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!