I am, like, the worst blogger

SO yeah, I guess I shouldn't have started this thing if I'm only going to be updating every two months, especially since I'm only here for five (although did anyone notice the suspiciously flexible URL, hinting that possibly, maybe I'm leaving open the option of writing about something other than Costa Rica? I'm so crafty).

But I guess there's nothing sadder than a blog with two entries (a blog with one, you say? shut up you smartarses), and I have actually heard that people are confused as to why I'm not posting, so I guess I'll update you.

But first, here is the greatest road sign of all time

   So the main reason I haven't been able to update is that I've been really busy. Two out of every three days are spent in the field here. Field days consist of getting up at 3:45 on average, depending on how far the monkeys went to sleep the night before. We follow them around all day collecting data and generally get back a bit before 7PM.  We shower, eat dinner, and basically pass out. I found out the hard way it's frowned upon to blog at the table, let alone in the field.

The monkeys disapprove.

On our off days we take it in turns to do a variety of chores, including cook for everyone. In addition to this you have to go over the data you've collected, edit it, upload it, fill in the numerous spreadsheets that document things like whose poop you collected for hormone processing, and do any of the tests you have to sit as a trainee. By the time all this is done, you're basically done for the day.

It's a rock-and-roll lifestyle

But it isn't all fun and games. Working here took a while to get used to. Mosquitos and chiggers are constants in my life, and itchy is just something that I am now, a part of my identity rather than a passing irritating condition. 

Other bitey/stingy things are more painful, if thankfully less common. Scorpions and poisonous caterpillars hang around the digs, but are relatively easy to avoid, certainly compared to the wasps that you can sometimes run into in the jungle that attack you from nowhere and make you rethink your life choices for a few minutes. But the worst in my opinion, the creme de la horrible, the crowning jewel of the cruelty of nature, are the acacia ants.

(David Attenborough voice here) These little things are miracles of evolution, having adapted into a symbiotic relationship with the plants whose name they share. The trees provide them with food and shelter, and the ants vigorously defend the tree against any potential threats. I wish that they would all die.

Basically they spend their time scuttling around these trees, which are EVERYWHERE. If you so much as brush up against one of these trees, which you do, several times a day, some will shake off onto you. At which point it is no longer a question of whether, but when, how many times, and where on your body you will be bitten. And the bites hurt. If you get a bunch on the same spot you will swell up unpleasantly for several days. I once got bitten 5 times on the same nipple and developed a painful breast that stuck around for a week. Seriously, I could write a book about how much I hate acacia ants.

I'll call it Memoirs of Acacia

 Of course, there are all sorts of wonderful things here as well. A number of you have asked about the people I work with. Since this is technically the internet I don't want to go into too much detail about these people and risk divulging something they wouldn't want me to, so suffice it to say that we all get on really well. There are around 10 of us, of which 3 working on the project with me. Everyone here is either Canadian or American, so they can get confused by my accent sometimes, poor dears.
Also there's a lot of wonderful stuff to see here apart from the capuchins. I want to only post photos I've taken here, so I'll keep the wildlife post for another time when I have better photos, but the only word to describe it all is faun-tastic.

Anybody? Anybody?

ok thats enough. I'll tell you more about the data collection we do next time. Here are some cute photos of a little girl who's a teensy bit uncomfortable with how intense this grooming session is getting.

The monkeys

So I got to meet my monkeys a couple of days ago, they are adorable. Most of that day was spent trying to learn to ID them all, which it turns out I am not horrible at. I don't have all of them, but there are like five that I can recognise pretty consistently. The one thing I am definitely qualified to do is collect their poo, which has to be labeled and rated for consistency and content. I've been told to stop it, but I'm still able to add to my collection when no-one's looking.

Then yesterday Brendan the PhD student was off so he sent me and another assistant to go explore the territory so we would get to know their favorite spots to be monkeys. Turns out it's trees. I think I have the makings of a fine primatologist.

Basically for the next couple of weeks we will be training. We have to learn IDs and how to transcribe their behaviour using a rather long list of codes and syntax rules. It's probably not all that interesting for you guys so I'll leave it at this and give you some monkey photos. I will also be trying to get photos of other stuff so don't worry, it's not just going to be capuchins from here on out. But for now here are some of my favorite.

 First off, this is pretty representative of where they live.

It's expensive, but they have great schools

 This is Quijote, the alpha male.

He's quite boisterous and can be aggressive, but it's mainly to impress the females. He can be quite a good dad.

One day, son, all of this will be yours. Now stop humping me. Did you just poo?

This is Minstrel, the alpha female.

And here's Heinrich, a former alpha who now is basically like an angry uncle who goes about either pretending to be alpha again or else sulking when he gets called out.

I love Heinrich

Anyway you probably don't care about all their names, so I'll leave it at that for the introductions, but here are a few general comments about them. What I really love about these monkeys is that you can really see their individual personalities and the really intricate group dynamics that arise as a result of them. It's never really fair to say that "capuchins do" x or y; each individual and each group has different sets of behaviours and characteristics.

Some are beautiful

Some are derpy

derp

Sometimes they're cuddly

Sometimes they're angry

Sometimes they're shy

And it's always fun to try and figure out what they're thinking

I am the king. I am the king and this is my feast.

What... what is this? It feels like a tree, but... somehow small?

I dunno, man, I mean... How could we even tell if we're in the matrix or not?

In conclusion, monkeys.

derp

Living conditions, first day

So this place is completely beautiful. It's located  right by a town called Bagaces but it really is in the middle of the jungle. Since this is still the tail end of the rainy season it's really mainly overgrown canopy.

       

mangos

bananas

giant mange-touts

 There are 2 buildings where we live. The first is the house, called Casa Piscina, which has the kitchen and big dinner table, and is basically the base.

no base is complete without minimalist Halloween decorations

                                      

It's also where the pets are kept

dogs

cat

hawk

The second building is the bodega, essentially a huge tarp roof with a couple of buildings attached. Most of us sleep in tents under this thing, and we have a bathroom and a couple of storage rooms as well. We have to share the space with a bunch of random junk, but we have lots of room and I am confident I will eventually be able to build a small aircraft out of these spare parts if I could only find a few more rubber bands and some chewing gum.

 

This is where I live. I've got a contractor coming over to talk
about knocking through the right side of tent to join up with
the trailer. I might get a waterbed.

It's actually really luxurious here. We have drinkable tap water, internet, decent kitchen and a washing machine. It's not even too unbearable hot in the shade. The howler monkeys wake you up in the morning but you need to be getting up anyway so they're totally my bros for making me not miss breakfast.

So far I've been out in the field once and didn't take my camera, so no monkey photos for you today. I get 1 day off for every 2 days in the field, and even though I have chores they re done pretty quickly so I have time to do other stuff, but the days in the field are exhausting. It's basically 15 hours of full on crashing through the jungle trying to keep up with the monkeys, craning your neck when they get high, and takes lot of mental concentration as well as you try and ID the monkeys and keep up with what they're doing. So far I've been bitten by numerous insects and arachnids, pooed on by a monkey, scratched by rash-raising plants and it's wonderful and I want to stay here lots and do it loads more.