well
it´s wednesday evening, at 11:00pm which is the latest that i have stayed up in two months now (not counting days when i had no choice but to be awake due to the violent expulsion of all fluids from my body)
we got to granada yesterday, and as anticipated, i miss the island like crazy. i miss the monkeys and the dirt roads and the bumpy pick-up truck rides and the kids and my friend jess and the simplicity of it all.
today was a great day - having been here already i knew what was going on and settled into a groove a lot sooner than last time.
we explored the CRAZY markets. people and grains and meat and vegetables and fruit and shoes everywhere! and buttons! so many buttons! and i realized that last time i was here, when jess and i went our or crazy ¨baul con serradura¨ adventure, we only hit the tip of the iceberg. those markets go back way way farther than i´d thought. and dayum does it smell baaaad.
then i went a spent a small fortune on macrame stuff from the super hot rasta guys in the park.
then i went to find my good friend Enoch, who sortof remembered me maybe, to see if he would take us all up into the bell tower of the cathedral. and he did! at noon for when he was ringing the bells! so cool!
anyways
apprently free internet time is over and i need to go now
i can´t believe this trip is almost over.
tomorrow we go to managua and i have one night there and then i fly home.
i would get all introspective now, but this time limit has throw me off. suffice to say, this has been a pretty crazy awesome experience. i had hoped it would be a positive one, but i never imagined that it would be the monumentally-life-changingly awesome.
i freakin love primatology.
this is where i am meant to be.
all i gotsa do now is learn how to salsa.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
one hundred hours and seventeen minutes
ok. this will be a real one, hopefully.
as in, a real post.
this morning something amazing happened. i went into the forest, and it was raining like crazy. and very muggy and buggy. to an extent that it hasn't been in about a month. and i was very muddy and tired but also very determined to reach my personal goals that i have set for myself. that makes me feel like an adult. personal goals that i have set for myself.
anyways
i did it
i got my 100 hours of data.
holy moly.
i don't even know what to do with myself now.
i didn't think i'd make it. between the endless hours of kidney stone passage and parasite/food poisonning simultaneous projectile diarhea-vomitting incidents (too much info?), as well as the neverending nausea, i really thought i'd never make it. but alas, i did. and this is me bragging. or gloating. i am not sure what "gloating" actually means but i think that's what i'm doing.
anyways
it was actually quite sad leaving the forest today. knowing that i might never go back there. i've spent a lot of time in that forest and learned a lot of things and gotten to know those paths and those trees and those monkeys better than i know uvic campus. and it was just sad to say goodbye to it all. but i've got my pictures. and now i've also got three days to chill in a hammock and read my new book. and drink fanta. and just generally be extremely lazy. i am also gonna go on a photo taking mission with my fancy camera and take good pictures of the compound, the road, and merida (the town)... i have some pics already, but not nearly enough. most of my pics are just of monkeys. dayum are they ever cute. i would try to post pics on here, but there is just not a fast enough connection anywhere on this island. there are pics up on facebook though, that my friends from last session have posted, so y'all should check those out. just look for anything with "ometepe" in the title. people have gotten creative. i especially like "ometepe: where clothes come to die" and "ometepe: i want to bulldoze nature". just for their titles, i'm not actually sure which pics are in which albums.
anyways
tonight we are gonna go have a party at fernando's bar. we were gonna go yesterday but getting there involves a 30 minute ride in the back of fernando's pick up, and last night there was a very intense thunder and lightenning and horizontal-rip-your-face-off rain storm, so we decided to postpone. there was a bit of sun this afternoon though so tonight should be good. not sure exactly where fernando's bar is, but he's a cool guy, so it should be nice. and by nice i mean there will probably be a roof.
fernando was our chauffeur a couple of weeks ago when we had our "day off" and basically crammed as many ometepe tourist attractions as possible into one day. definetly the best part though was just having all 8 of us crammed into the back of a pickup, driving along the islands infamous unpaved roads. especially when the cows got in the way. there are cows all over the place here. and horses and pigs and chickens and dogs. and they all have a tendency to fall asleep in the middle of the road. which is generally not a problem cause there are only like twelve cars on this side of the island, everybody bikes. but it's pretty funny when you're in one of those cars and you come up to a cow and all the honking in the world will not move it.
ALSO - big news. ok so. i mentioned the biking. everybody here rides bikes. everybody. and at the compound we don't have enough bikes for all of the students so only the teachers and the TAs get bikes. so last session i never road one. but THIS session, i have been riding back and forth to the forest every day. which is sweet cause it saves time and makes me feel like a local. BUT. the coolest part is that, people here rarely ride only one person on a bike. usually it is whole families. the dad will be riding, the mom will sit on the cross bar holding a kid, and then another kid will balance over the back wheel. sometimes only two or three people. but rarely just one. so the other day, D and i thought we'd try it. cause only i had a bike and we were headin back from the forest at the same time. so she sat on the crossbar and i rode and it took us ages to get going. the locals laughed and pointed A LOT. probably cause we were making lots of noise and laughing ourselves and going very slowly and falling a lot. but eventually we got it! and it was awesome! and then the next morning, i rode Keen out to the trails too. which especially got a lot of stares, i think, because we were breaking tradiontal gender stereotypes. i've never seen a girl riding and a guy sitting, only the other way around. but Keen is a boy. so it was pretty funny. anyways.
i just had to share that.
without a visual, i'm sure it's really not that funny. so we'll have to do a re-inactment and take pictures so that you can appreciate the full extent of the hilarity. the locals make it look so easy. it really is not.
alright
that's it for now i think
on the 12th we leave for granada and we're gonna stay at the place with the free internet. so i'll do one final post once i'm there, i think.
peace out Gs
as in, a real post.
this morning something amazing happened. i went into the forest, and it was raining like crazy. and very muggy and buggy. to an extent that it hasn't been in about a month. and i was very muddy and tired but also very determined to reach my personal goals that i have set for myself. that makes me feel like an adult. personal goals that i have set for myself.
anyways
i did it
i got my 100 hours of data.
holy moly.
