Last day in Mexico! My bus departs from Chetumal at 11.30PM for Cancun, about a six hour trip. My flight is at noon tomorrow.
This morning I woke up at 5.30 without an alarm. I was able to doze for a little while longer, but have been up for good since around 6. I guess I'll sleep like a champion on that bus.
This morning we went to the market so I could wander around, admire all of the tropical produce and take a few photos. We went out for empanadas for brunch. Apparently, typical Yucatan (the state and sort of the peninsula) food is empanadas made with chaya, a kind of leaf, and filled with cheese. We enjoyed these and some agua de jamaica (a sort of juice made with the jamaica flower, aka hibiscus tea according to a quick google search) before heading to Ecosur for the day. Shortly we'll be having a Skype conference with my advisor. In the meantime, we're having cake in the work room for Alex's birthday (this space really is like the cart lab at Mary Washington!) The rest of the day? Lunch at Ecosur, as cooked by Doña Rosa. I guess I should pack. (We know I have a history of doing this last minute, see: before this trip, before Canada trip, etc.) I bet my father, who will be picking me up at the airport, would also appreciate me showering before I depart. We may have dinner with Birgit (our EDGY person at Ecosur, if you recall). Just little things like these for the rest of today.
It's been yet another pretty excellent adventure.
Tree of the day: casuarina. I've had my eye on this all along. It's an invasive exotic... but it looks like a sort of pine tree. We know I love my pine trees, so this is in honor of me returning to my homeland, located snugly between the ocean and the Pine Barrens.
Showing posts with label EDGY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EDGY. Show all posts
24 June 2009
22 June 2009
I should be working right now but I don't feeeeeel like it!
Today was a productive, albeit frustrating second to last day in the field. Finally made it to Los Divorciados. I suspect that's one of the less poor ejidos; this assumption based not only on the facts that there are tin roofs and more recent paint jobs on the houses, but also that you can't see all of the stray dogs' ribs. These have been frustrating people to work with. Not 16 hours after we visited to get permission to work did we find ourselves there with no one aware, much less available to help us with the damage transect and bracken work. Members of our team have now visited a total of five times, but the work is done. Our ejidotario was a bit frustrating though. Around noon, he told us there was no more bracken. It was hot and sunny today, so we went to a store in town to get some cold sodas. As we pulled up, he said there was still another road full of bracken we had to visit. So we skipped the Coca Colas and went back to work for nearly four more hours. The time spent working is not the problem. The ejidotario said at nearly every patch of bracken, "This is the last one, but there's one more down there, too." Arghrghrakghdfg.
Also, can we discuss this photo?
Regardless, it's done! One ejido left! Petcacab and Polinkin! Tomorrow!
Tree of the day: ramon, easily recognized by its buttressed trunk
The skies are clear so perhaps I will take my field notes to the roof to type and think about...
Also, can we discuss this photo?
Regardless, it's done! One ejido left! Petcacab and Polinkin! Tomorrow!
Tree of the day: ramon, easily recognized by its buttressed trunk
The skies are clear so perhaps I will take my field notes to the roof to type and think about...
16 June 2009
inundable!
I will try not to inundable you with information about my last two days, but come on, the title is "inundable" (Spanish for inundated, or flooded... one of my many forestry/conservation vocab words)!
Yesterday was the last transect for Karen and me (the 19th of 20 in real life, though). We went out with a bang, literally! Around 75 meters out of 100 of assessing forest damage, the thunder that we'd been hearing rumble all morning decided it would be a good time to arrive over our heads and start raining, after 18 transects without any rain, in the rainy season. Ludicrous. It was a tough transect, too-- selva baja inundable (lowland inundated forest, lots of young trees, lots of brush, very wet, and lots and lots of bugs). Thankfully, we're equipt with waterproof field notebooks, which actually work! You can write on the pages in the rain. Nothing smears. Nothing runs, except the water. Incredible. Bracken was bracken, but it was really rainy for the rest of the day. I somehow came home more caked in mud than everyone else, despite all walking and working in the same places.
We had a farewell dinner out with Karen. Marco and I dropped her off at the bus station late last night; by the time I woke up, Juan-Pablo had arrived from Colombia, been picked up, and had settled into our casa on Av. Bugambilias.
Today, Alex and Irene went to finish the last transect in Los Divorciados while Marco and I took my pair of interns west to train them to do my work for the next six months. What's that? You are also surprised, shocken even, that I have been given a pair of interns? I know, me too! But it's true. I have two interns: Angel, the tall outgoing one who speaks a slight amount of English, and Alberto, the shorter rounder shyer one who did not say a single word in English. They are clearly buddies, but they're required this internship in order to graduate from college, so it's a nice mix of hilarity and productivity. Also, did I mention, they are going to collect data for me for the next six months?
