This month, we went on a Really Big Field Trip to Costa Rica. It was wet, it was windy, it was…well, the weather was actually quite similar to our usual weather in the Pacific Northwest, except that it was a lot lighter and a fair bit warmer. Being in a new environment is another big part of going on a Really Big Field Trip.
A lot of what I value about travel is the physical memory of being in a place. It’s not always about the culture. It’s also about the feeling of standing in a certain place and getting to know that place and how it feels. When I walked off the plane in Costa Rica and I smelled the air, I almost cried. I’d been there before and I remembered that smell. I want my daughter to feel the same way about different places in the world. I love these places for their people and their culture, but I also love these places for their physical environment, for the memories of seeing, smelling, and touching that place.
Why did I go on Really Big Field Trip with my daughter, then? I wanted her to realize that walking through the cloud forest is indeed like walking into a cloud. I wanted her to watch the wind whip clouds across the continental divide. I wanted her to enjoy sunshine and short-sleeved shirts in January, to be rapidly followed by wind and torrential rain.
I also wanted her to walk through the forest and see the abundant plant and animal life. Yes, in this age of abundance there is television and there are books to help us learn about just about any animal we wish. There are zoos. But I always feel that seeing animals in the wild, just doing their thing, is the most profound experience. I don’t care if it’s a crow or a monkey.
Monkeys: let me tell you about monkeys. They are one of the reasons that I wanted to bring my daughter to a tropical forest. Yes, I must confess, I am a monkey-hound. I really like seeing monkeys in the wild. I am awed by wild monkeys. Bears, I’m used to, although I realize that tourists to my part of the world view bears in the same way that I see monkeys. Did I mention that they can hang from their tails and eat upside-down? That many of them travel in social or family groups and defend their group by screeching or throwing things when they see you? That howler monkeys make the most awful and wonderful noise that you will ever hear, like a cross between a lion and a wolf?
My daughter feels the same way about sloths. Now, I don’t find sloths particularly cute or cuddly, although I must confess that the way one smiled at me in the sloth rescue center, I am sure that it was trying to make me sweet on them. But my daughter finds sloths intriguing and exciting to spot and track.
Connecting with a place and its plant and animal inhabitants is an important reason that I travel, and I wanted to share that with my daughter through our Really Big Field Trip.
Image courtesy of a-rivera at Stock Exchange.
