- Our ejidotario yesterday was named Primitivo. For the English translation, exchange the "o" for an "e". A very nice and helpful man in explaining the land use history, but really? What were his parents thinking?
- Today was a half-work-day and a relaxing afternoon at Bacalar for the ladies on the team. Good choice.
- This evening, Zach, Marco, Alex, Birgit, Irene and I went out for a little bit. I wasn't that hungry so I tried to order "papa natural" (natural baked potato) and "frijoles with something else" (beans with something else) which Irene went through extensive discussion with our server to find out if there was any meat in the beans. The server said no, we placed the order. I was brought a bean soup with chunks of steak in it.
- (A similar event happened at Calakmul, when we asked, "No carne, por favor!" and the lady at the food table assured us, "No carne!" and I got a little grilled plantain packet filled with ground beef. I've been reminded often that the Latin world doesn't understand vegetarianism, though my advisor assured me ahead of time it wasn't a problem, which it mostly hasn't been.)
- Also, the baked potato was COVERED in cheese. So much for natural.
- Overall, a good day. Tomorrow we leave at 6AM for an ejido called Noh-Bec to do some damage transects. There are two that need to be done there, so we're (Karen, Irene, Alex, and me) splitting into two teams of two. It's a forestry ejido... it might take all day to tag and identify the trees, and we can't even use nails.
- Most importantly, I am sitting on my roof, and our "dealer" Doña Rosa across the street (let me be clear, she deals us fresh advocados and clean laundry) is listening to Spanish versions of old Motown hits. I didn't notice this until now, but am super amused now that I have.
31 May 2009
short list
I'm exhausted, but a few things of note:
29 May 2009
brick-a-bracken
You know, that might be a good title for my thesis.
Today was devoted entirely to bracken. Karen, Irene and I spent the day in an ejido called Juan Sarabia, whose comisario (sort of commissioner, I guess, the guy who runs the place, the head ejidotario) man named Manuel (I didn't catch his last name). He was very nice when we went to his office this morning to ask permission to do research in his ejido. In fact, his words were, "The ejido is yours!" So we spent the rest of our day surveying our land (for bracken). We found so much of it that it became overwhelming to make maps of, but I think we've got some pretty good information. We'll be going back on Tuesday and Wednesday to do damage transects and get the last few patches of bracken. New photos posted.
The funniest part about my research is that any time we ask an ejidotario about the land and bracken history, they're very nice and helpful, but also kind of confused, sort of, "Why would these girls want to know about this stuff? We already know all there is to know about bracken. It grows everywhere. You burn the land, and snap! It grows back." Most of them say it's been a problem for as long as they've been on the ejido-- the Mexican government encouraged communal farming development in the last 40 years or so as part of conservation efforts. So most people remember bracken when they arrived in the ejido 20, 30 years ago. Ultimately, I'll be looking into other variables as well, but it's been interesting hearing their stories about bracken.
Today was devoted entirely to bracken. Karen, Irene and I spent the day in an ejido called Juan Sarabia, whose comisario (sort of commissioner, I guess, the guy who runs the place, the head ejidotario) man named Manuel (I didn't catch his last name). He was very nice when we went to his office this morning to ask permission to do research in his ejido. In fact, his words were, "The ejido is yours!" So we spent the rest of our day surveying our land (for bracken). We found so much of it that it became overwhelming to make maps of, but I think we've got some pretty good information. We'll be going back on Tuesday and Wednesday to do damage transects and get the last few patches of bracken. New photos posted.
The funniest part about my research is that any time we ask an ejidotario about the land and bracken history, they're very nice and helpful, but also kind of confused, sort of, "Why would these girls want to know about this stuff? We already know all there is to know about bracken. It grows everywhere. You burn the land, and snap! It grows back." Most of them say it's been a problem for as long as they've been on the ejido-- the Mexican government encouraged communal farming development in the last 40 years or so as part of conservation efforts. So most people remember bracken when they arrived in the ejido 20, 30 years ago. Ultimately, I'll be looking into other variables as well, but it's been interesting hearing their stories about bracken.
28 May 2009
Let me tell you about my truck.
or at least, about driving in Mexico, since I did a bit today and will be doing some more from here out.
Today I got behind the wheel of our year or two old Toyota Hilux (it's called something else in the US, but I'm not sure what). I think this is the nicest and newest clutch I've ever driven on. It's really great, very smooth, except when I was sliding down a hill into some wetlands... but I resolved this with the handbrake trick (see my aunt, my older brother, my mom, or Ross Marshall if you need to be schooled in this, because they are probably the people responsible for me knowing how to do it, though my dad ultimately taught me to drive stick, which ultimately got me invited to Mexico. Thanks everyone!).
