The high of finishing the Quetzales trail was extended the next morning when Jeff took his family and I out to one of the Smithsonian's research plots. We took a small hike (part of it on the same trail that the first isthmus crossers used some 500 years ago) to a ridge that looked like any other forested site in Panama. However, upon closer inspection, one would see the trees were of different species laid out in a specific grid and tagged with an identifcation marker. Jeff's work down here is to coordinate and keep running the many reforestation studies and projects that are being done here in the tropics. The goal is to find out what combination of species, planted in what order will produce the quickest biomass growth as well as provide attractive habitat for native fauna.
A great deal of reforestation is done with monocultures of trees such as mahogany (African) or teak (Asian) which grow quickly, are monetarily valuable and serve as a vehicle for carbon sequestration, but aren't necessarily a long term viable solution since monocultures are more susceptible to disease and these trees will eventually be harvested.
For example tree A is known to have roots that are quite efficient at turning decaying organic material into nitrogen which is needed in soil for other flora to use. However does tree A grow more quickly when it has a great deal of direct sunlight or if it provided shade cover from another tree? To find out two saplings of tree A were planted three years ago. One is still standing in the open and the other had a fast growing large canopy tree planted adjacent to provide shade. These are the kinds of experiments that Jeff is doing throughout Panama. He's got another cool study coming up on watersheds and how they retain water and disburse it depending on percentage of forestation. It's the scientific process in action.
After saying goodbye to Kristin and her family (big shout out to the hospitality from their family) I arrived at Tocumen International to check in for my routine flight back to Oakland via Houston. The agent at the desk couldn't find my reservation until he discovered that I had booked my return for 3/24/07 and not 2/24/07.
Oops.
With a $100 change fee, I was rebooked on standby for the two flights. I got on the flight from Panama City to Houston without a problem. I even got an aisle seat. But at that point, my luck had run out. Upon arriving in Houston, I get to the gate for the flight for Oakland and I am told that the flight is in an oversold situation. The agents are already looking for passengers to voluntarily take a flight the next day. They were already up to $500 dollar vouchers. I wasn't getting on this flight.
And for the gods to rub it in my face, this flight to Oakland had on it a fellow math colleague and his girlfriend, a fellow 6th grade teacher and his wife and lastly, a former student mine and his parents. All of them had confirmed seats. So as they boarded, I headed out to the taxi stand to take a cab to go get a hotel.
When life gives you lemons you make lemonade. A shout out to my friend Thom B. (of NASCAR fame last summer) who has officially become my gay tour guide to cities in the American South. I called Thom in Orlando and he pointed me to the right part of town to go to enjoy the rest of my evening. There was no point in staying near the airport because the first two flights on Sunday to Oakland (or San Francisco or San Jose) was booked and I was given a seat on the 6PM Sunday evening flight. A $55 (Houston is a big spread out place, people) cab ride to the Best Western downtown was followed by checking out the scene at Westheimer and Montrose. I have to say that I did enjoying the big country music playing pool hall/sports bar that I got to go for an hour before bed. As I've said before, places with lots of real estate (unlike NYC and SF) have these large open spaces to open welcoming gathering places. They also give better service. The coke that I ordered was massive. For the same price in SF I would get enough coke to finish off in one large gulp.
Sunday morning, I changed plans. I decided to take a cab to the other Houston Airport (Hobby) and rented a car and drove down to the Johnson Space Center to take a tour. It was the best $18 I spent in Texas. On the tram tour, we saw Mission Control (unfortunately there wasn't a shuttle in space at the moment so the place was empty) but we did see people in the Mission Control for the International Space Station since there are three astronauts living up there at the moment. On the tram tour, we also saw the building where astronauts train to do all those things they do in space, like work the robotic arm. And no, there was no mention of the woman who tried off her romantic counterpart. There was also no mention of diapers.
The highlight (or perhaps lowlight) of the visit to the Space Center was the fact that I took a shot at landing the space shuttle on the simulator and crashed it four times. And I was on the novice level where all I had to do was take care of the altitude and nose pitch. The simulator stabilized the side-to-side pitch for me. And let me tell you, the simulator was quite sassy in its analysis of my failures!!!
If I had had more time, the Houston Rodeo was just starting its week long run in the new Reliant Stadium. I drove by it because it is located right next to the Astrodome, which I wanted to see. I'm surprised it hasn't yet been demolished considering the newer Kingdome in Seattle already has been.
The car was dropped off at Houston-Bush Intercontinental (Enterprise daily rental $19.99 what a deal) and my flight home was non-eventful. The lesson? Make sure you double check how you book your flights!!
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