what a good day

Today was a good day. I got to sleep in until 7:30am which is crazy late for me. Then I got my phenology done really quickly and had some time to kill so I decided to go walk on one of my favorite trails in the forest (K trail). K Trail has really tall nice trees. It runs right along the edge of a ridge and the wind is always blowing there so its a good place to cool off on a hot day. There are also a lot of large rocks jutting out over the cliff which make great spots to sit. I found one of these spots and just sat down for an hour and enjoyed being in the forest in the sunshine.

After I got back to the dorms, I chilled out during the hottest part of the day and watched a movie on my computer. Then I was feeling tired so I had a nap. After my nap, the other research assistant convinced me not to go back out to the field and instead go to the casona (the area of the park that has the war memorial, a small museum, and the iguana corral) with her. It is currently some sort of Guanacaste province appreciation month here and right now at the casona there is a photo exhibit that is showcasing photos taken here in guanacaste. We looked at the photos for a while and hung out in the old buildings. The pics were really pretty, and while I was there I noticed that the building was full of bats!! Bats are so cute. I love them. One of the bats yawned while I was watching it...then it stuck out its tongue. I also got to watch a baby bat nurse from its mom - all while hanging upside down. (btw - the bat in our bathroom has slept there every day for about a week now. ^____^ )

After the casona closed, we walked back to the dorms with a guy who works in the park. On the way back, we saw a group of monkeys race across the road. In the lead was Simba - the alpha female of the group CP (a group that I don't study). She had somehow killed a green parrot and was racing up a tree to eat it. All the other monkeys wanted to be her BFF - with the hopes that she would share (she didn't). Here is a video of her eating the parrot. (can you hear the food peeps?) This video sucks because a) the sun was setting, b) the monkeys were in a forest with poor visibility, and c) while i was filming, an ant started crawling on my shoulder and i had to get it before it bit me...that's why the camera moves at the end. oh well. its not every day you see a monkey eating a parrot. im just glad i caught it.



After we got back to the dorms, the other assistant and the guy who works at the park asked me to go with them and third guy to La Cruz - a town about 50km away from Santa Rosa. At first I didn't want to go because I was nervous that they would all speak spanish and i would feel kind of awkward. But they forced me to come with them and i'm glad I did. They were all really nice and included me in all of their conversations. I even understood a joke when they made one in spanish!! woo! As we were driving out of the park, the sun was setting. The sky was this crazy colour of red. We stopped at a lookout point and watched the sky for a bit. Eventually, we made our way to La Cruz and had food at a cool little seafood restaurant. I had a piece of fish and salad and french fries! Food at the dorms can get a little bet repetitive so I really enjoyed it. Plus it was my night to cook and I didn't have to!!! ha
We sat and talked for a bit after dinner and then made our way back home. By this point i was pretty tired, so i thanked everybody, said goodnight, and settled in for bed.

Wow - good thing that was the end of my day...cause this post is long!! Hope you enjoyed my photos.

<3 <3 <3
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