My Trials: As the Transitional Target of a Religious Psychopath

By Mark Wilson

Marks story begins several years back when he ventured to a foreign country for unique career-building experiences. It is there he eventually met more and more like-minded individuals and someone who appeared extra special.

This same-aged woman was on her game as she presented a convincing picture of virtue. Mark had no idea that he was about to become quite the victim of a high-functioning, proactively religious psychopath.

Mark beautifully illustrated how counterintuitive his experiences with a psychopath were and goes in great depth to show how these abuser victim roles play out in real life encounters. This is interesting information that is often not included in other books on the same subject matter.

In sharing how he figured his way through his extended encounter with a primary psychopath, he seeks to spread awareness which will help members of our global society identify psychopaths before they cause their applicable levels of damage.

Join the author to educate yourself on the increasingly trending topic of psychopathy. There are many things Mark assists you in taking away from encounters with psychopaths and their influence on the world around us. Psychopathy is certainly a topic worth getting a grasp over. Look into this critically constructed book and youll be happy you did!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781480845251

Mark Wilson

“Wildlife photojournalist” is just another name for “mule” because I often find myself in remote places schlepping heavy loads of photography and camping gear. But the end results of my animal quests are usually worth the exertion. I’ve been writing about and photographing wild- life (especially birds) since middle school, where my classmates dubbed me “Birdman” at age twelve. After thirty-plus years of working as a newspaper photographer and columnist, I now host science-based live-owl programs with my wife, Marcia. We care for fifteen non-releasable raptors, including a snowy owl. Check out our website: eyesonowls.com.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 Mark Wilson.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

All scriptures are from the KING JAMES VERSION (KJV): KING JAMES VERSION, public domain.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4524-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4523-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-4525-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017911635

Archway Publishing rev. date: 11/13/2017

CONTENTS

Introduction

CHAPTER 1   The Desire

CHAPTER 2   Where to Begin?

CHAPTER 3   The Return Opportunity

CHAPTER 4   Preparing and Arrival

CHAPTER 5   Having a Blast

CHAPTER 6   Nicaragua

CHAPTER 7   Intern Staff

CHAPTER 8   Home

CHAPTER 9   The Surprise

CHAPTER 10   Settling In

CHAPTER 11   Church in a Foreign Country

CHAPTER 12   A Necessary Sit Down and Talk

CHAPTER 13   The Idealize Devalue Phases

CHAPTER 14   The Deceitful Response

CHAPTER 15   The Birthday Grudge

CHAPTER 16   The Lie of Complete Denial

CHAPTER 17   Departure Time

CHAPTER 18   The Concerned Betrayed Friend

CHAPTER 19   My Baptism

CHAPTER 20   No Solution in Sight

CHAPTER 21   One Last Hurrah

CHAPTER 22   Cognitive Dissonance

CHAPTER 23   Nature and Nurture Visited

CHAPTER 24   Inside the Primary Psychopath

CHAPTER 25   Toxic Friends

CHAPTER 26   LDS General Conference Messages

CHAPTER 27   Food for Thought

CHAPTER 28   Seeing the World in a Darker Light

CHAPTER 29   My Notable Breakdown

CHAPTER 30   No Contact and Blow-off Letter

CHAPTER 31   The Building Block Red Flags

CHAPTER 32   Endure to the End

CHAPTER 33   Salvation

CHAPTER 34   A Simple yet Great Philosophy

CHAPTER 35   Face your Demons

CHAPTER 36   Conclusions

CHAPTER 37   Changing Tides

Epilogue

Bibliography

Dedication:

I would like to dedicate this book to everyone who has been manipulated, conned, exploited, walked over and victimized in any way shape or form by the psychopaths among society. I would also like to dedicate this book to everyone who will be remorselessly taken advantage of in the future.

I hope this book brings significant knowledge of the implications of such a dangerous disorder to the attention of our fellow members of society. I hope we, as a global society, can work to increase awareness and therefore minimize the antisocial influences of existential predators.

It would be a considerable achievement if we could someday screen many ‘power’ professions such as religious leaders, candidates up for elections, and potential leaders of countries for the disorder psychopathy to limit the damage they can undeniably cause.

Special Thanks:

I would like to thank my family and friends that assisted me in my recovery in various ways.