I had a great time in the field today. Most of what I did was troubleshoot the form Marco and I wrote for the interns to collect information with, questions about land use and fire history and all of the other things I won't bore you with that my thesis will be about. Ahem. Anyway. We were at an ejido called Nicolas Bravo, which my advisor worked at quite a lot for her Phd dissertation, so everyone there knows and loves her. In fact, our ejidotario named his daughter after her. So they were all excited that I, Laura's student, was there.
The coolest part might have started with our ejidotario saying, "Oh, there's an old Maya house." We just drove past this crumbled house sitting atop a mound (the Maya liked to build up the land they built their structures on). That house is more than twice as old as the country which I hail from! Just sitting there, in the middle of the ejido! I learned the words in Spanish to inform the interns that "I am a student AND a tourist" before I took that photo. At the next plot, what do you know? More ruins! Unguarded, un-roped-off... Marco mentioned casually that I could go up and see them if I want, so I clearly climbed on top of them and did my intern-supervising from there.
It rained on and off throughout the day. The rest of it was spent getting filthy by walking through burned helechals (plots inundable-d with the helecho, which is Spanish for fern) and standing around on Maya mounds surveying the awesome landscape. Don't worry, I was sure to leave my camera in the truck for the last plot, when we stood on a particularly high mound that offered a complete panoramic view of the landscape and horizon. (I'm so dumb.)
The day ended in an intense workout to prevent Marco, the interns, and my untimely deaths in the torrential downpour. I was behind the wheel in the Chevy truck, which is about 10 years old and only marginally better than The Monster. Shifting that thing was a pretty intense physical workout to begin with, but driving in that storm was a big workout for my brain. The streets in and around Chetumal were inundable-d. Also, the Chevy had crappy windshield wipers and the vent system did nothing to defog the windshield. I drove into town at about half the speed limit, and we clearly survived without incident, as I'm writing about it all now. The streets are still flooded here even though the rain has mostly stopped, but we're all home safely and planning on relaxing a bit tonight: tomorrow is an Ecosur day, Marco's last day, and Juan-Pablo's birthday!
Yesterday was the last transect for Karen and me (the 19th of 20 in real life, though). We went out with a bang, literally! Around 75 meters out of 100 of assessing forest damage, the thunder that we'd been hearing rumble all morning decided it would be a good time to arrive over our heads and start raining, after 18 transects without any rain, in the rainy season. Ludicrous. It was a tough transect, too-- selva baja inundable (lowland inundated forest, lots of young trees, lots of brush, very wet, and lots and lots of bugs). Thankfully, we're equipt with waterproof field notebooks, which actually work! You can write on the pages in the rain. Nothing smears. Nothing runs, except the water. Incredible. Bracken was bracken, but it was really rainy for the rest of the day. I somehow came home more caked in mud than everyone else, despite all walking and working in the same places.
We had a farewell dinner out with Karen. Marco and I dropped her off at the bus station late last night; by the time I woke up, Juan-Pablo had arrived from Colombia, been picked up, and had settled into our casa on Av. Bugambilias.
Today, Alex and Irene went to finish the last transect in Los Divorciados while Marco and I took my pair of interns west to train them to do my work for the next six months. What's that? You are also surprised, shocken even, that I have been given a pair of interns? I know, me too! But it's true. I have two interns: Angel, the tall outgoing one who speaks a slight amount of English, and Alberto, the shorter rounder shyer one who did not say a single word in English. They are clearly buddies, but they're required this internship in order to graduate from college, so it's a nice mix of hilarity and productivity. Also, did I mention, they are going to collect data for me for the next six months?
I had a great time in the field today. Most of what I did was troubleshoot the form Marco and I wrote for the interns to collect information with, questions about land use and fire history and all of the other things I won't bore you with that my thesis will be about. Ahem. Anyway. We were at an ejido called Nicolas Bravo, which my advisor worked at quite a lot for her Phd dissertation, so everyone there knows and loves her. In fact, our ejidotario named his daughter after her. So they were all excited that I, Laura's student, was there.
