Well, that's my 10 weeks in Costa Rica done and dusted. I left base camp this morning and I'm writing this from Gaudy's hostel in San Jose; I fly to Mexico tomorrow. I'm sure Mexico will be great, but I feel so sad to be leaving Jalova, as I have had such an amazing time there. I'm not afraid to say that a few tears were shed, and not just by me. In a way I feel like it's gone quite fast (too fast) and on the other hand, teaching in Loughborough, and my old life seems like another lifetime. I feel like I've known people like Marcus and Arno and Sonja for years! Anyway, I'm not going to dwell too much on how sad i am to be leaving; instead I am going to remember the brilliant, funny, or otherwise memorable things that have happened.
My most recent 'memorable moments' from Costa Rica:
- All those stupid dares with Rick, Danya, Marshall, Alice, Emma, Casey and Julia. It was so funny when Marshall kept saying Danya's name by accident and suffering the consequences, and when Rick couldn't drink the soy sauce drnik that I'd made him as it was like pure salt, and of course, the infamous mummy bird spitting into baby bird's mouth... it was the funniest thing that's happened since me and Kyle became rappers!
- Marshall saying "we're gonna get fucked uuuup!" in a high-pitched voice
- Rafting and all the associated drunknenness
- Competing with Danya at Memory, Scrabble, and getting the best photos
- When the tayra (black fox type thing) ran past, and I thought it was Congo (the ranger's dog) for a minute
- Someone wrapping up their turds and putting them in the burnables bin. Pretty disgusting stuff, and we never did find out who it was or why the'd done it. Weird.
- Carrying the shopping back from the rivermouth with Alice, and singing stupid songs to try and take our minds off how heavy the crate was!
- Building a triple-decker hammock and then getting into it.... the trees held the weigt of 3 people, then broke later when Marshall got into it... fat bastard! (that is a joke, in case the cold toneless writing of the internet can't convey my tone)
- The banking crisis with Danya. It was a monumental task which i might elaborate on later. Suffice it to say that it was funny and embarrassing and Danya was an invaluable translator and I was glad I wasn't going through it on my own, and becasue it was so funny it took my mind off how pissed off and anxious i was at not being able to get any of my millions of colones out of the bank.
- The Helen Kellar turtle(s) who went right past us and appeared not to know or care that we were right next to them. They just looked around, sighed in that turtley way, and carried on past us, unperturbed! - the first was with Molly, Casey and Danya, and then a few nights later, two more turtles did exactly the same thing when I was out with Marta, Arno and Deanna; one of the turtles even used me and Arno to push against on her way past us!
- Playing Shag, Marry Kill (or go on a cruise, if playing with Ruth, who doesn't want to kill anyone) this is where someone says three famous people, and you have to decide who you'd shag, marry, kill / cruise with. Who would have thought that i'd shag Saddam Hussein, go on a cruise with Skeletor, and marry Hitler... or that I'd shag Barbie, kill The Little Mermaid, and marry Tinkerbell... or that I'd shag a manatee, kill the howler monkey, and marry the turtle?!
- Casey reading intimate phrases out of a Spanish phrasebook, e.g. "Shall we go to the bedroom" "Please stop" "I like you as a friend" and (my personal favourite) "Touch me here" (Tocar me aqui)... who says this shit? It's so funny to imagine two people getting naked while one (or both) of them are reading phrases out of a phrasebook!
- Trent asking "How'd y'all get the smell of turtle out of your backpacks?", and we all laughed and replied "You don't!"
This being my last week, I wanted to make the most of it all and savour the moments, as they'll never come again. The last Bird survey was beautiful... the sun was shining, and the water was still, reflecting the trees dangling over it; there were mealy parrots squawking overhead and a tiger heron flying along with us and posing for incredible photos. You could hear the howler monkeys groaning from across the forest, and spider monkeys were swinging about near the water's edge to get a good look at us... we saw more herons, egrets, and kingfishers (and northern jacanas, of course!) than I've seen on any bird survey, and it was a great survey to finish on. They can often be like that, it just felt all the more poignant as it's the last one i'll ever do.
