Arrival

Well, we have arrived here in London, Dulwich in fact. In Chicago, we were delayed for about 2 1/2 hours while we waited for the log book, de-ice, ect... when we finally were airborne however, I noticed that the piolit changed our path slightly which resulted in arriving a little sooner, making up for a little of the delay. our drive from heathrow was exciting as we got views of London at 2am. we also drove through Kensington, our old stomping grounds. This morning we woke up and headed out to town where we promptly went to the half price ticket booth where we got tickets for Avenue Q tonight. There are many shows here that we all want to see: Phantom, Les Mis, Wicked, and Billy Elliot to name a few. we are also looking forward to seeing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (despite the fact that we saw it last time we were here) because it features James Earl Jones (Darth Vader) and Phylicia Rashad (Ms. Huxtable). From the ticket booth, we found ourselfs by the National Portriat gallery, where we found an exhibit titled: The Beatles to Bowie- the 60's exposed. It had some amazing pictures unfortunally, i was unable to use my camera, so you'll have to take my word on that. so for now, dinner then off to the theatre!
-James

Mangrove corals

Jellyfish in Bocas

We are in Green Bay,arrived home at about 1pm,anxious to go get the cats. We were unable to post anything during our time in Playa Blanca. But we will add more now that we are home.
Our trip home was uneventful left panama at about 3pm went thru customs in Houston got to chicago at ten got to Milwaukee at 12:30 and slept there after watching a bunch of Inauguration stuff. will post more later.ellen

Remaining Time in Panama

Peter: Well after a grueling time in bocus del toro and fortuna, we left for gamboa and sorry grandma no umbrella bird this time! Gamboa is really sweet, all the birds a guy could hope 4 My favorite was the Mot-Mot it evaded all my photo opportunities. DAMN! We leave tomorrow for our resort and it has the second largest pool in the world and of course my fav all inclusive! HAHAHEHE. I am not looking forward to the cold and all the snow I have been hearin' about! Well bones is getting a little ant-see about me usein his pc for long periods of time so tottles

Peter Weidner

Pete's Photos

Sloth at the top of the canopy

Brown Booby

Purple Gallanule

howler monkey

Humming Bird

I am done with the science part of our trip. Yesterday I got up at 4:45 to go birding on the famous Pipeline Road. Saw a Mot mot(sp?) Boys are going birding once more today. Last nite Tony Coats(Smithsonian scientist that stayed with us 2yrs ago) came and gave a lecture to the students on the geology of the Ithsmus. They loved him. We had a few Gin and Tonics before to prepare. Tonite the boys and I are staying overnite with he and his wife in Panama City before he takes us to Playa Blanca the next day,for the last part of our trip. Tony says his house overlooks the whole city(photo's at 10) Playa Blanca is a resort on the Pacific (google it) they say they have the 2nd largest pool in the world. This has been a very different trip than anything we have ever done. The smithsonian really made the whole trip go very smoothly,they provided a cook for 3 meals a day for all but the 2 nights in the cloud forest in Fortuna(nobody up there).Pete has had an excellent trip and has done very well. He might need to hang out with scientists more.The early to bed early to bird has been right up his alley. He has been right there with Bob and Amy Howe at every opportunity with his camera and binocs. they say he needs better binocs, he says,"grandpa gave me these!"(I think he was in grade school) James has also had a good experience. Amy says he has done very well with upper level science students. I think he is not regreting his choice of history and political science. there was some confusion when he was handed a field journal,Bob explained later that they did not need to know how he felt about seeing a mammal, just the facts! I still have some gin left in the bottle under my bed,(I bought it on the 1st!) I think I'll give it to Tony's wife tonite,he says "we should get on well she likes gin and tonic and the beach" We are missing our cats, jim was hoping to add ocelot to his journal. We will post more photos The boys take pictures of orchids for you they are everywhere. ellen

exotic flower

batting around the ammo dump

the locks at the canal

suspended above the canopy

some dam sculpture

a video!

apologies from the filmer.


also, new photo album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2265168&l=2faee&id=26724030

well as stated earlier, we are out of the wilderness of fortuna. we are currently staying at the schoolhouse in gamboa. or, more famouslly, on the old base of noregia. while he has been out of power for awhile, his presence is still felt. (hey, lets walk down to the ammo dump with the anabats!) today we dug up fossils and much to our dismay, found no velocaraptors. only shells and the occasional crab claw. we also took a run through pipeline road, a famed birding location. we will be birding there the next few days at dawn. so far we have seen plenty of wildlife, but in my opinion, not nearly enough animals who could end a humans life at any given moment. while some would believe this to be a good thing, i enjoy seeing big cats, sharks, and the ocassional preistoric killing machine.

sun nite.
We are back to civilization in Gamboa, we are very close to the panama canal. We left Fortuna at 10 am and arrived here at about 5:30 pm. a very long drive. The Cloud Forest was beautiful Peter stuck with the birders up early and out! James and I volunteered to cook for the 2 days we were there so we stayed behind a lot of the time. All the other places we have a cook but this place was really the middle of no where. Pete was birding along the Continental Divide. It poured both nite but was pretty nice during the day. The facility was something else tho. James and I planned menus without knowing what kind of kitchen or equipment we would have. there was a refrig and stove. no hot water. and sometimes the water would just quit. It was like camping.
Tomorrow is the rainforest crane and the Panama Canal visitors center. We will try to add some photos tomorrow.

