Catching bats in Costa Rica

The photo on the right is of my hand–and more interestingly, of a bona-fide vampire bat. I’m sure our resident health-blogger Erik’s head just exploded right about now.

Handling bats, let alone vampire bats, are a huge no-no since they are one of the animals most likely to carry rabies. By no means was I even close to being a badass here; before going to Costa Rica to catch bats, I put down $500 for a series of rabies vaccines and oh, wore two pairs of leather gloves to handle this particular bat.

Catching bats was an unbelievable experience–honestly, how many people in the world have had the chance to do that? It also really made me appreciate an animal that’s gotten a really bad rap. Anyways, below is a gallery of my two-week bat-catching trip to Costa Rica.

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