last day in costa rica!

So i know I have been super slacking at blogging lately. i'm sorry!!! I have just been really busy with wrapping up the field season and preparing to go home.

since I have blogged I have finished going out into the field, i have done a bunch of data cleaning, the PHD student helped me with my analysis for my project (I could have never done it on my own), and i am now packing to leave!

Today I leave Santa Rosa! I am going to stay at a hotel for my last night because my plane leaves at 7am tomorrow. I can't believe that 5 months has passed by already. Tomorrow I will get to see my family and my house and my dog Neko! I need to finish the paper for my final research project, look for work (anybody have a job they want to give me?) and prepare for my sweetheart to visit me (the best part)!

I still need to put up some photos for you to see, but i think that my blogging will be coming to an end really soon - well, at least until the next time I travel. I can't imagine that my blogs from calgary would be very exciting or original to read anyway hehe. "omg it snowed today. i hate this city! blah blah"

So this experience has overall been a great one. I am so glad I did this. I learned so much while I was here and I made some cool friends. The PHD student even said that if I don't get into vet school (fingers crossed) he would be happy to have me come back for his next monkey season. who knows what will happen!

So to finish off this little post, here is a list for you.

Things I will miss about Santa Rosa:

• being able to watch the monkeys and keep up with what is going on in their sweet little lives. Its cool to know about all the latest monkey drama, and I love watching the little babies learn and grow.


• I like being surrounded by amazingly smart people. Everybody here is way smarter than me and i can learn so much from them! Its really different from my old life - most people at my old job are barely even literate (yeah, i said it!)


• I love being in the middle of nature. The forest is always changing - each month I see new plants, new animals, and things just look different. There is always something amazing to discover


• The people who live and work here in the park. I have gotten to know some really cool peeps over the last few months. Costa Ricans are good people

Things I can't wait to leave in Santa Rosa:

• the bug bites. After 5 months, i am still covered


• being wet all the time. either I am sweaty because of the heat and humidity, or I am drenched because of the rain. I am looking forward to a nice calgary summer


• cockroaches! since the rains came, there has been a roach explosion! They crawl all over everything. Last night in my bedroom, I killed TWELVE of them. I know roaches are just another insect, but they make everything seem even dirtier. I hate it.


• the long days. i don't know if i ever mentioned my work schedule so here it is: 2 days of work, followed by 1 day off. Work days consist of waking up at 4am, walking for 30-45 minutes, following monkeys from sunrise to sunset, walking for 30-45 minutes, shower, eat, sleep, repeat. After 5 months of this, a standard 8 hour work day is gonna be a snap!

I think that's it for now. I will blog more from my hotel if I can.
Thanks for reading, friends! It has really been a pleasure sharing this blog with all of you.
xoxox
Dayna

CHOMP

check out the chompers on this huge beetle!

playa samara

ok. so here are my photos from my vacation to samara. There aren't very many - mostly just ones of my hotel and the beach during a storm. Hope you like em. It really was beautiful there.

LV is mean

So yesterday I was hangin out with LV. They decided to go through Quebrada Duende - a really rocky stream that is in a deep valley. I was stepping on the rocks while trying to keep up with them when one of the rocks rolled out from under my foot. I fell down, scraping my entire arm along a tree and hitting my head. My fall ended up scaring the monkeys who were on the ground right beside me when I fell. They all jumped into the trees and started threatening me while I was still dazed and laying in the dirt.

I was sad. I said to them "You guys don't be so mean! I am hurt!!" but they didn't care. They made their mean faces and shook branches at me to let me know not to do that again. No sympathy I tell you.

My arm still stings. Check out the huge scrape.



oh- and I didn't get that many photos of Playa Samara but I promise I will post them soon.
<3 <3

Happy Birthday Neko

Today is my dog's 5th birthday. I miss her like crazy. Only 17 more sleeps till I see her.
Happy Birthday Neko. I love you.

howler

so yesterday when I came out of my hotel room in the morning, I was shocked to find a young howler monkey right in front of me. it was literally at my doorstep. When he saw me, he went down the stairs, and sat on top of the hotel owner's head! I was fascinated cause I have never seen a howler that close up before... but I was also a little saddened cause it really isn't good for monkeys to be so close to people cause tourists often behave stupidly and can put them in danger.

She explained to me about this howler (whose name is Chicho) - his mom was raised by the previous owners of the hotel. The little monkey family is still wild, but they will come down from the trees and hang out with the hotel owners. As she told me this, I had so many conflicting emotions. I wanted to tell her that primates shouldn't be raised as pets, but at the exact same time, I wanted that little howler to come and sit on my shoulders.

I think I am probably a terrible primatologist. I love learning about primates, but i find myself wanting to reach out and touch them all the time. this is bad. I also am always petting the stray animals I find on the street - even when they are gross. I want to take them all in and clean them up, feed them, neuter/spay them, get rid of their parasites, and send them on their way. Someday, when I am a vet I would like to do this.

Last night i was eating at this little open-air restaurant when it started to rain. A crazy downpour. This skinny stray dog kept trying to sit under the roof to get out of the rain but the waitresses kept shooing him away. When they weren't looking, he came and sat by my feet. I petted him and gave him the leftover crusts of my pizza. he was sooo happy to have somebody pet him. He sat his head on my knee and nudged my hand each time I stopped rubbing his ears. I paid the bill and left and he followed me the whole way back to my hotel. The poor little guy just wanted somebody to love him. It broke my heart.

I wish i could fix all the broken and unloved animals. anyway, here is a video of the howlers by my hotel. Cute little gremlins huh?

ow

interesting developments.
so remember how I got burned by the burn vine a little while ago? well today i woke up with a bunch of patches of skin that look and feel exactly like that. The thing is, i haven't come in contact with any plants (or anything i can think of) at all.

A friend of mine said that he knows somebody who developed a rash like this from tainted food? perhaps my delicious sushi dinner wasn't so delicious after all. I noticed the burning feeling on my chest just a little while after I ate last night.
hopefully more spots don't develop.

this is dumb. im already scabby enough with the bug bites. I don't need burns on my face, neck, and chest to go with them.
im having TWO drinks tonight AND desert to make myself feel better.

im going to go take photos, look in the shops, and find someplace to eat. i'll blog more later.
xoxo
Day

Vacation post #2

So I made it to Playa Samara without any problems. The reason is because Ronnie, our driver, convinced me to let him drive me the whole way there instead of just to the bus station. He needed the money, and I didn't feel like dealing with the confusion of changing busses in spanish. He gave me a deal and I got to enjoy the 3 hour drive in the comfort of his nice clean Toyota Corolla. :)

So this place is great. The beach is beautiful, there are lots of friendly people, english is pretty common, and the place that i'm staying is great! I chose a little bed and breakfast just a little ways off the beach. There are 7 rooms in a kind of jungle swiss chalet type of building. The building is surrounded by a beautiful garden, an open area with tables and chairs to eat the free delicious breakfasts, a relaxing area with hammocks and chairs, and a nice blue swimming pool! There's free internet, and the owners have 2 awesome giant dogs that lie around all day long. The price is good too. I have taken a bunch of photos and will make a slideshow for you soon.