I would like to thank those that studied psychopathy before me and contributed to the closure I sought after my abuse.

I would like to thank the Psychopath Free Facebook Community.

Special thanks to my friend Brett who executed the custom artwork for the cover of my book.

Special thanks to my mother for taking the time out of her busy schedule to assist with the final editing of my manuscript. The composition is surely better thanks to her feedback!

Lastly, I would like to thank my Archway Publishing team.

QuetzalBook.jpg

Introduction

A very common mistake people can continue to make in their lives, no matter what gifts and abilities those people come into the world with, is fundamentally thinking everyone else sees life the way they do. I, like many, was guilty of having this mindset all too frequently in my past. I can best illustrate this point by sharing the eye-opening experience I received after walking right into a trap I never saw coming nor was prepared for.

I was not prepared for the snare awaiting myself since I was such an honest and trusting individual growing up. I basically saw people and the world for the first twenty tree years of my life in a more positive light since I did not have any overly negative personal experiences. I frequently put myself in others’ shoes and continued to try to become as well rounded as I reasonably could.

Unfortunately, simply because I had continued to strive to be prosocial does not mean everyone else does. My blinded mindset was arguably the biggest reason why I found myself in an impossible conflict to rationally work through with a person I worried about every time the bad memories penetrated my recovery defenses.

Perhaps you are like me in several regards and have found yourself in your very own seemingly impossible situation in life; perhaps even with someone who has an antisocial personality disorder. Whether you are trying to get through whatever complicated relationship you are in, or simply desire to learn some diagnostic ‘Red Flags’ from my real-life experiences to avoid toxic people and seemingly one-sided relationships in your future, please do yourself a favor and continue reading for your sake and benefit.

Since I basically have the Myers-Briggs personality type of INTP, it was very important to me that I figured out the logic behind my psychopath’s actions. Since so much of my book has to deal with my interactions with an obvious psychopath, I feel it is very appropriate to understand several aspects of my personality type.

The three sections below are all very relative to the plot. Keep this information in the back of your mind as you read so you will be able to understand me as an individual, since not everyone thinks alike.

INTP’s see everything in terms of how it could be improved, or what it could be turned into. They live primarily inside their own minds, having the ability to analyze difficult problems, identify patterns and come up with logical explanations. They seek clarity in everything and are therefore, driven to build knowledge. They are the absent-minded professors" who highly value intelligence and the ability to apply logic to theories to find solutions. They typically are so strongly driven to turn problems in logical explanations.

INTP’s do not like to lead or control people. They are very tolerant and flexible in most situations.

For the INTP, it is extremely important that ideas and facts are expressed correctly and succinctly. They are likely to express themselves in what they believe to be absolute truths."¹

In this account, I do my best to avoid being too biased. I want everything to stand out with as little emotional bias as reasonably possible. Hopefully you will be able to enjoy yourself as you play a bit of detective, diving through the plot.

Quick Note: As you read deeper into my account, you will notice I frequently use the term ‘fan club’ to describe the unknowing followers of my religious psychopath. ‘Fan club’ is a term that has been coined to describe the friendship circle of psychopaths. I first came across the term in Peace’s book Psychopath Free and thought I would use it myself since I feel it fits appropriately. I would also like to quickly mention a transitional target is a concept that I first learned about in Psychopath Free. That book helped inspire me to publish an actual account of what it was like to be a transitional victim.

All names used in this book are not the real names of the individuals referenced in this book. The real names have been changed to respect the privacy of each individual brought up in my account. Made up cover names are used for confidentiality purposes. Cover names and a lack of giving certain characters names in the first place will ultimately keep the name of the psychopath I encountered as well as her family members, confidential to anyone who may read my real life accounts herein. There are painful and personal things that go on in any family that are difficult enough to deal with in private. Imagine some of most embarrassing or difficult times in your life being made public and completely traceable back to you.

On top of name changes for the people in my book, I decided to use a cover name for the organizations I was a part of in the plot to avoid any sort of negative publicity that readers could wrongfully associate with the work environments in my account. There is nothing bad about the places I mention in my book. Anyone can meet someone like the person I met anywhere in the world.

1

The Desire

For much of my life I felt like my eyes were not completely open to the world around me. It was a sort of selective blindness to how bad people can be to others. It was something psychologically rooted, so I would say it was fundamentally a form of psychological denial.

