Week #2: Highs and lows in the Carribean

I’m journaling about my month-long adventure in Costa Rica. Read my first post here.

25.8.

I need not say much about the first half of the workday at the center. That’s because the real highlight of the day was caring for Biscottina, the JRC’s one and only baby anteater at the moment. Biscottina is an 8-month-old anteater, an orphan whose mother was killed by a car. I’ve heard a lot about Biscottina from others, who have described her playfulness and habit of climbing trees and getting stuck in them. I couldn’t wait for my turn to meet her.

As the afternoon shift rolled around, I walked up to the whiteboard to see my name written next to “Forest with Biscottina”. I’ve been crossing my fingers for this task for the last few days -- it’s almost like Elena read my mind when delegating this afternoon’s work. Before going to the forest to take over for the previous volunteer on duty, I made up a sort of ‘baby anteater smoothie bowl’ for Biscottina, heating it up in the microwave for precisely 15 seconds. A Dutch girl named Syarda was my companion in what turned out to be the most entertaining next couple hours with this little animal. She climbed on and around us, wrestled with our limbs and launched herself onto us in an attempt of a vicious sneak attack.

Her long front claws, perfectly adapted for digging and breaking apart anthills and termite nests, were sharp enough to be really painful but still dull enough not to draw blood. I should emphasize the pain, though, because we cried out in pain each time she decided to use our bodies as trees to climb. Ouuuuch. We joked around that she’s cute enough to overlook the tiny scratches that now cover our forearms and ankles. The funniest thing that Biscottina did was “inspect” underneath our fingernails and between our toes, almost giving us her own, anteater-style manicures and pedicures. I never knew I was so ticklish on my feet.

Our group has quite the program lined up for the evening. It includes dinner at a local restaurant, a pool party at another nearby hostel and karaoke night Tasty’s. All sound promising.

26.8.

Last evening turned out to be a great one. I enjoyed a tasty plate of ceviche for dinner and had some great conversations at the pool party at Selina’s, which turns out to be a chain of hostels located throughout central America. I do have to admit that karaoke night at Tasty’s was a bit cringeworthy at times, but our group still enjoyed ourselves. Clumsily, I managed to cut the back of my calf on a bike fender while running to catch a taxi ride back to my hostel with Victor. I now have a pretty gnarly-looking wound running down my leg. I should come up with a cooler story of how it got there, since the reality is pretty lame.

Today was not the greatest day at work. Elena had her day off today, which meant that another long-term intern at the center took over the responsibility of coordinating the volunteers’ duties. I wish I could say that he did this well, but unfortunately, that’s not the truth. Many people were standing around the center with not enough to do while other crucial tasks were assigned late or overlooked completely. It didn’t help that a bout of heavy rain struck during lunchtime, further throwing things into chaos at the center. I got stuck doing laundry alone during the morning, auring the afternoon, I had to wipe clean the nooks and crannies of the JRC office ceiling together with three other guys.

On a brighter note, I did get to watch over Chanchita, one of the resident collared peccaries, during the day’s first shift. Someone needs to stay with Chanchi constantly, as she has a penchant for getting into places where she shouldn’t be, as well as eating other animals’ food. I had heard that Chanchi doesn’t like some people, but with me, she was like a big, chubby Labrador. When she wasn’t prancing around the center grounds looking for mischief, she laid down and welcomed head scratches and belly rubs.

I arrived back at the hostel exhausted, and before I knew that I was feeling sleepy, I found myself waking up from an hour-long nap. It was already 5 p.m. and I needed to go to the bank and get groceries before sundown. I took advantage of my rented bike for the first time and cycled for about 10 minutes to Puerto Viejo. Sharing the road is a little bit hectic here, as there is no shoulder on either side of the road and pedestrians often walk on the edges of the pavement. Luckily, drivers seem quite accustomed to cyclists and drive appropriately. I ran my errands and biked back just as dusk was turning into night, seeing and hearing many nice little bats on the ride back.