Last night, I went exploring for a little while and tried to find a place to eat dinner. It is the off-season right now, so a lot of the places were closed. I ended up finding an empty restaurant right on the beach. The staff treated me really nice cause I was their only customer all night. I chose a table that was right on the edge of the sand. I could hear the surf crashing on the shore as i relaxed in the refreshing evening breeze. I had some really interesting sushi for dinner - a "samara special roll" which had tuna, green onions, and avocado - all deep fried so that the roll had a crispy shell. I also had a "special spicy tuna roll" which was a tuna roll wrapped in thin strips of cucumber and came with a special spicy sauce. I also had a couple of drinks to celebrate my vacation - i wanted a mojito but they didn't make them there...so i settled for gin and cranberry... my old favorite. here and here are 2 photos of my nice dinner.

I will write more about this place (howler monkeys) later today and I will get some pictures uploaded as well. Right now I am forcing myself to work on my literature review for a little while (yes, i know. homework on vacation SUCKS!). If I do well, then I will go to the beach.

wishing my sweetie was here,
Dayna

vacation post #1

So I decided to start this vacation off right!

While I wait for Ronnie to come and take me to the bus station, I made a delicious breakfast bagel with egg, cheese, turkey, avocado, tomato, and a bit of mayo! And a yummy costa rican coffee to go with it. The bagels are thanks to my sweetheart who brought me 2 dozen when he came to visit. ( <3 )

i kick ass at breakfast!
nom nom nom

final holiday

So today is the start of my last holiday. I know what you're thinking... "didn't you just go on a holiday?". The answer is yes, but the PHD student bumped this one up because we leave at the end of the month. I have decided to go to Playa Samara - a nice little beach town down the peninsula. I really just want to relax with my sweetheart, but since he has gone home (sniff) I plan to just relax in the sun, lie by the pool/on the beach, work on some school stuff I need to complete, and enjoy being away from the noisy dorms (i'll write a little more about the new peeps that are here while I vacay).

Anyway, I need to get up so I can go catch the bus and make my way to Samara! i have already decided where to stay and I will blog lots while I am there. I PROMISE!

xoxox
Day

oso m hormiguero

So the other day I was walking to the monkeys and I found this bird researcher on the side of the road. I said hi and he pointed out that there was a really cool anteater in the bushes. We watched it for a second and ooh'd and ahh'd at how it nommed ants from off a tree.

Then, i remembered my camera! I was able to get 12 seconds of footage before it walked into the bushes. Check it out. Now I just need to see a sea turtle, and a puma. Then my list will be complete i think!

oso m hormiguero means "anteater" in spanish.

Monkey drama!

So MAJOR dramz in monkeyland! I have been working with the Guanacaste group (the harry potter group) for the past few days and crazy things have been happening.

Some background info: Guanacaste is led by Babaganouj - the most badass monkey in the jungle. He's big, and he's tough, and he is a good protector. He is always scouting for danger and ready to fight any other monkeys who threaten his family. I love him. Back in the day, BabaG used to be the alpha for LV (the food group). Guanacaste is a better group (more females) and apparently about 6 years ago, BabaG decided to take over Guanacaste and kick out the alpha in charge at the time. Marmite - another male in LV came along with him.

Well last month, BabaG disappeared. We weren't sure what had happened to him - but we assumed that he probably got into a fight and died from his wounds (its a rough life for an adult male capuchin). He had had a previous injury and wasn't using his left arm at the time that he disappeared - we assumed the worst after there were no signs of him for weeks. In the meantime, Marmite had assumed the alpha role and spent much of his days at the centre of the group - bonding with the females by acting like a dick - aka threatining us researchers.

When a new male takes over a capuchin group it is very common for him to kill any babies he finds. The theory behind this behaviour is that by killing any babies that aren't his, the new male will free up the females so he can mate with them sooner - and by doing this he increases his own reproductive success. There are quite a few babies in Guanacaste right now - Seamus, Selkie, and Hufflepuff are all young monkeys who are at risk, and Mrs Weasley is about to have a baby any day now. Sadly, Luna was pregnant the last time we saw her - but yesterday when we saw her she was no longer pregnant and her baby was not on her back (dead). Marmite is most likely the culprit.

Anyway, 2 days ago - the PHD student was searching for the monkeys and he found Marmite all by himself. He was injured and had puncture wounds on each of his thighs. Then yesterday when I was with Guanacaste, I tried to see if a new male had come in and given Marmite the boot - but it appeared that they didn't have a big male with them at all (which is a reason they had so much trouble finding a sleep tree last night - there was nobody to lead them). This morning I was searching for the monkeys again and guess who I found - BabaG!!!! I was sooo happy to see him! Sadly, he looked like he got messed up. He isn't using his back left leg, and he has a gigantic wound on his hip that looks old - but still painful. He was all by himself today but I imagine that he is the one who kicked out Marmite. Soon he will make his triumphant return. Hopefully he will be back before Mrs. Weasley has her baby because it is at risk without his protection.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what happens. I am totally cheering for BabaG.

the end.

bleh

Today was a terrible monkey day. Boo.

• the monkeys traveled all day long and I didn't get to sit down for more than 5 minutes all day.


• We were expecting to find new babies today but it looks like Luna's baby died. She is no longer pregnant and her baby was not on her back. poor little baby


• at the end of the day, i had 4 bees fly into my hair - one after another. I squished them and pulled them out - along with a whole bunch of my hair. Losing hair makes me feel stressy. :(


• the monkeys stayed in the middle of nowhere until about 10 minutes to sundown. Then they started running at top speed through the forest in no particular direction. Usually they are all in their sleep tree by 6pm. Today, they were still in the middle of nowhere at 6:20 - and it was so dark outside by that time that I lost them. now I don't know where to go to find them tomorrow morning.


• to top it all off, after I lost the monkeys - I had to walk through really crappy forest for a while until I got back to the trails. In complete darkness. I ended up bumping into a few acacia trees - a species which is home to really aggressive and bitey ants. I got bit on my shoulder a few times.


• when I finally got home - an hour later than usual, i sat down to eat my (now cold) dinner and found a giant junebug in my potatoes. lost my appetite.

I hope tomorrow goes better.
Day

monkeyschool

So I don't usually do this, but I think its time to toot my own horn a little.

Today I checked the university website to see if my grades were up - and they were. It turns out I kicked ass in almost every class. This year has been the best I have ever done academically in my life and I feel pretty proud of myself.
I think this GPA is even good enough for vet school - so my hopes are very high that I get accepted.

Anyway, click here to see how i did. Go me!

that's right, i rule.
hehe
Dayna

randoms

ok. so just a couple of randoms before I go to sleep.

