Okay, the first stop were two small communities in the Colon Province. They can only be accessed through the Caribbean Sea, so we used a boat. You won’t find them on google maps, it’s too small! I had established connection with Edilio, a local man who is not a biologist but is most interested in plants and works training Panamanians in best practices for handling pests, cultivating crops, etc. He also recently found a large Megalodon (extinct giant shark) tooth! He contacted the Smithsonian Institution about his finding and that is how I got to learn from him, as my work here is through the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Edilio and I became fast friends and he has been the best contact to have as he supported me lots with the logistics in this expedition. Although he is not a trained scientist, I have much respect for what he knows about nature in Panama.

My friend Edilio (Edi) and I before we parted ways. Then the students and I continued to the second phase of the expedition

​It took about three hours by car and another two to three hours by boat to get to our first two localities. Then, we had to take another boat to traverse the rivers. Both towns that we first visited are communities named after the rivers around which they are settled. The rivers are INCREDIBLE. Very quickly we found impressive landscapes and rapids full of the plants I study. One town in particular made an impression on me. I hope to establish long-term connections with the community and visit often for research. Only 10 families live in this remote area. They have limited internet access. There are eight to 10 kids in town and they all go to the same little school, where they have one teacher who travels there by boat. The kids get along so well with each other. They play baseball and they are so good at it! One girl named Jolenis was an incredible pitcher. The kids are great at horseback riding even without a saddle. They were really talkative and curious about the work we were doing.

The community at one of the localities we visited is settled between the beach and the forest, so they have cattle and use horses for traveling through savannas and forest to tend to their animals and land. It is so beautiful there. From what I learned, people in the community live in harmony. They have no idea when the town was founded. All they answer to that question is that the town has existed “long enough for people to have been born and die there.” They organized our stay in some locals’ home. Their names are Ana and Isaac (aka Chaki). They cooked food for us and took us on (very) long walks to remote and beautiful places. They live in very humble houses. However, I noticed they live so relaxed and happy with what they have, and they share it all whenever they have a chance. It is still early for me to clearly know whether this is true of not, what their needs are, and if establishing a long-term project there would be a good idea for them. So far, it seems like being isolated has allowed them to have pristine ecosystems, high quality food and water, and a peaceful life. I did speak to women there and they said that while things were good, there were not a lot of chances for them to engage in activities besides housework.

To get to the toughest rapids and waterfalls, we used a system I devised based on what firefighters do for water rescue. We had so much fun because the system turned out so safe, even in the toughest rapids! Everyone got a chance to try it out. On our way back we saw dolphins in the ocean. It was such a tough trip back—lots of big waves—but we were all so happy to be enjoying nature at its best. After this trip we went to the herbarium to dry the plants that we collected. Plants need to be dried in a special oven so that they can be stored long-term in herbaria. We also set leaves to dry in silica so the DNA is stored well for the molecular work I will conduct this year. Field notes are essential to record characteristics of the plants that are lost when dried (color, smell, height, etc).

My friend Edilio (Edi) and I collecting in a huge waterfall. He helped me climb up and stayed with me in case I slipped. I met him the first time I came to Panama last year. I enjoy collecting plants with him and he is such a generous and kind person. So happy to call him my friend!

The locals were so excited about learning about the plants that we were studying! They learned their names and were eagerly collecting with us. They were excited to see that people would travel from so far away to collect what they thought of as ordinary. They said they were going to name their boats after the plants they learned. I was so moved by them and I was sad to say goodbye. One day we walked for four hours to get to a forest with an enormous hidden waterfall. We started jumping and screaming with joy as the view was incredible and it was also full of two species of plants that we were hoping to find. Because of how excited we got, we forgot to be careful and one of the locals collecting with us (my friend Edi) got stung by a scorpion. Another local caught the scorpion and it was a six-inch-long black scorpion; this was a “relief” for me as I remembered that the small white/yellow ones are the ones that are poisonous. Still, I immediately applied a numbing cream to him and decided that we would all make our way back right away to let Edi rest and check on him. He was in pain but was so strong to be able to walk. He recovered well and joined us to return to the same sampling locality the following day.

Snake bites were my biggest fear. There were reports of lots of poisonous ones. Coral snakes and one they call a ‘viper’ (Bothrops, but note that there are many other types of vipers) are common, especially around rivers, which is where we were collecting. We were wearing tall rubber boots and were careful about where we were stepping, and which branches we were holding on to. Smithsonian guidelines prevent us from carrying antivenom, so we would have to get the person to a hospital as fast as possible. I had an escape plan at every locality. We had a satellite phone to call for help in case of emergency and always carried a wilderness first-aid kit. We never got to see a snake, so things worked out well. ​I must say, I was surprised to learn that no one had collected plants in the region before, so we were the first ones (besides the people living in the community) to learn about the existence of those waterfalls, rapids, and the plants in them. Our collections are therefore precious to science and will be stored in the herbarium (plant museum) in Panama City and New York. I am so proud of this accomplishment!

For the second phase of our expedition, we traveled to Paraiso (translation is Paradise). It is a seven-hour drive from Panama City to a locality close to Costa Rica. Paraiso was very different. Rivers were less spectacular, but the forest was so awesome. We found both river plants and the plants I love the most in the whole world! (this is after my beloved aquatic plants). I think I cried. The plants we found are in the family Marcgraviaceae. They are bat pollinated and have long green jars with lots of nectar that function as a reward and attraction for the bats. While bats try to reach the nectar, they get covered in pollen and as they move from flower to flower, they pollinate them. 

Marcgravia. Bat pollinated and one of my favorite plants ever! I had not seen them live so I cried when a student found them in the forest.

We collected in a couple of rivers there. We had two days where we couldn’t find the plants we needed to collect. This is normal and it is part of exploration and nature. However, we took those days as a chance to learn about other plants. We used long poles with pruners attached to them (pole pruners, or cortarramas as we call them in Spanish) to cut branches in tall trees, and used a hand lens and books to identify them at night.

Attempting a collection of a liana growing on a tall tree using the pole pruners

We woke up at 5:30 every morning, had breakfast, and headed to the forest and rivers, then would get back around 6 p.m. to shower and process our samples until about 10 p.m. We carried our lunch, water, and snacks with us. We were constantly soaking wet but that was refreshing as the weather in Panama is pretty hot and humid, especially this time of the year. After the collecting part of the trip ended, I decided to reward the whole team by hiking up the tallest peak in Panama. It is the Barú volcano. Located in a national park, this volcano is 11,401 feet at its peak and still active. It took us 11 hours to hike up and down and it was pretty tough. The wind at the top was incredibly strong. At the time I am writing this, we are still hurting from the difficult hike.

At the end of the trip we had a failed attempt at collecting in another locality. Couldn’t get ahold of our local contact and had to return to Panama City after hours of trying. It is so important to always be with a local. They know the country and ecosystems best and I decided not to take chances as the team’s safety was the priority. I couldn’t risk us getting lost or not being able to communicate in case of emergency.

So here we are, back in Panama City ready to finish processing samples and export permits. I am so happy that we had incredible adventures, found awesome plants, met people that I hope to stay friends with, and most importantly, did this all while staying safe and having fun. We collected many more plants than I will have budget to sequence. It was an even better trip than I could have imagined! This experience has moved me so much. I am so proud of what we accomplished and I love my job so much when I think about the people that I can bring together and help train through the study of plants. So now you know. PLANTS ARE COOL TOO AND I THINK THEY ARE COOLER THAN ANIMALS. I wanted to share this experience with you before I forget details. I hope you enjoyed reading it.