i don't even know what to do with myself now.
i didn't think i'd make it. between the endless hours of kidney stone passage and parasite/food poisonning simultaneous projectile diarhea-vomitting incidents (too much info?), as well as the neverending nausea, i really thought i'd never make it. but alas, i did. and this is me bragging. or gloating. i am not sure what "gloating" actually means but i think that's what i'm doing.
anyways
it was actually quite sad leaving the forest today. knowing that i might never go back there. i've spent a lot of time in that forest and learned a lot of things and gotten to know those paths and those trees and those monkeys better than i know uvic campus. and it was just sad to say goodbye to it all. but i've got my pictures. and now i've also got three days to chill in a hammock and read my new book. and drink fanta. and just generally be extremely lazy. i am also gonna go on a photo taking mission with my fancy camera and take good pictures of the compound, the road, and merida (the town)... i have some pics already, but not nearly enough. most of my pics are just of monkeys. dayum are they ever cute. i would try to post pics on here, but there is just not a fast enough connection anywhere on this island. there are pics up on facebook though, that my friends from last session have posted, so y'all should check those out. just look for anything with "ometepe" in the title. people have gotten creative. i especially like "ometepe: where clothes come to die" and "ometepe: i want to bulldoze nature". just for their titles, i'm not actually sure which pics are in which albums.
anyways
tonight we are gonna go have a party at fernando's bar. we were gonna go yesterday but getting there involves a 30 minute ride in the back of fernando's pick up, and last night there was a very intense thunder and lightenning and horizontal-rip-your-face-off rain storm, so we decided to postpone. there was a bit of sun this afternoon though so tonight should be good. not sure exactly where fernando's bar is, but he's a cool guy, so it should be nice. and by nice i mean there will probably be a roof.
fernando was our chauffeur a couple of weeks ago when we had our "day off" and basically crammed as many ometepe tourist attractions as possible into one day. definetly the best part though was just having all 8 of us crammed into the back of a pickup, driving along the islands infamous unpaved roads. especially when the cows got in the way. there are cows all over the place here. and horses and pigs and chickens and dogs. and they all have a tendency to fall asleep in the middle of the road. which is generally not a problem cause there are only like twelve cars on this side of the island, everybody bikes. but it's pretty funny when you're in one of those cars and you come up to a cow and all the honking in the world will not move it.
ALSO - big news. ok so. i mentioned the biking. everybody here rides bikes. everybody. and at the compound we don't have enough bikes for all of the students so only the teachers and the TAs get bikes. so last session i never road one. but THIS session, i have been riding back and forth to the forest every day. which is sweet cause it saves time and makes me feel like a local. BUT. the coolest part is that, people here rarely ride only one person on a bike. usually it is whole families. the dad will be riding, the mom will sit on the cross bar holding a kid, and then another kid will balance over the back wheel. sometimes only two or three people. but rarely just one. so the other day, D and i thought we'd try it. cause only i had a bike and we were headin back from the forest at the same time. so she sat on the crossbar and i rode and it took us ages to get going. the locals laughed and pointed A LOT. probably cause we were making lots of noise and laughing ourselves and going very slowly and falling a lot. but eventually we got it! and it was awesome! and then the next morning, i rode Keen out to the trails too. which especially got a lot of stares, i think, because we were breaking tradiontal gender stereotypes. i've never seen a girl riding and a guy sitting, only the other way around. but Keen is a boy. so it was pretty funny. anyways.
i just had to share that.
without a visual, i'm sure it's really not that funny. so we'll have to do a re-inactment and take pictures so that you can appreciate the full extent of the hilarity. the locals make it look so easy. it really is not.
alright
that's it for now i think
on the 12th we leave for granada and we're gonna stay at the place with the free internet. so i'll do one final post once i'm there, i think.
peace out Gs
Friday, August 1, 2008
bug bites and chick peas
ok this is a quick one
things are going well
i am not sick anymore
i am mostly eating full meals again
i wake up every night in the middle of the night scratching the crap outta my legs. it's gross and annoying.
i've got 32 more hours to go and then i'll have 100 hours of data.
this is awesome.
the new group is TOTALLY different.
i am still loving the island, etc.
but i am stoked to go home, and to the cottage, and to see my family.
at night, i dream about chick peas. and hummus. and tofu. and various other meatless proteins.
also, last night i had a very stressful dream involving international flights and a rowing crew meeting.
it is not raining here much anymore.
it's weird.
i heart monkeys.
i go now
adios
things are going well
i am not sick anymore
i am mostly eating full meals again
i wake up every night in the middle of the night scratching the crap outta my legs. it's gross and annoying.
i've got 32 more hours to go and then i'll have 100 hours of data.
this is awesome.
the new group is TOTALLY different.
i am still loving the island, etc.
but i am stoked to go home, and to the cottage, and to see my family.
at night, i dream about chick peas. and hummus. and tofu. and various other meatless proteins.
also, last night i had a very stressful dream involving international flights and a rowing crew meeting.
it is not raining here much anymore.
it's weird.
i heart monkeys.
i go now
adios
Friday, July 25, 2008
the second beginning
well
i am back on the island now
but with different people it is almost a different place
i so unbelievably miss my friends from the last session - we had a pretty grooving dynamic going on, the 12 of us. plus, with 22 students, three TAs, the prof and a bunch of other researchers and randoms, the place was packed last month. now, it is me, the prof, seven students and Leo. it's soooo weird. meals are so quiet and organized. class is totally different. just in general, it's very strange.
but still fun. and the monos are still here.
i've been a lil sick lately.... 'a lil' being a huge understatement. kidney stones and something else that made me super dizzy and nautious and unable to keep food in my belly. but after a few sleepless nights of projectile vomitting, and days spent lazing in hammocks, i am back on track. and ready to TA my ass off.
it is a wee bit strange that half of my students are older than me... but they are really nice and so far things are going pretty well. it's also a little strange with only seven of them.... there is nobody that really stands out and breaks the ice in that annoying-but-necessary way.... we had a couple of them. it was magical. but this group is different.... we'll just have to wait and see....
