Just another Monday in Darwin: My dip in the Cage of Death

It took a little getting used to but once I got comfortable with the feeling of being suspended in a big, plastic cylinder I could start to mentally process the fact that I was mere inches away from a three meter long salt water crocodile. The only thing keeping the peace was about one inch (about 2.5 cm) of plastic, yes plastic, attached to some chains and pulleys. After the first two chickens, Houdini circled me once and initiated a staring contest. I know he was probably sizing me up for taste and tear-ability but all we could do was float there eyes locked in visceral thought. I gazed into this captive prehistoric killing machine's eyes for what felt like five minutes until the next chook on a stick came out. At that point, the sheer size of this reptilian powerhouse's body, tail, legs, head, and jaws were fully comprehended.

It was some of the most perplexing excitement I've ever experienced. While I logically appreciated salties from seeing them in the wild and various zoos, always from afar, now my perception of them will never be the same. I will equate them with the hundreds of pounds of eerily placid creature inches from my face, my hands, my heart looking at me like either a morning snack or just another random intruder but situation regardless, we shared that brief time and space.

He could have put up opposition to my presence or even just ignored me, but he did neither. I did not have the power of the feeding stick and he knew that. Still, he peered into that box with curious intent. I'll take that compliment. Call me crazy, many do, but I say any attention you receive from a massive living dinosaur, that doesn't end in fatalities or limbs lost, is a learning experience worth treasuring.

Here We Go Again

As my little silver blue space ship moseyed past Sunset, Mullholland, and a few miles of serenely vacant beach breaks, it knows what's in store for us. Back to the scene of the last time. A fresh batch of plastic minds just waiting to be amazed, well at least amused for the week, beautiful places, crazy wildlife, and even crazier people. Its not just about playing with some snakes and sharing an abstract emotional connection to this concept of nature with the privileged youth of California. The true teaching moments come from sharing the value of things past money, grades, possessions, black & white, right & wrong. None of us are exactly where we want to be, but the real steps to changing that are rooted in redefining what want means. The coyotes, creosote, cold nights, and kick-ass climbing cracks are all on my side in this venture.
Friday a smiling faced young man with a face full of prison tat letters asked me for a light upon arrival into LA. I regretfully couldn't help him out. He then asked me if I was homeless, in that wording 'homeless', probably because I had backpack. I can't lie, I had to say yes technically. He offered condolences to me for my situation. I assured him it was a choice and not a bad one, that at the end of most days I'm very contented. He looked at me quizzically then shared that he had just been released from county lockup and been to see his lady. They were going to get a place together and his cards were all falling into place. He was the ray of sunshine in that dreary day, jet lagged and weary from the fast life of the previous days.
There are happy people wanting to share everywhere. That's why I do this, why the shoestring budget can feel like the good life most days, why sleep deprived, flea bitten and mad hungry I can still smile ten times harder than I ever could back in high school. That's what this industry is about for me. Teaching ecology is about life and that cannot be sectioned into nice little chapters. Its now, then, what's around the corner. And we only know a fraction of those answers..so lets get to digging.