So, it turns out Guayaquil is working out nicely for us. What a great place to end the work!
We arrived the night before last in Guayaquil, and had booked a room in a guesthouse in Samborondon, which is a main road into the town, but in the fancy area of town that I described before. The family here rents out rooms in their gigantic house in a gated community. It is fabulous, so clean, and so nice! There are patios, a backyard with hammocks, and a swimming pool! It is bigger than most hotels. Ellen, the mother and the person who runs the guesthouse, is incredibly kind and energetic. She cooks us breakfast and delicious, healthful dinners. It is nice to come home to a house, sit down in the kitchen, and relax. The neighbourhood is so safe that we don't have to worry about the car either!
We have spent the last two full days heading north of the city to collect in small towns. About half an hour north of here, the landscape is covered with rice patties and tons of irrigation canals all draining into marshes - perfect habitat for mosquitoes! I collected over 52 mosquitoes in one trap alone... an amazing catch! We also collected some with an aspirator later in the day, something we have not been able to do as easily before.
Today, we went to a real coffee shop - in a suburban mini mall - think Kanata - and got some good food to eat in the field for once - a nice break from the usual crackers and bananas. I even got a mocha in the coffee shop at the gas station! This might seem normal to you all back home, but this is an astounding bit of northamericana that I have never seen before in Ecuador.
Yesterday, we accidentally took the wrong route back into town and ended up in Guayaquil proper. We followed the map and managed to find our way out again through the tunnels. By night, the main streets of downtown have large, modern buildings, nice restaurants and shops, and everything seemed quite clean and presentable overall! I still have yet to discover why Guayaquil has such a lousy reputation. It is a little hot, and there is a lot of crime - in other parts of town - but so far so good. I could live here. Probably with air conditioning though.
I should also mention that the family here has a little dog who reminds me of Storm. She is not the same breed but she has a bit of the same independent temperament, and the same funny little smile - with her bottom teeth poking out. She lets me pet her a lot too - very cute!
Another interesting little story... this morning Ellen made us a little concoction of noni juice. She used to work on marketing an industrial version of it. It is a fruit that looks like a warty potato and smells like rotten parmesan cheese. The blended version tastes like a fruit mixed with the nasty cheese taste. It is pretty disgusting on its own. However, it is being heavily researched right now for its beneficial medicinal properties. They say it's the new wonder drug, and can even cure cancer. Well, Ellen seems amazingly healthy, so maybe it works! I think I'll hold off drinking more until we can find a way to make it taste and smell more appealing.
Another story... today, while driving, Julio was pulled over by a cop for passing a car on a solid line. Let me put this into context for you. In Ecuador, red lights are merely a suggestion, and cars are known to drive for a long distance in the oncoming lane to pass, with oncoming traffic! So... this is a very minor infraction, and it was surprising that he bothered with us at all. Anyway, the cop told us he couldn't give us a real ticket, because we are foreigners, but something must be done. He kept hinting that there must be another solution to the dilemma. He kindly took the 10$ we passed him in the documents, and bid us a safe trip. It's funny how shameless they are about wanting a bribe.
Anyway, we have another two work days planned, and then we are DONE! We are going to head south of here for the next two days, collecting adults and larvae. Monday, we're hoping to do some touristic stuff in Guayaquil. Santy arrives Tuesday, and we leave early Wednesday morning back to Quito - and Julio back to Peru!
Wish us luck!
Friday, October 17, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Parade of the bugs
Relax, we´re almost done.
Our hotel is amusing me. It is really quite nice to have a clean room and a comfortable bed, rather than a table with a sheet. At the moment, our hotel is playing host to the Miss Manabi - the province - pageant in the lobby. I just interrupted a photo shoot to get back into the hotel... got some pretty catty stares as I walked by in my muddy pants and field boots. Maybe I splashed some of my filth on them. Take that, makeup caked monsters!
We have been trying to be productive, but at times I think we need a satellite view. Maybe Superman can carry me around to find standing water. Finding it from the road is quite a challenge. Today, we drove almost all day and didn´t find more than 2 ponds in which to dip. What a drag.
However, we did find a hotspot of Anopheles mosquitoes, just north of here. I pinned a bunch and we aspirated more this morning as they tried to bite us. Good thing they prefer to bite Julio!!
...Just kidding, Julio!
Yesterday we were doing our usual cheap traveller thing, cooking on a little camp stove in our room - very safe indeed - when inexplicably, our pot started to smoke. It was actually clean at the time, so it must be a defect with the pot. We decided with a week of fieldwork left, we are going to forego buying a new pot and just eat in restaurants for dinners. Besides, we are staying in a family-run guesthouse in Guayaquil... so they might figure out that we are cooking in our room... and it would not be good for us.
Tomorrow, we are off to Guayaquil. There are lots of areas in the vicinity to work, and we plan to work until Sunday.
I´m pretty exhausted, so I´ll be glad to be done the fieldwork!
Our hotel is amusing me. It is really quite nice to have a clean room and a comfortable bed, rather than a table with a sheet. At the moment, our hotel is playing host to the Miss Manabi - the province - pageant in the lobby. I just interrupted a photo shoot to get back into the hotel... got some pretty catty stares as I walked by in my muddy pants and field boots. Maybe I splashed some of my filth on them. Take that, makeup caked monsters!
We have been trying to be productive, but at times I think we need a satellite view. Maybe Superman can carry me around to find standing water. Finding it from the road is quite a challenge. Today, we drove almost all day and didn´t find more than 2 ponds in which to dip. What a drag.
However, we did find a hotspot of Anopheles mosquitoes, just north of here. I pinned a bunch and we aspirated more this morning as they tried to bite us. Good thing they prefer to bite Julio!!
...Just kidding, Julio!
Yesterday we were doing our usual cheap traveller thing, cooking on a little camp stove in our room - very safe indeed - when inexplicably, our pot started to smoke. It was actually clean at the time, so it must be a defect with the pot. We decided with a week of fieldwork left, we are going to forego buying a new pot and just eat in restaurants for dinners. Besides, we are staying in a family-run guesthouse in Guayaquil... so they might figure out that we are cooking in our room... and it would not be good for us.
Tomorrow, we are off to Guayaquil. There are lots of areas in the vicinity to work, and we plan to work until Sunday.
I´m pretty exhausted, so I´ll be glad to be done the fieldwork!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
In Portoviejo
Hi everyone,
Well after a nice day at the beach, we left the coast and headed inland to Portoviejo. Here, we plan to settle down - in a nicer hotel - and do some major collecting around the area. The drive was very interesting, as we passed through dry forest during the dry season. The earth looks like sand and there are lots of trees thickened in the centre, that look a bit like baobab trees. It was stunning!
