“For the things we have to learn before we can
do them, we learn by doing them.”- Aristotle
I
can’t remember where I first heard this adage, but my time in Costa Rica has
been rich with its truth: you can’t really learn something, until you live it.
Today I lived my most striking experience of “learning by doing” yet.
I am no stranger to the dangers
inherent in working and recreating outside. After three summers spent running
around the temperate forests of the Appalachian Mountains, I have the scars and
stories that accompany these adventures, but the tropics seem to be on another
level of dangerous. I was aware of this heightened risk before I arrived in
Costa Rica. An experienced friend had told me, “Tropical forests aren’t like
the forests you have experienced. You need to be much more aware of your
surroundings. Move slowly. Respect the forest.”
This advice was far from my mind as
I, along with two classmates, bounded up a trail to a rock outcrop in Palo
Verde National Park. We were eager to get to our destination as fast as
possible to avoid baking in the midday sun. Looking only at the ground to watch
my footing, I practically stumbled into a troop of ten white-faced capuchin
monkeys. At first, I was dazzled by the group and my childhood dream of being
the next Jane Goodall flashed before my eyes. The monkeys, however, were not as
happy to have been startled and were definitely not pleased to see my smiling
face (I learned later that day that smiling was perhaps the worst reaction I
could have had given that capuchins take showing teeth to be a sign of
aggression). The largest monkey began defensive posturing, shaking the branches
beneath him and bearing his teeth. The smaller monkeys then stacked on top of
each other, presumably to make themselves look bigger, and shrieked at us. At
this point, a light bulb went off in all of our minds that we should walk away.
We were backing away slowly when suddenly the monkeys descended from the trees
and charged at us full speed, teeth bared. I have never run so fast in my life.
We made it about 100m down the
trail before stopping; however, before we could catch our breath, a furry white
face appeared in my peripheral vision and we were again sprinting. When the screeching
stopped and the coast was clear, we could not help but laugh, perhaps from the
shock of being chased by a seemingly harmless animal—relative to the snakes
anyway—, or perhaps at ourselves for not being vigilant. As we cautiously
approached the area of our primate encounter once more, my friend’s words ran
through my mind once again: “Be safe. Move slowly.” In that moment, I felt like
I finally understood what he had said to me.
I have experienced
many other moments of learning through doing while in Costa Rica. Ecological
concepts that I had only seen in papers have finally clicked in my mind, some
of the implications of agricultural policies have been played out in front of
me, but no experience, so far, has been quite as powerful a testament to
experiential learning as being chased by a troop of angry capuchins. I am
excited and perhaps a bit scared to see what other lessons Costa Rica has in
store for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment