From the very beginning of this trip, the moment I landed at San Jose Airport, I was overwhelmed in the best way. It was my first time traveling internationally and I had been pretty much on autopilot for the morning. It all struck me when I looked out the window at the airport. The green, the humidity, the coffee!!!, and the mountains off in the distance were all stunning. Yes, you see beautiful pictures of Costa Rica from the google searches and the family friends, but seeing it, even from afar in that airport, I was awestruck. From that moment on, that feeling has stayed with me. I have had my jaw drop so many times that I’m surprised that something hasn’t flown into my mouth by now.
A couple hours after landing we got onto the bus and we were finally off to La Selva Biological Research Station. I sat in the very back of the bus and just watched the city pass me by. I’ll have to admit, watching the bus driver drive through the countless bikers with zero stoplights or lanes was a bit terrifying. Regardless, being able to just sit and watch without having to stress about the next step was gratifying. It allowed me to simply take the city in and take a moment to myself to reflect. I was proud of myself for getting myself to this moment–physically and mentally. All of the buildup–the freakout text strings to my parents, finding out there are more than 50 hummingbird species and texting everyone I know, booking the flight, packing last minute– I was finally here. I was able to just put my headphones in, put my bookbag down, listen to Sza’s album and watch. I got to see the beautiful city at night along with a giant KFC sign and a Chicago pizza shop. I felt so at home. Once we made it further from the city, the amount of wonder I felt was surreal. I remember thinking that I wanted to bottle up that feeling forever, something I will probably be chasing for a very long time. Seeing plants go by that I had only seen in documentaries and books and in pots was magical. I was also struck by the sheer size of the rainforest, how it completely overwhelms you when you enter. I kept craning my neck to see the tops of the trees, just blown away by how large everything was. We were literally passing through clouds. Everything had felt so loud and hectic and scrambled in my head and I was just thankful to take a moment and clear it. I will remember that moment for a very long time and when I was recently asked by Professor Libby to recount a particular magical moment, this is the one I chose. It set the tone for the whole trip–that feeling of awe and wonder and excitement has only built upon itself as the days have passed by.
Our first day, everything was so new and exciting. The food, the animals, the birds, the people. We got to go on a nature hike the first morning to get introduced to the flora and fauna here. Naturally, it was awesome. Our tour guide was the sweetest woman who took great care to answer our questions and show us the wonders of the forest. One of those wonders were these teeny tiny bats that she found sleeping under a leaf. They looked like tiny marshmallows! The wave of protective care that I felt when I saw those two little mammals was nothing like I’d ever felt before.
I have noticed that my love and care for every creature has only magnified since I got here. I do my best to save the moths and bugs from drowning in the shower; I don’t always succeed but the protective feeling I have over this rainforest and my respect for it has only grown. Everything is so bright and beautiful and eye-catching here, you almost don’t know where to look. Every creature has something to show you, from the leaf-cutter ants to the howler monkeys to the green macaws screeching above.
After the first day, we got to work on our research projects, which was overwhelming and gratifying in a new way. I found myself excited by the challenge, which I hadn’t expected. We started out with our own projects–naturally, I chose birds and agriculture–and got to bounce ideas back and forth with the teaching staff. Every one of them is so supportive and engaging in your ideas. It never felt intimidating when they were there to cheer you on. We presented a research proposal and got paired that night with a partner’s project. I was paired with Marin and we had to come up with a presentation combining our ideas into a research proposal by the next day at 3 pm. Terrifying. But it’s hard to get too stressed when you are in the middle of the rainforest in Costa Rica. We met with the teaching staff again who put us on the right track to a fun project (Eric basically laid out our entire methodology, bless him). We ended up presenting a project about figuring out the correlation between bird abundance and an invasive species here called the pink banana. I will be deep in the forest next week with Marin counting and (hopefully) identifying the birds I see, which is an absolute dream.
Throughout all of the prepping for the projects, we were still exploring the forests and meeting different flora and fauna. It seems as though every five feet you stumble across something. I definitely don’t have enough space to recount every encounter I had with an animal here but if you ask me to I absolutely will. Some of my favorite, most jaw-dropping moments include a toucan, some monkeys, macaws, and a sloth. I have made direct eye contact with creatures I have only seen in documentaries and walked amongst plants I have only seen in pots. I have found that spirit of joy and wonder and kindness in every person at this station and I can’t wait to see where it takes me in the coming weeks.
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