We arrived in Portoviejo, a sprawling town and capital of Manabi province - aka. the sketchy and dangerous province - and checked into our hotel downtown. It has a gorgeous lobby and restaurant, and then the rooms are simple and clean, although not nearly anywhere near fancy. It´s a little more expensive but we have to stay somewhere like this for safety reasons. Also I can´t wait for the reliably hot shower that will ensue!
Tonight, the plan is to cook a simple dinner in the room and crack open a bottle of wine. Tomorrow we hit the countryside in search of every last Anopheles.
Ciao!
Well after a nice day at the beach, we left the coast and headed inland to Portoviejo. Here, we plan to settle down - in a nicer hotel - and do some major collecting around the area. The drive was very interesting, as we passed through dry forest during the dry season. The earth looks like sand and there are lots of trees thickened in the centre, that look a bit like baobab trees. It was stunning!
We arrived in Portoviejo, a sprawling town and capital of Manabi province - aka. the sketchy and dangerous province - and checked into our hotel downtown. It has a gorgeous lobby and restaurant, and then the rooms are simple and clean, although not nearly anywhere near fancy. It´s a little more expensive but we have to stay somewhere like this for safety reasons. Also I can´t wait for the reliably hot shower that will ensue!
Tonight, the plan is to cook a simple dinner in the room and crack open a bottle of wine. Tomorrow we hit the countryside in search of every last Anopheles.
Ciao!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
The surf is rolling in and we are rolling out
We had a frustrating few days since Cuenca. As with any time you come to the coast of Ecuador, conditions rapidly deteriorated. We headed down from high altitudes, and stayed a night in Giron, in an interestingly isolated and deserted hacienda. It was cold and windy and would have been a great set for a horror movie.
From there we headed down to the southern coast and stayed in Manabi. Our hotel was stinky and moldy but the rooms were at least cleanish. Manabi itself seemed like a relatively nice town and had a new mall too, which we visited more than once. I realize that it seems silly to go to the mall, but believe me, when you are travelling this much, a clean public washroom, food court, and stores can bring you back some sense of western civilization, at least for a bit.
We picked up some interesting Anopheles in the area, but not many as elsewhere, as the coast is COVERED with banana fields, as far as the eye can see, and continual spray planes fly by, spraying the coast with pesticides banned in other countries. Julio told me that he saw some program about the disturbingly mutagenic effects that those banana pesticides have on the local children. It´s just awful. Banana Republic comes to mind.
We had planned to drive slightly north and stay two nights in Naranjal, but when we arrived, the highest rated hotel in town was literally a mattress on a dirty floor and they were hesitant to rent it to us for the entire night... they rent by the hour. Disgusted, we decided to forego collecting in the area, and we drove north toward Guayaquil. This, for the record, is why it´s impossible to make hotel reservations in advance. Better to go and see them first!
Approaching the town, you see brown fields of bamboo houses on stilts and shacks made of cardboard. Then you go over this bridge across the river, and suddenly you are in upscale Beverly Hills-type place. The people in the giant mansions can look across the muddy Daube river to the shantytown on the other side. It is just so bizarre.
Well I hate to be elitist but we found a lovely looking sushi restaurant in the fancy area of town, so we stopped there for an awesome lunch. I didn´t care at this point that it was expensive, as we had been driving for hours, with no place to stay, and it was just so hot. And the sushi was just so good.
After lunch, we kept going north toward our next town, Daube. Daube was basically worse than Naranjal, another shantytown. By this point it was 4pm and we had no place to stay. The roads of Guayaquil were too intimidating, so we decided to drive 2 more hours north to the NEXT town on the list. It was a bigger town so we were hopeful.
Anyway we arrived in Jipijapa around sunset and with a list of hotels in town. Turns out there was a big festival in the area and there were NO ROOMS. Santy at this point worked miracles and found us a moldy, yet not too bad hotel on the coast. We kept going until we reached the beach, and collapsed, exhausted.
Today we are taking the day to rethink our plans. The lack of places to stay is overwhelming on the coast and we can not do the route we had originally planned. Today, we came down the coast to a cute hippy town and I´m going to enjoy a nice lunch and buy some shell jewlery. Tomorrow we are going to head north to Portoviejo, near Montecristi - a big town with a nice hotel that actually had a website with photos, so we have a reservation. There are many roads branching out from there where we can collect. In a few days we are going to head back to Guayaquil and look for a place there that accesses the bridges in and out of town easily, and collect in the marshlands north and south of Guayaquil.
Finally, on the 21, Santy is coming to Guayaquil with a group. That means we are DONE the fieldwork and I am going back to Quito. I´m so keen to be done. Fieldwork is one thing, but being on the road constantly is another, and I´m really tired of it.
Please keep me up to date with what is new with you!
From there we headed down to the southern coast and stayed in Manabi. Our hotel was stinky and moldy but the rooms were at least cleanish. Manabi itself seemed like a relatively nice town and had a new mall too, which we visited more than once. I realize that it seems silly to go to the mall, but believe me, when you are travelling this much, a clean public washroom, food court, and stores can bring you back some sense of western civilization, at least for a bit.
We picked up some interesting Anopheles in the area, but not many as elsewhere, as the coast is COVERED with banana fields, as far as the eye can see, and continual spray planes fly by, spraying the coast with pesticides banned in other countries. Julio told me that he saw some program about the disturbingly mutagenic effects that those banana pesticides have on the local children. It´s just awful. Banana Republic comes to mind.
We had planned to drive slightly north and stay two nights in Naranjal, but when we arrived, the highest rated hotel in town was literally a mattress on a dirty floor and they were hesitant to rent it to us for the entire night... they rent by the hour. Disgusted, we decided to forego collecting in the area, and we drove north toward Guayaquil. This, for the record, is why it´s impossible to make hotel reservations in advance. Better to go and see them first!
Approaching the town, you see brown fields of bamboo houses on stilts and shacks made of cardboard. Then you go over this bridge across the river, and suddenly you are in upscale Beverly Hills-type place. The people in the giant mansions can look across the muddy Daube river to the shantytown on the other side. It is just so bizarre.
Well I hate to be elitist but we found a lovely looking sushi restaurant in the fancy area of town, so we stopped there for an awesome lunch. I didn´t care at this point that it was expensive, as we had been driving for hours, with no place to stay, and it was just so hot. And the sushi was just so good.
