The Final Countdown

It's hard to believe that I'm nearing the end of my field work in Costa Rica. Only 2 more weeks of nonstop monkey action and then I will be returning to the U.S. It's been an amazing experience, but I'm ready to move on to the data analysis and writing stages to see what results come out of all of these months of hard work.

Here are some of the big events that have been happening lately:

Naming Monkeys

Although I have been working with these monkeys for almost 2 years, I never got the chance to name a baby. The rule here is that the first person to see a newborn baby monkey gets to give it a name. The ability to name babies is a coveted privilege and the monkey researchers will work hard to be the first ones to see newborns in order to leave a legacy. I had been unlucky in that I was never out in the field with a specific group on the day that a baby was born. But this streak finally ended. I saw a newborn monkey first! I named it Ebobo which is Sango (Central African Republic) for gorilla. Then I lucked out again by being the first to spot a new male that immigrated into one of our groups. Shira and I named it Yukon Cornelius after the claymation Rudolph movie character. So now my legacy will continue even after I leave Costa Rica.

Yukon Cornelius

Ebobo, with mom Cosmos

Heat Rash

Although I finally got rid of all the infections that plagued me in March, April brought a new affliction - heat rash. If you've never experienced this (and I never had before), heat rash consists of lots of little itchy red bumps all over your skin. I researched it online to see if there was anything I could do to get rid of it. All of the medical websites gave me helpful advice like "the best way to relieve symptoms is to cool your skin and prevent sweating". Gee thanks webmd, but I'm living in Costa Rica where it's hot and humid and my job consists of hiking around in the forest for 12 hours a day. I'm pretty sure staying cool and preventing sweating are not feasible options for me right now. So I guess I'm just going to have it for the rest of my time here. Oh the joys of field work!

Rain

In case I didn't emphasize this enough in last year's blog, rain is the bane of my existence here. It's not good for my research since I can't film monkeys when it's raining and also it causes the monkeys to go to crazy places since they are no longer dependent on the river for drinking water. I cut June out from my field season this year because it was rainy and unproductive last year. But Mother Nature decided to play a trick on me and bring rain in April and May. We had daily rainstorms from the end of April through the beginning of May. When I returned from vacation, we had a huge rainstorm that flooded the rivers and washed out some bridges. I was nervous that all of May was going to be a big wet disaster. But instead we've had no rain for the last week and a half. But I feel like I'm living on borrowed time here since the rain could return any day now. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the sun will win out for the next week and a half, but even as I write this the sun is disappearing and the wind is picking up. Could today be the end of my lucky streak?

The swimming hole after a big rain - not quite so inviting

Climbing Chirripo
For my last vacation in Costa Rica I decided what better way to take a break from hiking all day while following monkeys than to climb the tallest mountain in Costa Rica? I know, it seems a little crazy, but I've been meaning to climb Chirripo for years now and this was my last chance. Luckily, it was all worth it. The hike was difficult and very painful, but the views made it all worth while. To get to the base of the mountain, we had to take 3 buses (a journey of almost 8 hours) and then stay overnight in San Gerardo de Rivas.

We started our ascent of Chirripo at 6am and were rewarded with great views from the start.

On the trail

Beautiful view

But it was a tough climb. Here I am at the first kilometer. Only 13.5 more to go!

Fun fungus

It was rainy and foggy for half of the ascent

It took 8 hours to reach the base camp located 2 km from the peak. The park station provided beds with only mattresses and drinking water, but not much else. We had to hike with all of the food we wanted to eat, lots of warm clothes, and a sleeping bag. We went to bed around 7pm, partly because we were exhausted and partly to get ready for our early start. We awoke at 3:15am in order to hike the 2km to the summit in the dark and reach Chirripo in time for the sunrise. We made it to the summit right after sunrise and the views on the trail to Chirripo and from the top were breathtaking! We were so glad that we had made the early start since the clouds rolled in by 6:30am, closing off the scenic view.

The trail to the summit

View from the top

We did it!

Then began the hike down, which due to my not so great knees, was rough. The first 9 km went decently well, but the last 5 km was extremely painful. Even with my hiking poles, my knees felt horrible and each step was a struggle. But I did see some cool things on the way down - like this lizard.

I finally made it to the bottom of the mountain by 3pm and was completely wiped out. I really needed to ice my knees, but the tiny store in town didn't sell ice so I used the next best thing - icy orange flavored drink.

Would I do it again? Yes! But maybe I will wait until my knees recover from field work first :)

Life in Lomas (a photo hodge podge)

Whitney adapts to the monkey lifestyle (maybe I have been here too long?)

Mezcla, alpha female of Rambo's group

Darwin sitting on a fence

The sun shining through the palm trees

Pod, a loveable juvenile female

Darwin, an adult female, enjoying a stick