So, driving in Mexico. It's on the right and all. Really no different from other places I've driven. It's pretty easy to sum up nearly every car on the roads here: various Toyotas, Nissans, Fords and Dodges that have different names than we know them by in the US, and old VW bugs. Some of the rural roads are a little scary. Various levels of paved and not paved, dirt and rocks, chickens and cows and other hazards... it's interesting. They have speed bumps everywhere... really. Highways, in the city, in the rural towns... everywhere. It's smart, I guess. No one speeds. It's especially smart when they're right before a stop sign or major intersection to ensure that people don't run it. But it's kind of strange to be driving 100km/h and then have a sign warning you that TOPES are coming up, and you need to drop to under 10km/h. Maybe not strange, maybe just different. Everything here is different for me though! And I'm enjoying the adventure.
I think the funniest part, are the street names. Most major roads have names, or at least numbers, but most people just call them "the road from Zoh-Laguna to Nuevo Becal" or something like that. The only street names I know in Chetumal are pretty interesting: we live on Bugambilias (named for a pretty flower that grows in the median), to the east is Quatro de Marzo (March 4th... I wonder what the significance of that date is here?), to the west is Javier Rojo Gomez, and the main boulevard is called Av. Insurgentes. (Even more interesting is the kindergarten on the boulevard that bears its name: Jardin de Ninos Insurgentes. Insurgents Kindergarten.) Yeah.
Today ended up being a 16 hour work day, and we're heading back into the field tomorrow and Saturday. On Sunday, our goal is to work for half a day and then relax a bit, perhaps by the Bahia again or maybe at some Mayan ruins nearby...
Today I got behind the wheel of our year or two old Toyota Hilux (it's called something else in the US, but I'm not sure what). I think this is the nicest and newest clutch I've ever driven on. It's really great, very smooth, except when I was sliding down a hill into some wetlands... but I resolved this with the handbrake trick (see my aunt, my older brother, my mom, or Ross Marshall if you need to be schooled in this, because they are probably the people responsible for me knowing how to do it, though my dad ultimately taught me to drive stick, which ultimately got me invited to Mexico. Thanks everyone!).
So, driving in Mexico. It's on the right and all. Really no different from other places I've driven. It's pretty easy to sum up nearly every car on the roads here: various Toyotas, Nissans, Fords and Dodges that have different names than we know them by in the US, and old VW bugs. Some of the rural roads are a little scary. Various levels of paved and not paved, dirt and rocks, chickens and cows and other hazards... it's interesting. They have speed bumps everywhere... really. Highways, in the city, in the rural towns... everywhere. It's smart, I guess. No one speeds. It's especially smart when they're right before a stop sign or major intersection to ensure that people don't run it. But it's kind of strange to be driving 100km/h and then have a sign warning you that TOPES are coming up, and you need to drop to under 10km/h. Maybe not strange, maybe just different. Everything here is different for me though! And I'm enjoying the adventure.
I think the funniest part, are the street names. Most major roads have names, or at least numbers, but most people just call them "the road from Zoh-Laguna to Nuevo Becal" or something like that. The only street names I know in Chetumal are pretty interesting: we live on Bugambilias (named for a pretty flower that grows in the median), to the east is Quatro de Marzo (March 4th... I wonder what the significance of that date is here?), to the west is Javier Rojo Gomez, and the main boulevard is called Av. Insurgentes. (Even more interesting is the kindergarten on the boulevard that bears its name: Jardin de Ninos Insurgentes. Insurgents Kindergarten.) Yeah.
Today ended up being a 16 hour work day, and we're heading back into the field tomorrow and Saturday. On Sunday, our goal is to work for half a day and then relax a bit, perhaps by the Bahia again or maybe at some Mayan ruins nearby...
27 May 2009
damage
The last few days have been pretty busy, though in all sorts of different ways. We spent Monday and Tuesday at Ecosur, doing research and prep work. On Monday, Marco and Zach gave presentations (in both Spanish and English) about the EDGY project to the students (it's just a grad school, so all masters and Phd candidates). Afterward, we finally met Karen, our UVA contingent! The funny part about that (not really funny ha-ha, though we laughed later) is that we had found out upon our return the night before at 8PM from the middle of nowhere, that Karen had arrived at 6AM Sunday morning. No one told us ahead of time! Oh wait, it gets better! Karen actually arrived at 11PM Saturday night in Chetumal. She spent the night in the tiny bus station hoping someone would come for her. We were all in the middle of nowhere though. At 6AM Sunday is when she gave up and checked into a hotel. She was then clever enough to take a taxi to Ecosur first thing Monday morning, at which point, we met her. Crazy, but all's well that ends well, right?
