I flew in on the 4th of May, leaving Calgary in the wee hours of the morning. I wish I could say that the trip was drama free but it wouldn’t be a story about me if there weren’t at least some drama along the way. I arrived at the airport at 4 in the morning and as luck would have it they were already checking in people for my 7am flight. Not one for standing in lines, I figured I’d check in immediately and meet my travelling companions on the other side of security. Well, that was my first mistake. Apparently they had the opposite idea and waited for me in the lobby, prior to checking in, causing them to almost miss the flight. So, while I was chillaxing at our gate, they were frantically going through security and running for the plane. It wasn’t until we were already in the air that we realized we’d all made the flight. HUGE problem evaded but it doesn’t end there.
We had a layover in Houston, enjoyed an icy beverage (or 7), had some eats and boarded our flight to Costa Rica. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Midflight, the flight attendants handed out customs forms for all passengers to fill out. Not a problem there, they simply required some passport info as well as info about whatever you may or may not be bringing into the country. Arriving in Costa Rica, we headed for the customs line up and it was at that point that I realized that my passport was missing. No worries right, I mean I just had it out on the plane, therefore if it wasn’t in my purse, it must still be on my seat. Well with 20 people searching (and by searching I mean tearing apart that plane) and 45 mins later my passport was still nowhere to be found, customs was closing for the night, my companions and I were stuck on opposite sides, not allowed to speak with each other, and it looked like I would be spending the night at the airport alone, only to board the next flight home in the morning. Just a little anticlimactic wouldn’t you say?! It was at this point that the lady in charge of the search asked if she could go through my purse herself ( I should note that I had searched my purse about a dozen times at this point, literally emptying its contents onto the ground and rummaging through them). Well wouldn’t you know it, the very first thing she grabbed was you guessed it, my passport! So there I am ugly crying, in disbelief, as she casually hands me my passport and proceeds to laugh hysterically at me, along with the 20 others who had been searching for it the whole time. Needless to say, I felt like just a bit of an asshole.
So, I made it through customs, barely, we picked up our car rental and made our way to our home for the next 4 months, Santa Rosa National Park. The park is found in the NW quadrant of Costa Rica. It’s a secondary growth forest, meaning it was once farmland which was abandoned, allowing the forest to re grow. There is a dry season from Dec-May, during which there is virtually no rain and temperatures soar to upwards of 40 ̊c, and a rainy season from May-Nov, where is can pour non-stop for days on end. I am here during the rainy season and I have already had my fill of the rain; it’ll be a long 4 months!
We are with the monkeys 16 days a month, studying 3 groups. I work the early shift, meaning I am up at 3am to be ready to hike out to their sleep tree by 4. The monkeys begin moving at a little before dawn, so I need to be there standing under their tree ready to follow them by about 4:45. I then spend the next 2 hours following them through the forest, as they forage for food, trying not to lose them, until Mackenzie (otherwise known as McBitchy), the PHD student I’m working for arrives. Bhavisha, the other assistant shows up at 9am and works until sunset, when she puts the monkeys to bed making note of the tree they sleep in, so I can wake them up in the morning again. We collect behavioral data, making note of the behaviors and interactions a certain individual has in a 10 min period, as well as fecal and urine samples, to test hormone and stress levels in the different individuals. Needless to say I’ve been shat on more times than I’d like to remember. We hike for approx 11 hours a day, after which I go back to the dorms, shower, exercise in my room (yes, I realize that I’m a psycho), eat and hit the hay for 8:00, only to do it all again the next day. Days we aren’t in the field with the monkeys are spent doing lab work, therefore processing poop and analyzing nutritional data. Needless to say, we work 25-26 days straight before getting any time off, so by the time vacation comes around, I’m good and effin tired!!!
ahahahahaha McBitchy!!
ReplyDeletepriceless.