So yesterday I had probably the worst day I have had since I came to Costa Rica. It started out decent enough. I got up early to wake the LV group.... I found them with no trouble. They spent all day close to this big fruiting fig tree in a sunny part of the forest. Things were going well.
The trouble began when I was doing a 15 minute monkey follow (basically I have to follow a monkey for 15 minutes and record its behaviours every 60 seconds). I was so busy watching my focal monkey that I didn't realize that there was another monkey foraging directly above me. That monkey dropped a log right on my head. And when I say "dropped a log", I am not talking about poo. I mean, a giant chunk of wood came crashing down and cracked me right on the top of the skull. Ouch. I managed to keep it together and finish my follow, but it really hurt.
After I stopped seeing stars, I had to record some phenology for the giant fig tree. One of the things we have to measure is the CBH - circumference at breast height. The fig was so big that there was no way I could get my arms around it...so measuring the circumference involved me holding my measuring tape and basically hugging the tree, and then moving over and doing it again...and again... all the way around. Little did I know, that as I was tree-hugging and/or measuring, I would hug a tiny little wasp nest. A bunch of small wasps flew down my shirt and one stung me on the boob. As far as wasp stings go, this one wasn't too bad...but still! The breast is no place for a wasp to sting. :(
The rest of the work day proceeded without incident. That evening, I had planned to catch a ride into town with the cool british spider monkey researcher. I needed groceries and she happened to be going to the airport to pick up a friend who came to visit. I thought it would be quick and easy to pick up my groceries and save some money by sharing a cab. The plan was, her and her friend would come get me at the grocery store with their rental car as soon as they picked it up. Then we would all drive back to the park together. Well, they had rental car hell...and as a result, I literally had to wait on the curb outside the (closed) grocery store for nearly 3 hours. Also, last night was one of the coldest and windiest nights we have had here in a long time. I was wearing long sleeves and jeans but still froze my ass off. By the time they picked me up, I was too tired to think of anything besides my bed.
It was nearly 11pm by the time we got back to the park. They dropped me off at the researcher dorms and proceeded to the area where the tourists sleep. It was at that moment that i realized that I had locked my key inside my room. Every other person at the dorm was already asleep, and the person who had the spare key to my room wouldn't arrive until morning. I ended up grabbing my beach towel off the clothesline and using it as a blanket in the hammock. The hammock was comfy but for the first couple hours I was pretty cold so I didn't sleep that well. The good thing is, at about 2am the PHD student's girlfriend woke up and noticed me on her way to the bathroom. She gave me her blanket for the rest of the night. After I warmed up, I actually slept pretty well.
Anyway, that was my day of fail. I am glad its over.
The lessons I learned were:
1. wasps don't like to be hugged.
2. Also, always check to make sure you have a key before locking the door from the outside.
3. when in a pinch, hammocks can make comfy (but drafty) beds
The End.
No comments:
Post a Comment