Speaking of all being well that ends well... today was tough! All six of us went into the field together to an ejido calledBuena Vista . First task of the day was to complete a damage transect. This is not any of our research specifically, but relates to the overall project and contributes more directly to the primary investigators' own projects. This is why all of the schools were so happy to pay for us to come to Mexico
Ok, enough nerd stuff. We did the damage transect for Buena Vista first, tagging and idenfying trees, analyzing damage and resilliance, blah blah blah, and it took way longer than we thought it would. It's not really a job for more than two or three people either, so most of us twiddled our thumbs a lot this morning. After getting all hot and worn out (it was really hot AND humid today and we were in the sun quite a bit), we had lunch, and then dragged our exhausted selves to the other side of the ejido to start working on my bracken at 3PM. A little frustrating to say the least, but we found and mapped the fern in a timely fashion.
However, and you might see this in today's photos and in the days to come... there was a little incident in the process. At one point I was following Alex and our ejidotario guide for the day while the ejidotario hacked a path through the ferns with a machete (don't worry, that's not what gave me the gash on my neck... at least not directly). We got to the end of the area, marked it on the GPS, and turned around, so I was leading us back. Alex warned me to be careful, but didn't quite convey what I should be careful of. I watched my feet as we hiked back, looking up just once to check how far we had to go, at which point I stepped in a hole and caught my neck and chin on a sapling that was just freshly-- and sharply-- cut by a machete only minutes before. Needless to say, a little bit of damage was done, but nothing too significant. See photos. Notice I'm still smiling. Tough day, but valuable. We accomplished a lot, and learned a lot more for upcoming days in the field.
Because Marco and Zach are going off to do their own work for the rest of their time here, we decided to relax in Bacalar together for a while this evening since we won't be working together anymore. We jumped in the bay fully clothed. It was a really relaxing. I tried Modelo Negra, which is Mexico's "dark" beer... aka Mexican lager with a touch of molasses, I hear. Tomorrow will be another day of hard work, but we're getting better prepared for this as we go. We're leaving at 6AM though, so... signing off!
Speaking of all being well that ends well... today was tough! All six of us went into the field together to an ejido called
Ok, enough nerd stuff. We did the damage transect for Buena Vista first, tagging and idenfying trees, analyzing damage and resilliance, blah blah blah, and it took way longer than we thought it would. It's not really a job for more than two or three people either, so most of us twiddled our thumbs a lot this morning. After getting all hot and worn out (it was really hot AND humid today and we were in the sun quite a bit), we had lunch, and then dragged our exhausted selves to the other side of the ejido to start working on my bracken at 3PM. A little frustrating to say the least, but we found and mapped the fern in a timely fashion.
However, and you might see this in today's photos and in the days to come... there was a little incident in the process. At one point I was following Alex and our ejidotario guide for the day while the ejidotario hacked a path through the ferns with a machete (don't worry, that's not what gave me the gash on my neck... at least not directly). We got to the end of the area, marked it on the GPS, and turned around, so I was leading us back. Alex warned me to be careful, but didn't quite convey what I should be careful of. I watched my feet as we hiked back, looking up just once to check how far we had to go, at which point I stepped in a hole and caught my neck and chin on a sapling that was just freshly-- and sharply-- cut by a machete only minutes before. Needless to say, a little bit of damage was done, but nothing too significant. See photos. Notice I'm still smiling. Tough day, but valuable. We accomplished a lot, and learned a lot more for upcoming days in the field.
Because Marco and Zach are going off to do their own work for the rest of their time here, we decided to relax in Bacalar together for a while this evening since we won't be working together anymore. We jumped in the bay fully clothed. It was a really relaxing. I tried Modelo Negra, which is Mexico's "dark" beer... aka Mexican lager with a touch of molasses, I hear. Tomorrow will be another day of hard work, but we're getting better prepared for this as we go. We're leaving at 6AM though, so... signing off!
24 May 2009
Pich-y keen
The six of us spent the weekend in Campeche with the goal of doing a little GPS training, using the anniversary of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve as a good excuse. Friday was a day of seminars on different conservation research projects going on for the park. However, being that we're Mexico, none of the presentations were in English. By the end of 7 hot hours of presentations, I was a very frustrated girl.
We stayed in Zoh-Laguna this weekend, but since there aren't enough beds there or anywhere, Irene and I were sent over to a hotel. Really, our room was a little hut. It was very cute and very nice, although we found it a little odd that there was no distinct shower or bathtub, just a shower head next to the toilet and a curtain that went around both. Interesting...
Saturday was spent in The Monster, a 1996 or so Chevy Suburban that acts and smells its age. We drove all over the place in and around the town of Xpujil (pronounced Schpoo-heel, it's Maya, as most words with X's in the area are), where Calakmul is, checking some points on a land cover map (think: what kind of stuff is or isn't growing where. This is biogeography. This is kind of what I do.) and basically getting a crash course in local forestry from Birgit. I actually really enjoyed this. We never drove for long, then got out and hiked a little bit, talking about how to characterize different types of tree stands. I know, I know... I'm a nerd.
