High fives all around for Costa Rica

One of my defining expectations that I outlined in my first blog post was “to catch a couple photo ops with some monkeys.”

This expectation went beyond a photo op. I was able to walk (more of a light jog through thorned trees) along side Canadian biologist, Elizabeth Sargeant. I experienced a morning in the life of a group of white-faced Capuchin monkeys named after a collection of thoughtfully chosen Disney characters. I came so close to one of the monkeys that I could have easily stuck out my hand for a high five.

Sally French/ MU School of Journalism

This is just one example that defined my trip in Costa Rica. Everything that I expected came to life in a way that I could have never imagined. Looking back now I feel as if Costa Rica was a dream…an out of body experience.

I expected to arrive in Costa Rica looking like a cheesy American tourist and simply observe, point and snap a few pictures. Instead, I was part of a learning journey. I lived and breathed the land, the nature and the ticos of Costa Rica. I discovered a sense of self and grasped how small this world really is.

Just like Professor Allen eloquently said before embarking on our trip, “don’t expect for anything to happen that you think will happen in field reporting.” Every word of this is true. I confirmed it. This was especially true when we took an unexpected trip to the Las Pumas Recue Shelter to report on injured jungle cats. I never thought that I would make connections between Missouri and Costa Rica. Everyone is connected in this complicated web of action and consequence.

Field reporting in Costa Rica allowed me to see the world through a different lens. Looking out on the historical La Casona in Santa Rosa National Park, I gazed at the stars. They were pure and bright. Something I had never seen under the Missouri sky back home. I stood in awe like a newborn child seeing something for the first time.

Costa Rica is pure. It’s connected with nature. It embodies a culture that values its land as much as its people. I felt at peace in Costa Rica. I felt a part of the country rather than an outsider looking in through my plush hotel balcony.

Soaking in the starry eyed sky I came to the realization that I want to discover the world through my adventurous lens rather than through my plush hotel balcony. After awhile all these hotel balconies start to look the same anyway, right? Coming into a high five reach with a Capuchin monkey in the tropical dry forest does not happen twice. It’s a once in a lifetime experience.

This once in a lifetime adventurous attitude is my vow as I embark on my future traveling endeavors and in life. This was my self-discovery. I hope to this discovery throughout my professional career as well as a couple other rules.

Pack light, follow the animals and never expect what you think will happen. Follow these three guidelines and the world is at the palm of your hands or at least a high five away.

Be well, do good work, and keep in touch

It’s a bit hard to have one exact starting point when talking about my experience covering nature and society in Costa Rica.  Sure, it’s a clichéd way to start a post like this, but there’s just so much I could talk about and so much that I experienced that I can’t set a point where it all started.  I think everything we did, subtly or not, connected in some fashion.  If there were anywhere I could take this exposition, it would be elaborating on the connections between everything, as opposed to one specific event.

Field Reporting Motto: Be Prepared

Photo by Aaron Braverman

By Jackie Trahan

Let’s look back on my expectations and see how they turned out.

I never saw a Sloth. I never bought chocolate from an artisan, but I did buy the most decadent brownie I had ever tasted. I drank my first three cups of coffee with copious amounts of sugar. The warm Costa Rican waters where we were to snorkel were actually really cold. I definitely did see a tarantula on my bedroom floor; and for that matter, a scorpion, too.

“Pura Vida!”

(Sally French/MU School of Journalism)

It still rings in my ears weeks after leaving Costa Rica’s tropical paradise. Though to many tourists it is simply a phrase splayed across a t-shirt or uttered by the zip-line crew, it means much more to those who travel to this Caribbean escape for more than just a relaxing day at the beach.

It is about much more than America’s superficial “Y.O.L.O” craze, but rather it is an ode to honor those before us, cherish those with us and to preserve for those after us.

Only Two Weeks?

Before I left the frost-encrusted Northeast for sunny Costa Rica, I didn’t really believe I’d be able to absorb much from a measly two weeks in a foreign country. Sure, I was open to learning and experiencing as much as possible, but I was skeptical that I’d really be able to grasp much of the complexity of a culture where I didn’t even speak the language.

But.

Final Reflection…

I wrote in my pre-departure reflection that I didn’t want to go into this trip with distinct expectations, “I kind of want to just let it all unfold.”

I think it was that same trust I had in the experience–resting assured that the Costa Rican adventure would teach me something–that allowed the experience to teach me how to trust myself. This is the most important lesson I learned from field reporting, both on a personal and professional level.

Starry Sky: Reflections on Costa Rica

Looking out over La Casona in Santa Rosa National Park, I can see a landscape of harmony between man and nature.

To my right is a man-made monument, physically crumbling but still very much alive in symbolism to the Ticos. Directly in front of me is a collection of bushes and grass teeming with frogs and insects, just a tiny parcel of the country’s massive biodiversity. In the background are mountains and volancos. There are also lights from houses and cities and an airport.

It is the night, and it is challenging to visually discern every detail.

Except for the sky.

Every detail of the sky in Costa Rica is obvious. All the stars, the planets, the galaxies. From this spot at La Casona, the sky is yours.