• there are new people here! Another PHD student and her 2 field assistants arrived yesterday. They all seem pretty nice so far but i've been working so much I haven't had time to chat with them a lot yet. Its nice to have new peeps. It is even nicer that they didn't ask me to start sharing a room with the other field assistant! I was worried about that a lot (i need my space) when I found out that new people were arriving.


• the rains seem to have cleared up for now. This is nice because a: i can now do laundry again and not have to worry about clothes not drying and smelling all mildewy, b: the humidity has dropped again. Unfortunately, we got enough rain to cause an insect explosion. There are now junebugs everywhere! These big stupid beetles fly around and either buzz in your ear, land on your clothes, or bonk you in the forehead while you are minding your own business. They are annoying. Even worse - there are nasty fast cockroaches everywhere. They crawl all over our dishes and it really bugs me. Slow giant roaches are tolerable, but the little fast plentiful ones gross me out.


• Now that my sweetheart has gone home, it feels like an important piece of my heart is missing. This combined with the repeated long days and the millions of bugs is getting to me a bit. I am SO ready to finish up this field season and return to Canada. I even bumped up my return flight a few days to June 1 (thanks mom!!). I can't wait. Less than a month to go.

that's it!
xox
Day

rat balls

So yeah. 3 blogs in 1 night. I am trying to make up for missing so many blogs lately. Also, there have been tonns of animals/creepy crawlies around lately so I have lots to write about. (coming soon - frogs, pretty bugs, and skulls!)

Anyway - last night the other field assistant let out a little scream when she was going to her room after dinner. I came over and saw what was causing the fuss. A big ugly rat type thing sitting in front of her door (fyi - we put duct tape along the bottoms of our doors to keep the bugs from coming in). I immediately ran to get my camera and got in 2 good photos before it ran under the fridge.

Isn't this thing ugly?! And look at the size of its balls! Obscene!
Ooh - that reminds me. I recently got a photo of the best balls in the jungle. The huge shiny howler balls. I need to post those soon too. Or perhaps I should save up all my ball photos and just do an animal-nut photo slideshow. Yeah. that's what i'll do. it'll be epic.

hehe balls.

giant stick

Today I was watching Velveeta while she was foraging for insects and I noticed this HUGE stick bug right in front of her. The bug sat very still and she didn't even notice it. After she moved away, I picked it up and took a video of it. Then, I thought for a second about putting it in a place where a monkey could see it (and eat it) but then I decided that it deserves to live since it was literally right in front of a monkey and escaped detection. nice work stick bug!

whip scorpion on mah pants

So this morning, I was in the forest with the monkeys and the mosquitos were getting bad. I put down my bad to get my bug spray - and check out what I found sitting on my leg!

A tail-less whip scorpion. I quickly got out my camera and took some pics and then swatted at it to get it offa me. It tried to run down my leg into my polina, but i flicked it to the ground. Then I stomped on it for trying to go in my pants and being all fast and creepy.

Tailless whip scorpions are UGLY! but they are totally harmless.

xox
Day

new baby!

CHUTNEY HAD HER BABY AND I FOUND IT TODAY!!!!!

Isn't it cute?!? Now I have to figure out if it is a boy or a girl and think of a good name. (LV is the foods/sauces group but some of the names I wanted (wasabi) have already been taken).

Interesting fact: Baby capuchins are all grey when they are first born. It takes a couple of weeks for their white faces to grow in.

how to ruin the internet

So the internet has been down for the last 5 days and that is (one of the reasons) why I haven't been able to post. The reason it was down was my fault. oops.

here's the story. So while I have been in Santa Rosa, I have gotten into the habit of downloading movies off of torrent sites. Everybody here does it. I like watching movies on my nights off. However, Paramount Pictures decided to crack down and spaz out a little. Apparently they weren't too happy that I downloaded the movie "How to Train Your Dragon" which came out in theatres a little while ago. They ended up writing a letter to the internet service provider (ISP) here demanding that they do something about the illegal downloads. The ISP wrote the Santa Rosa people a letter informing them that somebody at the park was downloading illegal movies and shut off the net till the Santa Rosa people sent a response. The Santa Rosa people sent everybody at the park a little message about how it is bad to download movies...and the PHD student told us at the dorms. I fessed up that I was the one who stole How to Train Your Dragon and promised that I wouldn't do it again. Nobody was mad, i wasn't in trouble (cause again, EVERYBODY does it).

This all happened right before the weekend. So the ISP didn't get the "we're sorry, we won't download movies anymore" letter until monday morning. Anyway, the nets are back up and running, and I have made a few blog posts to catch up for lost time.

Anyway, I would probably die without internet so i am not going to download any more movies.

Random thought: imagine if it was porn that caused all the fuss? I don't download porn, but if I did - that sure would be embarassing!

glad to be back.
xoxox
Dayna

P.S. my sweetheart left today. i was a crying snotting mess at the airport and i already miss him like crazy.

policia

So I have always had a bit of a lead foot. I can't help it. I drive fast. Its just the way I am and I can't possibly change at this point.
While we were on vacation, the sweetheart and I were zipping along in our rental car on the way to Santa Rosa. The speed limit signs are painted on the road here - which is something I find a little weird. I also find them difficult to notice. Anyway, I was doing about 100kph in an 80kph zone and we got stopped by the police. The cop didn't speak much english at all but asked where we were going and to see my passport and driver's licence. I told him that we were headed to the park, and handed over the documents. Then he went across the street and had a conversation with the other cop doing the radar gun. I overheard "Canada" a couple times in their conversation, but didn't catch the rest. When he came back, I thought for sure that he would give me a ticket... after all, i'm a touristey looking white person. Instead, he just told me that the speed limit was 80, and told me to drive slower. I can't believe my amazing luck.

My sweetheart said that if it was him at the wheel, we would have gotten a ticket for sure; he's a guy, he's an american, and he isn't nearly as good at making sad little puppy dog eyes as I am. Good thing I was at the wheel!

anyway, I drive a nice slow 95kph for the rest of the drive to the park (kidding!)

vroom vroom vroom
Day

praystation

Every time we drive from Santa Rosa to Liberia, we pass this strange structure that I have always been curious about. So, while my sweetheart and I were on vacation, we stopped stopped the car and and checked it out. So it turns out that this little building is some sort of roadside pray-station. At least that's what I think. There's a little tiny mary statue inside. I know that central america is uber christian, but this thing is literally in the middle of nowhere! I don't get it! Are people so eager to praise jeebus that they need to stop the car on the side of the highway? I would think that maybe something important happened in this spot - except there is no writing or signage anywhere. Its just so random!

Well, we didn't pray but I did take some photos which turned out kinda neat.

dumbest product ever

ok. so i was shopping at the grocery store the other day and I saw a product that made me lol.
CARROT TAN! hahaha

isn't it a bad thing when you tan so much that you look orange? I mean, who would actually want to buy and use this product? The people at the grocery store must have thought I was insane cause I was taking pictures and laughing to myself.