Today was a similar endeavor, except much, much longer and hotter. The temperatures were well over 100 and we spent over 9 hours in the car, very little getting out and a looking today. It was kind of a wild goose chase to find some types of land cover that we didn't find the day before. Our lunch break was really great though. We ate at a family restaurant in a town called Pich in Campeche. The man who seemed to run the place was very proud of it and would share tidbits about it every time he brought us more lemonade or tortillas. The building we were eating in was a 17th century church. The wooden beams of the ceiling were older than the US. After we finished eating he showed us some photos of some of the oldest families in town and then actually gave us a tour of the little village, taking us down by the Laguna. It was competely dried up. He said there are always turtles there, but not this year. This is the first time in 50 years that it has gone completely dry. At least it's the very end of the dry season at this point; any day now it should start pouring on a somewhat daily basis. Just in time for the intensive field work to start!
A quick language lesson (not even Spanish!): Pich (the town) is named after the Pich tree. There was a really huge, ancient one by the lake but several others around town. The Pich (tree) is named after its seed pod, which is shaped like an ear (which, in Maya, is "pich"). There are a lot of Maya descendents in the southern Yucatan, and we continually encounter them speaking something that the five Spanish speakers I'm working with cannot understand. Every time that happens though, they remember, this must be what Colleen feels like all day every day. And they're right, to a point, but I'm learning... after this weekend, my conservation and forest taxonomy vocabulary has grown quite a bit! (I know, I know... nerd...)
More photos posted!
We stayed in Zoh-Laguna this weekend, but since there aren't enough beds there or anywhere, Irene and I were sent over to a hotel. Really, our room was a little hut. It was very cute and very nice, although we found it a little odd that there was no distinct shower or bathtub, just a shower head next to the toilet and a curtain that went around both. Interesting...
Saturday was spent in The Monster, a 1996 or so Chevy Suburban that acts and smells its age. We drove all over the place in and around the town of Xpujil (pronounced Schpoo-heel, it's Maya, as most words with X's in the area are), where Calakmul is, checking some points on a land cover map (think: what kind of stuff is or isn't growing where. This is biogeography. This is kind of what I do.) and basically getting a crash course in local forestry from Birgit. I actually really enjoyed this. We never drove for long, then got out and hiked a little bit, talking about how to characterize different types of tree stands. I know, I know... I'm a nerd.
Today was a similar endeavor, except much, much longer and hotter. The temperatures were well over 100 and we spent over 9 hours in the car, very little getting out and a looking today. It was kind of a wild goose chase to find some types of land cover that we didn't find the day before. Our lunch break was really great though. We ate at a family restaurant in a town called Pich in Campeche. The man who seemed to run the place was very proud of it and would share tidbits about it every time he brought us more lemonade or tortillas. The building we were eating in was a 17th century church. The wooden beams of the ceiling were older than the US. After we finished eating he showed us some photos of some of the oldest families in town and then actually gave us a tour of the little village, taking us down by the Laguna. It was competely dried up. He said there are always turtles there, but not this year. This is the first time in 50 years that it has gone completely dry. At least it's the very end of the dry season at this point; any day now it should start pouring on a somewhat daily basis. Just in time for the intensive field work to start!
A quick language lesson (not even Spanish!): Pich (the town) is named after the Pich tree. There was a really huge, ancient one by the lake but several others around town. The Pich (tree) is named after its seed pod, which is shaped like an ear (which, in Maya, is "pich"). There are a lot of Maya descendents in the southern Yucatan, and we continually encounter them speaking something that the five Spanish speakers I'm working with cannot understand. Every time that happens though, they remember, this must be what Colleen feels like all day every day. And they're right, to a point, but I'm learning... after this weekend, my conservation and forest taxonomy vocabulary has grown quite a bit! (I know, I know... nerd...)
More photos posted!
21 May 2009
research update
Today is a work day at Ecosur. I'm pretty sure whatever tan I might have gotten through the intense amount of sunscreen I've been wearing is mostly gone from sitting in the library all day. We got to sleep in a little bit at la Casa amarillo, but we still got up at a reasonable time to enjoy a nice breakfast together: scrambled eggs, hash browns (from scratch!), coffee, juice and awesomely fresh avocado. The entire team (Zack, Marco, Irene, Alex, Birgit and me) met to discuss everyone's individual research and to try and figure out a schedule for the coming weeks. We did pretty well with the first half of that, but there are still some questions about our upcoming plans. For example, who from UVA is going to be joining us, and when will they arrive? This has changed several times. Also, there aren't enough beds here in Chetumal and there aren't any beds at the field house in Zoh-Laguna. The whole team is going to Zoh-Laguna this weekend for some talks for the anniversary of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, one of the two we work with. Are we buying mattresses or staying in a hotel? To be determined. It looks like Irene and I won't be spending much if any time at that house though; priorities have changed a little bit so we're going to spend more time in other areas, perhaps staying in a house in one of thse edjidos in northern Quintana Roo for a week or so. It's hard to organize so many different researchers and projects, but it's coming together.