At just about any point in my life, I desired to be an even better person than I felt I had been up to the point where I was. It was definitely an insecurity that bothered me upon moments of self-reflection. I had always been a good friend—a peacemaker embracing solutions in many instances. But I still faced some temptations and pressures in life like everyone else.

In order to avoid certain regrets down the road, I feel like I developed into an introverted young man instead of taking a more extroverted course of development. I feel like developing the way I did helped me avoid doing certain things I may have come to seriously regret someday. I also feel like developing into an introvert helped me set a better example for my siblings—my two younger sisters. Nothing against more extroverted people, I just felt I made good decisions as an introverted individual.

Throughout my development, I took to the belief that to have more joy in life, it is best to be a great friend and not selfish. I felt I had been doing well in my life since I had no big regrets. Nevertheless, I felt I needed to build up my self-respect even more by becoming less selfish. It seemed like I needed a challenge in my young adult life to flip that switch.

It is not like I specifically thought I wanted more out of myself, it was more like I expected more out of myself so I could someday look back on my life and be able to confidently say I lived quite a fulfilling and honorable life.

When I scored my first 300 game in bowling, I expected that it would happen sooner or later because of all the time I put in practicing. Then, after one 300 game, I expected to be able to bowl another. I quickly did and ended up achieving three 300 games and a 299 in less than a year’s time.

The same type of conclusions could be drawn when it came to my schooling. When at one level of school such as high school, I expected to make it to the next. The fear of not succeeding in my expectations subconsciously drove me in life.

Once I was satisfied with my education after graduating college with a bachelor’s degree, so many friends and family members congratulated me for graduating. Many of them had not graduated college or even went to college themselves. As a result, to such individuals my graduation was a big accomplishment. But to me, it was no big deal. To me, it was what I expected out of myself at the very least. Not to even mention how times have changed over generations. Graduating was a goal I set for myself in my youth that I expected to accomplish.

Despite good amounts of self-respect and confidence throughout my life, I still, in my youthful years, looked up to certain people and wanted to be more like them. The sort of people I looked up to were vibrantly good people who seemed to have life figured out; they made life look easy.

Sometimes these people were peers who I thought were doing better than me. You could say I was a little jealous or envious of them since I wanted to be more like them. For some reason, I just could not achieve the state I saw in them at those times. I lacked one key thing to get there: true inspiration—the overwhelming motivation to push me over the mental barrier. Once over the mental barrier, who knows what I could then accomplish. Surprisingly, a lot of this new motivation came out of what ended up to be an abusive toxic relationship, which is quite the unexpected source of motivation for, well, just about anyone I would think!

I unfortunately got further and further sucked into an emotionally abusive toxic relationship because of certain characteristics I had been instilling in myself; I had observed these characteristics in two older people I looked up to while growing up. Those characteristics allowed me to tolerate much antisocial behavior to the point of being greatly hurt from the utter betrayal that would come my way from the emotionally abusive relationship with a psychopath I was about to engage in during the highlight of my young adult life.

For those of you who don’t know, a psychopath is an individual who possesses what many would call the most dangerous antisocial personality disorder out there. The scary thing is psychopaths can come in many types, or combinations of types, depending on different factors. Political, military, blue-collar, and religious are a just a few of the differing types psychopaths can easily come in or mold into. Many certainly enjoy obtaining power positions over others.

For psychopaths in particular, the root of their personality disorder is a direct result of neither side of their brain processing emotion properly—an intriguing implication is that the brain processes that control the psychopath’s emotions are divided and unfocused, resulting in a shallow and colorless emotional life. (Hare 1999, 134).

Perhaps saddest of all, psychopathy is known to be an incurable disorder. Personality disorders are defined and explained as character deficiencies that are so deeply ingrained in one’s personality that they are, for all practical purposes, unchangeable.²

As you read further into my personal encounters with a religious psychopath, consider, "The clinical diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder should at least be considered when an individual possesses at least three of the following characteristics:

1. Failure to conform to social norms

2. Deceitfulness, manipulativeness

3. Impulsivity, failure to plan ahead

4. Irritability, aggressiveness

5. Reckless discard for the safety or self of others

6. Consistent Irresponsibility (I will note this can be more like: consistently unaccountable for their own actions)

7. Lack of remorse after having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another person" (Stout 2006, 6)

Since these statements may subjectively apply to many people during different stages in life, the most accurate diagnosis comes from a neurological examination at an adult stage of life.