Also, Carrot tan costs the equivalent of about 12 american dollars. That's one expensive orange tan!

long lost blog post

ok, so i'm totally still alive. I have been having such a nice time with my sweetheart that I haven't really been thinking about blogging. I will try to do better this week ok?

So here are just a few random updates.

• the vacation was great. After the hotel in Liberia, the sweetheart and I rented a car and went to Tamarindo - a cool touristy beach town. We ate awesome sushi and stayed in a really cool villa that unfortunately had a broken air conditioner (thank ghod for fans).


• after Tamarindo, we went to Playa Grande. I wanted to go there because apparently leatherback sea turtles nest there. Sadly, it was the wrong time of year to see them on the beach. The hotel there was great though. We had an awesome dinner (ahi tuna ftw!), and sat in a hammock under the stars for hours. Sooo nice.


• the day after Playa Grande we came back to Santa Rosa. I showed my sweetheart the forest, and the monument, and the little museum. He also got to see tonns of frogs, bugs, deer, coatis, and CAPUCHINS! LV happened to be hangin out by the casona when we went for a walk there. I got to introduce him to my favorite little Chutney (who is about to have her baby any day now), Mostaza, Cayenne, and all the others.


• Now I am back at work. On Monday, I took the sweetheart out to monkeyschool with me. We were following the group BH. It was a rough day. They didn't stop to rest the whole time and we lost them a couple times too. They also made us run up and down hills all morning. By 6am we were both dead tired. It was a good day for him to see what it is we do here, but it was not a good day to watch monkeys and see them up close. Hopefully when I spend the day with LV he will come and they will be a little kinder to us.


• the rainy season is supposed to start at the end of May, but it appears to have come early. The past 3 days in a row there have been crazy thunderstorms with tonns of water. I really like storms so I have been enjoying them. There are frogs EVERYWHERE! I could see how it could get old after a while though. Everything is damp and the bugs are starting to come out. I am thankful that I am going to be returning to Canada in a month because by then I will definitely be ready to go.


• The sweetheart was supposed to go home today, but we are having such a nice time he decided to extend his ticket for 1 more week. I am super happy that I don't have to say goodbye yet (cause that's going to SUCK). I will try to blog every day but you will have to forgive me if I miss a couple posts here and there. I want to spend every last possible second with him. I do have a few pics to post from the vacation.. so I promise i'll get to that sooon.

Anyway, I hope everybody is good!
xoxoxox
Day

vacation baby!

So its day one of the awesomest vacation ever! Right now I am sitting on the giant bed in my air conditioned hotel room using the free wireless. Below is a photo of the view off my balcony.


In a few minutes, im going to walk across the street and get some sushi for lunch. Then i'm going to look in the stores, and then i'm going to come back and sit in the sun near that pool all day. Hopefully I can get some colour on my legs (and not burn them again) so that my arms and legs don't look like they belong to two different people. When it gets dark, i'm going to walk around and find someplace good to eat dinner. Then i'm going to come back and talk to my internet sweetheart until it is time for him to get ready to leave to see me. I am sooo excited - there are butterflies in my stomach.

I will take more photos of this hotel in a little while. Right now there's some sushi that needs to be nommed.

happy happy happy
Dayna

Update: There is a mango and a banana tree beside the pool, and a lazy cat that hangs out in the yard! I love it.

custard apple?

YAY! So I am officially on vacation! I am really happy for a bunch of reasons. One: I was getting pretty burnt out from the long hours combined with the humid weather. It will be nice to have a few days where I don't have to work. Two: I am going to go stay in Liberia at a hotel tomorrow. I plan to eat a lot, lie by the pool all day, and sleep in an air conditioned room with a bed that has a real mattress. Three (and most importantly): on Thursday, my internet sweetheart is coming to visit me!! I cannot wait to see him. I'm sooo excited! We are going to travel around for a few days, and then (if I can manage to wake his ass up at 4am) he will be attending monkeyschool with me. Its gonna be awesome.

I will try to blog as much as I can while on vacation... but if I can't get online every day, i'll post like crazy when I get back to Santa Rosa.

In other news, here's a little bit of WTF for you. Here is a photo of one of the walls in the kitchen area. You can see the fruit poster on the wall (there's one with veggies on the other side of the door). Today after coming back from the field, I was looking at this poster while drinking some pop and noticed something strange.

So can somebody please tell me wtf a custard apple is? I have never in my life heard of one. I think it looks like a rotten cauliflower, don't you? Its kind of odd - of all the different fruits to put on a spanish/english fruit poster, custard apple made the cut. Anyway, if somebody knows - please tell me! I am dying to know. Also, does it taste like custard? Cause that might actually be good. NOM!

Anyway, im gonna go count down the hours till my sweetheart arrives. I'll blog again soon!

xoxox
Dayna

nom nom nom. ticks!

Yesterday I spent the day with the Guanacaste monkeys. It was again really hot and humid and the monkeys were lazy. They spent the entire day resting; sometimes too high in the trees for me to see them, and sometimes down on the ground with me. While they were down on the ground, I was hangin' out with the juveniles. One of them came right up to me and perched on a vine that was hanging near my shoulder. I looked over at him and he reached over to touch me. I stayed very still so I wouldn't scare him and he slowly put his hand on my shoulder, picked off a tick that was crawling on me (that I didn't notice), and ate it. I'm pretty sure this means I am one of the family now.

<3 Day

P.S. Tomorrow is the start of my vacation! I can't even explain how excited I am.

ssssssnakes!

So yesterday was another retardo-long day. I had to get up at 3:50am, and didn't make it home until 6:30pm. The air was really humid, i was soaked in sweat, and the monkeys didn't stop to rest for more than a few minutes all day. I was utterly exhausted when I got home. I am starting to feel a little burnt-out from these crazy long hours... I don't even have time to unwind when I get back to the dorms before its time to eat and then go to sleep. I am really happy that today is my day off, and that I only have 1 more long day before my holiday (i will post more about the awesomeness of my holiday soon. i am sooo excited.)

Anyway, yesterday while I was working I did see 2 cool things. Snakes! The first snake a large ratsnake. I was sitting on a rock and watching a monkey in the tree. The snake slithered up right beside me before it noticed I was there. IT WAS REALLY BIG! Like at least 6 feet long. When it saw me, it quickly went inside a hole before I could get a photo of it. After a while, it must have gotten bored because it came back out and was moving around on the ground. It even went up into the monkey tree and sat there for a bit. Normally, I would have been a little nervous around such a large snake that was so close to me, but the monkeys didn't seem to be too concerned by it so I decided it must not be too dangerous. (If they see a boa or a poisonous snake they will all alarm and cause a huge ruckus). Eventually, I managed to get some good photos of it and a video so you can see how big it is!