We almost ran out of water in the house last night. Not the drinking water-- we keep one of those big blue jugs that you see on water coolers handy in our kitchen at all times. I mean the water supply we get from the city once a day. It goes into a tank under our back patio, which we then pump into a tank on the roof, which then goes to the faucets in the house. Of course, there's little other control over it-- we only have hot water in the kitchen, and only cold water in the bathroom. No matter. Point was, the level was really low and we were worried there wasn't enough for my shower. I ended up filling a bucket just to make sure I'd have something to rinse my hair with when finished, but dumping a bucket of water over my head was far more effective than our weak shower has been and I'll probably just do this from now on. Truth is, I was seriously considering a dramatic haircut, because between our low water pressure and the high humidity here, my hair was getting pretty awful to deal with. Necessity is the mother of invention though, and now I'm hopeful that I'll return home unaltered, except the whole more tan/ more blond/ more bug bites thing.
We almost ran out of water in the house last night. Not the drinking water-- we keep one of those big blue jugs that you see on water coolers handy in our kitchen at all times. I mean the water supply we get from the city once a day. It goes into a tank under our back patio, which we then pump into a tank on the roof, which then goes to the faucets in the house. Of course, there's little other control over it-- we only have hot water in the kitchen, and only cold water in the bathroom. No matter. Point was, the level was really low and we were worried there wasn't enough for my shower. I ended up filling a bucket just to make sure I'd have something to rinse my hair with when finished, but dumping a bucket of water over my head was far more effective than our weak shower has been and I'll probably just do this from now on. Truth is, I was seriously considering a dramatic haircut, because between our low water pressure and the high humidity here, my hair was getting pretty awful to deal with. Necessity is the mother of invention though, and now I'm hopeful that I'll return home unaltered, except the whole more tan/ more blond/ more bug bites thing.
20 May 2009
produce and productivity
This update is from El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Ecosur), in a room that is reminiscent of the Mary Washington cart lab-- people come in, people do work, people drink coffee, there are big windows.
Today we found an ejido in Caan Lumil with many different types of fruits and veggies (plantains, oranges, these little apples, maize) and plenty of invasive ferns. We met some very helpful farmers who shared how long ago different areas were burned, and how they're trying to deal with the fern invasion. It wasn't even on our list of sites to visit, but we spent most of the day mapping it. The sketch got kind of out of control, but I'm going to redraw it tonight. I heard from my advisor, who seems to think I'm doing fine work so far. This is pretty reassuring.
We called it a day a little earlier to try and get the beds from the witch in Bacalar... but no success. However, plans changed at the last minute so only two others are arriving tonight, Zack and Marco from Clark. No one knows if we'll have anyone from UVA or not, or when... so we're making do for now.
We haven't had dinner yet and Alex is being very patient while Irene and I do some work, so I'll just share some photos: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v473/fishius25/Mexico/. Don't worry, I'm not posting every fern photo I take... I'll bake a pie for whoever guesses closest to how many photos of just helechos we have taken so far...
Today we found an ejido in Caan Lumil with many different types of fruits and veggies (plantains, oranges, these little apples, maize) and plenty of invasive ferns. We met some very helpful farmers who shared how long ago different areas were burned, and how they're trying to deal with the fern invasion. It wasn't even on our list of sites to visit, but we spent most of the day mapping it. The sketch got kind of out of control, but I'm going to redraw it tonight. I heard from my advisor, who seems to think I'm doing fine work so far. This is pretty reassuring.
We called it a day a little earlier to try and get the beds from the witch in Bacalar... but no success. However, plans changed at the last minute so only two others are arriving tonight, Zack and Marco from Clark. No one knows if we'll have anyone from UVA or not, or when... so we're making do for now.
We haven't had dinner yet and Alex is being very patient while Irene and I do some work, so I'll just share some photos: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v473/fishius25/Mexico/. Don't worry, I'm not posting every fern photo I take... I'll bake a pie for whoever guesses closest to how many photos of just helechos we have taken so far...
19 May 2009
Day two: still no flu!
Hola again from the internet place two houses down from our house in Chetumal! I actually came down here by myself, and asked if I could please use the internet in Spanish by myself (Puedo usar internet, por favor?), and have clearly had success in this endeavor. Now I´m just carefully studying my pesos to make sure I give them the correct one when I´m done. I´m catching on, no matter how slowly.
Day two in the field: Irene, Alex (after four nonstop days together, Alejandro tells us he prefers Alex, and that no one calls him Alejandro) took on some points in the next state west, Campeche. The day started with a meeting with the Primary Investigator of EcoSur, the EDGY university affiliate here in Chetumal. Birgit, a German native, is actually the only PI who will be present in Mexico this summer. (Rutgers, Clark and UVA each have one, too-- my advisor is the one at RU, but none are coming. It´s frightening how much they all appear to trust us.) She gave us some gear and helped us sort out some details for the next few days before we headed out for the day.