After lunch, we kept going north toward our next town, Daube. Daube was basically worse than Naranjal, another shantytown. By this point it was 4pm and we had no place to stay. The roads of Guayaquil were too intimidating, so we decided to drive 2 more hours north to the NEXT town on the list. It was a bigger town so we were hopeful.
Anyway we arrived in Jipijapa around sunset and with a list of hotels in town. Turns out there was a big festival in the area and there were NO ROOMS. Santy at this point worked miracles and found us a moldy, yet not too bad hotel on the coast. We kept going until we reached the beach, and collapsed, exhausted.
Today we are taking the day to rethink our plans. The lack of places to stay is overwhelming on the coast and we can not do the route we had originally planned. Today, we came down the coast to a cute hippy town and I´m going to enjoy a nice lunch and buy some shell jewlery. Tomorrow we are going to head north to Portoviejo, near Montecristi - a big town with a nice hotel that actually had a website with photos, so we have a reservation. There are many roads branching out from there where we can collect. In a few days we are going to head back to Guayaquil and look for a place there that accesses the bridges in and out of town easily, and collect in the marshlands north and south of Guayaquil.
Finally, on the 21, Santy is coming to Guayaquil with a group. That means we are DONE the fieldwork and I am going back to Quito. I´m so keen to be done. Fieldwork is one thing, but being on the road constantly is another, and I´m really tired of it.
Please keep me up to date with what is new with you!
Sunday, October 5, 2008
In Cuenca
Hi everyone!
I´m still alive! We have been keeping so busy and internet is rather sporadic in remote areas! The constitutional election happened last Sunday, and due to the government propaganda, the SI side won... so Ecuador has a new constitution allowing the government to have more power. Great. Basically, they sent people out into the country to paint slogans on people´s houses and fences, and there were only a few poorly funded groups campaigning for the no side.
Santy arrived Sunday on the bus to Banos, and worked with us for the entire week! We came back from a frustratingly unsuccessful trip to find dry ice, only to find him waiting for me in my hotel room! It was so great having him around! I was sorry to see him go.
While in Banos, I had to chop off most of my hair. It had gotten so burned and tangled from the sun that it was a big frayed mess that I couldn´t get a brush through! Anyway we went to a hole in the wall and the woman chopped it bluntly around shoulder length. It´s a huge mess and looks awful. I can´t wait for it to grow out again!
Out of Banos, we worked on a transect between there and Puyo in the Amazon. We drove past Puyo into the jungle and collected far down the Pastaza river. where the forest is being cleared to make way for cattle ranching. It´s one thing to see Amazonian deforestation on the TV and quite another thing to see it.. very sad. The worst thing is that the people in the area don´t seem to care about the destruction, as they only see the economically beneficial side of the land change.
Anyway, a very exciting thing happened! The three of us discovered a very unique and unusual caterpillar behaviour that we plan to publish as a note later. I don´t want to give anything away in case there are scientific spies reading. Nevertheless, it is a major discovery in caterpillar behaviour and we have enough data for a small yet significant paper after only a few stops at the site!
We were sad to leave Banos (as the food was so good there), but we had to carry on. We drove south to a town near Alausi called Huigra and stayed at a hacienda there. On the road, we drove through Chimborazo and actually saw Ecuador´s largest volcano (Chimborazo)! It was massive!
We collected more mosquitoes along the transect from Huigra to El Triunfo. It was interesting to visit farms of the true indigenous highland people and talk to them about their fly problems. The valley was so dry but we managed to collect some Anopheles anyway. One old man asked us to give him the trap. It´s hard to know how people will react to our visit!
On Saturday, I put Santy on a bus to Guayaquil for one of his tours, and said goodbye for the next 20 days. It will be so hard to be apart for so long while knowing he is close by in the country.
Today, we drove to Cuenca, stopping for an hour at Ingapirca, which is Ecuador´s largest Inca ruin site. It was not anything spectacular but still very interesting to see the Incan walls.
I promise to get some photos up when I get the chance, but I still have not had a lot of time to do it. In the meantime, everyone send me their addresses so I can send some postcards!
I hope you are all doing well too! Bye for now!
I´m still alive! We have been keeping so busy and internet is rather sporadic in remote areas! The constitutional election happened last Sunday, and due to the government propaganda, the SI side won... so Ecuador has a new constitution allowing the government to have more power. Great. Basically, they sent people out into the country to paint slogans on people´s houses and fences, and there were only a few poorly funded groups campaigning for the no side.
Santy arrived Sunday on the bus to Banos, and worked with us for the entire week! We came back from a frustratingly unsuccessful trip to find dry ice, only to find him waiting for me in my hotel room! It was so great having him around! I was sorry to see him go.
While in Banos, I had to chop off most of my hair. It had gotten so burned and tangled from the sun that it was a big frayed mess that I couldn´t get a brush through! Anyway we went to a hole in the wall and the woman chopped it bluntly around shoulder length. It´s a huge mess and looks awful. I can´t wait for it to grow out again!
Out of Banos, we worked on a transect between there and Puyo in the Amazon. We drove past Puyo into the jungle and collected far down the Pastaza river. where the forest is being cleared to make way for cattle ranching. It´s one thing to see Amazonian deforestation on the TV and quite another thing to see it.. very sad. The worst thing is that the people in the area don´t seem to care about the destruction, as they only see the economically beneficial side of the land change.
Anyway, a very exciting thing happened! The three of us discovered a very unique and unusual caterpillar behaviour that we plan to publish as a note later. I don´t want to give anything away in case there are scientific spies reading. Nevertheless, it is a major discovery in caterpillar behaviour and we have enough data for a small yet significant paper after only a few stops at the site!
We were sad to leave Banos (as the food was so good there), but we had to carry on. We drove south to a town near Alausi called Huigra and stayed at a hacienda there. On the road, we drove through Chimborazo and actually saw Ecuador´s largest volcano (Chimborazo)! It was massive!
We collected more mosquitoes along the transect from Huigra to El Triunfo. It was interesting to visit farms of the true indigenous highland people and talk to them about their fly problems. The valley was so dry but we managed to collect some Anopheles anyway. One old man asked us to give him the trap. It´s hard to know how people will react to our visit!
On Saturday, I put Santy on a bus to Guayaquil for one of his tours, and said goodbye for the next 20 days. It will be so hard to be apart for so long while knowing he is close by in the country.