A few new volunteers have arrived at the hostel today. One of them, a German girl named Nicole, is my newest roommate. I’ll soon be sharing the room with her alone, as Amadeja and Gisele are both heading to La Ceiba tomorrow for the rest of the week. I chatted a bit with Nicole about her time in Costa Rica and trip to Puerto Viejo. She had been coming from another city on the Pacific side of Costa Rica and had to pass through San Jose in order to catch the bus to Puerto Viejo. While doing so, she got scammed by a taxi driver who, after telling her that she was at the incorrect bus stop and taking her to a different city in order to catch the right bus, demanded that she pay him the equivalent of 400 Euro, which she did. I’m not quite sure what her logic was, other than that she was lost and frightened and didn’t know what else to do. She says that the driver was very nice and didn’t threaten her or cause her to feel unsafe, so who really knows what she was thinking. Anyway, she is here and will likely be staying with me during the rest of the time that I’m here.

27.8.

As of today, I've been both peed and poo'd on by baby monkeys.

You see, I was granted my first day in the forest this afternoon. This was in exchange for yesterday's tedious tasks. Taking the JRC's group of baby capuchin and howler monkeys into the forest is widely considered to be the best job around here. It's the kind of thing that's told to new volunteers by JRC veterans, like, "Just wait until you go into the forest, you'll see...". The whole thing is pretty hyped, so I was curious to see what it was really like.

I ate lunch around 11 before jogging back to the center to put on my jungle clothes. The first rule for girls going into the forests with the monkeys is to cover our hair. This is because the monkeys are more drawn to men; usually, only at girl at a time can accompany a couple guys in order to guarantee their safety. We have a couple monkeys who can be aggressive toward girls -- I've been told that one of the female monkeys once bit off a piece of a past female volunteer's ear. Intense.

After donning a headscarf and a tracksuit-like outfit chosen from the center's dedicated collection of forest clothes, we embarked on the 15-minute walk to a spot in the forest next to the JRC. On the way there, we stopped and had a small picnic for the smallest baby monkeys. They ate pieces of fruit and veggies and suckled from baby bottles filled with smoothies. They finished after 30 minutes or so, and each of us collected 3 or 4 monkeys each (we had 15 with us in total).

We reached a clearing in the woods where a wooden structure had been set up for us to sit in and watch the monkeys as they frolicked, climbed and wrestled with each other in the surrounding trees. An interesting note: As humans, the monkeys see the boys as the alpha males of their group; thus, they'll follow them wherever we go. It' because of this that we don't have to manually collect the monkeys from the trees when finished in the forest.

Something that not many people mentioned to me when describing work in the forest is that the majority of your time is spent talking to the people you're there with. In my case, I was with Jakub, the one Czech guy here, and Linus, a German sports economics student from Hanover. We talked about many things: our partners back home, Berlin club culture, differences between living in Scotland and the Czech Republic (Jakub lives in Edinburgh) and the things that we've learned while working with animals. All the while, we kept an eye on the monkeys, who were either off in the trees or climbing all over us. (Hint: This is how I got monkey poo on my arm and pee down my leg. This is surely not glamorous work.)

I totally underestimated how curious these animals are. For example, I was unable to take my phone out of my fanny pack for the majority of the time that we were in the forest, due to the fact that the monkeys were all over me the moment they heard me unzip something. When this happened, I'd have a few monkeys hanging off of me within a few seconds: one sitting on my head eating my headscarf, another with its tail wrapped around my neck and sticking its head down my shirt, and the third trying to unzip the fanny pack. I was only able to take a couple snapshots once the majority of them were napping.

After walking back to the center wearing a capuchin as a hat and two howlers as a backpack (always holding them by the tail to make sure they don't run away), we returned the monkeys to their enclosures and fed them their afternoon meal. I went back to the hostel feeling filthier than I've ever been, yet also very satisfied.

28.8.

I took a much-needed day off from work today. Last night, I realized that I had forgotten to mark this week’s two days off at the center, so I woke up this morning and got ready for work as usual. However, when I showed up, I found that I simply wasn’t feeling up to carrying out any of the tasks. I took a look at the volunteer timesheet, and fortunately, not many people had chosen to take today off. I quickly marked myself off for today and this upcoming Sunday and inconspicuously ducked back out of the center.