i am feeling a wee bit useless, but i did answer some questions today, so that was good.
the bugs are out in FULL FORCE. i kept waking up last night in mad fits of scratching in my sleep.... so today i even wore pants in the field. it was strange.
not much else to say.... i am keeping up with my project, cause apparently it's good.... but i haven't gotten that many hours because of the kidney/nausea situation.
it's nice to back on the island.
also i can't freakin WAIT to see my family. i miss those people. and rosie the dog..... *sigh* oh rosie.
that's all i have to say now
i am feeling boring
i go
i am back on the island now
but with different people it is almost a different place
i so unbelievably miss my friends from the last session - we had a pretty grooving dynamic going on, the 12 of us. plus, with 22 students, three TAs, the prof and a bunch of other researchers and randoms, the place was packed last month. now, it is me, the prof, seven students and Leo. it's soooo weird. meals are so quiet and organized. class is totally different. just in general, it's very strange.
but still fun. and the monos are still here.
i've been a lil sick lately.... 'a lil' being a huge understatement. kidney stones and something else that made me super dizzy and nautious and unable to keep food in my belly. but after a few sleepless nights of projectile vomitting, and days spent lazing in hammocks, i am back on track. and ready to TA my ass off.
it is a wee bit strange that half of my students are older than me... but they are really nice and so far things are going pretty well. it's also a little strange with only seven of them.... there is nobody that really stands out and breaks the ice in that annoying-but-necessary way.... we had a couple of them. it was magical. but this group is different.... we'll just have to wait and see....
i am feeling a wee bit useless, but i did answer some questions today, so that was good.
the bugs are out in FULL FORCE. i kept waking up last night in mad fits of scratching in my sleep.... so today i even wore pants in the field. it was strange.
not much else to say.... i am keeping up with my project, cause apparently it's good.... but i haven't gotten that many hours because of the kidney/nausea situation.
it's nice to back on the island.
also i can't freakin WAIT to see my family. i miss those people. and rosie the dog..... *sigh* oh rosie.
that's all i have to say now
i am feeling boring
i go
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
the first ending
well
we are in Granada now, on¨the touristy bit of the course, where we get to shop and wander around looking lost. granada seems cool, but to be honest it´s major culture shock to go from quiet, unpaved, peaceful ometepe island to a big bustling city. and i really miss my monos. tomorrow morning all of my friends from this course will be heading back down to san jose to all fly home. i will stay here for an extra day then go to managua to meet the students flying in for the next class.
and GUESS WHAT. there is a landermat here. we were all setting off on a mission with our bags of dirty laundry this morning, when the lady at the hostel front desk was like ¨leave it here and they will pick it up and then you pay when they bring it back later¨... WHAT? SERIOUSLY? AWESOME!!!! i´m pretty sure that it´s too good to be true though, probably it will come back with half my clothes missing. but still. laundry. real laundry. when our prof told us there was laundry here, i teared up a little. which sounds rediculous, but you gotta understand my state of mind at the time. it was just dawning on me that i´d be here for a whole nother month. which is fine. but i would really like three days at home in between. to see my family, have a bath, use my computer, not be sweaty, and REALLY WASH MY CLOTHES. so the fact that i can do at least do one of those things really got me emotional. who woulda thought that old Hygiene? would get so excited about laundry?
i can´t believe that the course is over! it was awesome!!!! stressful and obscenely drama-filled at times, but so awesome. i have made some really great friends here, and ometepe won´t be the same without them.
i should probly pick up where i left off though.
the volcano.
¨four hour hike up¨is the most rediculous false advertising in the world.
i believe that ¨12 hour death climb¨is more appropriate.
K and Laoora and i had a really great day though, despite the sheer pain and terror of it. Laoora and i were rediculously slow and made K (who was having no trouble keeping up with the guide and therefore insisted on singing inspirational songs to us the whole way up) carried our backpacks. He´s basically a superhero, we decided. the fact that he was friendly and patient the whole time despite our inability to not be rediculously slow only added to the superhero persona. we got up into the cloud forests though, and HOLY CRAP! K and i just looked at each other: DEGOBA! YODA! WHERE? it is amazing! you can´t see far because it´s totally cloudy and the trees grow as horizontal as they do up. and it´s awesome.
then on the way back down, our guide got really far ahead of us and when we caught up to him, he was just chillin on the side of the path holding two armadillos. seriously. it was so random. pretty cool though. i´ve never seen an armadillo before.
the last few days on the island were pretty stressful. lots of counting hours and hours and thousands and thousands of lines of data over and over and over again. and compiling it into chi-squared tests and graphs. finally at 11:30pm the night before my presentation, while hashing through the background theory of my topìc with my prof, both of us laughing to tears at the sheer rediculousness of it all (and the copious amounts of chewy coffee in our systems), wondering what the hell all my data meant, the penny dropped. and it just made sense. we looked at each other with that ¨the light bulb just turned on¨ look. it was pretty awesome.
so i finished off my powerpoint presentation, slept for an hour, rehearsed to Jess a couple of times, and then presented the next morning. and it went sooo well. i was really surprised actually. i was hoping for an inchoerent gongshow at best, but it actually went alright.
so it looks like i will, hopefully, be keeping up with my own study for the next month. if i could log another 60 hours that would be AWESOME but who knows what my TA responsabilities might include.... so far it involves picking people up at the airport and getting them to the hotel.... which, judging by my own arrival in san jose, will require me to be fluent in spanish. which i am not. so this should be interesting.
aaaaaanyways
there are things i should go and do. like sleep in that hammock. and read my book. and look up the lord of the rings map. K and i were trying to draw it for memory at breakfast but it didn´t go well, so we all played lotr hangman instead. aspiring primatologist are my kind of people. we have that shameless geeky cool thing down pat. evolution puns. star wars references. intimate knowledge of the lotr script. and of course, monkey impressions.
ok. i go now.
i´ll post again when i´m back on the island next week.ç
oh how i miss the island.
