update from the DR

Tomorrow we are going up to the Parque Nacional de los Haitises. It should be a fun trip. We are staying here. Won't be back until wednesday evening I think so no pics or updates until then. I think we will be out of email contact completely. 

Dominicanos speak a spanish that I am having a hell of time trying to understand. For one, many of them that I deal with aren't very educated. But to make it even harder, apparently Dominicanos don't pronounce the letter/sound "s". So "buenos dias" becomes "buen dia". This makes is very hard to follow what they are saying. I am slowing getting used to it, now that I recognize some of the issues. 

cave hikes

Here are some pics from the last two days. Yesterday we went to a place called Oyo Claro which is full of sink holes that are full of fresh water. The land here is all karst and lots of water flows through it. We saw some cool stuff.

Today we went to Parque Nacional Del Este. I rented a car and drove there with some of the students. Cool area will a giant cave. Finally saw a toady, the broad billed. The pic isn't much as its backlit, but you can see its a toady.

BTW, the whip scorpion from the last post is as big as your outstretched hand!

Hispaniolan mockingbird (endemic):

Another species of Parrot snake:

Snail (shell) for Lisa:

Some kind of cool skink:

Here is the broad-billed toady:

night in the DR

Went on a night hike last night and found lots of cool things. Its always amazing to hike a trail during the day and again at night and see how the world changes.

Tailless whip scorpion:

Tarantula:

Land crab of some sort. It was big, probably 6" across the carapace.

Snails for Lisa:

Sleeping anole:

herp world

Today was a pretty cool day. Saw some cool stuff including:

Hispaniolan lizard-cuckoo

Rhinocerous iguana (captive breeding program)

Lots of anoles including this beauty

And a frog for Lisa!!!

Today we went on a hike to some fresh water lagoons that are located nearby. Its kind of surprising to see fresh water near the beach. They are very beautiful. The best thing about the hike was the three snakes we saw, two of parrot snakes (the green one) and another black one that I haven't identified yet.

pics for the DR

The local fundacion

Where I teach:

Where the students live (upstairs of the fundacion)Lots of lizards

dominican republic

So I am currently in the Dominican Republic at Punta Cana. I stay at the resort, while I teach at the foundation. We have a class of students from VT that spend the whole semester here while professors come in for 2-week stints to teach them. I am here to teach Behavioral and Physiological Ecology, focusing mostly on lizards as they are really common here. So far so good. The resort is way too fancy for me but the area is beautiful. Yesterday we went snorkeling which was very cool. This morning I went sailing on a windsurfer and then a catamaran. Good fun. That said, its really hot here and the mosquitos are pretty dang bad. I'll post pics later.