With nearly 30 hours of car, plane, and bus on me, and only 4 hours of sleep, by the time we first arrived at La Selva Biological Station at close to 8 PM on Monday night (though feeling closer to 10 since we had not yet adjusted to the time change), I was ready to just get some food and go to sleep. But as we pulled up the road to what would become our new home for the next 10 days, all of that left my mind. Even by the dim headlights of our bus, I could tell I had just entered what can only be described as paradise. I suddenly felt more awake than I had been in days and was itching to explore our new beautiful landscape. Thankfully, sense quickly kicked in and I reminded myself of our morning the next day and that I would have plenty of time for explorations in the coming days. After a quick dinner and a long walk across a wobbly, suspended bridge, we finally arrived at the cabins, where I was able settle in and finally get some sleep.
The next morning came too quickly but after some delicious coffee and breakfast, I felt rejuvenated and ready to begin the day. We started with a nature hike led by none other than our new favorite Tico, Kenneth. From the golden orb spider to a plethora of frog species to the little fluffy white Honduran bats, we saw so many plants and animals that I had only ever seen in zoos and documentaries and dreams. After several hours that felt like several minutes, we emerged from the forest buzzing with excitement. Following a lunch of the best chicken and mashed potatoes I have ever eaten, we gathered for the first time in our new classroom. Here is where the anxiety began to set in. As everyone shared their ideas for their final research project, I became more and more panicked. Everyone already seemed to have a strong sense of what they wanted study and how. After literally every single other person shared their ideas, it came down to me. I brought up the snake article I had found prior to class, feeling neither attached to or passionate about the project. In fact, the next day, walking into my individual meeting with Dr. Wasserman and Dr. Libby, I was ready to tell them to put me on whatever project did not have a good match to go with it because I felt so lost with my ideas. However, during that 20 (though closer to 30 for me) minutes, something beautiful happened. Bouncing ideas around with each other, we came to land upon a project that I became quickly ecstatic about. That night, I went down the rabbit hole of research and felt myself becoming more and more excited to get started on the project.
In addition to the formation of these new sparks of excitement surrounding my project, Wednesday was also the first day I was able to go out and really explore La Selva. I went on two different morning hikes with classmates, during which we found a dozen different species of insects and frogs and (finally) found our first snake of the trip (a Fer-de-lance I think?). During our ventures into the forest, I was able to start getting to know and love all my classmates, with conversations ranging from the plants and animals we were seeing to Disney princesses. At the end of the long day of hikes, project meetings, and proposal writings, I enjoyed a much-needed night off and early bedtime.
The next morning we had our 5:45 AM bird hike with THE man Kenneth. As someone who has always hated mornings and been terrified of birds, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this hike. Though I cannot say I appreciated it nearly as much as some other people in the class, I was not cowering behind a tree hiding from the birds the entire time, which is about as much as I could have hoped for. I spent the morning finishing up my project proposal presentation and by the afternoon could not help but feel genuinely excited to hear about everyone’s proposal and figure out who I would be working with. As more and more people presented their project ideas, I became more and more worried. It seemed no one else’s ideas aligned with my own and I was becoming worried I would be forced to abandon it. Finally, Biz presented and I immediately perked up. This was my project exactly, just with mosquitoes instead of snakes. I quickly approached Biz after class and we started discussing all of our ideas and it became clear that we were definitely on the same page. That night, we got paired together on the project and were excited to begin our work the next day.
I spent most of the day in the library with Biz the next day, working on our final proposal presentation. After finishing the presentation, we decided to get a jump on our survey and try to have it ready to distribute at the pineapple farm the next day. After lunch, we wrote the entire survey and presented it to Dr. Wasserman, who quickly approved its contents. We then gave our final proposal presentation to the class and readied ourselves for the night’s activities: a night hike. On this hike, we got to see five different species of snakes. The one pictured here, which our guide told us was very friendly, was my absolute favorite. We also saw a bunch of toads, frogs, spiders, and crickets.
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The next day was the one I had been looking forward to most all week. We started the day with an early morning lecture from Dr. Libby, then got to hear an exciting presentation from an IU PhD candidate. She has been doing research on the effects of pesticide use on puberty in Costa Rican girls and her research and presentation was absolutely fascinating. Afterwards, we got to go to a pineapple farm. Pineapples are my favorite fruit, so I had been looking forward to this excursion since I first learned about it. Upon arrival, we were greeted with some amazing fresh pineapple juice. We then got to ride around the farm in a tractor and try some farm fresh pineapples. Learning about their methods for growing pineapples sustainably was so fascinating and now me and all the homies have decided we are starting an organic pineapple commune.
Overall, this week has been one of wonderful new beginnings and I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to share this time with. I look forward to continuing my research and studies and can’t wait for every opportunity this trip brings.
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