This morning I woke up, not sure what I got myself into. Yesterday I had signed up for the group project going to every type of forest setting out trail cameras with bait to see what type of animals they have there. I knew we would be hiking the most out of all of the groups, I just wasn't sure how much more we would be hiking. In total today, I hiked over seven miles. I honestly don't think I've done that since this spring. I am so much more out of shape than I thought.
Breakfast today was great, I really needed to eat a lot to prepare myself for the field. After I finished some really delicious bacon and fruit I went to the lab to gather all of the equipment. There is a small group of Nove Bugle, an indigenous group from Panama, who are here to do some of the projects with us to hopefully better their conservation efforts. Today, they hiked along with us. They were very helpful pointing out different game trails. I have absolutely no idea what an Armadillo trail looks like and they could point it out 50 feet away. The language barrier is going to be one of the most difficult things for me about being in Costa Rica. I really wish I could but I can't learn a whole language in eight days. About halfway through, Pedro sent them back so Trent and I could go at a faster pace to finish putting up all of our trail cameras.
Trent and I have been putting up trail camera's together for four years now and today was just proof. We could find a spot, put the bait out, put all the correct settings on the camera, and set the camera up at a good angle in less than five minutes. Pedro was pretty impressed, but I felt like it was nothing.
Everything today was just breathtaking. Literally. I was out of breathe from all that hiking. The sights were breathtaking despite my already difficult breathing. I'm exciting for the days to come. I think we put some of the cameras in excellent spots for game, but it's hard to know for sure since I don't have experience in this forest type.
I am going to be so sore tomorrow, my feet especially. I walked so much today that the soles of my shoes were coming off. Hopefully tomorrow when we go to town I can find a shoe glue of sorts to fix my shoes. I do not want to be hiking that seven miles again in water boots.
My body feels heavy, and so do my eyelids. I am calling it a night. I wonder what tomorrow will hold.
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