Birds And Animals WOOPPIE!!

PETER: So far we have seen only a few mammels, my favrites are the Bottle-Nose Dolphins and the Central American Wooly Oppossum.The oppossum is about 2ft long and looks like a giant squirelly looking rat, I will show pictures upon arrival at home! On to the Important things now BIRDS, hahaha! We have seen many species and quite the variety I might add! Water birds, Birds of prey, HummingBirds.... There are just to many long names to type! But I will List a few for good measure; My 2 Favrites: Rufus-Tailed Humming Bird(simmilar to the Rubythroughted Hummer but is slightly larger and has long redish tail.) The other favorit is the Common Black Hawk or is it an Eagle can't remember currently will notify yawl later. But the discription of the bird is pritty basic black bird of prey with a white stripe horizontally on the lower half of iths tail and a yellow and black beak. Bade-bade-bade thats all folks, hahahahaha.
till next time.

I just read about Al Franken,Yippie!
It rained most of yesterday ,Panama is at the end of the rainy season. It has prepared us for our next field station in Fortuna,in the cloud forest where nothing ever gets dry. We fly to David then drive to Fortuna. We will be very close to the Continental Divide. We spend 2 nights there. We just found out there are not enough beds! we have to do our own cooking. We have had a cook from town here in Bocas.
We will not have any internet up there. Then we will drive the 9 hours back to Panama city and stay in the STRI facility in Gamboa. Both boys have been very involved in both of the studies here, Bats and counting corals and sponges. We are about to go out snorkeling again
Pete will be on the Data boat and James will be using the underwater camera in the mangroves. I'm just horsing around looking at what I want. We will try to post once more tonite. We leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

James has created a photo album on Facebook. its link is:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2261349&l=7c250&id=26724030

Starfish Beach,they were everywhere

Bat Cave lots of guano

Pete with St. Norberts professor

Jim, Bat Photograpy asst with Bob Howe

frogging behind cemetary

Bluff Beach

view from the bar La Carolina

Study group ready for snorkeling

Bird Island

before body surfing

We moved to the smithsonian marine station today.the uwgb group showed up after us,we had to talk our way past the guard. We are settled into the dorms,we have a cook who came out before dinner

and read us the riot act about being in time for meals,7am ugg I might not be hungry.

The boys are out catching bats with a researcher from Florida. James may get a chance to dive with a researcher and help collect data.

Yesterday we spent the day on a boat with a local.He took us snorkling and frogging.We saw 3 different poison dart frogs,they are very tiny.The red one was from Bastmente Island,he(erwin, our guide) had us tromping thru the cemetary looking for one. Erwin talked pretty much nonstop, I can't figure out if he is an enviornmentalist or a poacher. He claims he has discovered three new species. He breeds parrots to sell in the US and Europe. He was also a bit of a sleeze bag about the topless beaches, He said he has a special arrangement with his wife!
Also, here is a picture of some flowering object for Rose:

Ellen: We have had a whole day in Paradise(Bocas del Toro) The boys room is with the surfers,I'm in the main lodge. La Carolina has a resident monkey,Edgar, a very naughty Capuchin.
The food here is excellent,the view is excellent,the rum punch makes me forget what I was going to do next. We have been to Bluff Beach, a 2 mile walk, yesterday and today for body surfing. James has been boogie boarding. The waves have pounded me into the sand,ripped off Jims shirt,my shorts and I'm not wearing my strapless top there anymore.

Pete: What up everybody? Anyway we're chillin on the beach in Bocas! Yeah we love it. I saw six different species of birds. My favorite was a bird of prey I have yet to identify... Hope you are all jealous. Just kiding we wish you all could enjoy this weather. The food at the place we are staying is freakin awsome!! Good drinks good food and good folks! talk to you soon.

• Our hotel was on the Panama Canal, it was dark by the time we got there but the lights were beautiful. We had to be up at 5 am for our flight to Bocas Del Toro so we only had 5 hours of sleep 2 nights in a row. New years Eve in Chicago was very fun. We had hors'dorves and drinks at Italian Village thanks to a hot tip from Marilyn,it was excellent. Then went across the street to Jersey Boys. We saw the understudies in 4 roles and their timing was off,it looks like it could be a really good show but not that night. Then we hopped on the train and went to Lincoln Park and had dinner at Baba Re Ba! a Spanish Tapas place (pete and jim thought I said we were eating at a topless place) food was fun and good,but no asparagus fries like the Tapas place in Frederick that Melanie and Eric took us too. They brought out hat and noisemakers and champagne for midnite.By the time we got back to our hotel it was 2 am.
• One photo is of Cloud Gate in millennium park

We are in Panama,arrived last night after 2 very easy flights. We made friends in the Customs line and met some people who were staying at the same hotel. James went outside and negotiated a price of $10.00 for the seven of us. The guide book said it would be $25/per person, but he found a guy with a van and through an exciting ten min., was able to knock $15 per head off.

Our new cats

Here are some pictures of our new cats: Lynx and Roux. They, like our previous two felines, are bengels, as im sure you can tell. Roux, the female has a distinctive marbled coat that may not be seen in the photos. They have started to settle in much better than our others, with them investigating newcomers and sleeping with us after only a few months. They along with a few plants and the ever present look-around are spending the bulk of their winter break in the very capable hands of the Overly's.