Before I left I made a list of things that I wanted to see while I was in Nicaragua.  Not unlike others traveling to the Neotropics, my list included some of the species you most often associate with a tropical rainforest; a sloth, a macaw, the poison dart frogs, and if I was lucky enough, some of the big cats.  While I’ve seen nearly everything I came here for, I’m perhaps more excited with a new list that I’ve been working on.

1)      A novel question is not determined by the resources you have in the field.  Practically anything can be fashioned from common items.  While I was sure that bromeliad water was going to contain some insects, I could have never imagined how many small permutations of a worm body could exist that seemed impossible to classify without needing a labs worth of equipment.  With the opposite end of a pair of binoculars and a headlamp, however, the tiny features of the invertebrates became my own personal sci-fi horror film.

2)     Seize the opportunity to collect data.  Who knows when three continuous days of downpour will become your next obstacle to overcome.  But really, tropical wet forest is an understatement.

3)     When you feel overwhelmed by complication after complication, try an objective ear.  Several times on this trip, in the anxiety of testing something that isn’t trivial, I’ve wanted to quit.  What could I possibly do in this small amount of time with the few resources that I have?  And unsuspectingly Juan strolls by and solves my ultimate demise with a casual suggestion.

4)     Forget the mirror.  While I know it’s trite to reject vanity, it’s indescribable how nice it is to give my full attention to my project.  For the past week and a half I haven’t had a mirror, not to mention my continual state of indifferent muddiness, and it’s been freeing.

Surely this isn’t exhaustive.  I’m still learning.  If anything this trip has inspired me to return to the tropics.  Without question this is what I want to commit myself to.   Nothing can beat the feeling of sitting in a hammock with a cold coke after a long day of data collection, feeling an inch away from knowing just one thing about a tiny worm or a brilliantly colored bee (and maybe about yourself).

Until next time,

JC