Neurological exams are effective means to either confirm defect or damage in the brain. electrocephalograms (EEGs), functional magnetic resonant imaging (fMRI) and computerized axial tomography scans (CAT scans) are all highly effective in confirming neurological abnormalities—such as the inability to process emotions (Long 2014).

Now, getting back to my account, the two older people I mentioned I looked up to in my youth happened to be two immediate family members. One was my grandpa on my mother’s side, and the other was my grandpa on my father’s side. I saw how tough they each were in their own ways, and I worked at instilling those various features of toughness in myself. I instilled a lot of tolerance from my grandpa on my mother’s side, and I instilled mental toughness from my grandpa on my father’s side.

The mental toughness I am talking about from my father’s side was toughness in not complaining about much. Even when he was undergoing cancer treatments, or dying from a moderate heart attack and old age while in a hospital bed, he was not one to complain and say how bad it sucked. He didn’t hate the end of his life. He rather endured though it and set that remarkable example.

While I continued to grow up, I received positive reinforcement in not complaining too much from my grandma on my mother’s side. She happens to complain about various things, so she could easily tell just how little I complained in comparison. She would often say to others in the family, Mark does not complain a whole lot, and then she would cap that off with a hug if there were not too many people around to embarrass me.

Despite working on desirable strengths for myself and already being a good person, I still expected more out of myself. Ultimately, my curiosity in finding more to cherish about my life took me right into the wide trap of a religious psychopath. What was to follow was all extremely unfortunate, but because of how I went about handling my life during and after such a devastating encounter, I was better able to reach the greater self-respect I have always desired to be able to cherish. I suffered A LOT along the way, but I slowly fought the battle.

It is never easy allowing yourself to get where you want to be when you take a glass-half-empty kind of approach to life as I so frequently did throughout my young life. It can serve as a bit of extra motivation though.

As you read further into my accounts, you will be able to tell that everything that happens to you, regardless of how bad, gives you the opportunity to endure through it so you can be rewarded some way.

As you read further into my account, keep the following in the back of your mind:

Psychopaths do meet current legal standards for sanity. They understand the rules of society and the conventional meanings of right and wrong. They are capable of controlling their behavior, and they are aware of the potential consequences of their acts. Their problem is that this knowledge frequently fails to deter them from antisocial behavior. (Hare, 143)

2

Where to Begin?

My story, which I desire to share with the world, is quite personal and began near the end of April 2013 when I was twenty-three years old. I was fresh out of college with my recently acquired bachelor’s degree in biology. After enjoying a couple weeks finally being done with school, at least for the foreseeable future, I planned the next six months of my life. It would soon be an adventure never to forget, and it would help shape and mold me to increase my self-respect. It would also help me become an even better person in my eyes—and eventually in the eyes of others close to me.

I had received my Biology degree to pursue a career in wildlife conservation and or restoration efforts. I had centered my education on the natural sciences instead of the medical field to match my thought up childhood career goals. As a little kid growing up, I basically told myself, I want to help those organisms which cannot defend themselves from human activities.

I impressed myself at that young age since, to me, this was different than seemingly being like everyone else and wanting to be a doctor or some profession that specifically works to help people. I felt it was important to stand up and protect nature since it appeared to me that enough people want to primarily help other people. At that young age, I felt protecting the environment was not stressed enough by humanity.

Those familiar with the field of environmental science could understand my mindset to be more along the lines of ecocentrism. In ecocentric theory, it is suggested that the environment itself, not just the living organisms that inhabit it, has moral worth. So yeah, I was the preserve, protect, reduce, reuse to be conscientious of future generations kind of person since my very youth; or, ‘tree hugger’ if you must.

The course of my education in the fourth year of my university studies back in 2012 took me all the way to Costa Rica for a ten-day topical field ecology course. The experience of being in the rainforest, even if only for a brief ten days, was an eye-opening experience and a childhood dream basically coming true. I would recommend people to go and visit a rainforest somewhere in the world at some point or another during their lifetime. Visiting a rainforest is also quite the reality check once one has had the opportunity to live more on the luxurious side of things and will help them realize just how good they actually have life. Such an experience certainly helps people understand various living conditions throughout the world much better. The same can realistically apply in other biomes as well, though.