we are in Granada now, on¨the touristy bit of the course, where we get to shop and wander around looking lost. granada seems cool, but to be honest it´s major culture shock to go from quiet, unpaved, peaceful ometepe island to a big bustling city. and i really miss my monos. tomorrow morning all of my friends from this course will be heading back down to san jose to all fly home. i will stay here for an extra day then go to managua to meet the students flying in for the next class.
and GUESS WHAT. there is a landermat here. we were all setting off on a mission with our bags of dirty laundry this morning, when the lady at the hostel front desk was like ¨leave it here and they will pick it up and then you pay when they bring it back later¨... WHAT? SERIOUSLY? AWESOME!!!! i´m pretty sure that it´s too good to be true though, probably it will come back with half my clothes missing. but still. laundry. real laundry. when our prof told us there was laundry here, i teared up a little. which sounds rediculous, but you gotta understand my state of mind at the time. it was just dawning on me that i´d be here for a whole nother month. which is fine. but i would really like three days at home in between. to see my family, have a bath, use my computer, not be sweaty, and REALLY WASH MY CLOTHES. so the fact that i can do at least do one of those things really got me emotional. who woulda thought that old Hygiene? would get so excited about laundry?
i can´t believe that the course is over! it was awesome!!!! stressful and obscenely drama-filled at times, but so awesome. i have made some really great friends here, and ometepe won´t be the same without them.
i should probly pick up where i left off though.
the volcano.
¨four hour hike up¨is the most rediculous false advertising in the world.
i believe that ¨12 hour death climb¨is more appropriate.
K and Laoora and i had a really great day though, despite the sheer pain and terror of it. Laoora and i were rediculously slow and made K (who was having no trouble keeping up with the guide and therefore insisted on singing inspirational songs to us the whole way up) carried our backpacks. He´s basically a superhero, we decided. the fact that he was friendly and patient the whole time despite our inability to not be rediculously slow only added to the superhero persona. we got up into the cloud forests though, and HOLY CRAP! K and i just looked at each other: DEGOBA! YODA! WHERE? it is amazing! you can´t see far because it´s totally cloudy and the trees grow as horizontal as they do up. and it´s awesome.
then on the way back down, our guide got really far ahead of us and when we caught up to him, he was just chillin on the side of the path holding two armadillos. seriously. it was so random. pretty cool though. i´ve never seen an armadillo before.
the last few days on the island were pretty stressful. lots of counting hours and hours and thousands and thousands of lines of data over and over and over again. and compiling it into chi-squared tests and graphs. finally at 11:30pm the night before my presentation, while hashing through the background theory of my topìc with my prof, both of us laughing to tears at the sheer rediculousness of it all (and the copious amounts of chewy coffee in our systems), wondering what the hell all my data meant, the penny dropped. and it just made sense. we looked at each other with that ¨the light bulb just turned on¨ look. it was pretty awesome.
so i finished off my powerpoint presentation, slept for an hour, rehearsed to Jess a couple of times, and then presented the next morning. and it went sooo well. i was really surprised actually. i was hoping for an inchoerent gongshow at best, but it actually went alright.
so it looks like i will, hopefully, be keeping up with my own study for the next month. if i could log another 60 hours that would be AWESOME but who knows what my TA responsabilities might include.... so far it involves picking people up at the airport and getting them to the hotel.... which, judging by my own arrival in san jose, will require me to be fluent in spanish. which i am not. so this should be interesting.
aaaaaanyways
there are things i should go and do. like sleep in that hammock. and read my book. and look up the lord of the rings map. K and i were trying to draw it for memory at breakfast but it didn´t go well, so we all played lotr hangman instead. aspiring primatologist are my kind of people. we have that shameless geeky cool thing down pat. evolution puns. star wars references. intimate knowledge of the lotr script. and of course, monkey impressions.
ok. i go now.
i´ll post again when i´m back on the island next week.ç
oh how i miss the island.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
stats, trivers, and the room with no door
so it's just after 6 am here, and "how did i get to the internet so early?" you ask? WELL, me and Laoora and K actually stayed here at the Hacienda Merida (the hostel with the internet) last night because TODAY WE ARE HIKING UP VOLCANO MADERAS!!! WOOT WOOT!!! we leave in about an hour so that is why we had to stay here last night, to meet our guide and be ready on time today. we got here kinda late and tried to explain that our prof had made reservations for us. Laoora's spanish is pretty good so we managed. there was a heated discussion between the hacienda staff for a while, all that we could make out was "pero no ai puerta"..... which didn't make sense at the time.... then they took us to our room. half of an old barn, with four bunk beds in it, three of them made up nicely waiting for us. and as the kid who took us there was leaving, he casually mentioned "lo siento, pero no ai puerta"... "sorry, but there is no door".
what a night.
it was pretty great actually.
nice to be in a hostel again, it's been too long.
but lots of bugs and dreams about huge taurantuals coming in through the open garage-door-sized doorway and crawling over me during the night. no big deal though. basically hilarious.
then we met our "bilingual" guide and quickly realized that "bilingual" here means "can speak spanish slowly".... greeeeeeeeeat. (actually, it should be noted that this is the first spanish-speaking local (aside from Leonel) who i've met that actually DOES speak spanish slowly when speaking to english people.... usually they just continue to talk at hiper spead and then wave me off with something along the live of "es de estados unidos, si?" at which point i proudly annouce "NO! SOY DE CANADA!" and they laugh and ask me if it's an independent country.... oh boy) our guide informed us about the many impending perils of our trip up the volcano and then asked if we would like pollo or queso for lunch tomorrow. queso please. definetly queso. no me gusta carne. soy vegetariana.
so right now i am mentally gearing up for a grueling four hour hike up the side of the mountain that is right behind the compound where we live. i am hoping to find a magical place with capuchins and cloud forest but probably i'll be hallucinating and in need of oxygen most of the time, so even if we pass that, i won't notice. it's fine though, it should be good. i'm stoked.