My last turtle survey was also pretty funny, when a deafer, blinder cousin of the Helen Kellar turtles tried to nest on top of me: picture the scene... I'm lying face down on the beach, with my hand under a turtle and she's laying eggs into my hand, but has dug the body pit so deep that my head is lower than my feet as I'm reaching under her, and i was gradually slipping in. Then I hear Ruth say to Marcus "That turtle is about to go right into Karen" and I look over my left shouder to see a turtle whose head is about 50 cm from mine, and she's coming right at me. I can't move, as once you start counting eggs, you have to finish come rain, sand flies or army ants (or blind turtles). Then I see Marcus come into the small space between me and the turtle, and he shoos it away. I only found out after that he and Ruth had already deflected the turtle away from me on two prevoius occsaions. They'd seen it coming up towards me, and Ruth had shone her light right in its face, to get it to go away; the turtle simply changed direction slightly, but then continued heading for me... i think they then stood in front of it, shone their lights in its face, and it appeared to half moon (return to the sea) and Ruth and Marcus began triangulating, but after they'd done one tree, ruth turned around to see that the turtle had changed direction again and was less than a metre away from me. that was when they finally managed to get rid of it once and for all. Most turtles get scared and half moon if they see you, or if they see your light, or if you walk in front of them, but not this gal. the problem is that they weigh about half a ton, and could easily crush me as I was lying there on the sand. ah well, crisis overted... she was a persistent one!
My last two Incidentals walks were also great... with Jon and Emma, I finally got to see the Keel-billed toucan I've heard several times but never seen, and they are quite possibly the most beautiful bird in the world. The two we were following kept lading in trees, seemingly disappearing, then just as you'd spot it, it'd fly off to another tree and disapper - little buggers - which meant I couldn't get a photo, but I saw them, so I'll remember that. With Andres and Alice, we saw several red-eyed tree frogs (the quintessential symbol of Costa Rica) and unlike the toucans, the frogs pose for a photo adorably, and you take about ten, then go to put your camera way, then they move to look even more beautiful, so you take more photos, then go to put your camera away, then they move to look even MORE amazing... this happened about 6 or 7 times, so I have about 100 photos of red-eyed tree frogs now. Not that i'm complaining. One time, as I saw Andres leaning down, I saw an eyelash pit viper in front of him, and said "öh yeah, eyelash viper" and he was like "where?" and turned his head and it was about a foot away from his face! he'd not seen it, and was bending down to pick up the red-eyed tree frog. it was quite funny. They are highly (fatally) venomous, but so sluggish you could probably prod it in the face several times without it biting you. That's the impression i get, anyway, but i'm not going to test it.
Today, I left the camp at 4.30am to get the taxi boat to Cano Blanco, but it's a big day for the people staying at camp - there is a close encounter of the child kind on its way, invading like the army ants did, destroying everything in their wake... ok, maybe i'm over-dramatising a litte: there is going to be a beach clean, where 50 ish local children are coming along to learn about recycling, not littering, and to pick up the litter that gets washed up on the beach, and how it can hurt turtles or other animals. I'm sure it will be a memorable day, whether it is a complete success, or a total flop. Even if it's a bit chaotic, it should get the beach a bit cleaner, at the very least. But 50 spanish-speaking 5 to 12 year olds is not everybody's idea of fun: suddenly, Suzie, Rick and Danya were volunteering for nest checks and camp duty - anyhting to avoid the kids! that's exactly what i'd be doing too if i were there! But despite the almost complete lack of Spanish language skills, most people are looking forward to having the kids around. Just imagine it though - 50 kids coming to a forest inhabited by jaguars and venomous snakes, picking up broken glass and hazardous waste off a beach in the midday heat - God help the person who had to write the rish assessment!!
My most recent 'memorable moments' from Costa Rica:
- All those stupid dares with Rick, Danya, Marshall, Alice, Emma, Casey and Julia. It was so funny when Marshall kept saying Danya's name by accident and suffering the consequences, and when Rick couldn't drink the soy sauce drnik that I'd made him as it was like pure salt, and of course, the infamous mummy bird spitting into baby bird's mouth... it was the funniest thing that's happened since me and Kyle became rappers!