I enjoyed and thrived on the experience of being in the rainforest so much that I greatly desired to go back someday and enjoy a similar experience again. However, I never thought that a return opportunity would come as soon as it did.

3

The Return Opportunity

The opportunity to return to the rainforest presented itself one afternoon while burning time before my next college class that day. I spontaneously and briefly searched the web, specifically Google, for job opportunities post-graduation. For some conclusive reason, I decided to search conservation jobs in Costa Rica.

I instantaneously looked into one of the top results that immediately caught my attention. The employer was an international organization called World-Wide Conservationists or WWC for short. WWC had work and volunteer opportunities set up on several continents around the world.

Since my search was refined, I immediately came across their six-month internship opportunity in Costa Rica. The site of the internship was a remote field location actually inside a National Park along the Caribbean coast.

Costa Rica is an interesting case. Costa Rica is a country in Central America that has become a solid model for ecotourism and conservation on a nation-wide scale. Ecotourism in Costa Rica has shown itself to be so successful that it provides economic stability for the country. Rangers have been employed and work to protect wildlife to conserve species in support of the country’s ecotourism stance.

After looking into the details and what each participating intern will receive out of the experience, I knew the internship was something I wanted to do for quality field experience. I knew it would build my resume for future employment opportunities. I also knew it would be a great growing up experience having to both live on my own and in a group setting with other people from around the globe. I attended college as a commuter so this would happen to be my longest amount of time spent away from home.

The decision came easy. I had figured out what I wanted to do with the next part of my life. However, I just sat on it and waited to sign up for the start of the program.

Bizarrely, this laziness on my end may have turned into a blessing in disguise way down the road for me. If it were not for my laziness, I may have developed a stronger bond with my psychopath. Who knows?

I supposedly had it all planned out. I planned on enjoying the rest of the summer and finishing out my summer bowling and softball leagues. Then, soon thereafter, I would leave for the six-month internship which was set to start in September.

Oh, I naively thought I had it all figured out all right! I would even miss some winter which ended up being the snowiest winter on record where I lived with my family in the U.S.

When it finally came to going through the steps, I was upset with myself. You could say I learned my lesson that when you really want to do something, you do it; you do not wait for unnecessarily long periods of time to do it.

Yeah, I was too late in signing up. All the spots had been filled and the money paid by those who also wanted to go and start an internship in September. There was no chance any of them would be backing out after paying the kind of money that was required for the experience.

I was first told I would now have to wait until January 2014 to do the next six month internship being offered. My mother immediately told me I couldn’t wait that long to get my career started and inquired to the agent if there happened to be any openings left for that same internship starting in June.

I immediately felt I was blessed that there was one opening left for June. I immediately ran things through my mind. I thought about having to get prepared so quickly to leave in just three weeks and having to tell my teammates in the leagues I had organized that I can no longer finish the leagues; that they will have to do what they can to manage without me. I would also have to promptly quit my job that I worked hard at while receiving my college education. Anyone of my co-workers would say the same thing about my work ethic. I was never the— When I make it big, I’ll give my best effort—type of person.

I definitely felt bad having to quit on my teammates on such short notice but some things such as getting a career going are more important than sports and they all deep-down understood that. I gave them the best heads up that I could as I explained to them my immediate dilemma. I wish I would have been just as supportive as them if I was the one in their shoes. I am so fortunate and grateful to have such supportive family members and great friends in my life.

It was time to turn my focus to the future and to turn away from getting too caught up in the moment of freedom from finishing my education and act upon the apparent blessing I had before me.

4

Preparing and Arrival

My parents (significantly more my mother) were so excited for me that they literally helped me pack my bags. Yeah, I have to defend myself one more time for those who comically spread the rumor my parents packed my stuff for me in the manner to tease. I was a good kid growing up; they were not simply trying to ship me away or do my job for me, lol. I only had three weeks to get everything purchased and ready for the six-month trip. I needed all the help and support I could get on such short notice. I needed airfare, traveler’s insurance, proper clothes for the jungle and much, much more.

