strangler fig

So i got back to Santa Rosa on Friday. The trip was quick and uneventful. I left monteverde at 6am and made it back to Liberia by 11. The driver wasn't scheduled to pick me up until 1, so I had some time to kill. I went to a nearby McDonalds because it was really freakin hot and that was the only place I could see that looked like it had air conditioning and wouldn't care if i sat there for a bit. I bought a 2 cheeseburgers combo and it was pretty much exactly the same as what you would expect in canada -covered in grease and totally delicious. I don't eat mc-d's very often, but when I do it sure is good. After lunch i sat around and read my book for a while, then walked to the grocery store for some supplies. Ronnie came to pick me up from the grocery store at 1 and then back to the park I went. The rest of the day was spent napping, doing laundry, and slacking off.

I was supposed be on holiday until Sunday, so I planned to come back one day early just so I could have some time to chill out before going back to work. Well, that didn't pan out. Since I was back on Friday night, the PHD student decided it was a good idea for us to work on Saturday instead. At first I was kind of bummed out about losing a day of holiday, but as it turns out we are starting to stagger our days off. What that means is on any given day, 2 of us will be in the field and one of us will have a day off. That will make it easier for us to keep track of where the monkeys go because somebody will always be out with them in the forest. I end up starting work a day early, but I get my day off earlier too. So that's good.

Back to work I went. Saturday was a phenology day. Phenology involves me using the gps to find about 150 specific trees that are scattered throughout the monkey's home range. when i find them, i record the status of the leaves, fruits, and flowers. We have to do this once every month. Phenology days are mellow but it was hot and many of the trees were hard to find. Next month it will be easier.

Today (sunday) is my day off. I slept super late (9:30am hehe) and now i am doing more laundry and cleaning data on my computer. I also get to make dinner today - im going to make a stir fry with chicken and veggies i think.

The only other thing I have to say is - I think the strangler fig is the most badass tree in the jungle. Not only are they giant sized and awesome looking - but the way they grow is really cool too. The seedlings usually start to grow in a crevice of a tree, the seed having been dropped by a bird. The fig grows its vines downward to the ground and its leaves upward towards the light. Over time, the vines will fuse together and eventually kill the host tree - leaving a crazy tree with a hollow trunk that looks like it has melted.

That's it!
<3 <3 <3
Dayna

I found a millipede in the cloud forest lol

"don't pick that up! you're crazy!"
"its ok. i'm a biologist."

monteverde in photo form

so i have had a great time in monteverde, but sadly I go back home to the park tomorrow.
Here is a list of things I have done in order over the past 2 days: bug museum, butterfly garden, frog pond, zip-lining, night forest tour, cloud forest walk, and exploring the town. that brings me up to now.
Instead of describing it all, I have made a slideshow that will show you my trip in picture form. I hope you enjoy it. I sure had fun!


xoxox
Dayna

So much fun!

What a day. I am beat so I think i'll give you details tommorrow. For now, I will just say this.

ziplining. superman style. epic.

WTF of the day.

My spanish phrase book includes the word for vaginal discharge but it doesn't have the word for insect. WTF?!


Also, there is a whole section on sex that I am finding highly entertaining.
"lo siento, no puedo levantarla" = "i can't get it up - sorry".

hilare.

Monteverde Adventures - Bus Ride Part 2

so the 2nd half of the bus ride was ok - but long and tiring. Sitting in the sun for three hours was really hot - my arms and my chest got burnt even though i was in the shade. At one point while I was waiting, a bus stopped and an old man got off. I asked him (in spanish) if that was the bus to monteverde. He told me no and that it would be along at 3pm. Then he sat down and talked to me in spanish for a while. He asked me where I was from and told me about the beaches in costa rica. I had a lot of trouble understanding much of what he was saying, but at least now I am not completely terrified to try speaking to people. I really want to learn more spanish as fast as possible! finally, after what seemed like forever, my bus arrived. The old man was very kind and made sure I was onboard before continuing on his way. The second half of the bus ride cost $1700 colones (about $3.50). I paid the driver and was happy to find that there were plenty of available seats. I took a spot by the window where the breeze would help me to cool off.

On the bus ride, there was this gimpy old man selling cold drinks and plantain chips. He spent about 20 minutes walking up and down the aisle asking people if they wanted anything. When he came to me, I noticed that on his left hand, all of his fingernails looked like they had crumbled away, leaving flaky nail remnants and exposed nail beds. Looking at his hand made me feel a little squeamish at first - so I purchased some juice from him (in a can) to get an excuse to look at his freaky nails a while longer. i wonder what would cause nails to do that? yuck. The juice was cold and refreshing after my 3 hour sun-fest on the highway and I finished it in like 30 seconds. Don't worry - I used a straw to drink so my mouth did not come in contact with anything that the freaky hand guy touched.

The bus ride was really long and windey and I am so lucky I had a window seat. If I was standing, i would have chucked for sure. Every so often, the bus driver would stop and new people would get on. After about half an hour, all of the seats plus the aisle were completely packed. While we were driving, I stuck my arm out the window and took photos of the small towns we were driving through and the pretty countryside. What do you think?

