Field trip packing

Packing for tropical field trips really bites. TPP has real trouble with this and while my brain cranks away on the multiple problems of what to bring, the rest procrastinates. When it's fall going on winter, it is hard to remember everything you need and all the things you don't need. High on the need list: really good flashlight, compact but tough umbrella, Wellington type rubber boots. If you remember these three items and the rest will more or less work out. If you forget real field clothes, the ones you have will work out and they will be real field clothes before you know it. Nothing stains quite like lateritic clay. So no problems really. It's also hard to know what little bits and pieces you may need if you are going to conduct any investigations. Bamboo skewers are surprisingly useful things as are the essential sharpie markers. You really can't go wrong with a small roll of duct tape. Ziplock plastic bags are terrific too. This particular field trip requires some cans of jellied cranberry sauce (arandano rojo?) which is pretty hard to find in Costa Rica if you plan to have a Thanksgiving dinner. Of course cranberries are one of the few native North American domesticated plants. Also have a list of house/garden things to fix/finish up before taking off for a few days, and the weather has been so crappy it's hard to get them done (terribly windy). Good thing the F1 will watch after the kitty-girls. So now TPP has to get busy. Maybe after another coffee, but oh no, we used up the milk a day too early!  

Rainforest Field Trip - Thanksgiving in the Tropics

Thanksgiving is of course only a holiday in the USA. Here in Costa Rica at the field station they have begun putting up Christmas decorations and shops have decorations and gifts prominently displayed, so the Christmas calendar creep is not just a North American thing. Some of our students have never been away from home on a major holiday before, and the field station in deference to all the gringos makes us a pretty fancy Thanksgiving dinner. It was a hot sunny day this morning, now cooled off by some afternoon downpours; at home a wintery mix is falling, and nothing can explain this to our tropical hosts. How could it actually be that cold? The Phactor, thinking well ahead, brought cranberry jelly/sauce, a true North American contribution to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Amusingly, the Costa Ricans are as suspicious of the cranberry sauce as our students are of new Costa Rican foods. Unfortunately some things just don't translate very well; some how salsa de pavo just doesn't seem the same as gravy, but what else are you going to call it? And what will the Phactor miss the most? Well, that's so easy it isn't even a contest; Mrs. Phactor is a world class pie maker and the most difficult choice you will ever have is pumpkin, apple, or pecan? Readers, care to chime in?