As a bug, I understand that it is wrong to discriminate between certain creatures, big and small. Wrong to decide which you would keep on this earth- had you the power of such decisions- and which you would eradicate... immediately.
However, as I am only an amateur ‘biologist’ (not fully fledged, Tim), I feel that after almost 3 weeks down here I can still make statements such as:
HOLY MOTHER OF HELL I WANT TO KILL ALL OF THE $%^&*^*&^%$# MOSQUITOS ON THE ENTIRE EARTH.
As a matter of fact, it may have been Ashley who first uttered this statement. She, as a PhD student, is way closer to being a full-fledged biologist so I don’t feel so bad.
Note: They would have to be eradicated in a way that did not crumble the food web out here, we both realize that. We will both fund this endeavor if someone comes up with the technique. Rather: She will fund, and I theoretically would if I had any funds. Ah funds.
I can tell you with confidence that at least 20% of my time in the field is spent uttering profanities about how much the two of us loathe mosquitos. Oh- and those nondescript little black flies that leave strange red dots and swell up your skin like water balloons. Ah, and the hungry hungry little fish that like to nibble at your ankles and toes and once in a while chomp down with tiny little teeth, like sharks as Ashley described, and hold on as they wind back and forth. I will not be posting the picture of my mosquito bites. Just Ashley’s swollen foot.
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| Kelsey making a temporary home in the mosquito net at Station site 3. Rough day. |
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| Ashley's feet. Guess which one was swollen to twice its size by bugbites. Pic still makes me shudder a bit. |
The other 80%? We do research. I am happy to report we are getting much better at it.
I have described to some of you that my interactions with other upright primates are limited. We are, however, being followed by monkeys. They have been studied by researchers every day for about 20 years at Lomas, so white-faced capuchins have no qualms about swooping in within a few feet. As a consequence, or a precaution I suppose, I no longer carry bananas in my bag.
Another lesson: There is no such thing as just one monkey following you in a tree.
Just in case you ever find yourself in a standoff against some sneaky little monos.
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| sassy little capuchin monkey |
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| Yellow Beard |
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| a few minutes before the same monkey jumped out of the bushes a foot away from Ashley and scared the bejeezus out of her |
Jesus Christ lizards! You’ve already guessed: they walk on water. Sorry Kelsey but you missed it. We saw them from time to time on the banks of streams and waited for a divine show. In the past three days I have seen several gravity defying displays. Pretty cool. Jesus-christ bugs, or water striders, use the physics of water tension and weight distribution to achieve a similar effect. In the sunlight their movements create beautiful shadows beneath the water.
(Shudder) Spiders. They walk on water too and blend in with the damn rocks really well. Careful where you put your hands.
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| Spider larger than my hand: Walks on water Alex: Works in water |
I'm not even going to go on a tirade about ants. We had a long discussion with Marlon about Costa Rican proverbs and sayings the other day. I am suspicious that I have not heard one that goes something like: "Trying to kill all the ants on your kitchen counter, will only use up all your money on multipurpose alcohol, and result in rags with lots of dead ants" Ok, so I'm not much of a proverb writer, but you get the point. They're everywhere, and they're not going anywhere.
SNAKES! Are cool. Okay I already posted 80 pictures of that King Snake. Since then we have seen some brown vine snakes, and spotted one that resembled a Mexican Rat Snake. A beautiful specimen: two meters long with neon green stripes amongst a black body. I admit most snakes are much cooler when viewed from the safety of Marlon’s car. Apparently there are coral snakes and rattlesnakes where we work. With 5 days left, I’m starting to feel calmer about this statement. All I know is if I hear a bone-chilling sound that sounds anything like a rattle, no one will ever see me move faster in the opposite direction.
So let me revise my previous statement. Non-venomous snakes. Cool.
Life in NYC has given me some exposure to cockroaches and WB’s (water bugs). ‘Luckily’ only because I would never have been prepared to survive our Sunday encounter with a 5 INCH cockroach that decided to saunter its hefty behind in to our kitchen on our one day off in Bagaces and set up shop under the breakfast table.
This was the day that I realized that Kelsey was in fact, human. Her lack of fear regarding just about anything was disconcerting- also, who wants to look like a huge wuss in comparison constantly? Ears covered and humming, she could not even look at said creature under the kitchen table.
Ashley, hero of the hour, requested a full roll of paper towels and let out a seriously girly scream as she enveloped it in a wad of paper and ejected it from our home.
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| more paper towels. |
My father later asked me if I was sure that it wasn’t in fact a small dog, or a rooster...
I said, no, I could not be sure.
I said, no, I could not be sure.