When I arrived at my destination, it was already dark so I immediately started to look for a hotel. I ended up speaking to an american who is working in monteverde with a tour company. He told me about a cheap hotel and took me to it (it was just down the street from the bus station). I am paying $7 per night for a small room and a shared bathroom. Its tiny, but hey - the price is right. Also, the bed here is more comfy than my foam mattress back at Santa Rosa. Plus - wireless internet. Perfect. tomorrow I will get up and explore. I will probably start with the butterfly museum, followed by the frog museum, followed by a zipline in the afternoon! There is a lot to do and I think it will be really fun!

I think that's it for now - i have had a long day and i'm just about ready for sleep. Oh - one last thing. When I got here, i realized that I forgot all of my bathroom stuff in Santa Rosa. I had to buy all of the basics again. sigh. Oh well, at least I didn't forget to bring my socks. >.<

Ok that's it! Hope you are enjoying the blog cause I sure enjoy writing it!! more tomorrow,
Until then,
xox Day

Monteverde Adventures - Bus Ride Part 1

This entry was written on paper at about 2pm this afternoon.

Ok. So I got up early this morning at 6am, all ready to begin my journey to monteverde. The other field assistant and I got a ride into town together with the driver who everybody at Santa Rosa Park uses to go back and forth. His name is Ronnie and he's awesome. He's this happy costa rican dude who you just can't help but like right off the start. He speaks about as much english as i do spanish so i don't understand him very well yet - but he's super kind to all of the researchers and comes out to the park to drive us whenever we call (for way less than a regular cab). Anyways, first ronnie took the other field assistant to catch her direct bus to nicaragua (she is from mexico and has to renew her visa every month by leaving costa rica for 3 full days - hence this holiday). Her bus was 1 hour late so we stood on the street in Liberia for a long time waiting around. Here is a photo I took of the place we waited. After that he took me to the bus station. Ronnie seems to know everybody in Liberia... he was pals with the driver for my bus and arranged the first part of my bus ride for me. It helped a lot cause I didn't really know what was going on.

The trip to monteverde from liberia is made up of 2 parts. Part 1: I board a bus for San Jose and get off at a place called Legarto. Today, the San Hose bus was full, but ronnie worked his magic and instead of getting a ticket, i paid the driver $2000 colones ($4) and got a space to stand in the aisle. So here I am at Legarto (which turned out to be a bench on the side of the highway) waiting for Part 2. Part 2 involves me waiting 3 hours during the hottest part of the day for a bus to monteverde, paying the driver, and probably standing for that ride as well. I hope I don't get carsick. I am writing this blog to pass the time. This is a photo of where I am waiting. You can see my backpack sitting on the bench.



Ooh! A semi-truck with three wolves howling at the moon airbrushed on the side just drove past. BITCHIN!!

A really cute dog was just here digging through some trash. I wanted to give her my granola bar but she ran away. :(
OK! Wish me luck on phase 2!!

xox
Dayna

randoms and a big bee

- a monkey shat on my head today. sigh. it was bound to happen sooner or later i guess. that freezing shower never felt so good.

- tomorrow i go on my four-day holiday away from Santa Rosa Park. I'm going to monteverde. i have no idea if I will have internet access while I am there ( i want to find a cheap hotel with wireless - but we'll see what happens). If not, i'll make blogs and post them when I return. hopefully traveling alone is fun and not boring or lonely.

- look at how big this bee is! crazy huh? *poke*



I have to go back out to the field for a bit but I don't feel like it. I am a little sunburnt and feeling lazy. at least tomorrow I can sleep in till 7 :)

I miss you
Dayna

monkeys being cute in the water

This is the LV group. I get to study these guys.



This is Salsa and her baby. I think they named him Ketchup (dumb name). He was born in December and is just starting to climb on his own. He is sticking out his tongue because it is so hot.




This blogging site over-compresses my movies and they look like crap. I don't know how to fix that :(

Well I hope you enjoyed them anyway.
<3
Dayna

iguana corral

I took this photo at the entrance to the monument park in Santa Rosa. The park is really pretty - the trees here are huge and awesome and there are some really nice spots for people to have picnics. Its funny when we come stomping out of the woods in our field gear surrounded by a herd of monkeys - the tourists stop and stare. Straight ahead in the photo, you can see a stone fence. I call this area "the iguana corral" because there are like 10 giant lizards in there every time I go. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this park because it is really pretty and I like going there, but on one side of it grows this terrible grass that is full of burrs. When the monkeys go into that part of the forest, our legs get all stabbed and itchy and the burrs stick to our clothes. Thankfully, my monkey group doesn't go there as much as some of the other ones. As soon as I get better photos of my monkey group I will start to introduce you to them. I am already starting to learn their personalities and even have some favorites. :)

To finish off this post, here is a picture of one of the big ass lizards in the iguana corral.