The coolest part might have started with our ejidotario saying, "Oh, there's an old Maya house." We just drove past this crumbled house sitting atop a mound (the Maya liked to build up the land they built their structures on). That house is more than twice as old as the country which I hail from! Just sitting there, in the middle of the ejido! I learned the words in Spanish to inform the interns that "I am a student AND a tourist" before I took that photo. At the next plot, what do you know? More ruins! Unguarded, un-roped-off... Marco mentioned casually that I could go up and see them if I want, so I clearly climbed on top of them and did my intern-supervising from there.
It rained on and off throughout the day. The rest of it was spent getting filthy by walking through burned helechals (plots inundable-d with the helecho, which is Spanish for fern) and standing around on Maya mounds surveying the awesome landscape. Don't worry, I was sure to leave my camera in the truck for the last plot, when we stood on a particularly high mound that offered a complete panoramic view of the landscape and horizon. (I'm so dumb.)
The day ended in an intense workout to prevent Marco, the interns, and my untimely deaths in the torrential downpour. I was behind the wheel in the Chevy truck, which is about 10 years old and only marginally better than The Monster. Shifting that thing was a pretty intense physical workout to begin with, but driving in that storm was a big workout for my brain. The streets in and around Chetumal were inundable-d. Also, the Chevy had crappy windshield wipers and the vent system did nothing to defog the windshield. I drove into town at about half the speed limit, and we clearly survived without incident, as I'm writing about it all now. The streets are still flooded here even though the rain has mostly stopped, but we're all home safely and planning on relaxing a bit tonight: tomorrow is an Ecosur day, Marco's last day, and Juan-Pablo's birthday!
12 June 2009
This is long, I know, I'm sorry. You can skip it. I won't know!
This blog is as much for my own memory as it is to let people know I'm alive and well and enjoying my travel shenanigans. What follows is long. Rambling. Stuff about trees. etc. Just so you know.
We returned this evening from our three night stay in Laguna Kana and are now 18/20 finished with what we were assigned to do here in the southern Yucatan. I would like to tell you mostly about two things: the kindness of the people we've worked and stayed with, and what you do in a town that doesn't have running water.
Pretty much everywhere we've gone, we've been met with kindness. Karen, Irene and I all agreed that even if some ejidotarios have made jokes about marrying us (especially when Alex isn't working with us), no one has ever been outright creepy. Pretty much everyone has worked really hard for us. Cutting a straight line through dense secondary growth with a machete in the Mexico heat is not easy! I was particularly surprised with our trip to Laguna Kana though. When we visited on Sunday to get permission, we asked a man if we could stay in his house while we worked in the three northernmost ejidos. He agreed-- he housed a team from Ecosur last year, too. His wife was away in Cancun visiting their daughter, who I understand may be handicapped in some way. When we arrived kind of late on Tuesday night, it turned out his wife was home, but they cleared out of the two room house and slept in hammocks next door so we could stay. I just thought that was really nice of them.
I like to think I'm pretty flexible and open to new life experiences, but I was not particularly prepared for the whole no- indoor- plumbing/ running water at all scenario. I'll spare you the details of how these things work (though I had to tell someone and my mom was kind enough to pick up the phone tonight!). I clearly survived and now have a better idea of how I'll survive living in a village in Africa for a while someday (I mean, what? We'll cross that bridge when we get there.). However, I thought I'd share what a town without running water does have: pretty forests, pretty night skies, and very little else to do, so also good night's sleep. I slept in a hammock all three nights, and did so much like a baby. It helps that I went to bed earlier than I do when I'm in Chetumal uploading photos and sharing my shenanigans with you all.
But back to that thing about the clear, gorgeous, billions-of-stars sky... it was awesome. Breathtaking, even. I told my mom about this on the phone too (I don't just tell her about how people sponge bathe over toilets when we talk), and she said I was pretty awed when I first noticed stars as a toddler. I imagine this was pretty much the same. I've been in rural places, I've seen bright starry nights. One of the nights in Laguna Kana, the power went out (yes, they have electricity but not water), and it was even more pronounced loveliness. Oh man. Words just can't describe, so I'll stop trying.
But now that this is nice and long anyway, some snippets of my starlit ponderings these past few nights whilst hanging out in the village without running water or anything else to do besides ponder things under a gorgeous starry sky:
We returned this evening from our three night stay in Laguna Kana and are now 18/20 finished with what we were assigned to do here in the southern Yucatan. I would like to tell you mostly about two things: the kindness of the people we've worked and stayed with, and what you do in a town that doesn't have running water.