The second snake was a little brown vine snake. This one just slithered on past me while I was having my lunch and then climbed into a bush to chill out. Vinesnakes aren't dangerous either so I got in nice and close and took a good pic. It didn't seem to mind at all.


Anyway, hope you enjoy the pics and the video. I still need to see an anteater before I leave for home. Hopefully I can catch one on film for you.

Back to work. sigh
<3 Day

long day

Today I had to get up at 3:50am in order to get to the monkey tree by sunrise. I hung out with the monkeys all day and didn't get home till 6:40pm. That's like a 14 hour work day.
Im tired.. and annoyed that I have half an hour before I have to go to sleep and do it again tomorrow.

sorry, this is all the blog I can handle tonight.

ill do better tomorrow

spider baby!

So yesterday I was out with LV, and something pretty cool happened. In the afternoon, a mother spider monkey and her baby came along and spent some time with the capuchins. The capuchin juveniles started to play on the ground and the little spider monkey came down and joined them!! This is pretty cool because spider monkeys almost never come to the ground - and this little one was running all over the place! I took a whole bunch of video of her. She looks all gangly and crazy when she moves. Isn't she cute?

xoxox

Dayna

forest textures

Here are some photos of forestey textures that I have collected over the last little while. I like finding cool patterns in the trees and the ground and the plants. Can you figure out what it is you are looking at?

xox
D

tourist fail

I spent today with LV. In the morning, I was following them through a pretty decent spot of forest when I heard a rustling on the ground. I looked over and 2 awesome land turtles were plodding through the leaves. I walked up to them and they stopped and looked at me. I was pretty impressed because they were both very brave - they didn't hide inside their shells at all! After a minute, they continued on their way and I watched them for a bit. At one point, one of them got stuck in some twigs while its friend sped off so i lifted it up and put it back on track (and don't worry mom, i washed my hands and used sanitizer after). Then I went back to chasing the monkeys. They were sooo cute. Too bad my camera battery was dead. :(

Later on in the afternoon, I was sitting under a big tree while LV was napping in the sun. A couple tourists walked by and noticed me sitting there. Below is the conversation that resulted.

Tourists: hello. can you tell us what is at the end of this trail?
Me: this trail will take you back to the casona.
Tourists: what kind of things are at the casona?
Me: well, there's a beautiful park, and a monument, and a small museum.
Tourists: That's it?
Me: That's it.
Tourists: There's just nature here?
Me: yes. This national park is full of nature.

Then the tourists looked at me like I was somehow ripping them off and walked away. The whole time they were talking to me, the monkeys were asleep in the trees directly above their heads. They didn't even notice.

"Just nature". sheesh.

monday randoms

Good morning mah peeps. Here are just a few randoms to start the day.

• There is this cute little frog that lives in my sink. At night, it sits in the drain under the leaky faucet and lets the water drip on its head. During the day, it hides. Often, I build it a little fort using my mouthwash bottles and it will stay in there and chill out for the afternoon. Last night when I came home from the field, I found it inside my bathroom bag. um....I love you frog, but you swim in the toilet. Please do not sit on my toothbrush, ok?
  
  
• Last night while I was eating dinner, a praying mantis landed on my plate. It stared at me for a while with its huge crazy eyes but then flew away before I could eat it. NOM!
  
  
• Last night, I also found an assassin bug in the bathroom. I don't see them often, but when I do, I kind of get the creeps. Assassin bugs can bite people when they are sleeping and some of them are carriers of the microorganisms that cause Chagas disease. Chagas disease can have almost no initial symptoms for many years, but later serious problems like heart and intestinal diseases can show up. People can also die from it if untreated. Ayways, all assassin bugs are killed on sight. The one last night went "squish".
  
  
• Today is my day off. Our driver Ronnie just came over and offered me and the PHD student's PHD girlfriend a free ride into Liberia! We are going to get some more groceries (we need veggies) and I am going to buy a pair of leather polinas for one of my professors who works on spider monkeys in Belize. she asked me to bring her some as a favour and I have been meaning to pick them up for ages!
  
  
• Somebody messed with my sweet little Chutney. She has a giant gash on her left cheek. It is huge and bloody and looks like a mess. Who would fight with a pregnant monkey? It was probably KathyLee...the alpha female. KathyLee has a massive cut on her head that appeared at the same time as Chutney's wound. Perhaps poor Chutney stepped out of line and got the smackdown. Everybody must know their place in a monkey group. Anyway, I hope her pretty little face heals fast. It looks like it hurts. p.s. Chutney's baby belly is getting really FAT!
  
  
• Random strange monkey fact: When capuchin babies nurse, they gently massage their mom's other nipple with their hand as they are drinking. All the babies do it and its funny to watch. Every single monkey group has a pregnant female in it right now! I can't wait for baby season!

ok that's it! i'll try to do another blog post later tonight if i have time.
xox
Dayna

Tayras!

I saw the tayras again today! i'm almost positive it was the same three ones as last time. They were eating figs in a big tree this morning and I snuk up on them. At first, they ran away... but they must have wanted those figs really badly because after a few minutes, they came back. They hissed at me the whole time they ate, but I stood really still and managed to get some video!

Look at the fun tayra movie I made!! When I add music, it totally looks like they are dancing for me instead of threatening me! hehe




xoxox
Dayna

:P

Here is a photo of a little dude from LV - I think it might be Mousse, but its hard to tell from this photo. Also, I don't know the young monkeys very well at all cause I don't have to gather data on them.
Anyway, monkeys make this face a lot when its really hot. I love it.
<3




P.S. What i really want is to get a monkey temper tantrum on video. They are loud and hilarious. >.<

Randoms

Just a few quick randoms cause BH kicked my butt today.

• Today I was at the monkey tree (after walking for half an hour) at 5:10am, but BH had already decided to leave. It was still dark outside and it took an hour of searching before I found them. little jerks.
  
  
• I spent the entire day climbing up and down hills. Today was one of the most physical days I have had since I arrived in Costa Rica. I am so unbelievably tired.
  
  
• I nearly lost the monkeys a few times, but managed to follow them till sunset (I was worried about that).
  
  
• I think one of the tick bites on my ankle is infected. It is really red and sore. And it looks pretty nasty.
  
  
• If I find a new baby in this group I want to name it Pimms. (if you haven't tried Pimms, you should. Its yummeh.)
  
  
• I would give anything for a foot massage right now (anything except my first born that is... I already traded it away for a foot massage a while ago)
  
  
• Today I had to make a new hole in my belt cause my pants were falling down. woo!
  

ok. that's it.
i'll blog better tomorrow on my day off.
xox
Day

Bosque humido

So today I got to go to a brand new part of the forest and learn a new monkey group! The name of the group is BH which stands for bosque humido (humid forest). These monkeys all have the names of alcohols... Guaro, Campari, Sangria, Guinness, etc, etc. They live in undisturbed forest which means that the trees in their home range are HUGE! Its awesome. Their area is also super hilly and many of the trails have ropes to help you climb up and down. Im gonna get buns of steel walking up and down those trails. hehe This group is the most difficult group to follow... in fact, the PHD student is getting me to learn them because the other field assistant hasn't been able to complete a whole day without losing them. I guess I must be doing a good job here cause he is making me go out with them all alone tomorrow - and I have only had one day to learn who is who. I really hope I don't lose them...or mess up the IDs!!!

