In (Another) Chair in the Sky

And here we are again, in a chair in the sky above a planet where a whole bunch of people and other animals live and do all kinds of strange things, like merely existing on a planet and such, which makes me pause and write. This blog actually started from another chair in the sky some 10 years ago when I landed a contract to map out train stations around the world and needed an outlet to digest all the neat places and pockets of life I would encounter. If you’re curious about that, here is the backstory and full blog archive that I recently restored after it went dormant for a few years and ended up deleted.

But now we’re back. Fun times.

This time I’m flying out from Austin, TX with my wife and two kids to a place that’s always been a dream destination: Costa Rica. I’m up for “recharge” at my company, which means I’ve been there long enough to earn a full 4 consecutive weeks off, and we’ll be spending 3 of them on this trip, renting a 4x4, and trekking through landscapes that span jungles and turtle-nesting beaches, volcanoes, cloud forests, waterfalls, and more. As a wide-eyed, curious wanderer and wonderer with a lust for life in the literal sense of holy-shit-there-are-living-things-all-around-me, I couldn’t be more excited.

Here are a few of those living things:

1. Eyelash vipers: This one is first on the list and one of the reasons I’ve always wanted to check out Costa Rica. These are some of the prettiest snakes out there, coming in vibrant yellows and greens and oranges, and they pack a venomous punch that makes them even cooler. I once met a guy who owned a few in Texas and would milk their venom, which he would then dilute and inject into his veins to build immunity (anti-venom is tough to come by for such a species in Texas). He told me that even at a hundredth of the potency it felt like injecting lava into his veins. Yikes. I don’t know what lava pumped into the veins feels like, but it’s probably not great. But I also gotta say, being able to inject lava into people is a pretty neat superpower, and I want to see one in the wild. Lucky for me, it turns out Costa Rica is one of the best places in the world to spot these guys, so that’s exactly what I plan on doing. I’ll be doing a couple herpetological tours with professional guides who can bring me to the hot spots. So you’ll surely be hearing more about that.

2. Other snakes: eyelash vipers deserved their own category, but there are so many other cool snake species in Costa Rica, the deadly Fer-de-lance, tropical coral snakes only found in Latin America, boas, snail-eating snakes, vine snakes, and a bunch of others.

3. Poison arrow dart frogs. Also a bunch of other neat frogs, like the red-eyed tree frog. So cool.

4. Sea turtle nesting: Our first stop will be in Tortuguero National Park, and we happen to be visiting during turtle nesting season, so I’m excited to get a glimpse at this ancient ritual in the sands of an area that is only accessible by boat with a guide. You’ll surely be hearing more about that too.

5. Birds: If you’ve spent more than a few minutes with me or my writings you’ll learn that I really like snakes (the first two points of this list may have been a dead giveaway), and I’m usually looking for them wherever I go. You’ll also know I usually don’t find any snakes. They’re sneaky little fellas and generally try to avoid scary animals like humans. Meanwhile looking beyond snakes, you can find a bird just about anywhere. So I’ve started dabbling in birding which has been pretty rewarding as you learn more and more about what’s around you. There are also some 11,000 species globally and many flow from one region to the next along their migratory pathways, and Costa Rica is a huge hot spots for all kinds of birds I may never have the chance to see again: toucans, macaws, unique hummingbirds, and if we’re lucky, the beautiful quetzal. Hopefully you’ll hear about that too.

6. Monkeys: Costa Rica has four species of monkeys, and the most common is the howler monkey. I just think it’s so cool that we have close relatives coexisting in the same area like that -- perhaps something locals eventually take for granted, but what an opportunity for someone like me. These guys have some gnarly tribal behaviors I hope to share more about as well.

7. Jaguars: I don’t expect to see any. In fact I hope we don’t see any in close proximity. But they’re around, especially in Tortuguero National Park where we go tomorrow. And that’s just badass to think about.

8. Sea life of all kinds: we’ll be ending our trip in Samara beach and plan to do some snorkeling and get a glimpse of … honestly I’m not sure. I’m not too well-versed in what sea life is around the area, but to me the ocean is basically like outer space and full of alien life everywhere you look, so I’ll be learning all about it along the way and will share more.

I think there may be another one or two hundred others worth mentioning, but this chair in the sky is approaching final descent into San Jose, and I’m going to pull the publish trigger before I go into a spiral of overthinking this post. Also I’m looking out the window and wow, I love Costa Rica and haven’t even landed yet. So much green and lushness that just feels nourishing at some deep level.

[side note: whew we did it. I officially posted something again after all these years, and it feels nice, even if there is another voice inside me screaming about how terrible each sentence is and how I wasn’t able to convey even 1% of all I wanted to say, but that’s just a silly way to keep living. This whole thing basically started as a public diary in the first place; there doesn’t need to be some fancy polished product or something. Just write cuz it’s fun, ya know?

In my original Life On a Planet blog, I ended each post with “Love always from planet earth” which for some reason feels far cheesier now than it did 10 years ago, perhaps cuz I’m 10 years older now, and at a material level most of my cells have been swapped out by now so I’m pretty much an entire new person with different words and phrases. But fuck it, keeping with tradition.]

Love always from planet Earth,

Doug