Week 8

Miles Walked to Date: 293

Larissa, the York International Internship coordinator, has asked us to write about our experience as Canadians travelling abroad and how our identity has shaped the way that people percieve us. 

Being at a Canadian biological station in Costa Rica, we live and work with many other Canadians, but when I meet someone from another country, I find myself laughing at how much I fit into the typical Canadian stereotype. I apologize if I offend anyone by making gross generalizations here, please bear with me. When I think of how I percieve other Canadaian travellers I've met, I find most of them to be friendly, quiet, easy-going, and considerate. I'd like to think of myself as fitting this description, since some of my most frequently used Spanish phrases are "perdon" (pardon me) and "lo siento" (I'm sorry).  I try to be as considerate and as helpful as I can be while travelling abroad, especially when interacting with local people in and around the station. I'd like to find out what people think when I tell them I'm Canadian, but since my Spanish is very limited it's hard to know. Most people aren't surprised when I tell them I'm from Canada, I think it's because I'm a blue eyed gringa (Tico slang for white girl) and I say sorry far too much. Also, the fact that I brought maple syrup to the jungle probably gives it away.

More things from this week:

Chillin' with Juancho, who is starting to respond to us calling his name. 

Since a herpetologist has been at the station for a few days, he's been finding all kinds of snakes (some of which were hidden in plain view). We saw two eyelash vipers (Bothriechis schlegelii) on the first day he got here, it's interesting because one was yellow and one was green yet they are from the same species. The variation in colour is due to phenotypic expression of a certain gene - some are even pink or purple. 

Yellow Eyelash Viper

Green Eyelash Viper

Our resident herp man with a parrot snake bird-eating snake (Thanks to Melissa Coakley for helping me correctly ID this one!)

Bird-eating snake (Pseustes poecilonotus)

Turnip tailed gecko (Theodactylus rapicauda)

Since Playa Norte had lots of Leatherback nests laid in April, we are starting to see hatchlings emerge and go to the sea during morning census. I've been excavating nests for the past three days and I've seen so many babies! (with just a few rotten, maggot-infested nest chambers of course).

I look like I'm having fun but I smelled awful

On Thursday all the York Interns went to Tortuguero for a bit of pizza - a nice break from a diet of almost entirely rice and beans.  Living here makes me appreciate the little things so much more!