The BH group of monkeys is interesting to watch. This afternoon a bunch of them came down to the ground and dug holes in the side of a hill. Then they crawled into the holes and only their bums and tails were sticking out. They sat like that with the other monkeys watching from beside the holes for about 10 minutes. The PHD student doesn't know why they do this...and no other groups do it either. Weird!

One other cool thing about this group os that two of the females (Daiquiri and Skyy) are pregnant! I hope I get to find a baby!

Anyway, I have to be up at 4am tomorrow and need to be at the monkey tree by 5. So i'm going to go lie down. I'll try to get some photos of my new monkey friends soon!

xoxox
Dayna


P.S. Today is my little sister's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDS! LOVE YOU!

wasp tree

So here is another little video of a tree-hive that I found the other day. This tree trunk was filled with tiny little wasps (they were probably less than 1cm long). I was able to get right in there for a few seconds cause little wasps are no match for me! muahahaha! When they noticed me getting all up in their grill, a few of them flew out to defend the hive. Three wasps flew into my hair on the back of my head. Well, the joke was on them. My hair and neck were so sweaty that they got stuck. I was able to pull them out and squish them with my fingers before I got stung.

Oh, the things I will do for a blog post. Gotta keep the fans happy after all. heh.



p.s. I would not get this close to a big wasp hive. The big ones have painful stings that burn for days.

cicadas are loud

So around the start of March, I began hearing this really strange sound at sunset. It sounded like a tinny-sounding siren and always seemed to come from a nearby location which I couldn't quite pinpoint. One day, I asked one of the other researchers what was up with the siren - and was really surprised at their answer. Cicadas are the ones making all the racket! I knew cicadas were loud, but didn't really realize that that is what they sounded like (we don't have cicadas in Alberta).

What is a cicada you ask? This is.

They are one of the most beautiful insects in my opinion - they are big, have long clear wings, and gigantic eyes. Plus, they are hemipterans - which means that their mouthparts are specialized for sucking the juices out of plants (aka - they don't have the ability to bite or sting). I found this cicada while I was searching for monkeys yesterday. It was lying on the road, half-dead. I picked it up with the stick, did a little photo shoot, and then set it safely on a leaf.

The other day, I was with the LV monkeys and me and Chutney were hanging out on this ridge near sunset time. Because I was high up, I could see a huge stretch of jungle below me, and the cicadas started calling way off in the distance. It seems like one will start to call, and then its neighbour will echo it, and that one's neighbour will echo it, and so on, and so on. The sound of their calls started off in the distance, and then the sound moved like a wave towards me. The whole forest was calling by the time the wave reached me. It was awesome. Then Chutney found a cicada and bit its head off. It was still calling when she ate it. nom nom nom.

Anyway, here is a little movie that I took the other day. The video is totally boring - its just a pan of the forest, but you can really hear the cicadas calling all around me.

*buzzzzzzzzz*
Dayna

bino-owl

The PHD student has this insane camera that makes me so jealous. One of the lenses that he has is as long as my forearm! With it, he is able to take a close-up photo of a monkey's face when it is 30 metres up in a tree. I feel totally inadequate when I look at my little point and shoot camera. If the light is not exactly perfectly perfect, my photos come out completely blurry when I try to use the zoom to capture something that's far away.

A little while ago, the british spider monkey chick told me that she takes far away photos by shooting them through her binoculars. Cool idea huh? the other day, I had a chance to try out her technique. It was the same day that I found all the cool guanacaste seeds. I was walking along in a good part of the forest, and this huge owl flew past me and perched in a tree right in front of me. It was pretty high up in the trees but it sat there for a really long time and stared at me. Here is the final result. Its no mega-super-extenda-lens photo like the phd student can take...but it'll do.

p.s. this is called a spectacled owl. I don't know why it was out in the daytime.



xox
Dayna

burn vine

So I was going to write about the evil plant Sloania... but i'll save that post for another day. I have a new evil plant to talk about. Burn vine. Burn vine is some kind of plant that grows in the forest. Apparently it is covered with little hairs, and when it touches your skin you develop a blister that feels like a burn. This is all what I have been told by other people who live here. I have never had the chance to examine burn vine up close and I don't even know what it looks like. However, I have been burned by burn vine multiple times.

The problem is that when burn vine initially touches me, it doesn't hurt at all. It just feels like any of the other hundred kinds of vine that brush against me as I walk through the woods. And the burning oozing blisters don't form until hours after I get home from the forest. So its really hard to pinpoint the exact moment that you get burned.

Anyway, yesterday some burn vine got me on the neck. Here is a picture of what it looked like last night. It was oozing and burning and red. Here is a photo of it today, now that it has started to scab over. Its way more noticeable now. Sexy, I know.

Hey - at least I didn't get razor vine on the neck. One touch from that stuff and it rips your skin right open. Thankfully I can recognize it and steer clear when I see it.

I must not pick at this burn on my neck. It will be difficult but i'll just have to focus all my attention on picking the multitude of tick bites on my ankles instead. ha.

*scratch* *scratch* *scratch*

phenology friday

So yeah. Yesterday's post was totally an April Fools thing. haha. As if I could quit my monkey blog - I love blogging! I think that this is one of the best ways for me to make lasting memories and it makes me happy that I'll always be able to come back and read about my different adventures - even after I go back to canada. Plus this way, when my friends and family ask me "omg so how is costa rica?!", I can just tell them to read the blog and I don't have to repeat myself a thousand times. :)

So, back to the business of blogging. Today we did phenology. I think the PHD student was impressed cause I got my trees all done quickly (usually it takes a couple full days). I love phenology days. I get to listen to music on my ipod while I walk, and I get to visit trails that I don't have a chance to go to very often on monkey days. Its cool to monitor the trees and to see how they are growing and changing each month. It makes me feel all in-tune with nature n stuff.

One of the best trees in the forest is the guanacaste tree. They get gigantic and they look really cool when they are fully mature. See? Before the british spider monkey chick left to go home, she showed me a guanacaste seed that she had found. They were so pretty that from that point on I always looked on the ground for fallen seeds when I came across a large guanacaste. Weeks and weeks I searched to no avail. There were no seeds to be found.