A change of clothes and round of bug spray later, I headed out for a breakfast place in Puerto Viejo called Cafe Rico. I wanted to get out of the hostel and eat some warm food, and additionally, the Wi-Fi has been down in the hostel for the past couple days. I caught up on the news and my social channels over a cappuccino and a plate of chilaquiles. My server was an American lady who has been living in Costa Rica for a couple years. It turned out that she lived in Portland for 15 years before coming here. The world can be small!

After finishing up with breakfast, I decided to cycle down the main road that connects the entirety of the Talamanca coast. The ride was jungly and picturesque, and I saw plenty of interesting critters along the way -- a few large turtles in the creeks that the road passes over, three parrots having a loud conversation overhead, and a pair of crested lizards hilariously chasing after each other on their hind legs. I first stopped at Punta Uva, the town (more like a beach village) next to Cocles, where I’m staying. I stopped for a few quick snapshots of the beach before continuing my ride onto Manzanillo. Manzanillo is another little sleepy beach town, but there is a national park nearby that many people visit. I’ll have to make it to the park on another day off.

A note about spiders: I had been wondering why I haven’t been seeing too many of the oversized and scary-looking spiders that are native to Costa Rica, and I’ve now figured out the reason. During the ride back to the hostel, I was absent-mindedly gazing up at the trees and sky when I noticed an impressive spider web knit between the two rows of power lines that run parallel to most roads. Then, I noticed entire communities of spider webs located between the power lines, each one carefully placed right next to the last. Giant spiders sat at the middle of these webs, often together with a handful of smaller insects waiting to be devoured. It’s the kind of thing that can’t be unseen -- I now notice that the majority of these mega-spiders hang out up near power lines at any given location. Better there than anywhere closer to the ground, I suppose.

29.8.

Things got off to a bit of a rough start this morning, as I woke up feeling groggy and hungover after getting a mere four hours of sleep. Tasty Tuesday struck again last night, and it was a whole lot more fun this time around. I’ve gotten to know a handful of people at the center and was able to enjoy having some long conversations with them at Tasty’s, even with the rap music blasting in the background. I’ll also admit that a couple tequila shots did make things more interesting. I lost track of time at the party, and before I knew it, it was 2 a.m. I noticed the most beautiful, vibrant halo of light surrounding the moon on my way home.

I was in for a rude awakening when my alarm went off at 6:45. I did my best to patch myself up for a hard day of work, piling off a big bowl of oats and taking a pill for my dull headache. Luckily, I was assigned to clean bird cages during my first shift, which is a relatively easy task. The second shift wasn’t as easy, though -- I was responsible for delivering food plates to animals throughout the center and collecting hibiscus leaves for the sloth enclosures. I handed out the plates and handfed one of of sloths that doesn’t have front claws as a result of electrocution -- this was a sweet but extremely slow operation :-). Then, I was directed to some nearby bushes with a garbage bag, plant cutters and a machete to collect leaves. Both tools were dull and the branches were a pain to trim and collect, and by this point, my hangover was coming on strong. The thing that made the plant collection worth it, though, was giving hibiscus flowers to the baby monkeys and watching them scarf them down in pure delight. These flowers are one of their favorite treats.

Work-wise, things didn’t get much easier in the afternoon. I was put on Biscottina duty (yay!) together with a Danish girl named Teresa, and unfortunately for us, Bisco was in a climb-up-a-tree-and-sleep sort of mood. We sat and watched her nap for close to three hours before we began to wonder how we would get her down. The tree she was in was a mid-size lime tree, which bears a bunch of delicious limes but is covered in huge spikes on its trunk and branches. After a lot of unsuccessful coaxing, I finally went and got a ladder from the center. I scraped leftovers of Biscottina’s smoothie bowl onto a long stick and stood on top of the ladder, holding up the stick as close to her as possible while also avoiding getting stabbed by the lime tree’s spikes. This lasted for close to 20 minutes before I was able to lure Biscottina down and place her on my shoulders. Phew.

This day has been long and tiresome, and I’m doing my best to hold off on sleep until I turn down for the night. I can feel my eyes getting heavy, though, so let’s see how long I’ll be able to make it. Tomorrow is a new day.