right now i am done taking my data for my project and i'm into the number crunching stage. Chi-Squared Tests, Mann-Whitney U Tests, non parametric, parametric, anova AAAAAAAAAAAAA.... mostly the worst part is going through 41 hours of number and letter codes and counting all the instances of everything under this condition and that condition and blah blah blah.
also, the originality and applicability of my entire project depends on me getting my hands on Triver's 1972 article "Parental Investment and Sexual Selection".... which I cannot find anywhere. cept for in one place but it's in a protected format so i can only access the first page and no more. seriously? seriously. baaaaaaaaad. so now i should go and get on that.
things are good here, but i can't believe that it's almost over!
three days until my presentation! five days until we leave for Granada! then three days there and I come back here to TA the next session of the class.(which i am totally unqualified to do, and therefore nervous about.) then i have a whole 'nother month of rice and beans and monos. i'm pretty stoked. I might scrap my study, cause it's a dead end, and instead continue on with my friend J's study. Her's is super neat but she needs about 50hours on a control group to make it publishable, so if i could get that data, we'd be set. it will, however, involve sweet talking some locals to let me onto their property everyday, since the best control group situation is not on property owned by the field station... so we'll see bout that.
ooooo also - i saw a coral snake two days ago! a coral snake! yes! so colourful. so poisonous. so deadly 100% of the time. but according to our prof, if you got bitten, you'd have ten minutes to call your momma before the delirium sets in and you die. let's hope that it doesn't come to that. i wear pants in the forest now. coral snakes are rear fang biters (or something like that) so apparently being bitten through pants means you might not die. here's to hoping!
anyways
i MUST go now
track down that Trivers article. must must must.
wish me luck up the volcano.
i have no idea what to expect... should be good though. for sure.
adios amigos
what a night.
it was pretty great actually.
nice to be in a hostel again, it's been too long.
but lots of bugs and dreams about huge taurantuals coming in through the open garage-door-sized doorway and crawling over me during the night. no big deal though. basically hilarious.
then we met our "bilingual" guide and quickly realized that "bilingual" here means "can speak spanish slowly".... greeeeeeeeeat. (actually, it should be noted that this is the first spanish-speaking local (aside from Leonel) who i've met that actually DOES speak spanish slowly when speaking to english people.... usually they just continue to talk at hiper spead and then wave me off with something along the live of "es de estados unidos, si?" at which point i proudly annouce "NO! SOY DE CANADA!" and they laugh and ask me if it's an independent country.... oh boy) our guide informed us about the many impending perils of our trip up the volcano and then asked if we would like pollo or queso for lunch tomorrow. queso please. definetly queso. no me gusta carne. soy vegetariana.
so right now i am mentally gearing up for a grueling four hour hike up the side of the mountain that is right behind the compound where we live. i am hoping to find a magical place with capuchins and cloud forest but probably i'll be hallucinating and in need of oxygen most of the time, so even if we pass that, i won't notice. it's fine though, it should be good. i'm stoked.
right now i am done taking my data for my project and i'm into the number crunching stage. Chi-Squared Tests, Mann-Whitney U Tests, non parametric, parametric, anova AAAAAAAAAAAAA.... mostly the worst part is going through 41 hours of number and letter codes and counting all the instances of everything under this condition and that condition and blah blah blah.
also, the originality and applicability of my entire project depends on me getting my hands on Triver's 1972 article "Parental Investment and Sexual Selection".... which I cannot find anywhere. cept for in one place but it's in a protected format so i can only access the first page and no more. seriously? seriously. baaaaaaaaad. so now i should go and get on that.
things are good here, but i can't believe that it's almost over!
three days until my presentation! five days until we leave for Granada! then three days there and I come back here to TA the next session of the class.(which i am totally unqualified to do, and therefore nervous about.) then i have a whole 'nother month of rice and beans and monos. i'm pretty stoked. I might scrap my study, cause it's a dead end, and instead continue on with my friend J's study. Her's is super neat but she needs about 50hours on a control group to make it publishable, so if i could get that data, we'd be set. it will, however, involve sweet talking some locals to let me onto their property everyday, since the best control group situation is not on property owned by the field station... so we'll see bout that.
ooooo also - i saw a coral snake two days ago! a coral snake! yes! so colourful. so poisonous. so deadly 100% of the time. but according to our prof, if you got bitten, you'd have ten minutes to call your momma before the delirium sets in and you die. let's hope that it doesn't come to that. i wear pants in the forest now. coral snakes are rear fang biters (or something like that) so apparently being bitten through pants means you might not die. here's to hoping!
anyways
i MUST go now
track down that Trivers article. must must must.
wish me luck up the volcano.
i have no idea what to expect... should be good though. for sure.
adios amigos
Friday, July 4, 2008
my monos
when i was about 11 and announced to my older, much wiser, brother that i wanted to live in indonesia and study orangutans, he proceeded to inform me that there are places in the world (probably including indonesia) where the cockroaches are so big that they are often seen in the streets wrestling with equally huge rats, competing to see who gets to eat the human child that they just stole.
it's twelve years later, and i'm pretty sure that he's wrong...
.... but i'm still half expecting to come across a two foot long cockroach with a stolen baby.
i'm a little nervous.
the closest of seen was one that was about three inches long. i was way to freaked to even kill it. i made very high pitched noises and gathered all my friends to see. i did the same thing when our TA found a tarantula. yes. a tarantula. a gargantuan fuzzy black spider. not cool.