*love and hugs*
Day

Jungle List

Sorry I forgot to post yesterday. I was busy downloading movies off the internet. I watched "Paranormal Activity" last night before bed. There were some scenes that totally creeped me out so I enjoyed it. (I LOVE scary movies). I will try really hard to not slack too hard and make 2 posts today since I have the day off.

I can't believe I have already been here for two weeks. The weather keeps getting hotter and hotter. This week is supposed to be 36°C (that's 96.8°F for all you americans who use incorrect units of measure for everything) and its just going to keep getting worse. Everybody is saying that this April is going to be brutal. I hope I don't wilt. Here is a list I made for you.

Things I Love About the Jungle

1. getting up before sunrise, hiking in the pitch blackness, and watching the forest wake up
   
2. seeing some kind of cool critter every single day (yesterday I saw an armadillo and a hummingbird!)
   
3. finding amazing old trees
   
4. looking around and noticing that you are surrounded by monkeys - some close enough to touch!
   
5. coming home after a 13 hour day and having an ice cold shower
   

Things I Hate About the Jungle

1. walking face first through a spiderweb
   
2. walking through tall grass and coming out with your pants covered in ticks. blech.
   
3. vines that tangle around your feet and make you fall flat on your face (possibly into grass filled with ticks. blech)
   
4. having to trash data because the monkeys went through crappy forest and I couldn't keep up with them.
   
5. sore feet. and ant bites. (or sore feet with ant bites. that's the worst!!)
   

Thanks for reading!!
<3 Dayna

random babblings

I'm pretty tired today so I don't really feel like writing a ton. Monkeyschool was good and the day went by fast. I got to put the monkeys to bed all myself for the first time (putting them to bed is when I stay at their sleeping tree with them until it gets dark. That way we can find them quickly in the morning). The hardest thing about putting them to bed was finding my way back home on the trails in the dark. I have a GPS though - so don't worry. It will get easier the more I become familiar with different areas of the forest too. Tomorrow I get to wake the monkeys up (at 5am. boo) and follow them all by myself for the whole day. I hope I do ok and don't lose them or screw up the data. Wish me luck!!

My feet are getting better, but they are still pretty hurtey. Wearing two pairs of socks seems to help and my awesome kickass parents (i love you guys) mailed me some gel insoles. I hope they arrive in the mail soon because I think they will be a great help.

I have a four day holiday coming up soon and I am trying to decide where to go. There's a place about 2 hours away called Monteverde (green mountain) that I would like to go and see. There's all kinds of cool things there like horseback riding, canopy tours, zip-lining, a frog museum, a butterfly sanctuary, and a serpentarium (even that word is cool)! It should keep me busy and will make for lots of good photos. I will be traveling by myself which is something new for me. I hope it is fun. My spanish is still pretty crap (even though I am learning new words every day) but this should force me to speak it a little bit more too. Obviously, I will blog all about it.

Anyway, im going to go relax before dinner. The other field assistant is making tostadas. I am going to eat twenty of them.

To finish off today's blog, here is a photo took the other day. Close to our apartment, there is a big stone monument for the war heroes of a big battle that was fought here years ago. The view on monument hill is amazing. you can see the whole jungle and the three volcanoes along the horizon. See for yourself.



<3 <3 <3
Dayna

sausage fingers

Just a little post for now. I'll write a bigger one later (its my day off!).

So I seem to have reacted badly to bug bites on my hands. Before bed last night, my hands started swelling up and now my skin is all tight and my left hand in particular is super swollen. It feels really strange to move my fingers. I am still not 100% sure what it is that is biting me, but I will get to the bottom of this. The PHD student's girlfriend thinks my hand is pretty gross and everybody comments on how the bugs are biting me much more than normal. What can I say... even the bugs can tell how sweet I am (hurr hurr hurr).

Here is a photo of me looking in concern at my sausage hand. The photo really doesn't capture how strange this looks.... it was hard to take with my webcam. My knuckles are almost completely gone. Eh well, at least I have a tan :)


<3 Day

squirrel face

Today was a pretty good monkey day. Originally, I thought it would be crappy because I got up at 4:30am after tossing and turning all night and felt terrible. My feet were sore and I was really really sleepy. But I chugged down some coffee, put on 2 pairs of socks, and popped some advil for the foot pain. It seemed to have helped because the day didn't feel like torture. My feet still hurt after standing for 12 hours, but I didn't feel like crying the whole time. So that's good. It let me concentrate on all the other things that happened.

