cool sightings

Here are just a few more of the interesting species seen around base. (sorry if the pics are out of order) We have very large American Crocodiles that are often seen sunbathing on the river banks. One day we went out there and 3 huge guys were out basking at the same time! We watched them for a bit but as the boat approached to pick us up they all made their way back into the water. It was awesome. Next is the male Amazon Kingfisher, one of 6 kingfisher species we survey for. You can tell it´s a male from the rufous colored chest band while the female has a broken green band across the chest. The frog is the poster-child of costa rica, the red eyed tree frog. they are really beautiful. Finally, here is an image from one of our night cameras. Our compost heap tends to attract night-time visitors and this night we had a Kinkajou! It’s probably not good that it is coming to feed on our leftovers, but definitely makes for cool pictures in the morning!

comida tipica

I have only recently started having major food cravings which I think is pretty good considering that I have now been here for 3 full months! While we do cook vegetarian due to lack of access and no refrigeration (except for a few special occasions that they bring in meat), it is not really what I would deem healthy vegetarian. Spices are limited and so are the options for what to make. Breakfast is always oatmeal, and lunch and dinner are either pasta with something or rice with something. And that something is either simply veggies, beans, chickpeas, lentils, or soy meat. While it is great that we have those grain options, people don’t like them that much so we end up just getting a carb and veggies which is not sufficient. The rule is that you have to cook with one protein a day, but I really think it should be two. While there are some stand-out chefs that really go outside the box and cook exceptional food for what we have (like cheese-less pizza, doughnuts, or chickpea salad), usually it is pretty basic. Furthermore, we use TONS of soy bean oil here which is super unhealthy. I am craving veggie sushi, falafel, real salad, blueberries, cheese, Thai, and anything cold. Mmmmmmm.

To balance the sometimes sub-par food, we end up buying lots of snacks. That would be ok if we could purchase them for reasonable prices. However, the nearest town, Tortuguero, is ridiculously overpriced. It’s like living in an airport; tons of tourists and everything is really expensive! They do bring in a lot of American brands which is nice to have something familiar, but I bought a bag of goldfish crackers for $5. Yep, $5. Crazy. Luckily I can still get decent chocolate or I would go nuts, but that costs about $6.

Every Monday we get a shipment of fruits and veggies delivered to the river mouth. These goods come all the way from San Jose by a guy who buys them there and delivers it to local hotels, etc. via boat down the canals. A group of 4 or 5 of us meet the boat down at the entrance to our trail (about a mile walk) with a wheelbarrow and haul it back. While it seems like a lot of food when you’re carrying it, the amount has to last all week. This equals about one pineapple or watermelon shared by all per day. Plus we get bananas but those run out by Thursday. Those who know my rates of fruit consumption understand how devastating that is for me. Luckily, because our base was someone’s home for 50 years, he did plant fruit trees. I am able to supplement my diet with fresh picked treats! We normally have a team that goes picking once a week. In season right now are water apples (similar to pears) and star fruit, but I am looking forward to avocados! Also, since we live on the coconut plantation, Candido, our only neighbor who is a machete master, cuts coconuts for us. Normally we just smash them against a cement step (which you usually loose the nutritious juice) but yesterday he brought me one he had hand sliced with a machete. It looked like an egg but you could just take the top out of it and drink the juice, then it was all ready for eating. Perfect. If only my machete skills were that good.

A Note on Accents

Being one of only 4 Americans on base, I am surrounded by a wide range of accents from posh English to mumbled Scottish to Croatian. However, the vast majority are British. I normally emulate accents I hear for fun (many of you have heard my Irish one and I do a damn good southern accent). However, in this situation I feel it would be rude to attempt that, more like a mockery. However, because I pretty much live in a British colony in Costa Rica, my speech is definitely influenced by them. I could hear it well in the other North Americans when I arrived and was appalled when I could hear it in my own speech. Pretty much what happens is that we North Americans loose the monotone and replace it with this weird form of sing song. I wish I had a recording so you could hear what happens, but the intonation changes in our voices and makes everything go up and down. Weird. Also, I now say cheers instead of thank you.

Here are some pictures of some recently seen creatures. The snake is an Eyelash Pit-viper (venomous), the lizard is a Striped Basilisk, a Howler Monkey, a Boat-billed Heron, and can you spot the frog?

Base Update

The last few weeks have flown by. Yesterday morning we said farewell to our 5 week volunteers while in the afternoon we picked up 5 new volunteers that will stay the remainder of phase. We now have 28 people on base, a full house! This week will be balanced with training the new volunteers in health, safety, and all survey protocols, as well as continuing with our normal survey schedule. Needless to say it will be pretty hectic, but I am feeling much more comfortable with my role here. I have really gotten the canal birds down and am working on memorizing bird calls in the forest, which is a huge challenge! There are hundreds of bird species in Costa Rica and being able to recognize them solely from their calls would be a lifelong effort. But I am starting to pick up the more common ones.

As far as general life on base, we have returned to using a generator to pump our well water and to charge equipment. It is only on a few hours a day, but I actually much preferred life without it. There is something to be said for the peace and quiet of not having any electrical related humming sounds, as well as the tranquility of just cooking dinner by candlelight. However, we still live with very little amenities and I can’t express how much I enjoy not looking at my cell phone every few minutes to check text messages!

You might wonder what we do for fun or in our spare time. Usually my free hours are spent grading work for the Biology Survey Course I run, or studying! Volunteers have a bit more time and can usually be found catching up on sleep in the hammocks by the beach. However, staff and volunteers alike hang out in the kitchen area at night. We play card or board games, sing along to music, and have impromptu toga parties with our bed sheets. Last week we organized a full-on “pub trivia night.” I must confess that I got every single question related to the United States wrong including how many points a touchdown is worth. Pathetic!

I drive a 25ft boat, really!

For those of you who are aware of my driving record (car and otherwise), I would like you to know that I am redeeming myself. As one of the 5 staff members, all of us are needed to take our turn driving the boat for surveys and to run errands, etc. And as nervous as I was, I passed my boat test and now drive the boat full of volunteers and I made them take a picture to proove it! It was really scary at first because the boat is incredibly long and when people are on it, it is very hard to see. Luckily there is a lift for the motor when we get too shallow (unlike my failed attempts to lift up the motor in Waquoit bay on the boston whaler). The narrow canals are especially tricky for turning around but otherwise you just have to avoid fallen logs. We also have to load our canoe onto the boat and drive it out to where we do surveys. Very technical! I haven't gone down the tricky canal yet where boats get stuck all the time, but I am up to the challenge!