Pretty much everywhere we've gone, we've been met with kindness. Karen, Irene and I all agreed that even if some ejidotarios have made jokes about marrying us (especially when Alex isn't working with us), no one has ever been outright creepy. Pretty much everyone has worked really hard for us. Cutting a straight line through dense secondary growth with a machete in the Mexico heat is not easy! I was particularly surprised with our trip to Laguna Kana though. When we visited on Sunday to get permission, we asked a man if we could stay in his house while we worked in the three northernmost ejidos. He agreed-- he housed a team from Ecosur last year, too. His wife was away in Cancun visiting their daughter, who I understand may be handicapped in some way. When we arrived kind of late on Tuesday night, it turned out his wife was home, but they cleared out of the two room house and slept in hammocks next door so we could stay. I just thought that was really nice of them.
I like to think I'm pretty flexible and open to new life experiences, but I was not particularly prepared for the whole no- indoor- plumbing/ running water at all scenario. I'll spare you the details of how these things work (though I had to tell someone and my mom was kind enough to pick up the phone tonight!). I clearly survived and now have a better idea of how I'll survive living in a village in Africa for a while someday (I mean, what? We'll cross that bridge when we get there.). However, I thought I'd share what a town without running water does have: pretty forests, pretty night skies, and very little else to do, so also good night's sleep. I slept in a hammock all three nights, and did so much like a baby. It helps that I went to bed earlier than I do when I'm in Chetumal uploading photos and sharing my shenanigans with you all.
But back to that thing about the clear, gorgeous, billions-of-stars sky... it was awesome. Breathtaking, even. I told my mom about this on the phone too (I don't just tell her about how people sponge bathe over toilets when we talk), and she said I was pretty awed when I first noticed stars as a toddler. I imagine this was pretty much the same. I've been in rural places, I've seen bright starry nights. One of the nights in Laguna Kana, the power went out (yes, they have electricity but not water), and it was even more pronounced loveliness. Oh man. Words just can't describe, so I'll stop trying.
But now that this is nice and long anyway, some snippets of my starlit ponderings these past few nights whilst hanging out in the village without running water or anything else to do besides ponder things under a gorgeous starry sky:
- Apples. Think about the produce section at your local grocery store. What's exotic to you? Ok, probably nothing, because we get whatever we want in the US. Well, here, apples are exotic. They are shipped from places like Washington State. People here are crazy about their apples! We have apple flavored crackers, apple granola bars, apple soda...
- Toilet seats. Why don't most toilets in this country have them? We don't need to debate actually utilizing them or not, but it just looks strange.
- Chickens. It's so obvious why people (not me) eat them. They're really dumb, and rarely adorable. However, why is it that some have feathers and some in the same flock look ready to jump in a deep fryer? Do chickens get mange?
- Bugambilias. They are probably my favorite flowers I've seen here, and I figured out why. The flowers look more like extremely colorful little leaves than actual flowers, so it's like they're extremely beautiful little trees. And we know how I feel about trees.
- Tuesday: jabin. We see these everywhere. On Tuesday, in Bacalar, Karen explained to me very specifically how we so easily identify them all the time. I won't bore you. I recognize jabin now.
- Wednesday: in Laguna Kana, pucte, a huge tree down by the Laguna that I half climbed
- Thursday: in Yoactun, DEFINITELY the amapola
- today in Santa Maria Ponientte: I know the Pich was already mentioned, but come on, who can resist a bunch of grad students measuring the DBH of a giant, beautiful tree in the town square for fun first thing in the morning?
04 June 2009
halfway
Right now, Irene and Alex are cooking dinner and I'm playing Christmas music. No real reason. We wanted to eat. We wanted to listen to music. Done and done. Rice, potatoes, plantains, chicken for them, and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
We returned to El Gallito to do a damage transect with our friend Primitivo. Afterwards, we went to El Bajio to ask for permission to work their Saturday. They were in the middle of a very large and very heated meeting, but we got permission. They don't really know and don't seem to care what we'll be doing. Alex said we'd pay them, and they promised us two ejidotarios. The forest of El Bajio is very young, and since the minimum diameter at breast height that we consider is 5 cm, we're thinking there won't be a lot of trees for us to assess in these two transects. This leaves us plenty of time to take a tour of their bracken paradise. I'm sure they don't view bracken fern invasion as paradise though. It is really, really extensive.
The two days prior were spent at Juan Sarabia-- you know, the ejido that I am a partial owner of. On Tuesday we were stood up by our ejidotarios but when we stopped by the ejido office on our way home to double-check for Wednesday, we were promised this pair of men who happened to be hanging out behind the Casa Ejido at the time. I can think of two words that well summed up our first impression: old and crotchedy. One was much more vocal than the other. They were not pleased to be told what to do. However, despite our fears for Wednesday, things went very well. Once split up and put in the field to cut a path in the woods and assess the trees with us, they were kind and very helpful.
