I felt incredibly disconnected from the outside environment around me at Indiana University despite its beautiful landscape and close proximity to various nature preserves and state parks. I felt engulfed in my studies, always chained to my desk with my eyes glued to my monitor, staring at chemical reactions, brain pathways, bacterial structures, or genome sequences. As much as I enjoy what I study, there was a burning hole inside me yearning to be outside with the morning dew or to hear the crunch of leaves under my feet. In high school, I was incredibly active in environmental advocacy and even organized the first Fridays For Future protest in Bloomington (Greta Thunberg liked my post!). This growing disconnect between the person I used to be and the person I became made me more conscious of how I missed being outside, immersed in nature, and learning from the life around me. A huge reason why I applied for this study abroad program was to attempt to connect with the impassioned environmentalist somewhere still inside me. A week in, I can confidently say that I feel more connected to nature than I have in my entire life, and it was nothing like I expected.
Going into this, I truly had no idea how quickly I would be completely submerged in the raw elements. It was uncomfortable, anxiety-inducing, and full of uncertainty. I was never great at interacting with bugs, and I have come to realize that I enjoy being dry. After a week of being consistently accompanied by millipedes, cockroaches, ants, mosquitos, orchid bees, and spiders, I have become desensitized to my fear of bugs (excluding spiders, I will always be scared of the spiders here). The humidity caught me by surprise. I don’t think I’ve fully been dry since last Sunday when I was in Bloomington. I am in a perpetual state of sweat, moisture, and damp hair. My sheets are moist and my towel doesn’t dry. I took being dry for granted and this exposure to dampness has humbled me, to say the least. Of course, challenging yourself is never easy, and because of this discomfort, anxiety, and uncertainty, I feel more connected with myself and my passion for the environment than ever. The rainforest at La Selva is a vibrant expression of how beautiful and delicate Earth and its ecosystems are. Everything around me is teaching me something and I’ve learned more in a week than I would have over the course of a semester by simply being present and completely surrounded by the things I am learning about.
Me bravely allowing a male bullet ant to explore my hand.
I first learned of leafcutter ants during the morning hike we took during our first morning at La Selva. These leafcutter ants were one of over twenty species of animals I encountered in a short three hours in the rainforest at La Selva. The trails are almost always accompanied by a long line of these little ants carrying parts of leaves and flower petals. It is incredible to watch them work so diligently despite their small size. These ants only eat once in their lifetime, during the larvae stage, and do not sleep. In fact, after the larvae stage, they work 24/7 without stopping for sleep or food. Their lifetime is about four weeks, and it is so amazing to watch them work together. They may be small, but they illustrate what it means to be stronger in numbers. During the night hike later that day, unsurprisingly, I learned another lesson from the nature around me. We encountered two spiders. One spider was in its web, waiting for its prey to be caught in its memorizing trap. The other spider was webless, sitting on a branch, patiently scoping the area for something to eat. Despite being the same animal, they had two very different ways of catching their prey. The webless spider is able to grab its prey and hold it while injecting digestive enzymes into it, whereas the spider with the web is only able to catch its prey by catching it in its web and then wrapping it. Even though most spiders are repulsive to me, I found these differing methods fascinating. They are different yet each method produces the same result. I reflected on this. As a pre-med student at Indiana University, I often find myself comparing my path toward medical school to others’ paths, and it quickly becomes emotionally taxing and discouraging. These spiders reminded me that it’s okay to do things differently from others despite having the same goal because, at the end of the day, we will end up in the same place eventually.
Video of leafcutter ants working diligently.
This week also served as an exploration of what I want to focus on for a month-long research project. I found myself consistently wonderstruck by the power small things held in the rainforest ecosystem. My background in microbiology and fascination with the intersection between social perspectives and biological processes are what drove me to choose the research topic I chose. I settled on the relationship between water and air quality with fungi biodiversity and abundance in a given ecosystem in Costa Rica. I also relate the importance of this topic with the cultural and historical significance fungi hold and how the relationship between fungi and indigenous communities may be disrupted or altered as a result of climate change. I am looking forward to exploring this idea further and merging it with my partner’s research area to create an even better research project. I am so humbled by the role fungi play in ecosystems, as entire ecosystems would destabilize and collapse without them. A movie I watched as a young girl was Beverly Hills Chihuahua. The chihuahuas said it best when they said they were tiny but mighty. Fungi are the chihuahuas of the forest: tiny but mighty.
As I continue to reflect on my experiences thus far, I understand more than ever that the little things count. The climate crisis is daunting, and although I recognize that large corporations and governments are the main culprits and must take action, I have gained a greater appreciation for individual actions. As the leafcutter ants demonstrated, individual actions taken by many individuals create large-scale change. I am warmly tucking this lesson inside my heart as I progress through this journey of learning and unlearning my way through this Costa Rica trip and through life. Thank you, Costa Rica, for reconnecting me with the self I thought I lost.
Yippee Ki-Yay!
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