1/15/00

As the plane went into a turn over the island I was amazed to see the beautiful scenery. The green and bountiful forests covered the steep volcanic mountains and periodic houses dotted the landscape. We landed on the quaint runway and arrived at the terminal about the size of my house. We met our guide Clem and headed up the curvy and treacherous roads across the island to the Springfield Plantation. As we switchbacked up the mountain I was amazed at the amount of streams, the velocity, and the enormous volume of water. The streams appear to be very different in contrast to our streams at home. The people we saw were very friendly and seemed to be warmly receptive to us. Every time a car would approach us I would cringe as they passed us along the right. After recovering from the initial shock of the treacherous roads I took notice of the amount of vegetation and the different types. The shear size of the leaves was breathtaking. We passed banana fields, cows, goats, and many houses. As the bus pulled into the Springfield Plantation I was very relieved because I think I was starting to become carsick. I got situated in my new home for the next 8 days and sat down on the porch outside. As I stared down the lush valley into the Caribbean Ocean I said to myself, "I can't believe I'm actually here."

1/17/00

I awoke to the usual sound of Mr. Leonhardt banging on the door. After my abrupt awakening I headed to breakfast and consumed a large portion of palatable porridge. We hoped onto the bus and headed to Middleham Falls. We arrived at the trail and headed down the trail. Our guide, Clem, stopped and showed us sap from a tree the burned very well and he explained the ways the Carib Indians use it. We arrived at the first stream and began our macroinvertebrate assessment. The stream seemed very undisturbed and I was excited to see what we would find. Overall we ended up sampling about 5 streams and found: crabs, freshwater shrimp, microcaddises, water penny beetle larvae, rifle beetle larvae, and common netspinning caddisflies. As we were walking down the final decline before the falls I heard a steady pounding and saw a mist coming through the trees. I broke out of the trees into a clear and was taken back at the enormous 275 foot waterfall. The water plunged into a kind of crater and stinging mist sprayed up from the bottom. I climbed down to the churning pool below and climbed around on the slippery rock face (No mom I didn't fall). Mr. Leonhardt got out his camera and jumped in the pool to get pictures of freshwater shrimp, Gobi fish, and crabs. Mike and I climbed down through the smaller waterfalls below and had fun fighting and climbing our way back up the raging current. By the time we got back everyone was packed up and we headed home. On the way back we stopped and a steaming cave that just appeared in the ground and smelled a lot like it was home to a large number of bats. As usual I became extremely muddy on the return hike but stopped at the last stream to wash off. On arriving at "home" some of us headed to the local river and found: microcaddises, damselflies, snails, mayflies, and lots of lively lizards. I amused myself that night by peeling and carving out a coconut to make a cup - What did you learn at school today? Dinner was very good that night and we finished off the night with class. We talked about the streams in comparison to the ones in good old PA and the ways they would differ. My bed felt especially good after a long day of work and fun. Am I really here?