30.8.

Today has been the wettest day during my time in Costa Rica to date. It has been raining pretty steadily since morning; downpours come and go while regular rain fills in the gaps. I woke up with the Alanis Morrisette’s “Head Over Feet” stuck in my head, and it still hasn’t gone away. I even sang it to Biscottina as I sat in her enclosure during the second shift of the morning -- regularly, she would be out in the forest during this time, but due to the weather, many of the animals remained inside.

The weather wasn’t the only thing that brought on the day’s gloomy mood. The JRC’s founder, Encar, had a series of sad announcements for the team of volunteers this morning. Two baby sloths that had been brought into the center after being attacked by bees died during the night. It was the same case with a baby monkey that had she had been caring for in her bedroom (the center is actually built around Encar’s house, so she sometimes takes in the most vulnerable rescues and cares for them directly). The news of these fragile little creatures’ passing made my heart feel heavy, and it served as a reminder that death is a real and constant presence at rescue centers like this one. About 50% of the animals rescued by the JRC are rehabilitated and released back into the wild, which is a fantastic amount, but it also means that the remaining half of the animals don’t make it. I feel eternally grateful that I’m able to play a small part in helping the center’s rescues grow stronger and develop their natural behaviors while being cared for in a safe, controlled environment.

The weekly chat with the vet, a casual event open to all JRC staff and volunteers, rolled around this afternoon. This week, Fernando chose to discuss several topics revolving around snakes. He educated the group about types of snakes in Costa Rica (there are close to 125 different species in this tiny country alone, about 25 of which are venomous), physical differences and similarities between species, types of venom and their various effects on the human body. We also learned about the methods of capturing and handling snakes; for example, when they need medical attention. As someone who has always been interested in reptiles but knows next to nothing about them, this discussion was quite interesting. It always feels nice to learn something completely new.

This evening, a group of around 10 of us made it back to trivia night at Tasty’s. I put my thinking cap on and was ready for anything, together with my group of equally competitive team members. I felt that tonight’s game was more challenging than last week’s -- we were quizzed about trivia related to the animal kingdom (very relevant), pop culture (5 out of 5 questions answered correctly!) and movie quotes. I completely overestimated my knowledge of the quotes, and during this process, I concluded that I need to watch The Blues Brothers and Brokeback Mountain ASAP. In the end, our team came in third place and was rewarded with a round of shots on the house. Trivia night is the best.

31.8.

This morning, I was promoted to Sole Bird Poop Cleaner during my first shift at work. Cleaning the center’s bird cages is straightforward work, but when doing it alone, I broke out in a sweat after approximately 7 minutes. The upside of doing this job solo was huge, though -- spending time alone with our macaw, toucans and two baby parrots is a joy that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I love them, even when they mischievously throw leaves onto their freshly-raked enclosure floors for me to deal with.

Biscottina and I got to hang out together in the forest during the afternoon again today. I’m so pleased that I’ve been getting to spend a lot of time with her during these past few days. She was in an extremely active and attack-y mood; all she wanted to do was be somewhere -- anywhere -- on my body at all times. This was all fun and good, until I realized that she was bleeding from her lady parts. The first thing that popped into my mind is that she may be in heat (I found myself asking the question, “Do anteaters menstruate?”), so I briskly walked back to the center with Biscottina on my shoulders to inform Elena. It turned out that this wasn’t the first time that the bleeding had happened, and it wasn’t due to anything related to reproduction. This condition can crop up for many anteaters, and it’s actually caused by a lack of certain nutrients. Fortunately, the solution is an injection of vitamin K. Once the team in the clinic had given the little antbear a quick shot, I was given the green light to return to the forest with her.

Due to the fact that I had traces of baby anteater blood on my shirt, arms and neck, I felt entirely filthy after finishing work. I took an extremely necessary dip in the ocean and then sat on a nearby piece of driftwood to do some thinking. Throughout the day, my thoughts had had a bittersweet quality to them, and I hadn’t yet been able to put my finger on the reason(s) why. After giving it some thought, it dawned on me that in many ways, I’ve been experiencing a period of profound external and internal change. For one, the seasons are turning, and I’ve always found the transition from summer to autumn to be one of the most nostalgia-inducing times of the year. What’s more, I’ve very recently met a lot of new people and have even made a couple new friends. I’ve been inspired witnessing others taking chances, pursuing their passions and doing extraordinary things with their lives. I can already recognize that this has helped me break free of some of the overworked routines and mental loops that I have been retracing during the recent months and even years.

