Day Two in Costa Rica

            Seeing as how yesterday was mostly orientation/tour/getting the hang of this place, today was my first day of real work here at the Costa Rica Animal Rescue Center. The morning was spent helping in the animal kitchen, building some new platforms for the howler monkeys’ enclosure, and feeding a few of the smaller parrots. That last job was something I’d been both excited about and dreading since I sent the email saying I wanted to volunteer here- working with parrots and macaws again. As I’ve mentioned here before, this is the family of animals that I’m the LEAST comfortable with. I love snakes, I’ve been swimming with great white sharks, I’ve held plenty of spiders and other bugs… but parrots and macaws just freak me out. Still, I did it without getting attacked or making a fool of myself, though at one point I very quickly pulled my hand out of the cage when I saw the jaws of death approaching.

            At lunch today I sat with a group of girls that I hadn’t really talked to yet. One of them, another American named Tatiana, told me that several of them were taking the day off tomorrow to go to Jaco, a city about an hour away that is known to have one of the best beaches in Costa Rica. She said they were getting one of the center’s drivers to take them and splitting the cost of the trip. We’re allowed one day off from the center per week, and they asked me if I wanted to come along. After talking to Erandi to make sure it was okay with her, I said I’d come along. So tomorrow morning nine of the volunteers are hopping in the shuttle and heading over to Jaco to spend the day hanging at the beach!

            After lunch Erandi asked if she and I could create a new team that focuses mainly on enrichment, so of course I said yes. In the afternoon meeting Erandi mentioned that she and I would be creating this team, and invited anyone who wanted to help out if they had free time. When the meeting was over, Erandi and I walked around the center, accompanied by a new volunteer who wanted to join us, a guy named Taylor from Toronto. We all looked at the different enclosures, commented on what might need work, and overall ways to improve them. The raccoon enclosure, howler monkey enclosure, and one of the aviaries could definitely use some work, and we collectively brainstormed about different ways we could use this place’s limited resources to improve them. After a while, Erandi left us to go lead a tour, and Taylor and I walked around the other enclosures, brainstorming and chatting.

            I’m now sitting in one of the volunteer common areas waiting for dinner. Depending on how much time we spend in Jaco tomorrow, I may or may not have time for a blog post. If not, I’ll make sure to post one the following day! Oh, and by the way, I probably won’t always be able to add photos to my blog posts because the wifi connection here isn’t very good- it’s taken me nearly three hours to be able to publish this! This post’s food for thought: “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” Saint Augustine