- Marshall saying "we're gonna get fucked uuuup!" in a high-pitched voice
- Rafting and all the associated drunknenness
- Competing with Danya at Memory, Scrabble, and getting the best photos
- When the tayra (black fox type thing) ran past, and I thought it was Congo (the ranger's dog) for a minute
- Someone wrapping up their turds and putting them in the burnables bin. Pretty disgusting stuff, and we never did find out who it was or why the'd done it. Weird.
- Carrying the shopping back from the rivermouth with Alice, and singing stupid songs to try and take our minds off how heavy the crate was!
- Building a triple-decker hammock and then getting into it.... the trees held the weigt of 3 people, then broke later when Marshall got into it... fat bastard! (that is a joke, in case the cold toneless writing of the internet can't convey my tone)
- The banking crisis with Danya. It was a monumental task which i might elaborate on later. Suffice it to say that it was funny and embarrassing and Danya was an invaluable translator and I was glad I wasn't going through it on my own, and becasue it was so funny it took my mind off how pissed off and anxious i was at not being able to get any of my millions of colones out of the bank.
- The Helen Kellar turtle(s) who went right past us and appeared not to know or care that we were right next to them. They just looked around, sighed in that turtley way, and carried on past us, unperturbed! - the first was with Molly, Casey and Danya, and then a few nights later, two more turtles did exactly the same thing when I was out with Marta, Arno and Deanna; one of the turtles even used me and Arno to push against on her way past us!
- Playing Shag, Marry Kill (or go on a cruise, if playing with Ruth, who doesn't want to kill anyone) this is where someone says three famous people, and you have to decide who you'd shag, marry, kill / cruise with. Who would have thought that i'd shag Saddam Hussein, go on a cruise with Skeletor, and marry Hitler... or that I'd shag Barbie, kill The Little Mermaid, and marry Tinkerbell... or that I'd shag a manatee, kill the howler monkey, and marry the turtle?!
- Casey reading intimate phrases out of a Spanish phrasebook, e.g. "Shall we go to the bedroom" "Please stop" "I like you as a friend" and (my personal favourite) "Touch me here" (Tocar me aqui)... who says this shit? It's so funny to imagine two people getting naked while one (or both) of them are reading phrases out of a phrasebook!
- Trent asking "How'd y'all get the smell of turtle out of your backpacks?", and we all laughed and replied "You don't!"
This being my last week, I wanted to make the most of it all and savour the moments, as they'll never come again. The last Bird survey was beautiful... the sun was shining, and the water was still, reflecting the trees dangling over it; there were mealy parrots squawking overhead and a tiger heron flying along with us and posing for incredible photos. You could hear the howler monkeys groaning from across the forest, and spider monkeys were swinging about near the water's edge to get a good look at us... we saw more herons, egrets, and kingfishers (and northern jacanas, of course!) than I've seen on any bird survey, and it was a great survey to finish on. They can often be like that, it just felt all the more poignant as it's the last one i'll ever do.
My last turtle survey was also pretty funny, when a deafer, blinder cousin of the Helen Kellar turtles tried to nest on top of me: picture the scene... I'm lying face down on the beach, with my hand under a turtle and she's laying eggs into my hand, but has dug the body pit so deep that my head is lower than my feet as I'm reaching under her, and i was gradually slipping in. Then I hear Ruth say to Marcus "That turtle is about to go right into Karen" and I look over my left shouder to see a turtle whose head is about 50 cm from mine, and she's coming right at me. I can't move, as once you start counting eggs, you have to finish come rain, sand flies or army ants (or blind turtles). Then I see Marcus come into the small space between me and the turtle, and he shoos it away. I only found out after that he and Ruth had already deflected the turtle away from me on two prevoius occsaions. They'd seen it coming up towards me, and Ruth had shone her light right in its face, to get it to go away; the turtle simply changed direction slightly, but then continued heading for me... i think they then stood in front of it, shone their lights in its face, and it appeared to half moon (return to the sea) and Ruth and Marcus began triangulating, but after they'd done one tree, ruth turned around to see that the turtle had changed direction again and was less than a metre away from me. that was when they finally managed to get rid of it once and for all. Most turtles get scared and half moon if they see you, or if they see your light, or if you walk in front of them, but not this gal. the problem is that they weigh about half a ton, and could easily crush me as I was lying there on the sand. ah well, crisis overted... she was a persistent one!
