….I should've taken her advice.
I was too excited about everything. She told me to sleep because of the jet lag. And now I'm reaping the consequences. First day after landing in Lima, we had to immediately head on to one of the conservation centers, otherwise, Michizuka-ssenpai's celebrity status will hold us back (we
were already held back at our stop in Mexico…)
There we will rendezvous with our team, collect our bearings, and head on deeper into the forest.
Our team consists of Dr. Walter Higgs; the environmental scientist that discovered the
intact carcass of a new species of jungle cat.
I suppose I should've mentioned it first, our mission is to find more traces of their existence to confirm if
they are indeed a separate species, if they are, we then determine their conservation status (although it is likely to be vulnerable), and report our findings to the scientific community.
At any rate, Dr. Higgs is a kind man. He is also very fun to talk to. The whole time I was tired out of my mind, but talking with him makes the journey really bearable. Of course, the rest of the team helps too, but I particularly relate to Dr. Higgs the most.
He had no qualms about sharing his experiences on the field to me. In fact, he may have been oversharing a little bit, but I don't mind! I aspire to be just like him one day.
The next one is Mr. Joseph Cárdenas; the guide that was with Dr. Higgs the day he discovered the carcass.
He looks about my age, but the way he weaved through the terrain without any problem really inspires me. It almost as if he has been doing this his entire life and more.
Seems to keep to himself most of the time, but that is maybe because of the language barrier. He has a nice smile though. And always looked back at us to check if we were okay.
This is going to be a long expedition, so we brought in a seasoned survival expert in Mr. Vincent Jones.
He is a close friend of both Dr. Higgs and Michizuka-senpai. Has a lot of connection to people on the scientific field. Like Dr. Higgs, he had no qualms about sharing his experiences. I learned a lot about survivalism for him, and I expect to learn a lot more.
At first glance he looked to be intimidating, with his impressive stature, thick beard, and rough face. But
when he smiles, all of that melts away as he brightens the space around him. Definitely the life of the party. ~Is this what they call gap moe?~
We then have our medic, dr. Alyssa Sinclair. She is going to be here for the first few days or weeks depending on the situation, then would occasionally come back with a team of medic to checkup on us.
And also to give us, specifically me and
Michizuka-senpai, our vaccines because we were on a rush to come here. Though she confided in me that Mr. Jones contacted her because he'd know
Michizuka-senpai would just forget about the vaccine.
And last but not least, world famous and infamous biologist celebrity Dr. Erika Michizuka and her protégé, aspiring field biologist slash college student Akito Makishima, aka me.
For those not in the know, Dr. Michizuka is famous for her discoveries of many new species of wildlife, and her rediscovery of a once extant species of
plant. She is also infamous for her eccentricities, a prime example being dressing up as a cow to attract certain predators, of which, had the opposite effect of scaring off predators, and her controversial semi-autobiography "A Wild Life" in which she talks about her experiences in the field of biology and the abuse of floras and faunas by many different biologists.
The start of our journey was not too exciting. We were just talking amongst ourselves as we trekked
across the forest to find a campsite close to where Dr. Higgs found the carcass.
Guided by Mr. Cárdenas, it was smooth sailing, with only a few hiccups along the way, mostly because of me and Dr. Higgs (me seeing a plant/animal I've never seen up close and Dr. Higgs stopping to explain and share his experiences with every one of them).
Once we've reached our campsite, it was already late in the night. We quickly made our tents and arranged our sleeping partners; dr. Sinclair with Michizuka-san, Dr. Higgs with Mr. Jones, and finally Mr. Cárdenas with me. He is fast asleep as I write this. Though tired, I'm still excited about it all. I can't wait to experience all of what this expedition has to offer. Good night.
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