Today, we drove to Cuenca, stopping for an hour at Ingapirca, which is Ecuador´s largest Inca ruin site. It was not anything spectacular but still very interesting to see the Incan walls.
I promise to get some photos up when I get the chance, but I still have not had a lot of time to do it. In the meantime, everyone send me their addresses so I can send some postcards!
I hope you are all doing well too! Bye for now!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Oh yeah!
Hi from Banos! I am so glad to be here. We found a really nice hotel here for 25$ a night... kind of expensive compared to what we have been paying but it is so nice for a change. I am looking forward to some decent food and a comfortable bed. Right now I am in front of a window overlooking a magnificent waterfall. Amazing!
We will be here for a while, as we cannot work tomorrow due to the election. For safety reasons we decided that road travel was a bad idea so we are taking a day off to enjoy Banos.
All for now!
We will be here for a while, as we cannot work tomorrow due to the election. For safety reasons we decided that road travel was a bad idea so we are taking a day off to enjoy Banos.
All for now!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Hiding under long sleeves in malarious La Mana
Hi everyone,
It´s our last night in La Mana, and I´m ready to go.
We had a great day in Latacunga first, a small town in the mountains, where we inquired with about 15 directionally-challenged ice cream men before finding a place that would sell us dry ice. We bought a block for 25 bucks and had a great night in town during a festival. Basically, during the festival, they get a bunch of pigs, cuy, chickens and rabbits, cook them, and make giant statues out of skewered cooked animals and liquor bottles, then carry these around town as part of a parade. As disgusting as that was, it was very interesting, and there was dancing in the streets!
From Latacunga we drove across the Andes for 2 hours before descending into the valley where we are studying, depositing traps along the way. We are staying at a small hacienda outside of La Mana, and are the only guests around. There is nothing to do at the place at night other than to hunt the giant venomless snakes or watch poorly pirated movies inside the main lodge with the couple´s little girl. We are getting a lot of larval Anopheles here... this place has a problem with malaria. We figured out that someone dammed the river upstream and here there are rock pools in the empty stream where Anopheles breed in huge numbers. I´m a bit freaked out about getting malaria or dengue as we are getting a lot of bites, despite our best efforts.
Interestingly, we had one of our traps removed by the police. The woman who we had left it with was apparently senile, and although we explained what the trap does, she called the police and told them that it was a bomb. We had to explain quite a bit to get our trap back! After that, the whole town did not trust us and sneered at us when we drive by. If you get the chance, don´t go to Tingo.
The technical problems with our traps are continuing. Despite the dry ice, the batteries are dying before we can get back to the traps... either a problem with the charger or the battery. We are trying to charge them for longer to see if it makes a difference. It is so frustrating....
Anyway, tomorrow we are getting up early and driving a long way, all the way to Baños. I am really looking forward to getting there, as the food here is terrible... we are eating crackers and tuna, since that is all that they sell in many grocery stores! I need to eat good strong meals to stomach my malarone and anti-parasite medication. Baños has some great restaurants with international food... I can´t wait.
Baños, here we come! When we arrive, the next day is the big vote on the new constitution. For safety, we are not going to be on the road working that day. Instead, we´ll have a nice Sunday in Baños to walk around town and rest! I´ll be sure to download some pictures then!
It´s our last night in La Mana, and I´m ready to go.
We had a great day in Latacunga first, a small town in the mountains, where we inquired with about 15 directionally-challenged ice cream men before finding a place that would sell us dry ice. We bought a block for 25 bucks and had a great night in town during a festival. Basically, during the festival, they get a bunch of pigs, cuy, chickens and rabbits, cook them, and make giant statues out of skewered cooked animals and liquor bottles, then carry these around town as part of a parade. As disgusting as that was, it was very interesting, and there was dancing in the streets!
From Latacunga we drove across the Andes for 2 hours before descending into the valley where we are studying, depositing traps along the way. We are staying at a small hacienda outside of La Mana, and are the only guests around. There is nothing to do at the place at night other than to hunt the giant venomless snakes or watch poorly pirated movies inside the main lodge with the couple´s little girl. We are getting a lot of larval Anopheles here... this place has a problem with malaria. We figured out that someone dammed the river upstream and here there are rock pools in the empty stream where Anopheles breed in huge numbers. I´m a bit freaked out about getting malaria or dengue as we are getting a lot of bites, despite our best efforts.
Interestingly, we had one of our traps removed by the police. The woman who we had left it with was apparently senile, and although we explained what the trap does, she called the police and told them that it was a bomb. We had to explain quite a bit to get our trap back! After that, the whole town did not trust us and sneered at us when we drive by. If you get the chance, don´t go to Tingo.
The technical problems with our traps are continuing. Despite the dry ice, the batteries are dying before we can get back to the traps... either a problem with the charger or the battery. We are trying to charge them for longer to see if it makes a difference. It is so frustrating....
Anyway, tomorrow we are getting up early and driving a long way, all the way to Baños. I am really looking forward to getting there, as the food here is terrible... we are eating crackers and tuna, since that is all that they sell in many grocery stores! I need to eat good strong meals to stomach my malarone and anti-parasite medication. Baños has some great restaurants with international food... I can´t wait.
Baños, here we come! When we arrive, the next day is the big vote on the new constitution. For safety, we are not going to be on the road working that day. Instead, we´ll have a nice Sunday in Baños to walk around town and rest! I´ll be sure to download some pictures then!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Tired and discouraged
It´s been a very rough couple of days, and I haven´t much felt like updating. From Baeza, Julio and I went to Tena, and stayed in the ever beautiful Shangri-La jungle lodge. As great as that was, we barely got any mosquitoes due to rain and then equipment failure. It was very depressing. On the long drive back to Quito, we decided to get some little coolers and look for dry ice, in order to improve our trap catches, as carbon dioxide attracts mosquitoes. I felt kind of depressed and frustrated with the whole thing, and really just needed a day off of work to step back and take in what needed to be done.
When we got back to Quito... more terrible news. Santy got denied his visa to visit Canada next May... which affects our long term plans. I realize that there are many sucker women who bring Ecuadorian men to Canada through sham marriages, but it seems utterly unconstitutional to deny a visit to other couples on that basis... the few that are real relationships. What it means is that it might be many years before Santy is able to visit me in Canada. I honestly feel like the government is patronizingly accusing me of being a stupid woman. Immigration Canada is a nightmare with no way to contact anyone with questions or comments. They are not responsible to anyone, it seems. The whole thing reminds me a little of the department of homeland security. It is terrifying that they control our borders this way... and more than a little shameful.