My last two Incidentals walks were also great... with Jon and Emma, I finally got to see the Keel-billed toucan I've heard several times but never seen, and they are quite possibly the most beautiful bird in the world. The two we were following kept lading in trees, seemingly disappearing, then just as you'd spot it, it'd fly off to another tree and disapper - little buggers - which meant I couldn't get a photo, but I saw them, so I'll remember that. With Andres and Alice, we saw several red-eyed tree frogs (the quintessential symbol of Costa Rica) and unlike the toucans, the frogs pose for a photo adorably, and you take about ten, then go to put your camera way, then they move to look even more beautiful, so you take more photos, then go to put your camera away, then they move to look even MORE amazing... this happened about 6 or 7 times, so I have about 100 photos of red-eyed tree frogs now. Not that i'm complaining. One time, as I saw Andres leaning down, I saw an eyelash pit viper in front of him, and said "öh yeah, eyelash viper" and he was like "where?" and turned his head and it was about a foot away from his face! he'd not seen it, and was bending down to pick up the red-eyed tree frog. it was quite funny. They are highly (fatally) venomous, but so sluggish you could probably prod it in the face several times without it biting you. That's the impression i get, anyway, but i'm not going to test it.
Today, I left the camp at 4.30am to get the taxi boat to Cano Blanco, but it's a big day for the people staying at camp - there is a close encounter of the child kind on its way, invading like the army ants did, destroying everything in their wake... ok, maybe i'm over-dramatising a litte: there is going to be a beach clean, where 50 ish local children are coming along to learn about recycling, not littering, and to pick up the litter that gets washed up on the beach, and how it can hurt turtles or other animals. I'm sure it will be a memorable day, whether it is a complete success, or a total flop. Even if it's a bit chaotic, it should get the beach a bit cleaner, at the very least. But 50 spanish-speaking 5 to 12 year olds is not everybody's idea of fun: suddenly, Suzie, Rick and Danya were volunteering for nest checks and camp duty - anyhting to avoid the kids! that's exactly what i'd be doing too if i were there! But despite the almost complete lack of Spanish language skills, most people are looking forward to having the kids around. Just imagine it though - 50 kids coming to a forest inhabited by jaguars and venomous snakes, picking up broken glass and hazardous waste off a beach in the midday heat - God help the person who had to write the rish assessment!!
It's nearly the end of the Tico-Brit spotting contest, and it looks like Jon is going to win it for England, and unless Andres can spot several new species of animal in one day, he's going to be saying goodbye to his leg hair.... there doesn't seem to be any wax strips in camp (why didn't anyone buy some?) so he may have the hair epilated - OUCH! Hopefully someone will update the Facebook group with photos and info on the painful culmination of ten weeks work!
In other news, the five interns now know their placements: Marcus and Deanna are going to a forest project where they'll get to be in the forest every day, and it's mainly flora-based research. Karen B will be going to the Hatchery where they collect freshly-laid eggs and then return them to the beach when they're hatching. And Sonja and Arno will stay at Jalova as staff members. Everyone seems pretty happy with their placements, and hopefully they'll get out of it what they hope for.
Well I guess this is about it from Costa Rica for now... although I still have some top tens that i'm going to write.
PURA VIDA !!!!!
this is a Costa Rican phrase meaning 'take it easy' 'enjoy life' etc
Well I guess this is about it from Costa Rica for now... although I still have some top tens that i'm going to write.
PURA VIDA !!!!!
this is a Costa Rican phrase meaning 'take it easy' 'enjoy life' etc
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