Well today I hit the jackpot. I was walking in my favorite part of the forest and I noticed a big guanacaste tree that had started to drop its fruits to the ground. I had always seen the fruits high up in the trees but hadn't gotten the chance to examine one up close. When I picked it up, I realized that it was a giant seed pod! (lightbulb) I broke it open and out fell a whole bunch of beautiful guanacaste seeds! I collected a bunch of them and filled up my pocket. I have decided to take them home and make them into beads. Then I am going to make my good friend who is a jewelery designer help me put them into a pretty necklace. I'll even make one for her too. Neat huh? I have a bunch of seeds so if I can figure out some cool looking jewelry, I will give them to my peeps as gifts! Yay!!

That's all for now. tomorrow i'll write about either: sloania - an evil species of tree in the forest, using my binoculars to take close up photos, or another bee tree that I found today (well, wasp actually). Which would you like to hear about first?

xoxo
Dayna

goodbye

So I have survived another month here in monkeyland. I am pretty impressed with myself that I have managed to keep up with the regular blog posts. March was my best month yet I think. 27 posts out of 31 - not bad!

I think I am running out of things to say though... and instead of just blah blah blahing about nothing, I have decided to retire my blog. I need to focus on my schoolwork and collecting as much data as possible while I am here anyway.

Its been a blast. thanks so much for reading!

bye
xox
Dayna

bee tree

So I was out with the monkeys today and just before sunset, I came across this neat tree with a hollow bottom. I thought to myself "that tree would make a good home for some kind of critter". Then I looked up. It was warming with thousands of bees and I was right in front of it before I noticed.

Of course, I had to take a video before I ran away. This is a terrible video. sorry. I didn't want to get right in there just in case they decided to swarm me so I had to use the zoom. Regardless, you can see that the bees filled up the whole trunk!

At the very end of the movie I tried to move in a little bit closer, but then one single bee flew out and hit me in the hand so I took the hint and stepped back. I already got stung by a bee once this week, i didn't really feel like getting a thousand more.



<3 Dayna


p.s. I got bit 5 times on the had today by acacia ants. Now my finger is all sausagey.

happy sleepy monkey picture

I really like this photo.

This is a picture of Weirdo from LV having a lazy nap in the sun. I think I am going to put this photo on my wall when I go home because I feel happy and relaxed when I look at it.
^____^

Ketchup

Since i'm on the topic of babies, I thought I would introduce you to another one. This is Ketchup. He is the youngest member of LV and was born in December 2009. When I first arrived at Santa Rosa, he was so small that he didn't ever leave his mom (Salsa's) back. She carried him around everywhere she went. She is a great mom. This is a photo of him when he was about two months old. The little monkeys often make faces like this with their tongues sticking out. Apparently it helps them to thermoregulate and keep cool in the hot sun. I think it makes them look super cute and hilarious.

Baby ketchup is starting to grow and he is learning quickly. He is always watching the other monkeys to learn how to climb and forage and make the right monkey noises... and whenever I am around he can't take his eyes off me. I must look like a strange giant monkey to him. hehe. Ketchup's siblings now carry him around a lot (giving Salsa a break) and he often jumps down and climbs around in the trees all by himself. The other day, I watched him for about 10 minutes as he practiced his jumping. He would stand on a branch and then just jump forward for no reason, and land back on the branch again. He was all shakey and awkward and sometimes he would lose his balance a little. It was hella cute.

The younger monkeys often use Ketchup to practice their baby skills. I often see him riding on his sister Velveeta's back. She is nearly old enough to have her own baby...and I like watching her practice carrying Ketchup around and watching to make sure that he is safe. One time I was watching them and another monkey gave an alarm call (probably for a bird or something making noise on the ground). Velveeta quickly scooped up Ketchup and took him up to a safe spot in the tree. She was so fast! It was great to see.

Here is a photo of Ketchup from 2 days ago. You can see how much bigger he is now. His face is a lot fluffier and he doesn't look like a little gremlin anymore. I am not sure of which juvenile this is that is carrying him here. They are cute huh?

Ok. that's it for now! i'll try to post again later.

xoxox
Dayna

Chutney

This is Chutney. She is an adult female in the LV monkey group. She is my favorite female and SHE IS PREGNANT! The other day I was following her, and I noticed that her tummy looks really round and her belly button is kind of starting to stick out. I asked the PHD student to check the next time he was with the group. Today he confirmed it!
I TOTALLY CALLED IT!!!

I really hope that her baby is born before I go home. If I am the one who finds it, I get to pick its name! I know I am getting ahead of myself a little but if its a boy I like the name Wasabi and if its a girl I like the name Saffron. (this is the food/sauces/spices group). Please post in the comments if you can think of other cool names!!

In honour of Chutney's little bundle of joy I have changed my header image! Up there is a photo of the cute little mama and the (most likely) dad Cayenne. In the picture you can kind of see Chutney's fat little tummy!! SOOO CUTE!!!

monkey babies FTW!
<3 Day

p.s. Chutney has had at least 3 babies already but only one (Chai) has survived so far. I hope this new one makes it.

Co-wah'-tee two!

So yesterday I was hangin out with LV under this big shady fig tree...and a coati hung out with us for hours and hours. I got to see coatis twice in two days AND this one let me get really close to him!
I have seen this individual before... he hangs out at the campground all the time. Being close to tourists has made him brave or something because he wasn't shy at all and didn't try to run away! While the capuchins napped in the sun, he foraged on the ground for a while and then climbed up in the tree and had a nap too. I got lots of great photos *cough* coati balls *cough* and some neat videos too!

Here is a video of him saying hi to me. He was literally close enough for me to reach out and touch. They look like little raccoon bears.
:)

Co-wah'-tee

So there's this huge herd of coatis that has been seen roaming around the park lately. I have been hoping that I would stumble upon them at some point and get a photo for all of you peeps. Coatis are cool. They're like a cross between a raccoon, a cat, and a teddy bear, and they're pretty big and can climb trees too!

Well the other day I found them! The british spider monkey chick and I were at her dorm (which is basically just a tiny little house a short walk down the road) looking for the lid to an epi-pen that she had accidentally stabbed her hand with (long story). We went through to the back of the building and there were probably at least 30 coatis out there. I have seen a few coatis here and there in the forest, but they are usually in groups of no more than five. Also, each time I have seen them they were really shy and ran away before I could get close.

When I found the herd I ran back and got my camera, but by the time I returned, they had already started to leave. I got a quick video of one as it was walking away. You can see a bunch of its buddies off in the distance. Now imagine that...times 10! They were everywhere! Anyway, i'll try catch the whole herd on film next time.



The moral of this story is: always carry your camera with you. Always.

xox
Day

Santa Rosa: Take 2

So I made it back safely to Santa Rosa. My little vacation in Canada was great: I got my interview done; I got a pedicure and now my feets are all pretty again; I got to relax with some retail therapy and do a bunch of shopping; I got to eat all kinds of delicious food that I can't get here; AND I got to see all my awesome peeps, my family, as well as my sweet Neko dog. The trip totally rejuvenated me. I'm ready for anything that monkeyschool can throw at me! BRING IT!

