Journal Entry 2

[Riley J Arrington]

June 29, 2008

I awoke to the sound of warm rain hitting the tin roof of the hotel and told me that it was time to start another day. Andres and I had a long drive down to the Corcovado national park, it rained all day, but it wasn’t a normal cold hard rain that I was used to, it was a warm soft rain that I felt like I could take a shower in if I wanted to. Andres and I grabbed some Burger King and went to the research permit station and then headed off for a six hour drive to the national park. We eventually made it to a place called Seirpe where we ate dinner and spent the night. Before heading off to bed though, we grabbed our flashlights jumped in the car and went “frog hunting”. Andres then explained to me that when it rains for a long time the frogs like to come to the road because of the heat. I soon learned all of the sounds of the frogs of the rainforest. Being able to learn those sounds actually made the forest less scary because most of the sounds are the frogs. The next day we had breakfast and then hopped on a boat on its way to Drake Bay. When we made it to Drake Bay we switched boats and headed off to the research station Sirena where I would spend the rest of my remaining time with Andres there. The same day that we arrived in Sirena, Andres wanted to show me the river mouth feeding into the ocean. I saw my first anteater, but the moment was short lived when a large crocodile came out of the water snatched the anteater and slowly drowned him in the water. Andres then told me that he had never seen anything like that before, and then in an extremely sad voice said “ poor anteater”. I told him that he should be used to it since he had been in the national park for twenty years. The next day we went on a hike to look for butterflies to put into our butterfly exhibit, we had no luck with the butterflies but the views were awesome. The next day I woke up sick, my eyes were really swollen so Andres told me to sleep awhile and he would be back at lunch time. After Andres came back we set off to the beach and enjoyed the scenery and each others company. We talked about different animal species, animal behavior, and life in general. The day ended pretty relaxed and left nothing but thoughts of the new day to come. In the morning, Andres decided that we should go on a hike with the jaguar researchers. He didn’t tell me that the “overlook” hike was more like a climb up a muddy slope to get a good view of the airstrip below. Later that day we decided to go fishing at the river mouth, he taught me that I have to constantly on alert for crocodiles, he was right. All of the sudden Andres yells “I got one!” and the crocodile on the other side of the river sunbathing decided that he was hungry and chased Andres’s fish across the sandy shore and then lost interest and slid back into the water. I don’t know if the poor fish survived or not. I met a volunteer at Sirena and we became pretty good friends. One of my favorite things to do at night was to go out and look for frogs, Rob accompanied us when we went out so he could see some of the wildlife before leaving. We were luckily able to see lots of tree frogs and fish-eating bats, which were scary to me because they are huge and orange. The next day Rob left, and we went on a hike to see if we could find anymore butterflies and just to see the area. We had more luck with monkeys than butterflies, we ended up seeing all four species of monkey on our hike, and three butterflies. I also had the opportunity to see Thor, which was a collared tapir, which looks like a cross between a pig, an elephant, and a hippo. I was so excited to see my first tapir but I was so scared at the same time. Tapirs reach up to about 600 pounds and their backs probably can reach a medium-sized persons chest. The next day I met four new tourists that would be there until the end of my time with Andres. We went out to look for some snakes early in the morning in some tree falls that we saw earlier the day before. We found two different snakes; a Racerback, and a Cat-eyed snake, neither of which are poisonous. My research permit allowed me to handle any amphibians or small animals. On one of my last days with Andres, he gave me an assignment that had to be based off of hermit crabs. I had to make up my own research project on the reproduction of hermit crabs. Later we went back to the research station had dinner and sat around our tents and talked about how different our lives have been. On my last day at Sirena, we decided to go canoeing up the river to see what we could find. We saw a few tapirs, and some birds, and crocodiles. I finally got to see a anteater, but this one didn’t get eaten. After our long day out at the river we headed back, it started to pour down rain. Andres decided to go watch soccer with the park guards in their cabina after lunch, which left me with some time alone. Since Andres was watching soccer I wanted to play soccer. I eventually had all of the tourists out in a big mud puddle playing soccer and having a great time.
My goodbye in Sirena was a sad one. I had so many fond memories in the Corcavado National Park that I didn’t want to leave, but I knew I had to and go onto the next step on my latest trek.
Seventeen kilometers later I found myself with extremely wet and sore feet, and new blisters arriving. La Leona was our stopping place for the night where they made some calamari and beans and rice. Since the park guards at La Leona didn’t charge us for our room, I cleaned their kitchen for them. Later on in the evening I made a friend named Jonah. He took me on a walk on the beach where we traded languages and tried to have a decent conversation.
Before heading off to bed I discovered a forest crab in my backpack. He was harmless, but of course he scared me.