So here's what I saw during monkeyschool today. (Rated M for Mature due to face-eating. Not intended for small children). We were following the monkey group LV. I like this group quite a bit! All of the monkeys are named after food and they live in a pretty cool part of the forest with lots of high cliffs, great breezes, rocks for sitting on, and big trees that make nice shady spots to stand in. This is one of the groups that I will be studying in detail during my time here and my main task right now is to learn to recognize individual monkeys. Anyway, we were following this one adult male named Mostaza (fyi - it means mustard in spanish). We had just started following him and recording his behaviours, when he climbed a tree and found a big nest made of sticks. He made a really loud screeching call, stuck his head in the nest, and emerged with a baby squirrel in each hand. He bounded off to the top of a nearby tree and proceeded to bite the face off one of the baby squirrels. After the face eating, he bit the legs and stomach of the second baby squirrel and basically ripped it apart while it was still kicking. It was really quite gory. Of course I couldn't turn away. Then, over the next half hour, he ate one and then the other baby squirrel. While he was eating, a crowd of monkeys gathered around him, all hoping that he would share (he didn't). When he was nearly finished, four spider monkeys joined the capuchins in their tree. A baby spider monkey was quite interested in Mostaza's lunch, but kept his distance at first. Eventually an adult female spider monkey came over to try to take what was left of the squirrel, but Mostaza made a threatening face to show he meant business and he managed to fend off the lunch stealers. After he finished the dripping, bleeding carcass, the capuchins groomed the spider monkeys in the top of the tree. Then everybody went on their merry way.

This was really cool to see because not only had I never seen monkeys kill and eat small vertebrates (i still feel sad for the babies and the momma squirrel), but I had never seen the two species of monkey interact. It was really something to watch.

Other cool things about today:
- The monkeys spent a lot of time traveling along a dried up river. The river bed is made of huge boulders. It was fun to hop across these boulders while following the monkeys.
- The other field assistant and I climbed a huge rocky cliff! It was kind of scary because it was a really long way down, but we made it to the top safely. And the view was great once we got there.
- I saw a silver spider monkey. Apparently he is very special because all of the other spider monkeys in Santa Rosa are golden brown.
- I learned many spanish words today. I can now say "i don't know", "i don't understand", and "is there any mail for Dayna". I am trying to speak to the other field assistant in spanish as much as possible. Hopefully I will be able to understand a lot by the time I go home.

Not so cool things about today:
- A wasp stung me on my head. It hurts.


That's it!! Thanks for reading!
<3 Day

Random Video

I'm pretty tired and I have to be up at 4:30am for a full day of foot pain tomorrow so I don't have time for a full post.
Instead here is a video of a monkey being cute and eating seeds.

Shopping Fun

Today we went into Liberia for supplies. It was nice to get out of the park and see something besides jungle for a change. I forgot my camera so sadly I don't have any photos of the city yet, but I will have lots of photo opportunities cause I get to go there every couple weeks. I'll be sure not to forget next time ok?

We started our trip with a lunch at a sushi restaurant. I didn't think I would get to have sushi while I was here - so this was an unexpected treat. I LOVE SUSHI. I could eat it every day and not get sick of it. The more wasabi, the better. I got a big roll with crunchy tempura and chives rolled up in the middle and masago on the outside. The other field assistant got a strange costa-rican sushi roll that had plantains rolled up in it. We traded pieces and hers was pretty good (mine was better though). I also had a bottle of diet coke. I don't know what it is - but Coke that comes from a glass bottle tastes so much more refreshing than Coke from a can or a plastic bottle. Seriously. Its the best. I wish they sold it like that back in Canada.

After lunch we went to the pharmacy to buy itching cream for me and the other field assistant. I don't know what is attacking me, but my arms (especially my elbows) are covered in these hard itchy welts. I look like I have a disease and once I start scratching, I can't stop. The welts also ooze fluid for a while after I scratch them - which is an added bonus. You can't imagine how sexy I look right now. At least the chiggers haven't gotten me yet.

After the pharmacy, I went shopping for some flip-flops. I have one pair of leather sandals, but I wanted a pair that was more beachey and able to get wet. I was looking for a pair of Crocs flip flops cause they are soft and squishy and feel like you are walking on marshmallows but I couldn't find any. I settled for a pretty squishy pair of pink Reef flip flops. Here is a picture of my foot in one of them. I know you're probably thinking to yourself "damn girl, you have some ugly feet". But please keep in mind that my feet are totally broken right now due to stomping through the jungle for 13 hours a day. Also, it is literally impossible for me to take a flattering photo of my own foot. Moving on.
I paid about the same as I would pay for Reef sandals back home - which is not exactly cheap. But my feet need to be pampered when they are not being tortured in the field so I think it is money well spent.

I bought lots of food and supplies for the next 10 days at the park. Mostly things for sandwiches and breakfasts. I also got a lot of juice crystals to put in my water on field days. They have strange flavours like guanabana and horchata which apparently some sort of "cinnamon rice-milk" flavour. Rice-milk flavoured water sounds pretty sketchy to me so i'll let you know how it turns out. I also bought these cool backwards oreos! The cookie part is vanilla and the filling is chocolate. I am excited to try them. Its also great that the bag of cookies comes individually wrapped. This should help to keep me from gold-fishing the whole bag. (when I use goldfish as a verb, it means to eat everything in front of me until I feel sick. Sometimes I do this with sweet things. Its dumb.)