Three weeks from now, barring any great delays on Continental's part, I will be in New Jersey. In the three weeks since I've arrived, I've learned to identify bracken quickly at a distance (yes, even with my eyes-- it's a weird color and consistency in the landscape), picked up un poquito (a very little bit) Spanish, spent a ridiculous amount of time in the truck, grown quite fond of my rooftop office, and discovered that for 20 pesos more than I paid at the lame laundromat several blocks away, the woman across the street will gladly wash and fold my laundry for me within 24 hours. I think it's going pretty well.
ALSO! I am getting the hang of the trees here and can start sharing a tree of the day with you! I can only hope you're half as excited as I am. For today: the flamboyan (sometimes spelled with a "t" on the end). It's mostly a decorative, probably from India, thinks Alex. We have a few in the median of Avenue Bugambilias and elsewhere around Chetumal. It's very pretty!
We returned to El Gallito to do a damage transect with our friend Primitivo. Afterwards, we went to El Bajio to ask for permission to work their Saturday. They were in the middle of a very large and very heated meeting, but we got permission. They don't really know and don't seem to care what we'll be doing. Alex said we'd pay them, and they promised us two ejidotarios. The forest of El Bajio is very young, and since the minimum diameter at breast height that we consider is 5 cm, we're thinking there won't be a lot of trees for us to assess in these two transects. This leaves us plenty of time to take a tour of their bracken paradise. I'm sure they don't view bracken fern invasion as paradise though. It is really, really extensive.
The two days prior were spent at Juan Sarabia-- you know, the ejido that I am a partial owner of. On Tuesday we were stood up by our ejidotarios but when we stopped by the ejido office on our way home to double-check for Wednesday, we were promised this pair of men who happened to be hanging out behind the Casa Ejido at the time. I can think of two words that well summed up our first impression: old and crotchedy. One was much more vocal than the other. They were not pleased to be told what to do. However, despite our fears for Wednesday, things went very well. Once split up and put in the field to cut a path in the woods and assess the trees with us, they were kind and very helpful.
Three weeks from now, barring any great delays on Continental's part, I will be in New Jersey. In the three weeks since I've arrived, I've learned to identify bracken quickly at a distance (yes, even with my eyes-- it's a weird color and consistency in the landscape), picked up un poquito (a very little bit) Spanish, spent a ridiculous amount of time in the truck, grown quite fond of my rooftop office, and discovered that for 20 pesos more than I paid at the lame laundromat several blocks away, the woman across the street will gladly wash and fold my laundry for me within 24 hours. I think it's going pretty well.
ALSO! I am getting the hang of the trees here and can start sharing a tree of the day with you! I can only hope you're half as excited as I am. For today: the flamboyan (sometimes spelled with a "t" on the end). It's mostly a decorative, probably from India, thinks Alex. We have a few in the median of Avenue Bugambilias and elsewhere around Chetumal. It's very pretty!
01 June 2009
Yes, I would like some cheese with my whine, thank you.
Have I mentioned that doing damage transects is hard work? And that it takes a long time? And that IT'S HOT IN MEXICO?!
Before I discuss this any further, you should know that while I was not pleased at the time, I am pleased now that it's over and pleased to be sitting on the roof enjoying a nice breeze. However, it's hilarious that 70 degrees feels cool.
We set out at 6AM to an ejido about an hour and a half away called Noh-Bec. The comisario didn't have two ejidotarios ready for us at 7.30, as we'd discussed when we went to ask for permission last week, but promised us two other guys would be ready soon. So at 8 we meet our two guys, whose combined age was still probably younger than 50% of our research team. As Alex put it, "We're giving them a tour of their own ejido." After a couple of hours of off roading searching for the place, we took them back to town and requested someone who actually knew the land, and after waiting a while for someone to finish what they were doing, we were off again, around 11. He lead us to a road that used to exist. An hour of extreme offroading later, we were in the middle of the selva mediana-alta (medium-high forest). The conversation leading up to that moment was along the lines of, let's find the points and come back on Friday to do them. Let's just do bracken today. But upon our arrival at the points, it suddenly changed to, "Let's do this!" A few issues here:
We got back to Chetumal at 8.30. Long day, but I think we're all feeling pretty accomplished and pretty glad to have that one behind us. Tomorrow we return to Juan Sarabia to do more damage transect work. You may recall this is the ejido that I now co-own with Karen and Irene. It's nearby so we don't have to leave until 7! I might go read a little bit FOR FUN before I go to bed!