Upon arriving at my first destination (the WWC pickup destination) via in country transport, I shyly found a way to fit in with some of the other interns and volunteers that were starting the program at the same time. As one could imagine, there was all sorts of excitement and adventure around the corner, and I could not wait for Costa Rica 2.0 to be underway. Interestingly, of all the places to potentially come in from, one of the other five program interns was also from the same state in the U.S. which gave us something in common.

Individual interviews were held the following morning so all medical details, dietary requirements/restrictions and other grounds were covered before getting underway and heading out to the remote field station.

Next thing we knew, we all piled into a private transport and made our way to and through the cities. After a brief stop in one town, we were off to the headwaters of the river system we needed to take to get us to our field station. We were then taken by boat to the landing point at the bank of the estuary where the trail head to the field station began. Once at the bank of the estuary, we put on our required wear-in-the-field mud boots and walked approximately 20 minutes through the rainforest trail towards the field station.

We all had our heavy luggage strapped to us so we quickly began sweating bullets as we made our way through the costal forest. It wasn’t long before we were being swarmed by active mosquitoes. Those mosquitoes were the annoying kind that will land on you even though you are moving. At least the mosquitoes had their attention divided about fifteen different ways for everyone’s sakes. Sometimes it seemed the mosquitoes couldn’t make up their mind regarding who or what to land on. But other times, it seemed they went straight for the ear or parts of the body that couldn’t be conveniently swatted while carrying all our items.

Upon making it to the field station, we each had a coed rustic cabin to begin settling into. There were three cabins and each cabin was divided into two rooming areas. Each rooming area had between six and eight twin sized beds with each being a bunk bed to accommodate twice as many people in the limited space. As you can probably imagine, the cabins were not all that roomy. Once my mosquito net was set up around my twin sized mattress, the space felt even tighter for my 6’6" tall self.

Once everyone had settled in, we had the first of our many routine large scale group meals. Upon conclusion of dinner, the staff laid out the plans for our first two weeks. After informing us of the upcoming week’s schedule, they asked, Now does anyone want to go for a night hike?

There were a lot of takers on that offer so each taker shortly thereafter got into the appropriate field gear and then formed two groups of interested participants and out into the surrounding forest we went!

Among the very first warnings the staff members pounded into us was to avoid walking and standing under coconut trees since falling coconuts kill more people each year than venomous snake bites. Of course, for safety, snakes were off-limits. Each snake was to be treated as venomous, and we were expected to keep particular distances away from them to avoid a defensive strike. If any of us were to be bitten by a snake, it would be a helicopter evacuation into a city with the appropriate medical supplies simply out of safety precautions. This was one of the many reasons we all needed to be covered with medical insurance for our time interning there.

On that night’s hike, I immediately saw several Red-eyed tree frogs, a species I encountered on my previous ten-day trip with school. I also saw two species of snakes that I did not encounter again during the rest of my stay at the field station. I was amped up and immediately began to go crazy with my new camera which I specifically bought to highlight my six months of upcoming experiences.

I knew I was about to have the adventure of a lifetime with people from all around the world working alongside me. I was also about to grow more independent undertaking this adventure away from home for six straight months. This was a very adventurous and enjoyable time in my life!

5

Settling in and Getting Comfortable

The first two weeks went by slowly as each intern received a staff mentor, went over various safety procedures, the beginnings of our leadership training and received our first responder certifications. We became educated, or simply more experienced in survey techniques, protocols, recording field data and entering it into databases.

After we had completed our training, we dove right into surveying twice a day. The time periods to survey were in the morning (surveys starting in the time frame between first light and 9am), afternoon (surveys starting in the 1-3pm timeframe) and night (surveys for nesting sea turtles starting after 9pm).

There was quite the diversity of surveys that were undertaken and I participated in each survey multiple times. Here is a list of the surveys WWC performed during my time there:

Biological assessment surveys, incidental species survey, shorebirds survey, canal bird survey, sea turtle track survey coupled with known nest monitoring, nighttime sea turtle biometric data gathering/nest marking survey, sea turtle nest excavations to record hatching success, camera trap setups, takedowns and analysis as well as both large and small scale Jaguar predation on marine turtles surveys.

As an intern in this extensive program, I received multiple packets to evaluate my performance throughout the course of the internship by an assigned staff member which included weekly reviews. One packet was for developing leadership skills, a second was for weekly mentor evaluations, the third was a training and assessment summary and the last was a packet for biological surveying techniques.