We stopped by the field house in Zoh-Laguna in Campeche. It lacks a proper shower and the internet but does have tarantulas! Don´t worry, people rarely see the tarantulas and there is a water spout and some buckets for bathing. The little town was on the way to one of the sites we needed to visit to search for my helechos (ferns, if you haven´t been paying attention). We actually found a lot of helechos today. Irene got some great photos and GPS points while Alex and I climbed into the bush to get details for my sketch maps.
It was really hot out, but today was slightly shorter. At the end of it we spent some time back at Laguna Bacalar, waiting for a woman to get home who is currently holding the rest of the EDGY beds hostage. We just sat on a stone wall near the Fuerte San Felipe eating some pan (bread) we got from a baker across the street since the woman wasn´t there when she said she would be. I guess EDGY rented some beds to her or something, but tomorrow our cohorts from Clark arrive, so we kind of need more than the two beds that Irene and I have been occupying. Tomorrow morning we´re going back to Bacalar for these beds, and if we have success, we´ll spend the day catching up on our computer work here in Chetumal, and I´ll be sure to post some more photos. If the witch, as Alex has come to call her, is not in, we´ll continue north to search for more bracken.
Day two in the field: Irene, Alex (after four nonstop days together, Alejandro tells us he prefers Alex, and that no one calls him Alejandro) took on some points in the next state west, Campeche. The day started with a meeting with the Primary Investigator of EcoSur, the EDGY university affiliate here in Chetumal. Birgit, a German native, is actually the only PI who will be present in Mexico this summer. (Rutgers, Clark and UVA each have one, too-- my advisor is the one at RU, but none are coming. It´s frightening how much they all appear to trust us.) She gave us some gear and helped us sort out some details for the next few days before we headed out for the day.
We stopped by the field house in Zoh-Laguna in Campeche. It lacks a proper shower and the internet but does have tarantulas! Don´t worry, people rarely see the tarantulas and there is a water spout and some buckets for bathing. The little town was on the way to one of the sites we needed to visit to search for my helechos (ferns, if you haven´t been paying attention). We actually found a lot of helechos today. Irene got some great photos and GPS points while Alex and I climbed into the bush to get details for my sketch maps.
It was really hot out, but today was slightly shorter. At the end of it we spent some time back at Laguna Bacalar, waiting for a woman to get home who is currently holding the rest of the EDGY beds hostage. We just sat on a stone wall near the Fuerte San Felipe eating some pan (bread) we got from a baker across the street since the woman wasn´t there when she said she would be. I guess EDGY rented some beds to her or something, but tomorrow our cohorts from Clark arrive, so we kind of need more than the two beds that Irene and I have been occupying. Tomorrow morning we´re going back to Bacalar for these beds, and if we have success, we´ll spend the day catching up on our computer work here in Chetumal, and I´ll be sure to post some more photos. If the witch, as Alex has come to call her, is not in, we´ll continue north to search for more bracken.
18 May 2009
Trial by fire... literally.
My first day in the field started out with two strikes against it. One, Irene and I barely slept last night. By the time we loaded our points into the GPS last night, it was kind of late, but then the neighbors kindly left their dog out last night, and it howled and barked and whined. The. whole. night. Irene was so disoriented that she woke up an hour early at 3.30 and then kindly woke me up as well to make sure I was ready to go in time. So, the day started in a super exhausted way.
Second, and anyone who has ever gone anywhere with me before will not be too surprised: guess who got carsick? We´re at the internet shop two houses down from ours, so I won´t be uploading photos tonight, but when I do in coming days, take a look at the road and you´ll see why. Hours and hours of bumpy, curvy, unpaved roads. Fare thee well, breakfast.
So quite obviously the day started out not in the smoothest way. It was interesting to be in Mayan territority though. We were searching for my fern (helecho) in places several hours north of here and not having much success early on. Eventually we were shown some by a few farmers in one ejido, and then had several more failures, including a multiple mile hike that yielded no results under the high sun. Ugh. We passed some fields that were actually in the process of being slashed and burned, so I learned a bit about the agricultural season. Right now is the typical time to be burning fields, right before the rainy season really gets going. There was evidence of this all over the place.
Eventually we found some large patches along the highway near where we thought we´d find some helechos, though not the exact point. With the help of my cohort and manager, I´ve got some GPS points and some really sloppy sketch maps that I´ll of course go back and correct. Photos to come in days following. All in all, Alejandro, Irene and I spent over 14 hours in the field today, with mixed failures and successes, but we stopped by another lovely lake on the way back to our Casa Amarillo (yellow house). It´s raining pretty hard right now so the heat has broken at least temporarily, so I think I´ll sleep well tonight... if the dog stays quiet...