I love Costa Rica. As soon as I got off the plane, this wave of happiness washed over me. I love the forest, and the people, and the fact that there are animals everywhere I look. I am excited to get back and hang with my monkey family too! The PHD student gave me a day to rest from flying - but tomorrow its back to the forest! YAY!

My trip back was really good. On the flight from Houston to Liberia, I sat next to a cool young family who is here on their first vacation out of the states. I talked with them for a while about monkeys and fun places in Costa Rica to travel - and it turns out their youngest son William is aspiring to be a primatologist! What an awesome kid! After we landed, I gave them my blog address and they took a picture of me and William together. Perhaps I will see him again someday when i'm a primate vet and he's all grown up and publishing his own research papers! I hope the whole family has a fantastic time here and that the monkeys aren't shy!




To finish off this post, here is a list of things that I will miss about Canada:

• long hot showers. mmmmm


• internet that doesn't fail when im in the middle of a good skype conversation. sigh


• good hair days (with no sweating)


• not having to pick bugs out of my bed


• being able to flush toilet paper (it goes into the wastebasket here.)


• my peeps. it was great to see you guys

That's all for now! Time for lunch.
xoxox
Dayna

airport randoms

So i'm half way back to Costa Rica. I have a 5 hour layover in the houston airport. I took some photos while I waited. One of the photos has been modified in a way that makes me giggle. Can you find it?

<3 Day

the interview ass kicking

Ok... so I totally kicked the interview in the ass. I think that part went GREAT! I made a lot of the interviewers laugh and smile and two of them even commented that I really appeared to be enjoying myself and having a good time. (This is kind of a big deal, cause many of the students are literally on the verge of tears while going through the interviews). So...go me!

However, I do not feel good about the essay part. They asked about current issues that production animal/rural vets have to face...and I didn't know what to say. I was ready to talk about the school and/or my qualifications for attending the school (either that or monkey balls). I did not do well. We were supposed to write 750 words, and I think I got about 500 actual words written. Terrible. I like to think I am not completely terrible at writing...so its a little disappointing that I didn't kick the essay in the ass too.

Now I get to wait. They score all the different areas, and the students with the highest scores are the ones who get the invites to attend vet school. My grades are great, my interview went great, my references are great, and my essay sucked ass. The interview and the grades are weighted the highest...so I really really hope its enough. Overall I feel pretty good about my chances - and I really do think I would make a great vet. Keep your fingers crossed for me ok?

Today is my last day in Canada. I am back in Edmonton right now and today I plan to: drink coffee, maybe do a little more shopping, snuggle my dog, and relax. I have to be at the airport at 3am...and my flight leaves at 6am. Then its back home to the jungle I go! MOAR MONKEYBALLS! WOO!

Ok, well I just thought i'd update you. Im going to go drink my coffee now.
<3 <3
Day

Canaduh

Hola Blogoids!

So traveling back to Canada went relatively smoothly. One annoying thing happened though... I purchased 2 bottles of duty-free rum while in the Liberia airport and was going to give one to my parents and one to a friend. Little did I know, that when I arrived in Houston I would have to go through airport security for a second time. I had the rum in my carry on bag, and when they scanned it - they were not happy because having liquids is in violation of their rules. They gave me the option of stowing the rum in my "under the plane" bag, or having it confiscated. I only had half an hour to make my connecting flight, and I did not have access to my under the plane bag because it was already being loaded on the next plane.

So the jerks stole my rum!! This is the second time the americans have taken my stuff on a connecting flight. Once, on a flight coming back from Dubai, we had a stop in Chicago and they took all my bootleg video games during a mandatory bag search (without us present). A-HOLES!

Anyway, aside from that things were great. I watched the new Burton Alice in Wonderland and Avatar (omg I love Avatar) on my computer on the way home. When I arrived in Edmonton, my parents were waiting for me and the weather was nice and chilly. When we arrived at their house, my dog Neko was really happy to see me. I missed her so much I almost started crying. Neko and I made out for like an hour and then we snuggled in the spare bed together to sleep. We are in love.

Today I have to drive to Calgary. Ima surprise some peeps and have lots of running around to do.

To finish this post, here is a photo of me and Neko - my life partner. she doesn't like having pictures taken - just like a few of my other favorites. We're the cutest couple ever huh?

OMG tomorrow is my interview!! I hope I kick its ass.

the best part is at the end!

Babaganouj (the alpha male for Guanacaste) stole an egg out of a crested guan's nest yesterday. Apparently all monkeys have different egg-eating styles. He made a hole in the top and slurped it up. He was very nice and neat about it.

I had a really long video of him eating his egg (like 5 minutes) but I edited it to show you the best part. Watch the end. hehe


<3 <3
Dayna


P.S. I leave for Canada in about an hour. Sooo much to do and so little time.

wee cuteness - part 2

so it seems that this week is all about finding adorable wee animals. Lookit this baby toad that was in my shower today.
I loves it. ^____^

sand!

Leafcutter ant hills make great sandboxes! This little dude played here for evah!

sunday randoms

Here are some randoms to start the day.

- first of all, Grats to my contest winners Inc and Linds who knew that the quote on the MEGA FAIL INTERNET post was from the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror "The Shinning" episode (arguably the best simpsons episode of all time, definite top 5). Free naked skype sessions coming your way guys. (what? WHAT?! if naked skyping your sister is wrong, then I don't want to be right).

- my primary order of business today is to wash my backpack. I leave for Canada in 3 days and there is no way I can take it on a plane in its current condition. Not only is it full of dirt, leaves, and ticks (blech), but Nutella dropped a hot steaming present right inside it the other day (thanks buddy, love you too!). Also, 2.5 months of sweating like a pig while wearing it has made it kind of smelly. If i wore it now, the jungle stink would transfer on to my regular clothes and I don't think they would be the same after that.

- speaking of regular clothes... I have only one pair of long pants here in Costa Rica. When I fly home, I am assuming that shorts will not be appropriate Canadian March attire. So yay for me! I get to buy stuff! I am looking forward going shopping. I need at least 1 pair of pants, some long sleeves, and something nice to wear on my interview. Also, when I get to calgary my BFF and me are going to get pedicures!! I cannot even explain how much I am looking forward to the part where they rub lotion into your feet and legs for like 20 minutes. *drool*

- today a hummingbird flew into my room! I love them. they sound like little helicopters when they fly. don't worry though, it just had a look around my room and then flew right back out again. Since I started writing this post I have seen: a ctenosaur, an agouti, and some strange kind of small lizard that walked like it was a robot. They were all right beside where I am sitting right now. I love that. oh - I also found a dead snake on the road. yum.

- Finally, monkeyschool is beating me up a little bit. Between the bug bites and the branches scratching me (and my inability not to pick at stuff) I look a lot like a meth addict/crack ho. Long sleeves are definitely in order for the vet school interview. Here is a photo of the crack-hoedness. smexy.



that's it for now!!
<3 <3
Dayna