ANYWAYS.
enough about bugs.
you will all be pleased to hear that we celebrated Canada Day in style here, despite having no facepaints, no flags, and only one canadian. don't worry though, i REPRESENTED. we had a canada day fiesta with fresh fruit (the first non-rice and beens we'd had in weeks) and rum and starwars. also, many amazing things happened that day, to many different people, and my prof declared them "Canada Day Miracles".
one of the miracles? I FOUND A MONKEY SKELETON! i realize that sounds a little sociopathic, but it's the circle of life, and frankly it was way cool. i found the skull with most of the teeth and the ENTIRE SPINE and both hip bones and a lot of finger bones and then most of the right arm and leg. seriously, it was way cool.
then it was my birthday, and Leonel and the kitchen staff surprised me with a cake which was pretty awesome. then we finished off the rum and watched more starwars. ALSO i got four hours of focal data that day. GREAT DAY. also, thanks to everybody for the bithday wishes! facebook and email and blog comments, that was very nice of y'all. (Laoora is from texas, and so i am totally adopting "y'all" into my lexicon. it is awesome. embrace it)
my monos (and by that i mean, the monkeys. i have assumed possession of the ones that i follow around every day, and also i assume that they speak spanish and so i try to respect that by calling them by their spanish name) are being awesome these days. i got six hours of data yesterday. and me and Laoora 'found' a neonate - a little baby monkey that is still blond and is so small and just clings to it's momma tummy all day. it must be only about two or three days old. i got another hour of data on it today too. it is basically ADORABLE, but we don't see it much cause it's mother is very protective and it's not very active yet.
did i mention in my last post how cute the monkeys are? wow. they are rediculously adorable. it blows my mind. especially the little babies that are still unsteady and stumble around in the trees and ride their mommas backs with their tails wrapped around her tail. the novelty of baby monkeys will NEVER wear off.
anyways
i am actually super pressed for time. only got two hours of data today then my monos dissapeared, so Laoora and K and i decided to come here for lunch that isn't rice and beans. though i do love the rice and beans. of course.
looks like i might actually be stickin around these parts of the world for longer than i thought... but it's not finalized yet, so more on that later. it will cut into my kingston time in august a lot, but it will allow me to extend my study and get way more data, so we'll see. i'll keep y'all posted.
i know there was a ton of other stuff i wanted to tell you.... crazy things happen every day. some things just crazy, others crazy funny. mostly i spend my days in the forest with my monos. sometimes i run into Laoora or K, but mostly it is just me and the monos. i only wear shorts cause it's too hot for pants and i don't wear enough deet cause it feels awful so my legs are rediculously nasty. i am told that it looks as if i have "ebola of the ankle".... i'll have to take pictures.... it's pretty gross... and it hurts. it's spider bites, musquito bikes, mite bites, jigger bites, and then just cuts and scrapes. i lather on the anti-itch cream every night, and it's basically the best part of my day.
anyways
yes.
that is all i have to say.
i am LOVING it here. all of it.
i am the most physically uncomfordable that i have ever been in my entire life, but i feel like i am right where i am supposed to be. just me and monos and the musquitos. testing the integrity of Rite-in-the-Rain notebooks, day after day.
it's twelve years later, and i'm pretty sure that he's wrong...
.... but i'm still half expecting to come across a two foot long cockroach with a stolen baby.
i'm a little nervous.
the closest of seen was one that was about three inches long. i was way to freaked to even kill it. i made very high pitched noises and gathered all my friends to see. i did the same thing when our TA found a tarantula. yes. a tarantula. a gargantuan fuzzy black spider. not cool.
ANYWAYS.
enough about bugs.
you will all be pleased to hear that we celebrated Canada Day in style here, despite having no facepaints, no flags, and only one canadian. don't worry though, i REPRESENTED. we had a canada day fiesta with fresh fruit (the first non-rice and beens we'd had in weeks) and rum and starwars. also, many amazing things happened that day, to many different people, and my prof declared them "Canada Day Miracles".
one of the miracles? I FOUND A MONKEY SKELETON! i realize that sounds a little sociopathic, but it's the circle of life, and frankly it was way cool. i found the skull with most of the teeth and the ENTIRE SPINE and both hip bones and a lot of finger bones and then most of the right arm and leg. seriously, it was way cool.
then it was my birthday, and Leonel and the kitchen staff surprised me with a cake which was pretty awesome. then we finished off the rum and watched more starwars. ALSO i got four hours of focal data that day. GREAT DAY. also, thanks to everybody for the bithday wishes! facebook and email and blog comments, that was very nice of y'all. (Laoora is from texas, and so i am totally adopting "y'all" into my lexicon. it is awesome. embrace it)
my monos (and by that i mean, the monkeys. i have assumed possession of the ones that i follow around every day, and also i assume that they speak spanish and so i try to respect that by calling them by their spanish name) are being awesome these days. i got six hours of data yesterday. and me and Laoora 'found' a neonate - a little baby monkey that is still blond and is so small and just clings to it's momma tummy all day. it must be only about two or three days old. i got another hour of data on it today too. it is basically ADORABLE, but we don't see it much cause it's mother is very protective and it's not very active yet.
did i mention in my last post how cute the monkeys are? wow. they are rediculously adorable. it blows my mind. especially the little babies that are still unsteady and stumble around in the trees and ride their mommas backs with their tails wrapped around her tail. the novelty of baby monkeys will NEVER wear off.
anyways
i am actually super pressed for time. only got two hours of data today then my monos dissapeared, so Laoora and K and i decided to come here for lunch that isn't rice and beans. though i do love the rice and beans. of course.
looks like i might actually be stickin around these parts of the world for longer than i thought... but it's not finalized yet, so more on that later. it will cut into my kingston time in august a lot, but it will allow me to extend my study and get way more data, so we'll see. i'll keep y'all posted.
i know there was a ton of other stuff i wanted to tell you.... crazy things happen every day. some things just crazy, others crazy funny. mostly i spend my days in the forest with my monos. sometimes i run into Laoora or K, but mostly it is just me and the monos. i only wear shorts cause it's too hot for pants and i don't wear enough deet cause it feels awful so my legs are rediculously nasty. i am told that it looks as if i have "ebola of the ankle".... i'll have to take pictures.... it's pretty gross... and it hurts. it's spider bites, musquito bikes, mite bites, jigger bites, and then just cuts and scrapes. i lather on the anti-itch cream every night, and it's basically the best part of my day.
anyways
yes.
that is all i have to say.
i am LOVING it here. all of it.
i am the most physically uncomfordable that i have ever been in my entire life, but i feel like i am right where i am supposed to be. just me and monos and the musquitos. testing the integrity of Rite-in-the-Rain notebooks, day after day.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
the first week
hola amigos!
como estan?
estoy aqui, sura la isla de ometepe!
