Day 1: En Route to the Jungle

I was thrilled when work announced our department retreat would be in Costa Rica at the La Selva Biological Station. The first day was entirely spent in travel, arriving at La Selva after dark. Our van missed the welcome and orientation, but we got our keys and a quick overview after dinner.

It was pitch black leaving the dining area, and colleagues with bright flashlights helped us find our cabins which were in two main areas. The walk began with crossing a long suspension bridge in the dark that swayed as we crossed over a river with our luggage, and for a moment I wondered what I was getting into. Before we even made it halfway across the bridge, my colleague Carlos excitedly pointed out a bird on a nearby tree that I would never have noticed in the dark (or the daytime for that matter–it was practically camouflage with the branch).

I was relieved to see our cabins had a bathroom, and hoped no critters would be joining us inside during the week. Before calling it a night, we had a bit of a Goldilocks moment when a colleague found a group of researchers in the room she’d been assigned to, rather than her bunkmates, and we couldn’t get a hold of her assigned bunkmate to find out what happened. I joined her on the walk to solve the mystery with a few others from the team, and we were nearly to the furthest dorms when we learned she’d only been moved to the cabin next door. It made for an interesting orientation to that part of the grounds, anyway. Our cabins had an overhead fan and screened windows, which were little match for the heat and humidity, so despite the long day it took a while to fall asleep.