The last thing that I got that's worth mentioning is a big ass bottle of RAID. Every day for the last 3 days, I have found ants trying to make nests in my clothes. Once they were making a nest in a nice new pair of underwear, once in my jacket, and once in a pair of socks. I opened said piece of clothing and it was literally swarming with tiny ants. Thousands of them. They seem to like silky or synthetic fabrics - which sucks cause a lot of my clothes are workout type materials or stay-dry fabrics. Anyway, it felt really good to spray all the edges of my room and watch the ants writhe in agony. Now my room has the "outdoor fresh" scent of insects dying. The other people here were laughing because I bought insect killer in the jungle - but they don't have ants nesting in their gonch so screw them. This raid supposedly keeps scorpions and roaches out too. This is good since 2 days ago, I stepped on a scorpion with my bare foot. Somehow I managed not to get stung - but I would prefer it if they just stayed out of my room alltogether. Stupids.

Anyway, dinner is almost ready (its the other field assistant's turn to cook) so I have to go!
Thanks for reading!
<3 Dayna

Alarm Calls and a Big Ass Snake!

The answer is trees!

LADIES! I have figured it out.

Hang tight because in moments, all of your questions about peeing in the forest will be answered. I myself was nervous about this issue when I first arrived at the edge of the jungle, but I knew that sooner or later I would have to deal with it. Well my dear friends, the answer is trees. See, originally, I thought that squatting was the only way... but there are way too many problems with this method. Your legs get sore and there is the scary chance that your aim will fail and you'll have to walk around in peed on pants for the rest of the day. :[

Instead, what you need to do is find some sort of slantey tree, a strong vine, or a branch that is overhead. Then you hang on to the branch with one hand and lean back like you are sitting in the air. Pants down, pee, and done! That's all there is to it! As long as you check to make sure the branch holds your weight and that no tourists are walking nearby, you should be free of falls, accidents, or highly embarrassing moments involving your naked ass. I hope this information comes in handy for you at some point in your life. I feel so free.

Wee, wee.
<3 Day


P.S. You men are so lucky with your standing and aiming.

Capuchin 101

Ok. So are you ready for your first monkey lesson?

This is a white faced capuchin monkey (this particular guy is named Hercules and he's four years old). Their scientific name is Cebus capucinus. They are new world monkeys which means they only live in central and south america. You might recognize this kind of monkey from the 90s sitcom Friends, or from the movie Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman (Note: the movie Outbreak is about a disease scare that takes place in Africa - so whoever made this movie gets a huge FAIL for using a capuchin). Capuchins have a semi-prehensile tail. This means that they can use their tail like another limb - but unlike the howler and spider monkeys, capuchins usually have to support their weight with a hand or a foot at the same time. (spider and howler tails have one side with no hair on them which makes it easier to grip branches - but capuchin tails are furry all the way around). Only the little baby capuchins can hang from just their tail cause they are small and light. Capuchins live in medium sized groups of about 15-30 monkeys. The groups have multiple males and multiple females and lots of little guys. White faced capuchins are territorial and sometimes when they meet other neighbouring groups - they have big monkey battles. Adult capuchins often sport scars and wounds as a result. (these scars sometimes help us keep track of who is who).

Capuchins mostly eat fruits and bugs. the majority of their day is spent foraging for food throughout their home range. They spend all of their time in the trees - but they live in the lower parts of the forest and sometimes they even come down to the ground. Since I have started monkeyschool, there have been many occasions where the monkeys are close enough for me to reach out and touch. Its really something to be standing in the forest and have monkeys all around you.

When monkeys are angry, they make a "threat face". This involves opening their mouth really wide to show off their sharp teeth. Sometimes the capuchins we are studying make threat faces at each other, and sometimes they do it at us. This female is named Electra and she is the alpha female of the Exclosure group. She was threatening me in this photo because I was really close to her. Sometimes when the monkeys have fights, they will gang up do what is called a "double threat". This involves one monkey jumping on the back of another monkey, putting its head on top of the other's head, and then both making threat faces as a team (I will try to get a better double threat photo soon). This is also a double threat photo that I took - but its way more impressive when they stand on eachother to do it!

Capuchins make all kinds of distinct noises. When they are lost from their group, they do a loud call that carries really far. When the group hears it, they call back and help the monkey find its way back to them. They also have specific alarm calls for when they see predators like snakes, birds, and terrestrial mammals. The PHD student is good at recognizing the alarm calls but I am still learning to tell them apart. They are usually aware of things like snakes before we can see them - so it is handy to know what their alarms mean. When young capuchins are close to big males, they make something that is called a "gargle". The function of the gargle is not yet known - some people think that they do it because they are nervous around the males and some thing they do it to test their bonds with them. Its a cute little noise and when you hear it - you can always tell a male is close by.

My favorite noise so far is the "food peep". These are the little "nom nom nom" sounds that monkeys make when they are eating. They sound so happy and it is just so so cute!! To the left is a crappy video I took the other day. The monkey in it is the alpha male of the CP group. His name is Legolas (I think this is a fruity name for a big bruiser of a monkey, but whatevs). The video isn't anything special (i think he is just eating), but listen close cause you can hear everybody around him making food peeps. Cute huh?! When I took this, we were all stopped for lunch under a tree with ton of fruit. After their lunch they all had a nap.