Looking back, I am very happy that I was mentored by who I believe to have been the best mentor for someone such as myself. Overall, it was a great field experience and worth the investment which provided the experiences I personally received out of it.

6

Having a Blast

After a few weeks had passed, the days started to go by faster and faster as we all got more settled in and comfortable. Each of us interns were making occasional presentations to the assembly and coming up with enjoyable leadership projects. We were getting pretty well used to having no phone contact and extremely limited opportunities to access the internet. There were a few though, that were always trying to get reception at the beach to make contact with those back home. They were always walking along the beach holding their cell phone straight into the air in attempt to find a signal. The rest of us couldn’t help but laugh and think all that work is totally not worth the accumulated frustration.

Each month, interns and lengthy staying volunteers received long weekends to go out and enjoy a different part of the country when the new groups of volunteers would arrive. During the first long weekend, the other interns, lengthy staying volunteers and myself went to enjoy Monteverde.

Monteverde is a very touristy city and known for its outdoor adventurous activities. While in Monteverde, with various adventurous activities to choose from, I went bungee jumping and zip lining. The bungee jump was the longest bungee fall in all of Central America and the zip lining was incredible and unmatched in any of my other zip lining experiences.

Upon returning from the long weekend away, we met all the new arrivals and enjoyed another adventurous month surveying and discovering species we had yet to see. Each new arrival meant a new opportunity to learn about individuals from around the world and to develop lasting friendships.

The second long weekend soon arrived and last minute I was able to coordinate my parents coming to visit during that weekend getaway. Knowing my other two siblings were out of the house studying at their universities, my parents must have missed me. It was the first time that all three of their children were away from home. It definitely affected our mother; she, like any mother, loved having us around; although, we all could be rebellious in our own ways at times.

The group of us which included WWC members, my parents and I went to Liberia which is a different climate and thus had different scenery than what we were accustomed to. Liberia is not exactly the tourist town that Monteverde is, but it was a good departure town for other regional tourist hotspots.

During the weekend in Liberia, my parents and I made a trip to Rincon de la Vieja National Park, and the next day the whole group of us went to a beach located along the northwestern coast of the Nicoya Peninsula. At the beach, we enjoyed the view of the coastline and some nice snorkeling.

Time did not permit but I would have definitely enjoyed making a visit to Palo Verde National Park which is more of an expensive trip. The cost of living and expenses in Costa Rica is much higher than you might think so I kind of needed to watch my money. Nevertheless, we all had a good time and my parents were able to experience some of the pura vida (pure life) that I had been experiencing throughout my time in Costa Rica.

My parents headed back to the U.S., and we went back to base to fully immerse ourselves once again. Our group of interns soon had a decision to make. You see, the interns get a work placement half way through their six-month internship. The three options my group of interns had to choose from were two partner-like organizations. One organization specifically worked with breeding and reintroducing a few threatened bird species and the other was a reserve in the Talamanca Cordillera which I will give the name The Guardian Reserve. The third option was to simply stay and continue to work at the field station as intern-staff.

Part of the decision of where to send each intern stemmed from each intern’s desire of where they would like to go and the other part came from the staff’s ultimate opinion of who needs to stay and become intern-staff to fit the bases’ needs. From there, WWC staff made the decision where to send the remaining interns based on who they thought would fit best at which partner affiliated organization. It seemed decisions were also made based on which interns got along well with each other.

I had a great working relationship with one of my fellow interns Miguel. He and I also had solid working relationships with the staff and had so many things in common in terms of interests in things from sports to nature. We totally budded up and had a great time going around and taking photos of the cool species we would actively search for at night around base.

In fact, we both wanted to hit the road to The Guardian Reserve and get away from the chaos of base operations and basically explore a new area of the country at the same time. WWC staff saw how chill we were with each other and knew our skill sets would help The Guardian Reserve out with their surveying efforts. WWC staff however, ultimately made the best decision to keep Miguel at base for his slightly more experienced leadership skills, surveying experience and occasional handiwork.

During my remaining time surveying in the National Park, I was able to encounter so many cool animals. I saw massive butterfly migrations along the beach, monkeys with their babies clinging tight as they went tree to tree, hawksbill and green sea turtle hatchlings, all sorts of interesting frogs, venomous and non-venomous snakes and even at a distance of a football field away, two Jaguars which are very illusive and cryptic animals! Anyone who saw a Jaguar during any survey was considered very lucky.

