Jumping right in

Hey everyone!!

So the month of May has flown by with everything needed to be done before the first group of RA’s (research assistants) came a little over a week ago. We needed to clean the lab, organize, set up traps, start baiting, and so much more. I also was helping out processing with the medium mammal team since the rest of my co-workers weren’t coming until end of May. I was able to help trap and process a lot of amazing animals including an ocelot, 2 tyras, and 2 short eared dogs. What processing means is that we put the animals under anesthesia and collect samples of all kinds for DNA, testing for mercury levels, and put a very small tracking device on them in order to see their home range and traffic patterns throughout the jungle.

Now that the RA’s are here, things are up and running quickly. The peak of the field season will be coming up very soon. After 3 days of quarantining and safety/policy meetings I trained them on how to use telemetry, not get lost in the jungle, and how to have fun 🙂 Once a week we have a ‘mandatory’ social event that I set up in order for staff, RA’s, and other independent researchers at the station can come together to get to know each other and better understand the projects they are working on; last nights was a dance a party and everyone had so much fun! At the end of last week I had the ability to go with the bird team to help process some birds for samples and band some of them using mist-netting to catch them. Hopefully I can help some other teams as well if time allows.

This week is the second week for trapping primates in order to do very similarly to what I did with the mammal team (which is taking samples and putting a very small tracking device on each group). After we have the radio collar on the 2 main groups we will be following this year I can start tracking them for the spatial ecology portion of the project using telemetry.

Here are some jungle voice memos (sounds) that I have taken from all different monkeys, birds, and random sounds that are my everyday life around camp and in the forest for you to enjoy:

The jungle is always so hard on you mentally and physically yet it still feels like home. It’s a great way to almost break down the walls you had up that were somewhat fragile to rebuild new ones with even stronger walls. Being a supervisor and having to manage your work project details with all the teams and different project details has been really hard but enjoyable at the same time. I love when people come together to help each other out as a team and want everyone to succeed. I mean I have to think 3 years ago I was also an RA doing the same things they are – so I try to make it as easy and fun as possible and anything I feel like I didn’t learn in 2021 I try to teach them now.

All of the coordinators have just arrived which means now all teams are up and running and the sampling, data, and lab are all very busy. Everyone is running around trying to find their team to clarify information, re-stock the bags for tomorrow, while also still making their phone calls/texts to their friends and family back home haha.

One of my favorite evenings thus far was the other night when me and two other friends went to camp out at a lookout (where you can see over the jungle for a good ways) about an hour ish away. We stayed up late talking, then got up at 5am to see the beautiful sky turn orange and red, mixed with accents of purples and blues. The sunrises and sunsets here are absolutely stunning everyday pretty much and it’s the best thing one can see while hearing the jungle sounds around you when you wake up/go to sleep. It’s now entering the ‘dry season’ for the rainforest so there is much less rain and more more humidity ://// but that means that the sky will be pretty and your laundry can dry way quicker with the sun out haha.

Talking to people from all around the world makes me really want to move abroad for a year at least sometime in the near future. I love having my family and friends back in the states but I think I would also like to experience living in a different culture for a while. I am loving meeting all the staff members here and seeing all the different countries they come from and backgrounds they have. We also have independent researches, PhD students and university faculty that are here at the station as well from all over.

Before arriving to Peru I was recently diagnosed with idiopathic hypersomnia (which basically means unknown sleepiness). The closest things doctors can compare this to is narcolepsy. I was always so tired and never feeling rested or efficient unless I was staying busy which is because I needed to stay awake. I always got 8-10 hours of sleep, worked out multiple times a week, ate healthy, drank lots of water, took many naps and STILL felt exhausted… this was with tons of caffeine everyday as well to keep me going. I went to a sleep center in order to get a study done, and had to stay over night to be monitored throughout the night with electrodes. The next day I did the same accept it was for five 20 minute naps spaced throughout the whole day. They looked at your sleepy cycles, and brain waves to better understand what was happening. 1 week later I was told I had a rare sleep disorder haha – so fun to be told that a few weeks before leaving the country for 4 months in the middle of the rainforest. Though my doctor and pharmacy really helped me out to quickly get all my medication set up and ready to go. I am now on a stimulate that helps my brain stay awake during the day and not have me fall asleep anywhere at anytime lol. Speaking on this, the field season so far has been hard and tiring but so much better now that I have something to help me stay awake and high functioning with all of the many tasks I need to do every day. I guess what I’m trying to get at is sometimes having an answer is at least for some, the medication. It makes you think that you aren’t crazy or weird and then you are able to work towards a better future for yourself and not keep putting yourself down (or have others do that for you).

I feel like talking about things that are sometimes taboo are very important. Not all families discuss the same things. There isn’t a “parent book” for them to go over with their kids to teach them about all the standards and social abnormalities, etc etc. Talking with friends or hearing stories of someone you know personally or have met is the best way to actually understand what they are going through why they act a certain way. Being open and real with others is a great opportunity for all of us to learn and grow with each other. At the end of the day all I want is for others to feel comfortable and happy going through their normal life and having great friends on the sidle-line cheering them on.

This is my last little blurb I promise haha. It’s pride month and I wanted to touch on the authenticity topic a little. Having people that support you and can listen to your problems and enjoyments should be celebrated! Spread love, not hate. You never know what someone is going through in their personal life and doing something as little as smiling at them and saying hello can make a huge change in their day. Being open and honest with yourself is HUGE and should be easier to do without being judged. All of us are humans. All of us want to be loved, and love. And all of us want what’s best for ourselves. Simple, right? So for the rest of this month (and past it) try to be a little more kind, a little more soft, and a little less judgmental/harsh on others that aren’t like you. Embrace the diversity and abnormalities and realize that normal is only normal if you are thinking of it from the perspective of the ‘common’ individual.

Until next time, keep having fun and adventuring! Talk to you guys soon. 🙂

Luke