Here are a few more monkey pics that I took! If you look closely at the one on the top right you can see monkey balls! Capuchin balls aren't that exciting - they are black and kind of hide in their fur. What I really need is a photo of howler monkey balls. Man - those things dangle.

Also, the monkeys below aren't part of the group I am studying so I don't know all of their names. I will introduce you to the ones I learn as I go.

Hope you enjoyed your lesson!
Peep, peep,
Love Day

Hellish Day

I had a pretty rough day today. Something is wrong with my hiking boots and standing for long periods of time is literally like torture. By as early as 9am the bottoms of my feet were killing me. The only way to make the pain subside temporarily was to keep walking. Sadly, when we are watching monkeys I can't just walk around all the time. So... agonizing pain for me all day long. yay. When I got home today, I was pretty worried about how to deal with this problem, but this kickass british girl who works on spider monkeys down the way said she has a pair of insoles that she can give me. Also, my parents are going to mail me a pair of squishy jelly insoles asap. If this doesn't work - it looks like I will need to buy new boots. Hopefully one of these solutions solves the pain problem because I don't care for pain. I can't even feel my blister because the other footy pain is so intense and constant. I am soaking my feets in a bucket of scalding water as I blog and this feels nice.

Anyway, more importantly i have kind of a cool story. I was going to post about monkeys today but I will save that tomorrow because I don't feel like editing photos (there are many cute photos, so be patient!). Today we got up at about 4:30am to wake up the monkeys. Waking up monkeys consists of getting up before sunrise and walking to the sleeping tree before the monkeys get up and start moving around. Its pretty cool sitting in the middle of a pitch black forest, waiting for the sun to rise. Anyway, on the way to the sleeping tree, the three of us were walking single-file along the trails. I had my headlamp on (cause it was pitch black) and as I was walking i kept looking down and seeing these strange little sparkles along the ground. They looked like tiny twinkling diamonds all around me. It was really cool. I took a closer look at one as I walked and it turns out that it was a spider! The light from my headlamp was reflecting off its big eyes and making it sparkle at me. It was probably the prettiest spider experience I will ever have.

Sparkle, sparkle
<3 Day

ow ow my feet.

I was going to talk about capuchins today but i'm too tired. I promise I will do a big update tomorrow - possibly with photos of monkey balls. Right now I just need somebody to give me a foot rub and put me to bed. (Today was really good though, don't worry!)

<3 Day


P.S. I had a shower with a tarantula just now. I also saw about 6 deer today. Yesterday I saw 3 giant iguanas (one black one and 2 brown ones), and a whole herd of coatis in the forest.

my house!

This post is dedicated to showing you all what my new home is like. Hopefully you aren't too shocked at the conditions. I love it here - but then again I have never had a problem with roughin' it. I was a Girl Guide so I have all kinds of outdoor skillz yo.

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So this is a photo of the road beside the researcher apartments. Down the road is the administration building, tourist dorms (for anybody who wants to come and visit me and get the true jungle experience), the lavanderia (laundry), and the comodore (i don't know if I spelled that right. its a cafeteria/lunchroom type of building). This road also joins up with the camino principale - the main road that runs through the park. Our building is to the left.

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This is kind of a crappy photo of the side of the researcher building. To the left of the photo is a little clearing and then the jungle is right beyond it. The spider monkeys swing through this spot and we can see them from the table where we sit. The building is basically a long strip of 6 rooms, with an open kitchen area at the far end and a bathroom over there as well.

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Here is a better view of the strip of bedrooms and the living quarters outside. My room is #6 - the one way down at the far end beside the kitchen. In this photo you can sort of see the entrance to the bathrooms behind one of the far pillars as well. Our fridges and food bins are right out in the open. Everything has to be kept tight in boxes because the wildlife helps themselves regularly. You can also kind of see the other field assistant sitting at the table in this photo. I really like her.

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Here is the beautiful cement cell where I sleep. To the left of the door are shelves where I keep my clothes, ginch, and field gear. The desk in the right hand corner is already like my desk at home... covered with stuff and not used for actual computering. I am surprised at how fast i managed to unpack and spread my crap out all over the room - at this rate i could give Linds a run for her money. it must be genetic. I have no complaints about my room - i am just so happy I get a whole room to myself! It could literally be crawling with scorpions and i wouldn't even mind. oh... wait... IT IS! LOL! I killed TWO scorpions in here last night. Normally I would just shoo ugly critters out the door - but I really don't want those nasties coming anywhere near my beautiful pink skin - especially while I am asleep.

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This is the kitchen area. My bedroom door is just on the other side of the table that's in the right of the picture. The door to the washroom is just over to the left beside the blue garbage can. In this picture you can see the cement sinks where we do all the washing and dishes and sinkey type things. Also, the water here is fully drinkable which is nice. Across from the sinks is a rickety old shelf that holds all of the dishes. There are snakes that live on that shelf and the dishes must always be washed before they are used because they are always covered in leaves, dirt, insects, and ghod knows what else. Also, I really want to clean the wall beside the hot plate - but I haven't been able to find cleaning supplies anywhere. Usually the Park Staff does the weekly cleaning of the bathrooms and garbages and stuff.