WELL
where do i begin!?
it is NUTS here. awesome and hilarious and difficult and uncomfrodable and wonderful and trying. i cannot explain the heat. and the constant discomfort. and how effing hard it is to find the freaking monkeys. (i'm a little bitter)
yesterday was basically the worst day ever. i went out early, at 4am and quicly got separated from my buddies. i found my two monkey groups but they were not all together and i couldn't find my focal animals. i finally found the mommy with the little wee infant and i got 58 mins of focal data before i lost her in the canopy. then i thought i'd found thema gain, and i stood there for 96 more mins, got swiped across the neck by a poisonous vine so basically was in an extreme amount of pain, got attacked by ants three times, i got peed on by a monkey, and basically i sweat off a layer of skin AND THEN SHE FREAKING ROLLED OVER, AND NO BABY. WRONG INDIVIDUAL. 96 mins of data on the WRONG individual. needless to say, i packed up and headed back for a shower after that. 6.5 hours in the field and only 58 mins of data. BAD DAY.
most days aren't that bad though. the food is delicious and i havn'et gotten sick yet. usually there is running water. my prof is totally awesome and can recide ANY part of ANY starwars movie off the top of his head, FLAWLESSLY. yesterday was his birthday and so Leo (our nico guide) got him a cake (it was the weirdest cake i've ever eaten) and we ate it and drank rum and nico beer and watched the phantom menace. i have yet to actually stay awake for an entire movie... the heat and the hiking are kicking my ass so i sleep a lot.
today i am here in merida (the internet place) for the morning, and i need to do a lit review of my topic, then i am heading off into the field to HOPEFULLY get some good data (and fewer ant attacks). for my project i'm going to investigate adult male interactions with infants and juveniles. problem is, they are not interacting. and that is a pretty lame project to be like "nope, doesn't happen". so i have big hopes for today. maybe there was be some clinging. or affiliative behaviour. or better yet, an agnostic interaction.
i have big hopes.
probably i will just end up getting pooped on.
oh well.
i have some good pics but this computer is struggling so i'm not gonna try to upload it. the monkeys are adorable and the island is gorgeos. right behind or compound is maderas, an old volcano, and right out front is the lake. the clouds here are nuts, huge and puffy and flowing in weird directions. sunsets are subtle but awesome. sunrise is noisy (the howlers, the roosters, even the pigs get goin).
don't get me wrong. the generally tone of this blog is worn out i think, but i am loving this and being here. there is just no glory to it. it's awesome. but in a push-you-to-your-limits-pound-you-into-the-ground-major-test-of-self kind of way.
basically, it's perfect.
como estan?
estoy aqui, sura la isla de ometepe!
WELL
where do i begin!?
it is NUTS here. awesome and hilarious and difficult and uncomfrodable and wonderful and trying. i cannot explain the heat. and the constant discomfort. and how effing hard it is to find the freaking monkeys. (i'm a little bitter)
yesterday was basically the worst day ever. i went out early, at 4am and quicly got separated from my buddies. i found my two monkey groups but they were not all together and i couldn't find my focal animals. i finally found the mommy with the little wee infant and i got 58 mins of focal data before i lost her in the canopy. then i thought i'd found thema gain, and i stood there for 96 more mins, got swiped across the neck by a poisonous vine so basically was in an extreme amount of pain, got attacked by ants three times, i got peed on by a monkey, and basically i sweat off a layer of skin AND THEN SHE FREAKING ROLLED OVER, AND NO BABY. WRONG INDIVIDUAL. 96 mins of data on the WRONG individual. needless to say, i packed up and headed back for a shower after that. 6.5 hours in the field and only 58 mins of data. BAD DAY.
most days aren't that bad though. the food is delicious and i havn'et gotten sick yet. usually there is running water. my prof is totally awesome and can recide ANY part of ANY starwars movie off the top of his head, FLAWLESSLY. yesterday was his birthday and so Leo (our nico guide) got him a cake (it was the weirdest cake i've ever eaten) and we ate it and drank rum and nico beer and watched the phantom menace. i have yet to actually stay awake for an entire movie... the heat and the hiking are kicking my ass so i sleep a lot.
today i am here in merida (the internet place) for the morning, and i need to do a lit review of my topic, then i am heading off into the field to HOPEFULLY get some good data (and fewer ant attacks). for my project i'm going to investigate adult male interactions with infants and juveniles. problem is, they are not interacting. and that is a pretty lame project to be like "nope, doesn't happen". so i have big hopes for today. maybe there was be some clinging. or affiliative behaviour. or better yet, an agnostic interaction.
i have big hopes.
probably i will just end up getting pooped on.
oh well.
i have some good pics but this computer is struggling so i'm not gonna try to upload it. the monkeys are adorable and the island is gorgeos. right behind or compound is maderas, an old volcano, and right out front is the lake. the clouds here are nuts, huge and puffy and flowing in weird directions. sunsets are subtle but awesome. sunrise is noisy (the howlers, the roosters, even the pigs get goin).
don't get me wrong. the generally tone of this blog is worn out i think, but i am loving this and being here. there is just no glory to it. it's awesome. but in a push-you-to-your-limits-pound-you-into-the-ground-major-test-of-self kind of way.
basically, it's perfect.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
the arrival
i am in san jose, costa rrrrica!
flying into costa rica was a crazy experience. first, i got the most perfect, incredible view of ometepe island (with it´s figure eight shape and two huge volcanos it is unmistakable). then coming into the airport, so many words are racing through my head, terms that i know only from anthropology classes. situations that i have never witnessed
favela
shantytown
poverty line
informal sector
this city is so different from home. i want to take pictures of the people and the streets and the chairs and the beds and the basic basic things that are the same but different.
i got to my hotel without a hitch, thanks to leo, the nico guy that met me at the airport. he is our guide for the next few days. he navigated the airport taxi system with a combo of elaborate hand gestures and the fastest spanish that i have ever heard. i could NOT have done that alone.