The thing that makes this bittersweet is that it’s all fleeting -- sooner or later, each of the people that make up this unique community will leave to return to their day-to-day lives, or alternatively, move forward into new chapters. I already know that I will miss a few special people here, and the most I can do is to keep in touch with them after we say our goodbyes.

1.9.

It’s Saturday, but my weekend won’t really begin until tomorrow, as I still had to work today. The morning at the center started off nicely. One of our resident birds, Yogi, is a blue-headed parrot who lurks in the nooks and crannies of the center, often making an appearance when I least expect it. Yogi loves Daan, the team’s Dutch tour guide who has been involved with the JRC for a handful of years now. While Daan stroked Yogi on the back of the head, I asked him about how Yogi first came to the center. Daan replied with a story that was much colorful than I had anticipated: a number of years ago, a local drug dealer was busted by the police. When the police arrested him at his home, they found 13 wild parrots along with the substances that they were originally looking for. The police confiscated all of birds and delivered them to the JRC. Although all 13 of the parrots were able to be released back into the wild fairly quickly, Yogi was the black sheep of the group who chose (and still chooses) to hang around the center. Basically, he’s free to go whenever he pleases, but he seems to enjoy the free food and human companionship he gets at the center.

I opted for garden duty during the morning shift. I’ve realized that there is something incredibly satisfying about raking leaves, and I know I’m not alone in feeling this way!So there I was, on a leaf-raking roll, when I came across an opossum snacking on a food plate that had accidentally been left out from yesterday’s feedings. I froze in place and took a good look at the opossum, quickly realizing that it was in very bad shape. It was visibly underweight and had an infected puncture on its side. Its back legs didn’t seem to be working properly, which could possibly have been due to fatigue. My first thought was to run across the center and tell Elena, who fortunately knew just what to do. The two of us guided the opossum into a crate and Elena immediately brought it to the clinic. Throughout the day, I checked with a couple people working in the clinic about the status of the poor thing. Overall, it seems that it has been attacked by something -- either a predator or another opossum. The vet team gave it fluids, disinfected its wounds and stitched up the puncture wound, but its general outlook remains unclear. Fernando told me that he’s not sure it will live through the night. This experience made for a very intense and sad few minutes that brought my otherwise laidback morning to a halt. It’s extremely hard to see an animal suffering and in pain, and I still have trouble understanding how the veterinary team can deal with these types of cases on a regular basis. I went to see how the opossum was doing at the end of the day, only to find it sleeping peacefully next to a fleece blanket and small pile of straw. I most likely won’t learn of any further developments with it until Monday.

On a more uplifting note, I enjoyed a hilarious night at Tasty’s karaoke this evening. After a lot of coaxing, Syarda convinced me to perform The Backstreet Boys together with her (read: she signed the two of us up without me knowing). “I Want It That Way” turned out to be a huge hit, with much of the audience singing along. Even Encar managed to make it to Tasty’s, socializing widely and tearing it up on the dance floor. I’m convinced that there’s nothing that this woman can’t do.

2.9.

Hello, day off! I enjoyed a blissful morning of sleeping in until 9:30, which my body is thanking me for after several consecutive days of hard work and waking up early. Unfortunately, I had to say the first of many goodbyes this morning. Gisele and Amadeja both left for San Jose today, from which they will fly back to Portugal and Slovenia, respectively. I will miss the both of them. The high turnover of the people at the JRC can be hard to deal with, especially when I feel a real friendship forming.

It’s 11 a.m. and I’m currently enjoying a plate of American-style pancakes and fruit at a little bakery in Puerto Viejo. The only plans I have for the rest of the day are to get groceries and veg out on the beach, in no particular order. It is truly amazing being able to enjoy such a carefree schedule.