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Here is the row of sinks in the bathroom. You can see all my stuff sitting to the left. my sink is the one that is second from the left. I don't really have a lot to say about the sinks - besides there are lots of bugs in this area.

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Finally, here is the row of showers and toilets. The showers are to the left and the toilets are to the right. I like the setup of this bathroom because all of the showers and toilets are each inside their own little room. I use the sower and bathroom at the far end - but for the past 2 days there has been a frog inside my toilet. I don't want to flush it - and I sure as hell don't want to reach in and take it out. So I just find another stall for now. The scorpion is still in my shower - but it stays in between the sliding doors and doesn't come out. I will probably kill it if I see it out in the open - but if it stays hidden I will spare its life for now. (and don't worry - I always check for it before I go in).

that's it for now! Hope you like my house!
Love, hugs, and spider bites,
Day

Monkeyschool

I have completed my first two days of monkeyschool! Monkeyschool is like boot camp.... with monkeys.

The first day, was a search day. We basically had to walk along trails through the jungle and search for a specific monkey group (Exclosure Group is the name). At one point, we saw some capuchins - but it was not the group we were looking for. We followed them for a few minutes, and then had to leave to continue the search for Exclosure. The three of us (the PHD student, the other field assistant, and I) walked the trails together all morning and then had a break for lunch. In the afternoon we decided to split up and search alone. This was cool cause it gave me the chance to learn how to use the GPS on my own and get my bearings.
After 8 hours of walking tiny overgrown forest trails, we hadn't found Exclosure. boo. I did however find some sun and some insect bites. I win!

The second day also began as a search day - but Exclosure ended up finding us. After about 10 minutes of searching, we came up to them on the main road that runs through the park. lucky!! We followed the group around, and i got to practice identifying the alpha male and the four adult females. At first they were difficult to tell apart - especially since the little buggers are always on the move and they rarely look directly at us (we use many facial features to tell them apart). They also move quietly through the trees and can slip out of view before you even notice they are gone! We lost them 3 times today!! So far i seem to have difficulties keeping my eyes on the monkeys and walking through the forest at the same time (some parts really need a lot of careful stepping). I also have trouble remembering all of the 3-letter codes for inputting data as well as all of the genus names of all the food trees. I have to remind myself that it was just the first day of actual observation, but still!!

Here are my thoughts/comments on my first two days of monkeyschool.

- at first I was worried about peeing in the jungle (knowing me, i would fall while peeing or something just as dumb). The good news is - all water leaves my body through my skin. On Day 1 the sweating was out of control. I hope I adjust quickly because I have to carry extra water in my pack to compensate - and water is heavy.

- observation days are long. We can't stop to rest unless the monkeys stop to rest. My poor feet that never see the light of day are sore and destroyed. I have a blister (that doesn't hurt, surprisingly) on my toe and when I popped it - the pressure sent blister juice squirting onto my leg! (its sexy, stop pretending like you don't love hearing about it).

- capuchin monkeys are cute cute cute! I can't wait to get to know all their faces really well and I hope that I do a good job at gathering data. I feel a little overwhelmed with all of the things I need to remember right now but with practice, it will stick. I haven't decided who my favorite is yet.

- I saw 2 different snakes today, a tarantula in the bathroom (i'm going to mail it to Massachusetts), and A TAPIR! Apparently they are very very rare - and some people who have worked in the park for years haven't seen a tapir yet. I will consider seeing one on my third day here a huge sign of good luck! Also, tapirs are gigantic!!

That's it for now.
<3 Day

Nom!

Just a quick note while I am on my lunch break. Monkeyschool is great so far - i'll talk more about that later.

I got up bright and early so we could head out at 6:15am. I poured myself some cereal and sat down to eat it. As I was eating, I saw one of the tiny ants crawling along the rim of my bowl. I thought nothing of it cause they are literally everywhere.

Then I saw another in my cereal bowl. hmm. I turned on the light and checked the bag which I thought i had sealed pretty well - and mixed in with the cereal was a swarm of ants. I promptly threw out the entire bag as well as the bowl I had already half finished and proceeded to eat a fruit cup.
I don't even care about eating ants for breakfast - but now I only have one other box of cereal to last me for the next week and a half.

Note to self: Next grocery store trip make sure to buy ziplock bags. lots of them.

UPDATE: So i'm home from the field now. This afternoon I got bit by an acacia ant. The nasty little thing was probably mad that I ate so many of its cousins. It made a bruise on my arm.

Sharing

This post is all about sharing.

- I share my room with a spider.
- I share the bathroom with frogs.
- I share everything with the ants.
- I share the kitchen with fast little wall lizards and a tiny (poisonous) snake.
- And this morning I shared the shower with a scorpion! The fucker came out from between the shower sliding doors while I was reaching for the shampoo. I ended up showering with the sliding door open and left it where it was. I won't bother it if it doesn't bother me.