the hotel we are staying in has huge rooms and is very lovely. i just had delicious costa rican lunch with rice and beans and veggies from a restaurant with my TA and three of my new classmates
our TA has gone off on official business, so now the four of us our navigating our way around alujela (?) in a combo of broken spanish, fringlish, smiles and hand gestures. people here are very very friendly to us. but a little frustrated with our diorganized inability to communicate, i think.
anyways
i must go now
places to explore
things to do and see
tomorrow we will make the 12 hour bus and ferry ride to ometepe. it will be a long day but hopefully very fun. i like the three guys that i have met so far, so hopefully my other classmates will be nice too.
peace out Gs
flying into costa rica was a crazy experience. first, i got the most perfect, incredible view of ometepe island (with it´s figure eight shape and two huge volcanos it is unmistakable). then coming into the airport, so many words are racing through my head, terms that i know only from anthropology classes. situations that i have never witnessed
favela
shantytown
poverty line
informal sector
this city is so different from home. i want to take pictures of the people and the streets and the chairs and the beds and the basic basic things that are the same but different.
i got to my hotel without a hitch, thanks to leo, the nico guy that met me at the airport. he is our guide for the next few days. he navigated the airport taxi system with a combo of elaborate hand gestures and the fastest spanish that i have ever heard. i could NOT have done that alone.
the hotel we are staying in has huge rooms and is very lovely. i just had delicious costa rican lunch with rice and beans and veggies from a restaurant with my TA and three of my new classmates
our TA has gone off on official business, so now the four of us our navigating our way around alujela (?) in a combo of broken spanish, fringlish, smiles and hand gestures. people here are very very friendly to us. but a little frustrated with our diorganized inability to communicate, i think.
anyways
i must go now
places to explore
things to do and see
tomorrow we will make the 12 hour bus and ferry ride to ometepe. it will be a long day but hopefully very fun. i like the three guys that i have met so far, so hopefully my other classmates will be nice too.
peace out Gs
Friday, June 20, 2008
the departure
hola amigos!
i am sitting here on nicole's deck, and she is reading me pick-up lines from my new spanish phrase book. "Shall we get some air?" "Vamos a tomar el aire?"
i am wearing quick dry convertible pants, tank top, quick dry long sleeve shirt and my hiking boots. i am so ready.
soon Jan will come to pick me up and we will go to Naam for dinner (awesome.) then the airport. i leave at 11pm PST.
tomorrow around noon i arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica. and look for the dude with the "La Suerte BFS" sign. we spend one night in San Jose, then travel to Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. wooooooooooah!
i really can't believe it. i think it hit me on the ferry this morning. i was inline for a PCL ticket and it just hit me. i am going to nicaragua. i almost fell over (the falling over was actually more likely because of my 95lb backpack. seriously. it's enormous. and very heavy. but it fits well, so bring it on.)
i am wearing my wooden Maori fishhook necklace for peace and comfort (and safe travels over open waters, which is the actual symbolism of it... hopefully it applies to higher atmospheric altitudes as well.... mostly it just reminds me of nz and makes me happy).
at Ometepe i will be doing a month long independent research project about howler monkeys and attending classes most days. i think. i don't actually know that much about this whole thing. my prof seems really nice over email though, so that's good.
anyways
welcome to my blog!
i got an email from the coordinators recently that had all kinds of general info, including something like "do not worry, there is internet access in Meridia, which is only a 45 minute walk away from the field station"... so yeah... no worries, dude... only a 45 minute walk. through the rainforest. no biggy.
all i can say is Bring it On. i've got Rite-in-the-Rain notebooks instead of pom poms but it's basically the same idea.
i'll try to post whenever possible, but it could be pretty infrequent.
i hope y'all have a great summer and those of you in kingston - see you in august! and those in vic - see you in september!
((just to clarify - an "Atelid" is a monkey in the taxanomic family of "Atelidae" which includes howler monkeys and spider monkeys and a bunch of others. howler monkeys are what we'll be studying.... Atelid is not an adjective.... as far as i know... but i used it that way anyways. yeeeah alliteration!))
i am sitting here on nicole's deck, and she is reading me pick-up lines from my new spanish phrase book. "Shall we get some air?" "Vamos a tomar el aire?"
i am wearing quick dry convertible pants, tank top, quick dry long sleeve shirt and my hiking boots. i am so ready.
soon Jan will come to pick me up and we will go to Naam for dinner (awesome.) then the airport. i leave at 11pm PST.
tomorrow around noon i arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica. and look for the dude with the "La Suerte BFS" sign. we spend one night in San Jose, then travel to Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. wooooooooooah!
i really can't believe it. i think it hit me on the ferry this morning. i was inline for a PCL ticket and it just hit me. i am going to nicaragua. i almost fell over (the falling over was actually more likely because of my 95lb backpack. seriously. it's enormous. and very heavy. but it fits well, so bring it on.)
i am wearing my wooden Maori fishhook necklace for peace and comfort (and safe travels over open waters, which is the actual symbolism of it... hopefully it applies to higher atmospheric altitudes as well.... mostly it just reminds me of nz and makes me happy).
at Ometepe i will be doing a month long independent research project about howler monkeys and attending classes most days. i think. i don't actually know that much about this whole thing. my prof seems really nice over email though, so that's good.
anyways
welcome to my blog!
i got an email from the coordinators recently that had all kinds of general info, including something like "do not worry, there is internet access in Meridia, which is only a 45 minute walk away from the field station"... so yeah... no worries, dude... only a 45 minute walk. through the rainforest. no biggy.
all i can say is Bring it On. i've got Rite-in-the-Rain notebooks instead of pom poms but it's basically the same idea.
i'll try to post whenever possible, but it could be pretty infrequent.
i hope y'all have a great summer and those of you in kingston - see you in august! and those in vic - see you in september!
((just to clarify - an "Atelid" is a monkey in the taxanomic family of "Atelidae" which includes howler monkeys and spider monkeys and a bunch of others. howler monkeys are what we'll be studying.... Atelid is not an adjective.... as far as i know... but i used it that way anyways. yeeeah alliteration!))
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