Different Perspectives

By Nicole Eng

Shortly after breakfast on a Wednesday morning, we packed up two of the OTS trucks and started the trip from Las Cruces Biological Station to Las Alturas. One and a half hours smushed next to our classmates and travelling laterally (the seats in the back of the truck face the opposite window, not the windshield) was just the beginning of a very educational and eventful trip. We actually had to take a break and get some fresh air because people were experiencing motion sickness!

Once we made it to the station, we quickly doused ourselves in bug spray and started out on the three-hour hike up the hillside. That was by far the hardest hike I’ve done in my life but between spotting spider monkeys, passing through four different types of forests, and the view from the top, it was definitely worth the trouble. Luckily there were neat things to stop and see along the way which meant we could stop and catch our breath. It was on one of those informational breaks that I started to think about the pests of our pests. We passed a spider egg sac hanging down from the underside of a leaf which Mau checked for parasitoids. I am not the biggest fan of spiders, but I felt bad thinking about something preying on the helpless, innocuous ball in front of me. It also made me think of the invasive geckos we investigated for one of our Faculty Led Projects earlier that week. Although I did not enjoy seeing the geckos crawl on walls in my presence, it still made me sad when we found internal parasites or mites in between their toes. In that moment, while regaining the ability to breathe before continuing to hike towards the summit, I stopped to think about a spider or gecko’s life from their perspective. They don’t know they are bothersome to humans like me, they are just trying to survive. Previously, I had only considered how they negatively affected my life, not what is negatively affecting theirs.

I also had the opportunity to think about different points of view later that evening, during the discussion we had about research in the tropics. Amanda shared her experiences conducting research in a foreign country before Mau spoke about his research experiences and his views on foreign researchers. It was very interesting to hear about what Amanda did to include the local community in her research and how a Costa Rican feels about what foreign researchers should and should not do when conducting research in Costa Rica. As an American studying abroad here, I can see how easy it would be for one to get caught up in his or her research, funding, travel, etc. and forget about the country itself or the local community. I am very glad I had the opportunity to hear how research should be done.

If nothing else, this experience, especially at Las Alturas, has allowed me to consider different perspectives, instead of just my own as an American at the top of the food chain. It has been eye-opening to stop and think about how my actions are affecting others and stop thinking solely about how things affect me. Not only am I learning about tropical biology, but I am learning about the world around and how to be a more productive and compassionate person in it.