I, like every other intern and volunteer, had the opportunity to count eggs as they were being laid by the adult sea turtles at night. That was a pretty unique experience, and I was able to do such on four occasions. The only downside about that experience is, sometimes you get sand spray in your eyes and/or sand flies are snacking on you.

During my time with WWC, I also had the fun opportunity to do some fishing with a few others in the program after setting it up with our local boat transport amigo. I hooked a tarpon and got the chance to fight it for 25-30 minutes before it ultimately snapped the line after taking us into in the shallows. Our boat driver was navigating the waves so we did not have the crest of a wave crash into our relatively small fishing boat. It was epic when the tarpon jumped clear out of the water twice before ultimately finding a way to snap the line in the shallows. Bummer!!! I wanted a picture with that impressive fish in my hands! It would have been by far the biggest fish I have ever caught.

Prior to heading to our work placements, each of us would be required to leave the country since our tourist visas would soon expire. The destination country for the group was Nicaragua.

Immediately following Nicaragua, I would have been heading straight to The Guardian Reserve. However, WWC staff informed me too many staff members were leaving at the same time and therefore, they needed to bring me back as a temporary intern-staff member for two weeks in order to buffer the significant loss of staff members.

It turned out I was not done with WWC just yet. I was going to end up meeting the interns who were coming in on that September date which I had originally wanted to come in on. I would soon be curious to find out who I could have been working alongside if I had come in on that September internship.

7

Nicaragua

After a long thirteen-hour bus ride out of San Jose, Costa Rica well north through Nicaragua, my group of interns finally made it to our destination city. We met our contact who ended up being my Spanish teacher for the two week stay. Of course, as soon as we arrived we had to take our Spanish class placement test. You could say we were tired and just wanted the brief examination to be over.

The Spanish school definitely helped serve an important part of our internship even though the structure was not the best. What I mean by this is the teachers often moved on to a new tense or subject before the confidence in the previous tenses was built up and that stressed me out having to learn something new each day. I would have rather learned half the tenses we went through to better master them instead of constantly feeling confused trying to keep each of them straight. Learning another language can be really stressful under certain circumstances and the manner in which they taught was stressful for me.

Surprisingly, Spanish was not needed very much at the field station since most everyone spoke good English. I would say the Spanish school served to better help those going on work placements to other regions of the country.

Once each of us had completed our placement test, we made our way back downstairs to meet the two host families. After a brief meet and greet, they took us to their homes where we would stay in Nicaragua. The guys stayed with one family and the gals with the other a few blocks away. Spanish school started the following morning for the two weeks.

Interestingly, the school had prepared a list of local attractions to visit. I went on three such field trips: one to a museum, one to a cigar factory and the third to a small coffee plantation. I only went to the cigar factory since everyone else was going but it turned out to be a worthwhile experience. The humbling experience of seeing those who have rolled cigars forty hours a week for over twenty years made it into future job interviews.

On the way back through town, after the day-trip to the museum, we peaked into a noisy gymnasium and the local school kids inside yelled toward us to come join them in playing some volleyball. As a group, we were torn. But, after contemplating back and forth about it, we literally said, What the heck, let’s do it!

So, there we were having a blast playing a game of volleyball with locals in their gym. The locals won, but we kept the game pretty close for what it was worth. The three of us that played each had our moments of greatness so to speak which only added to the memory we took with us when we left.

During the weekend, us interns split into two different groups and visited separate tourist attractions. The majority went to the popular hotspot nearby which had a rather large waterfall and hieroglyphic carvings. I, on the other hand, went and visited Nicaragua’s cloud forest. A cloud forest is simply, for laymen’s terms, a high elevation rainforest.

Over the weekend, I went on several hikes in the surrounding area and was overwhelmed by the incredible diversity and density of butterflies. The numbers of butterflies I saw far exceeded what I experienced anywhere in Costa Rica. I also got to see a good number of incredible orchids in mid flower which added to the enjoyment of visiting during that particular time of the year.

The return from the Cloud forest was the biggest adventure of the entire weekend. Everyone going back into town that night piled into a school bus. The bus was almost entirely comprised of locals. In that old school bus, the seats