I took a day off on Saturday to collect my thoughts, and spent the day with Santy. He had to give a city tour in the evening, and I got the chance to tag along. Sunday, I was hit with a bit of a stomach illness. Even so, we went out for a nice breakfast of pancakes - something plain - and spent a nice day together organizing my field equipment and fixing traps. This morning we had planned to leave to go south, but the plans fell through as my stomach had gotten worse. We have some suspicions that it is a parasite infection, so I´m sending a stool sample to a lab tomorrow to check.
I´m not feeling too bad anymore so we are going to leave tomorrow. I changed my mind completely about Peru and now we are going to spend those 2 weeks more in Ecuador. I need to collect many more specimens in different locations if I hope to put together a good distribution map for different Anopheles species in Ecuador. I hope we can get some dry ice.
All for now, wish me luck tomorrow!
When we got back to Quito... more terrible news. Santy got denied his visa to visit Canada next May... which affects our long term plans. I realize that there are many sucker women who bring Ecuadorian men to Canada through sham marriages, but it seems utterly unconstitutional to deny a visit to other couples on that basis... the few that are real relationships. What it means is that it might be many years before Santy is able to visit me in Canada. I honestly feel like the government is patronizingly accusing me of being a stupid woman. Immigration Canada is a nightmare with no way to contact anyone with questions or comments. They are not responsible to anyone, it seems. The whole thing reminds me a little of the department of homeland security. It is terrifying that they control our borders this way... and more than a little shameful.
I took a day off on Saturday to collect my thoughts, and spent the day with Santy. He had to give a city tour in the evening, and I got the chance to tag along. Sunday, I was hit with a bit of a stomach illness. Even so, we went out for a nice breakfast of pancakes - something plain - and spent a nice day together organizing my field equipment and fixing traps. This morning we had planned to leave to go south, but the plans fell through as my stomach had gotten worse. We have some suspicions that it is a parasite infection, so I´m sending a stool sample to a lab tomorrow to check.
I´m not feeling too bad anymore so we are going to leave tomorrow. I changed my mind completely about Peru and now we are going to spend those 2 weeks more in Ecuador. I need to collect many more specimens in different locations if I hope to put together a good distribution map for different Anopheles species in Ecuador. I hope we can get some dry ice.
All for now, wish me luck tomorrow!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Rained out
Well here we are in Baeza, the land of flat, open, wet, PERFECT looking breeding grounds for mosquitoes... but alas, it is pouring rain and no end is in sight. Yesterday, we drove up over a high altitude mountain pass, across interesting yellowish paramo landscape and fog and then down into a cloud forest fringed with an unbelievable density of beautiful waterfalls. We are staying in Baeza, which is a smallish town en route to the jungle. We tried to get out there to sample the multitude of ponds for me, and streams for Julio, but it has not stopped raining, and mosquitoes hide in the rain. Anyway, we eventually gave up and headed back to the somewhat sketchy hotel to have a delicious lunch of soup and hot chocolate... just what is required after freezing in the rain!
I don´t think the rain will let up today. The plan is to have an easy night - a nice meal, a beer and some cheesy soap opera goodness, and then head to the jungle tomorrow. It´s raining there too - that is where Santy is right now - but let´s keep our fingers crossed. At least it will be warm there!
I don´t think the rain will let up today. The plan is to have an easy night - a nice meal, a beer and some cheesy soap opera goodness, and then head to the jungle tomorrow. It´s raining there too - that is where Santy is right now - but let´s keep our fingers crossed. At least it will be warm there!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Major update is required!
Hi everyone,
I´m so sorry about my lack of updates. We have been staying in extremely remote areas and, although I was back in Quito earlier, I couldn´t find the time to write in this.
Since the last update, we headed to Bellavista Cloud forest Reserve and stayed at the remote research station there. The place was rather unused by researchers and was annoyingly far into the bush. There was also - surprise - no electricity, so we had to make do with candles and gas stoves. This was an interesting experience with outdoor toilets and poisonous snakes. Santy came up to stay with us and work with us for three days during this. We all worked rather well together, driving around the area and setting up traps. I did finally manage to get some mosquitoes, so I was rather happy. However, when one has to sort them at night by candlelight, it is rather difficult to see what they are! The cloud forest was amazingly beautiful and we were woken up one morning by a loud toucan!
After four days in the bush, we returned a day early to Quito for rest and recuperation. Julio wanted to have a day to visit the museum collection here in Quito of mantids. Santy and I spent a nice day running errands and going on dates. We went to a lovely restaurant overlooking the city on Panecillo hill for dinner, and ordered great food and wine! It was so welcome after toughing it out in Bellavista with cold showers for a few days.
After our day in Quito, we were ready to leave again. This time, we headed out along a similar but more southerly transect. We stayed in La Hesperia Biological Reserve. The name is misleading because it is basically a hacienda that brings in international volunteers who PAY to work on the farm. While I liked the owners, it did seem rather fishy to me. Many of the volunteers were ill with unusual tropical diseases. One had contracted a very nasty reaction to the pollen from one of the local trees, making his face puff up horribly and skin break out into boils and blisters. The locals believe that this is a reaction of the forest to people cutting it down, sort of a revenge. Julio and I found many mosquitoes in sites along the road from Santo Domingo de Los Colorados - a pit, by the way - to Aloag.
In that particular valley, there is a major hydroelectric project under way to dam two rivers for electricity. The locals are running the project and are concerned about the common possibility of mosquito-borne diseases increasing. This happens because damming causes a massive increase in standing water. Anyway, the managers suggested that we put in a proposal to monitor the situation during the building of the dams and afterward too! It is a unique chance to study the changes caused before and after the building of dams. They also said that financial assistance will be possible. I´m pretty excited about getting into this, as it will be a fascinating side project, and will probably really help the community.
Otherwise we are in great health and doing very well. I think I am finally used to the food here. I was irritated because one of our traps was stolen in Tandapi. I was cursing the town on the way out, and just afterwards, there was a miraculous blackout! Aha! Proof that I have God-like powers!!
We are heading toward the Amazon side today. Wish us luck!
I´m so sorry about my lack of updates. We have been staying in extremely remote areas and, although I was back in Quito earlier, I couldn´t find the time to write in this.