Today we are all being lazy and just bumming around. Tomorrow - monkey school begins!

<3 Day

Travel Fun - Part 2.

Ok so I made it to Costa Rica safe and sound. The second flight was much better than the first. I got the window seat again, but this time the middle was empty so I was able to lie kind of slantey and have a bit of a sleep. The guy on the end was my age. We talked for a bit - he was going to Costa Rica for a vacation and partying. Its kind of funny - people have one of 2 reactions when I tell them why I am in Costa Rica.
Reaction #1: "Wow! Monkeys! That's so cool!"
Reaction #2: they look at me like i have a third arm growing out of my forehead and smile awkwardly.
This guy was part of the Reaction #2 school.
We listened to ipods for most of the flight.

Here are 2 neat things about my flights today.
#1: I was able to find my house from the air when we took off out of Calgary.
#2: I love airplane food! Its usually pretty tasty and it fits perfectly into a cute little box! The dinner tonight was a chicken fajita, a salad with caesar dressing, and a mini Kit-Kat bar. Just like the halloween kind. My only (very minor) complaint is that they only had 1 packet of hot sauce for the fajita. I think 3 hot sauce packets (extra extra hot) should be the standard. eh well.

Right now I am sitting at the field station in my room. MY VERY OWN ROOM THAT I DONT HAVE TO SHARE! I am so happy about this fact that I don't even care about the giant ass spider that is currently sitting above the door. Seriously, this spider is frakken HUGE!. I would kill it, but I can't reach it - even when I stand on a chair. Instead we are going to spend the night together. Hopefully things go well - but not so well that it is close to my bed when I awaken tomorrow.

It was dark when we got into the park, so I didn't get a decent chance to look around... but the trees looked lush and tall and amazing and apparently there are volcanoes on either side of the plateau that the park sits on. (I'll photo them at a later date, don't worry). The bugs are chirping outside and occasionally I hear a strange roaring sound. I'll need to ask the others about what that could be when I wake up tomorrow. Since arriving at the park we have seen: a deer, a slender hog-nosed pit viper (in the kitchen!! The PHD student others shooed it away with a mop while we carried the groceries and bags in), my new spider roommate, all kinds of bugs all over everything, and a really shiny frog in the bathroom. Apparently the frogs like to hang in the toilets at night so we have to be careful not to flush them.

Before I sleep, here are a couple of things I plan to do for future blog posts.
- buying, tasting, and reviewing strange items I find at the costa rican grocery store. I already bought my first item.
- photos, photos, photos,
- the most badass monkey of the month

I will keep thinking of things as I go i'm sure.
Goodnight friends! hope you're well.

<3 Day

p.s. its so hot here that I am not even wearing socks to sleep. this is srs bznz.

Travel Fun

Ok! So, welcome to my new monkeyblog!

I created this little page to write all about my travels and experiences in Costa Rica. I will do my best to update regularly, and I expect you all to post on the site so I can feel the lurve while I am away.

Some background information for those of my fans who don't know the whole story. I am attending U of C, working on a primatology degree, and am hoping that I get accepted to vet school this year. I will be working as a field assistant for a PHD student from Jan/10 - June/10. We will be gathering data on capuchin monkey movement (chasing after monkeys in the jungle).

So here I am - on my way! I left Calgary at 7am this morning and am now sitting in the Houston airport on a 5-hour layover. The first flight went relatively well. I sat beside a cute old couple that were traveling to Cancun. They were friendly and chatty and the old lady offered me her cheerios. Unfortunately, a 6 year old boy sat behind me and kicked my seat for the first hour of the flight. (anybody who has gone to a movie with me knows that kicking my seat is good way to get stabbed). After I couldn't take it anymore I politely asked the dad to get his kid to stop. I think he may have stuffed the kid into the overhead compartment or something because the kicking promptly stopped and when we were leaving the plane, the boy was nowhere to be seen. whatevs.

The weather in Houston is about 10 degrees right now. Definitely better than the minus 30 we had in Calgary this morning, but still kind of cool. This is good. It is also good that I will arrive in Liberia at about 8pm - after the sun has set. This way I can ease into the heat and hopefully won't have too much of a shock to my system.

Here are some of my Houston airport observations thus far.

- This place is frakken huge. It took me 15 minutes to explore my section of the terminal. I would go explore other sections, but this airport seems to consist entirely of burger eateries.

- Canada has a much better selection of energy drinks. I couldn't find any of my usual brands and had to settle for a Starbucks iced tea. I feel sleepeh.

- There are these crazy BestBuy vending machines all over the place. They sell things like nintendo DSi's and DVD players. weird!

- When it comes to american money, I am retarded. I am not used to using money that is all the same color (and yes, I know that my American friends are probably thinking "just look at the numbers, Day. duh.").

Ok that's it!! I'll post more when I can!

*kisses*

Day