, we will travel to Panama to work with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). Our group includes our professor, Dr. Steven Dolins, and Bradley seniors Will Herring ‘09, Ed Gillen ‘09, and myself. We will visit the STRI team that we have been working with since September. We have been working on a Web application that will assist them in entering their rainforest data into a database. We will get better acquainted with the members of STRI, see the area where they collect the data, and work with them in refining the Web application to their needs. The last full day we are there, we will tour Barro Colorado Island. This island is located on one of the lakes in the Panama Canal. It is where some of the data is collected for the research that STRI does on rainforest trees.
We are all looking forward to the trip, and we also look forward to sharing our experiences with you. For more information on STRI, visit http://www.stri.org.