Since the last update, we headed to Bellavista Cloud forest Reserve and stayed at the remote research station there. The place was rather unused by researchers and was annoyingly far into the bush. There was also - surprise - no electricity, so we had to make do with candles and gas stoves. This was an interesting experience with outdoor toilets and poisonous snakes. Santy came up to stay with us and work with us for three days during this. We all worked rather well together, driving around the area and setting up traps. I did finally manage to get some mosquitoes, so I was rather happy. However, when one has to sort them at night by candlelight, it is rather difficult to see what they are! The cloud forest was amazingly beautiful and we were woken up one morning by a loud toucan!
After four days in the bush, we returned a day early to Quito for rest and recuperation. Julio wanted to have a day to visit the museum collection here in Quito of mantids. Santy and I spent a nice day running errands and going on dates. We went to a lovely restaurant overlooking the city on Panecillo hill for dinner, and ordered great food and wine! It was so welcome after toughing it out in Bellavista with cold showers for a few days.
After our day in Quito, we were ready to leave again. This time, we headed out along a similar but more southerly transect. We stayed in La Hesperia Biological Reserve. The name is misleading because it is basically a hacienda that brings in international volunteers who PAY to work on the farm. While I liked the owners, it did seem rather fishy to me. Many of the volunteers were ill with unusual tropical diseases. One had contracted a very nasty reaction to the pollen from one of the local trees, making his face puff up horribly and skin break out into boils and blisters. The locals believe that this is a reaction of the forest to people cutting it down, sort of a revenge. Julio and I found many mosquitoes in sites along the road from Santo Domingo de Los Colorados - a pit, by the way - to Aloag.
In that particular valley, there is a major hydroelectric project under way to dam two rivers for electricity. The locals are running the project and are concerned about the common possibility of mosquito-borne diseases increasing. This happens because damming causes a massive increase in standing water. Anyway, the managers suggested that we put in a proposal to monitor the situation during the building of the dams and afterward too! It is a unique chance to study the changes caused before and after the building of dams. They also said that financial assistance will be possible. I´m pretty excited about getting into this, as it will be a fascinating side project, and will probably really help the community.
Otherwise we are in great health and doing very well. I think I am finally used to the food here. I was irritated because one of our traps was stolen in Tandapi. I was cursing the town on the way out, and just afterwards, there was a miraculous blackout! Aha! Proof that I have God-like powers!!
We are heading toward the Amazon side today. Wish us luck!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Back from the Colombian border
Hello everyone!
Well I´m back from the first of several collecting trips in the country. As part of my study, I wanted to sample a large variety of habitats just to see what is there. We started the work with a transect in the north of Ecuador between Ibarra and north to a town called Lita. The problem was, the majority of this route passed through semì-desert... very poor habitat for mosquitoes. I barely got any specimens.
The scenery was magnificent though, with gigantic mountains and canyons and small dry prickly shrubs that tore our skin. Towards Lita, there was a lot more agriculture and it was a bit wetter. Along the route are several police road blocks looking for cocaine smugglers. We didn´t have any problems, since we had all the necessary paperwork with us. As well, it was landslide city! There was one landslide in particular that repeatedly stopped us for an hour each way in and out of Lita. It was undergoing constant sliding, with many fist-sized rocks constantly tumbling down across the road. We crossed this quickly when the route was clear! I took a lot of good photos of this but I left my camera cord in Canada... so I will need to get a new one before I upload them.
In Lita, we met a nice young man who worked for the public health authority. He agreed to take us to a few up-mountain communities that had incidents of recent malaria. We went around with him in the forested communities, talking to people in their homes and dipping in the ditches and buckets around their properties. I collected some Anopheles larvae from some permanent tire tracks near a church. He was frustrated because he gave numerous community talks about covering up these water sources and filling in depressions, but nobody seemed to listen or care. Generally we were met with blank stares and distrust, although the residents were very cooperative. Two families in the area let us put up adult light traps on their land, although we didn´t catch too much.
We also visited a highland town called Salinas which sits on an alluvial valley. It used to be a marsh until they drained it several years ago for agriculture. The residents told us that the mosquitoes used to be quite bad when it was a marsh, but they had abated a lot. We didn´t manage to collect any mosquitoes from that place, despite our best efforts. However, there were many many black flies for Julio, probably the result of the fast-running irrigation canals.
I am generally doing well and I´m in good health. We are eating breakfasts in our hotels, snacking in the field, and eating a big dinner that he cooks at night. That way, we are making sure to avoid most problems. Probably our biggest nightmare is the road system in Quito. We got quite lost yesterday coming back into town. Yesterday we stopped in Otavalo for lunch and looked around the market there. It was nice to return to Otavalo on a less busy day and just be able to talk to the residents there.
Today, we are off to a cloud forest reserve. I think we will have more luck there, as the scientists at the research station tell me that there are many mosquitoes.
Ciao for now!
Well I´m back from the first of several collecting trips in the country. As part of my study, I wanted to sample a large variety of habitats just to see what is there. We started the work with a transect in the north of Ecuador between Ibarra and north to a town called Lita. The problem was, the majority of this route passed through semì-desert... very poor habitat for mosquitoes. I barely got any specimens.
The scenery was magnificent though, with gigantic mountains and canyons and small dry prickly shrubs that tore our skin. Towards Lita, there was a lot more agriculture and it was a bit wetter. Along the route are several police road blocks looking for cocaine smugglers. We didn´t have any problems, since we had all the necessary paperwork with us. As well, it was landslide city! There was one landslide in particular that repeatedly stopped us for an hour each way in and out of Lita. It was undergoing constant sliding, with many fist-sized rocks constantly tumbling down across the road. We crossed this quickly when the route was clear! I took a lot of good photos of this but I left my camera cord in Canada... so I will need to get a new one before I upload them.
In Lita, we met a nice young man who worked for the public health authority. He agreed to take us to a few up-mountain communities that had incidents of recent malaria. We went around with him in the forested communities, talking to people in their homes and dipping in the ditches and buckets around their properties. I collected some Anopheles larvae from some permanent tire tracks near a church. He was frustrated because he gave numerous community talks about covering up these water sources and filling in depressions, but nobody seemed to listen or care. Generally we were met with blank stares and distrust, although the residents were very cooperative. Two families in the area let us put up adult light traps on their land, although we didn´t catch too much.
We also visited a highland town called Salinas which sits on an alluvial valley. It used to be a marsh until they drained it several years ago for agriculture. The residents told us that the mosquitoes used to be quite bad when it was a marsh, but they had abated a lot. We didn´t manage to collect any mosquitoes from that place, despite our best efforts. However, there were many many black flies for Julio, probably the result of the fast-running irrigation canals.
