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.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
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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