Before I discuss this any further, you should know that while I was not pleased at the time, I am pleased now that it's over and pleased to be sitting on the roof enjoying a nice breeze. However, it's hilarious that 70 degrees feels cool.
We set out at 6AM to an ejido about an hour and a half away called Noh-Bec. The comisario didn't have two ejidotarios ready for us at 7.30, as we'd discussed when we went to ask for permission last week, but promised us two other guys would be ready soon. So at 8 we meet our two guys, whose combined age was still probably younger than 50% of our research team. As Alex put it, "We're giving them a tour of their own ejido." After a couple of hours of off roading searching for the place, we took them back to town and requested someone who actually knew the land, and after waiting a while for someone to finish what they were doing, we were off again, around 11. He lead us to a road that used to exist. An hour of extreme offroading later, we were in the middle of the selva mediana-alta (medium-high forest). The conversation leading up to that moment was along the lines of, let's find the points and come back on Friday to do them. Let's just do bracken today. But upon our arrival at the points, it suddenly changed to, "Let's do this!" A few issues here:
- It was noon. You know, high sun.
- The two damage transects we've completed thus far took over 4 hours each.
- Today's pair of transects were in a forestry ejido. Meaning, there were more trees, bigger trees, and we couldn't use nails to tag the trees.
- Fishing line is hard to tie quickly.
- Our "ejidotarios" were obediant but didn't know the trees or the land at all.
We got back to Chetumal at 8.30. Long day, but I think we're all feeling pretty accomplished and pretty glad to have that one behind us. Tomorrow we return to Juan Sarabia to do more damage transect work. You may recall this is the ejido that I now co-own with Karen and Irene. It's nearby so we don't have to leave until 7! I might go read a little bit FOR FUN before I go to bed!
31 May 2009
short list
I'm exhausted, but a few things of note:
- 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.
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.
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!
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.
06 February 2009
exciting and edgy upcoming adventure!
This is pretty exciting news!
After a bit of panic about what courses to take this semester and what direction my thesis work might take, I landed a really sweet field research gig for a chunk of the summer. My advisor, Laura Schneider, had mentioned offhandedly in the past that she might be happy to bring me onto her research, the EDGY project in the southern Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. She looks at land use change, among other things, but a lot of the foundation work for the project includes biogeography and soil stuffs.
She needs someone to do some vegetation mapping for her this summer. She was going to hire someone down there, but then remembered that I might be having a panic attack about my thesis by now, and am interested in this sort of thing and have a small amount of experience in it, too. The conversation went thusly:
"Do you have a driver's license?"
"Yes."
"Can you drive stick shift?"
"YES!"
"Then we would really like you to come to Mexico with us."
Fully funded, at least three weeks of wandering around forests in the Southern Yucatan, near the borders of Guatemala and Belize, with Mayan ruins in the middle of the field site. I'll be driving a truck they have down there, exploring the area and what's growing in it (specifically looking for the bracken fern but making note of the other plantlife, too).
!!!
More to come in the months following. We'll talk more as the end of the semester draws nearer. Meanwhile, I'm going to continue to jump up and down a bit about this.
After a bit of panic about what courses to take this semester and what direction my thesis work might take, I landed a really sweet field research gig for a chunk of the summer. My advisor, Laura Schneider, had mentioned offhandedly in the past that she might be happy to bring me onto her research, the EDGY project in the southern Yucatan peninsula in Mexico. She looks at land use change, among other things, but a lot of the foundation work for the project includes biogeography and soil stuffs.
She needs someone to do some vegetation mapping for her this summer. She was going to hire someone down there, but then remembered that I might be having a panic attack about my thesis by now, and am interested in this sort of thing and have a small amount of experience in it, too. The conversation went thusly:
"Do you have a driver's license?"
"Yes."
"Can you drive stick shift?"
"YES!"
"Then we would really like you to come to Mexico with us."
Fully funded, at least three weeks of wandering around forests in the Southern Yucatan, near the borders of Guatemala and Belize, with Mayan ruins in the middle of the field site. I'll be driving a truck they have down there, exploring the area and what's growing in it (specifically looking for the bracken fern but making note of the other plantlife, too).
!!!
More to come in the months following. We'll talk more as the end of the semester draws nearer. Meanwhile, I'm going to continue to jump up and down a bit about this.
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