I am generally doing well and I´m in good health. We are eating breakfasts in our hotels, snacking in the field, and eating a big dinner that he cooks at night. That way, we are making sure to avoid most problems. Probably our biggest nightmare is the road system in Quito. We got quite lost yesterday coming back into town. Yesterday we stopped in Otavalo for lunch and looked around the market there. It was nice to return to Otavalo on a less busy day and just be able to talk to the residents there.
Today, we are off to a cloud forest reserve. I think we will have more luck there, as the scientists at the research station tell me that there are many mosquitoes.
Ciao for now!
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Busy few days and new adventures
Hi there!
Things are going rather well here, although a bit crazy! Julio arrived yesterday and we went to the airport to pick him up. He arrived on time and we took him to the colonial part of town to check into his hotel and have a nap. We were exhausted after the night out - full of dancing and drinking a little. We picked him up again later after an hour-long problem with street closures, and headed out for dinner at the Magic Bean in gringoland where we tried some delicious veggie food - I was actually really craving veggies and it was awesome! Then we went to another bar for some drinks. I tried an interesting guanabana daquiri! Mmmm... After we dropped off Julio, Santy took me for a romantic walk in La Rona, a very ancient and closed street that was all fixed up by the city hall and absolutely glowing with a warm neighbourly area. We are definitely going back there.
Today was rather busy as well. While Julio enjoyed a day in Quito to rest and acclimatize, Santy and I headed to Guallabamba to drop off some things for his parents. I had to learn to drive the standard to at least an acceptable level, but I started out on the Panamerican highway, where one has to also get used to people sitting between lanes and driving like maniacs. It was very tense and stressful! I still don´t feel comfortable driving in Quito but I can if I need to, at least if something happened to Julio. I felt like crying a few times after almost hitting people. I am learning to use my horn a lot more.
In Guallabamba I learned to pick grapefruit, using a big long stick and shaking the branch holding the fruit. We picked so many! I also climbed an avocado tree but got freaked out when a gigantic spider the size of my palm crawled onto me! I was screaming until Santy told me it wasn´t poisonous. He is still teasing me... about my lack of entomological prowess.
Then it was back to Quito, with more stressful driving adventures. When we got home, we had a quick late lunch and headed to the mall to get some basics for groceries. It was so insane because it´s back to school tomorrow, so it took us hours to get our groceries and get home. We got home around 7 and have been frantically rearranging and packing my stuff. It´s basically ready to go tomorrow.
The plan is to start work tomorrow. We have to go get Julio and stop by USFQ in the morning to get some supplies. I really hope I can beg-borrow-steal some ethanol. Then we will drop off Santy and head north to Ibarra. Then, just a matter of finding a place to stay for the night in town, and probably setting up some traps if we have time. The plan is to work on the route until Thursday and come back to Quito then.
I have to say upfront that Santiago has been a saint. He is working nonstop with me to get everything ready, driving me around, carrying heavy things for me... he even rigged up a battery charger in parallel device for me while I was packing. He is an angel, and oh! ... just brought me a sandwich. I´m really really going to miss him while I´m in the field.
Things are going rather well here, although a bit crazy! Julio arrived yesterday and we went to the airport to pick him up. He arrived on time and we took him to the colonial part of town to check into his hotel and have a nap. We were exhausted after the night out - full of dancing and drinking a little. We picked him up again later after an hour-long problem with street closures, and headed out for dinner at the Magic Bean in gringoland where we tried some delicious veggie food - I was actually really craving veggies and it was awesome! Then we went to another bar for some drinks. I tried an interesting guanabana daquiri! Mmmm... After we dropped off Julio, Santy took me for a romantic walk in La Rona, a very ancient and closed street that was all fixed up by the city hall and absolutely glowing with a warm neighbourly area. We are definitely going back there.
Today was rather busy as well. While Julio enjoyed a day in Quito to rest and acclimatize, Santy and I headed to Guallabamba to drop off some things for his parents. I had to learn to drive the standard to at least an acceptable level, but I started out on the Panamerican highway, where one has to also get used to people sitting between lanes and driving like maniacs. It was very tense and stressful! I still don´t feel comfortable driving in Quito but I can if I need to, at least if something happened to Julio. I felt like crying a few times after almost hitting people. I am learning to use my horn a lot more.
In Guallabamba I learned to pick grapefruit, using a big long stick and shaking the branch holding the fruit. We picked so many! I also climbed an avocado tree but got freaked out when a gigantic spider the size of my palm crawled onto me! I was screaming until Santy told me it wasn´t poisonous. He is still teasing me... about my lack of entomological prowess.
Then it was back to Quito, with more stressful driving adventures. When we got home, we had a quick late lunch and headed to the mall to get some basics for groceries. It was so insane because it´s back to school tomorrow, so it took us hours to get our groceries and get home. We got home around 7 and have been frantically rearranging and packing my stuff. It´s basically ready to go tomorrow.
The plan is to start work tomorrow. We have to go get Julio and stop by USFQ in the morning to get some supplies. I really hope I can beg-borrow-steal some ethanol. Then we will drop off Santy and head north to Ibarra. Then, just a matter of finding a place to stay for the night in town, and probably setting up some traps if we have time. The plan is to work on the route until Thursday and come back to Quito then.
I have to say upfront that Santiago has been a saint. He is working nonstop with me to get everything ready, driving me around, carrying heavy things for me... he even rigged up a battery charger in parallel device for me while I was packing. He is an angel, and oh! ... just brought me a sandwich. I´m really really going to miss him while I´m in the field.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Good news
Well, the collection permits finally came through, so the project is a go! Also, yesterday I went to visit the rental car, and we picked out a pretty decent pickup truck with a raincover over the back and AC, so I´m quite happy.
Yesterday Santy and I went to the Canadian embassy in Quito. He dropped off his visa application and I went upstairs to register. It was a complicated matter and I couldn´t figure out how the fancy security cards worked. As well, the lady forgot about me in the consulate booth, so I had to go looking for her. Ah!
After our errands, Santy and I went out for a familiar lunch at his favourite pizza place. It was pizza made with a cheese made in a small Ecuadorian town using European technology. Delicious!
My cold is starting to go away and I have more energy. Just getting ready to go!
Today I´m off to get the rental car and visit USFQ. Tonight I think I´m going out with Santy and his friends.
Ciao!
Yesterday Santy and I went to the Canadian embassy in Quito. He dropped off his visa application and I went upstairs to register. It was a complicated matter and I couldn´t figure out how the fancy security cards worked. As well, the lady forgot about me in the consulate booth, so I had to go looking for her. Ah!
