Thursday was the “field trip” day, and most of the group traveled to the Ocorotu Forest Reserve at the Flora and Fauna hotel about 120 road km NW of Santa Cruz for a day trip.
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Collecting was not overly productive because of the short time in the field combined with the very dry conditions. However, just being in the rain forest was salubrious with the dappled light cascading through the canopy, whine of cicadas, melody of tropical birds, pulsating rhythms of tettigoniids, and the flash of bright colors from many butterflies. 
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Conversely, the mosquitoes and seed ticks made their presence known so as to ‘balance’ the experience. Others not going on the field trip visited the sights in downtown Santa Cruz or visited the scarab collections of the Museu Noel Kempff.