Second, and anyone who has ever gone anywhere with me before will not be too surprised: guess who got carsick? We´re at the internet shop two houses down from ours, so I won´t be uploading photos tonight, but when I do in coming days, take a look at the road and you´ll see why. Hours and hours of bumpy, curvy, unpaved roads. Fare thee well, breakfast.
So quite obviously the day started out not in the smoothest way. It was interesting to be in Mayan territority though. We were searching for my fern (helecho) in places several hours north of here and not having much success early on. Eventually we were shown some by a few farmers in one ejido, and then had several more failures, including a multiple mile hike that yielded no results under the high sun. Ugh. We passed some fields that were actually in the process of being slashed and burned, so I learned a bit about the agricultural season. Right now is the typical time to be burning fields, right before the rainy season really gets going. There was evidence of this all over the place.
Eventually we found some large patches along the highway near where we thought we´d find some helechos, though not the exact point. With the help of my cohort and manager, I´ve got some GPS points and some really sloppy sketch maps that I´ll of course go back and correct. Photos to come in days following. All in all, Alejandro, Irene and I spent over 14 hours in the field today, with mixed failures and successes, but we stopped by another lovely lake on the way back to our Casa Amarillo (yellow house). It´s raining pretty hard right now so the heat has broken at least temporarily, so I think I´ll sleep well tonight... if the dog stays quiet...
17 May 2009
Hola desde Chetumal!
(Hello from Chetumal!)
Irene and I arrived safely yesterday! I didn't say so sooner because we've been recovering from our travels. We arrived at our house in Chetumal about 24 hours after I woke up to pack and get going. Dad dropped us off at Newark but there was some debacle when all of the flights to Mexico were consolidated and we were not on the final flight. The nice ladies at the check in fixed this, and we were off to Houston. I finished getting my grades in during our layover, and looked up my own final grades on Irene's Blackberry right before we took off, so my semester literally ended as I was about to leave the country. I passed GIS! Moving forward with my life now...
We arrived in Cancun without any problems. The flight was mostly empty so we each had a row to ourselves. Debacle two: the bus from the airport to the bus terminal wasn't running according to schedule because no one is coming to Mexico these days (why?). We ended up taking a rather expensive taxi ride, and then waiting two hours for a bus to Chetumal. We departed at midnight, and five hours later, we met Alejandro, the project manager in the area. He took us to the house and picked us up again around noon to get some things from the market. We slept for maybe 5 hours, and then didn't eat until late in the afternoon, almost 24 hours after our last meal at Houston George Bush International Airport. Ugh.
So today we're feeling a little better rested and we've had more regular meals. We met with Alejandro in the morning to discuss what work needs to be done, and the plan is to start tomorrow at 5AM travelling to an ejido (a sort of farming village-- there's 20 in all that I'll be visiting in the coming weeks) about four hours away. He'll work with us at least the next few days. After we were done talking work, Irene and I took a bus to Bacalar for an afternoon at Laguna de Bacalar, a gorgeous lake. It was a really lovely, relaxing day.
I am slowly learning some important words in Spanish, most notably today: catira (blond). Apparently, it's very obvious that I'm not from around here, and everyone's assumed that Irene is my guide. It's kind of hilarious.
So, things are going just fine so far, except for one very, very important thing that I left in my apartment. Honestly, I was just crushed when I realized forgot it: my Trees of North America: a guide to field identification. So many amazing trees here, and I don't know what any of them are. It's pretty sad.
However, you can see in photos that life has gone on without my tree book: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v473/fishius25/Mexico/
Irene and I arrived safely yesterday! I didn't say so sooner because we've been recovering from our travels. We arrived at our house in Chetumal about 24 hours after I woke up to pack and get going. Dad dropped us off at Newark but there was some debacle when all of the flights to Mexico were consolidated and we were not on the final flight. The nice ladies at the check in fixed this, and we were off to Houston. I finished getting my grades in during our layover, and looked up my own final grades on Irene's Blackberry right before we took off, so my semester literally ended as I was about to leave the country. I passed GIS! Moving forward with my life now...
We arrived in Cancun without any problems. The flight was mostly empty so we each had a row to ourselves. Debacle two: the bus from the airport to the bus terminal wasn't running according to schedule because no one is coming to Mexico these days (why?). We ended up taking a rather expensive taxi ride, and then waiting two hours for a bus to Chetumal. We departed at midnight, and five hours later, we met Alejandro, the project manager in the area. He took us to the house and picked us up again around noon to get some things from the market. We slept for maybe 5 hours, and then didn't eat until late in the afternoon, almost 24 hours after our last meal at Houston George Bush International Airport. Ugh.
So today we're feeling a little better rested and we've had more regular meals. We met with Alejandro in the morning to discuss what work needs to be done, and the plan is to start tomorrow at 5AM travelling to an ejido (a sort of farming village-- there's 20 in all that I'll be visiting in the coming weeks) about four hours away. He'll work with us at least the next few days. After we were done talking work, Irene and I took a bus to Bacalar for an afternoon at Laguna de Bacalar, a gorgeous lake. It was a really lovely, relaxing day.
I am slowly learning some important words in Spanish, most notably today: catira (blond). Apparently, it's very obvious that I'm not from around here, and everyone's assumed that Irene is my guide. It's kind of hilarious.
So, things are going just fine so far, except for one very, very important thing that I left in my apartment. Honestly, I was just crushed when I realized forgot it: my Trees of North America: a guide to field identification. So many amazing trees here, and I don't know what any of them are. It's pretty sad.
However, you can see in photos that life has gone on without my tree book: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v473/fishius25/Mexico/
15 May 2009
No time like the present...
...to finish packing...
I leave in about an hour to pick up Irene, drive home, and be driven to Newark. Dad's kindly taken the day off to do that. He's not the only one I have to thank for helping keep things under control this week. Mom did most of my laundry (and somehow made my clothes brighter than they've been in ages, it's like magic!). Irene continually picked up the pieces of my overworked brain. The usual suspects met up for another upbeat Monday night. Katie and Jamie came over and scrutinized my exam, causing me to throw out a question and have that much less to grade. Cheryl and Gurzo kindly adopted my eggs and bread so I wouldn't have to throw them out. Tom reminded me not to die. The list goes on. Many others have offered laughter and encouragement, and I can't thank you enough.
So now, I just need to throw together my carry on, take out the garbage, and hit the road!
I leave in about an hour to pick up Irene, drive home, and be driven to Newark. Dad's kindly taken the day off to do that. He's not the only one I have to thank for helping keep things under control this week. Mom did most of my laundry (and somehow made my clothes brighter than they've been in ages, it's like magic!). Irene continually picked up the pieces of my overworked brain. The usual suspects met up for another upbeat Monday night. Katie and Jamie came over and scrutinized my exam, causing me to throw out a question and have that much less to grade. Cheryl and Gurzo kindly adopted my eggs and bread so I wouldn't have to throw them out. Tom reminded me not to die. The list goes on. Many others have offered laughter and encouragement, and I can't thank you enough.
So now, I just need to throw together my carry on, take out the garbage, and hit the road!
13 May 2009
Swine? It's fine.
So, people have been concerned about this "swine flu".
Well, let me tell you, that is so last week.
But I've got Tamiflu and an enormous bottle of hand sanitizer, as per my doctor's instructions.
Really though, I'm more concerned about finishing grading my students' exams before I go on Friday morning!
Well, let me tell you, that is so last week.
But I've got Tamiflu and an enormous bottle of hand sanitizer, as per my doctor's instructions.
Really though, I'm more concerned about finishing grading my students' exams before I go on Friday morning!
next destination: Mexico!
Oh hey!
Some of you may have heard, because I'm excited and tell anyone who even slightly expresses interest in what I'm up to these days: I'm going to Mexico!
For my masters thesis, I'll be studying the bracken fern invasion in the southern Yucatan peninsula and its relationship to fires in the area-- mostly slash and burn agriculture, but potentially with a nod to wildfires/hurricanes too (I can only hope to include natural hazards!). Yes, I am excited! Yes, I will take pictures! No, I do not speak Spanish! Thankfully, I have been teamed up with my fellow geographer Irene, whose Spanish is exponentially better than mine (she's from Venezuela). She's going to be doing some preliminary work for her Phd dissertation, too. I'll drive the truck, she'll speak the Spanish. It should be pretty excellent!
Right now my life is a whirlwind of grading my students' exams and getting all of the things I need before I leave on Friday morning. Many thanks to my kind mother for doing my laundry and my kind father for taking the day off to drive my research cohort and me to the airport!
Some of you may have heard, because I'm excited and tell anyone who even slightly expresses interest in what I'm up to these days: I'm going to Mexico!
For my masters thesis, I'll be studying the bracken fern invasion in the southern Yucatan peninsula and its relationship to fires in the area-- mostly slash and burn agriculture, but potentially with a nod to wildfires/hurricanes too (I can only hope to include natural hazards!). Yes, I am excited! Yes, I will take pictures! No, I do not speak Spanish! Thankfully, I have been teamed up with my fellow geographer Irene, whose Spanish is exponentially better than mine (she's from Venezuela). She's going to be doing some preliminary work for her Phd dissertation, too. I'll drive the truck, she'll speak the Spanish. It should be pretty excellent!
Right now my life is a whirlwind of grading my students' exams and getting all of the things I need before I leave on Friday morning. Many thanks to my kind mother for doing my laundry and my kind father for taking the day off to drive my research cohort and me to the airport!
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