After our errands, Santy and I went out for a familiar lunch at his favourite pizza place. It was pizza made with a cheese made in a small Ecuadorian town using European technology. Delicious!
My cold is starting to go away and I have more energy. Just getting ready to go!
Today I´m off to get the rental car and visit USFQ. Tonight I think I´m going out with Santy and his friends.
Ciao!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Cow foot soup and other delicacies
Well, the sinusitis is not letting up, but I don´t feel that bad, except at night. Today was a relatively slow day generally. In the morning I made my own coffee - finally I´m being allowed to serve myself a bit!! After breakfast, Santy´s mom, the kids and I went for a long walk down to a market about half an hour away. The weather was bright and sunny although not terribly warm. At the market, we bought a few foods for lunch. The supermarket is generally really similar to those in Canada, although the fruit and vegetable section is more diverse and there are more... shall we say adventurous cuts of meat as well.
On the way back, we ran into a man with three goats on a busy street filled with cars. He was selling fresh squeezed goat milk. Yummy!!! The kids were quick to get some, although I had to decline. I must say it looked rather frothy.
Before lunch, I managed to get my paperwork mostly organized and into binders of data sheets. I also started going through the few purchases that I had made and recorded a translation of the receipts into a little notebook. Must keep organized!! This way, the finance people at Brock will hopefully have some notion that the money was spent on supplies, not... who knows what!
At lunch, we started with an Ecuadorian speciality, cow foot soup. Yes, they are cow feet. The kids introduced me to cow tongues in the grocery store. Anyway, being the person I am, I asked for a bit of meat in my portion to try it. I can´t say I am too keen on the cow foot meat. It´s transluscent, firm and gelatinous. I ate a few bites but had to decline the rest of the meat. The broth sure was delicious too, and different - I can see why they make soup with cow feet. It and the famous intestine soup are supposedly the best cold cures. We followed up the cows feet with chicken breasts and kraft dinner. I think Santy´s family is trying to make me feel more at home here! Good old KD!
After lunch, I was feeling rather sleepy. I found a packet of NeoCitran in my luggage, and sipping it, climbed into bed to watch a movie. While I don´t feel deathly ill, I certainly am tired, and not up for doing much else. What is more strange is that my stomach feels absolutely fine, but I am never hungry! In fact I am only eating with great effort. I wonder if it is the altitude?
Sinusitis... yeesh
I had a pretty good day yesterday hanging out with the family. I went downtown on the bus with Santy´s mom to buy a few things that she needed and also a big bag of Ecuadorian coffee, which smells like heaven! I played some frisbee with the kids in the little courtyard, and also had some good chats with Santy´s parents. We had a little Spanish-English dictionary on the table that we passed back and forth whenever we forgot a word. I feel very comfortable around them as they make me feel like one of the family!
I got an early night last night and slept until pretty late today. Slight nausea and stuff but nothing too bad or out of the ordinary. I woke up this morning with some sinus pain and think I might have sinusitis. I´m debating going to a doctor to get antibiotics since it helps it clear up faster. Normally these days I would just tough it out with some decongestants, but that takes a long time. To be honest it´s not that bad though!
I got a call yesterday from the prof at USFQ on the cell phone Santy had lent me. As I had not send out the number yet I thought it was Santy making fun of me. Good thing I didn´t say too much! I am planning to go to the school on Friday. Hopefully that will give Santy and I a few days to feel better so that we don´t infect everyone at the school.
I got an early night last night and slept until pretty late today. Slight nausea and stuff but nothing too bad or out of the ordinary. I woke up this morning with some sinus pain and think I might have sinusitis. I´m debating going to a doctor to get antibiotics since it helps it clear up faster. Normally these days I would just tough it out with some decongestants, but that takes a long time. To be honest it´s not that bad though!
I got a call yesterday from the prof at USFQ on the cell phone Santy had lent me. As I had not send out the number yet I thought it was Santy making fun of me. Good thing I didn´t say too much! I am planning to go to the school on Friday. Hopefully that will give Santy and I a few days to feel better so that we don´t infect everyone at the school.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Cold...ugh
Santy just left today for an overnight with some tourists. I seem to have gotten his cold from him, however, so I´m consuming lots of tea and cough drops. It´s pretty cold here at the moment... I´m a little chilly in a sweater in his house, so I´m trying to keep warm under some blankets. We managed to buy almost everything we needed yesterday. We were quite the sight in the mall: each of us carrying a big cooler full of things for the project.
I plan to take it easy today. I am going to run some errands with Santy´s mom downtown in the morning, and this afternoon coming back here. I am hoping to get my stuff together, and probably do some reading and sleeping as well. I hope to kick this cold quickly and move on. Santy gets back tomorrow in the later afternoon. Let´s see what Vitamin C can do!
I plan to take it easy today. I am going to run some errands with Santy´s mom downtown in the morning, and this afternoon coming back here. I am hoping to get my stuff together, and probably do some reading and sleeping as well. I hope to kick this cold quickly and move on. Santy gets back tomorrow in the later afternoon. Let´s see what Vitamin C can do!
Monday, August 25, 2008
Barbeque
We had a great barbeque yesterday of about 6 different types of sausages, white corn on the cob, potatoes and other delights. After the late lunch, we were both feeling pretty exhausted, so we took a long nap. Poor Santiago has a Canadian cold from one of his tourists, and last night he had a bit of a fever. We are both stocking up on Vitamin C to boost our immune systems.
Still no sign of the usual illnesses. The altitude is making me no end of sleepy, although I do find that drinking an occasional beer helps a lot.
Today we have big plans to run errands. I need to buy numerous things for my study, and Santy has errands to run as well. All for now!
Still no sign of the usual illnesses. The altitude is making me no end of sleepy, although I do find that drinking an occasional beer helps a lot.
Today we have big plans to run errands. I need to buy numerous things for my study, and Santy has errands to run as well. All for now!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Bienvenidos a Quito
Hello from Quito! Aside from a short delay in Atlanta on the tarmac, everything went fine with my trip here yesterday. My bags even showed up and I managed to get a cart, although it cost extra. I met a lot of undergrad exchange students on the plane who were coming to Ecuador for their first time, so I felt a bit like the seasoned pro with all the advice.
Santy picked me up at the airport and I did the running into his arms like in the movies thing. He gave me possibly the largest bouquet of roses I have EVER SEEN... It is half my height and incredible. I need to get a photo of it. I was feeling a bit altitude dizzy but otherwise fine, so we headed to the bar to meet some of his friends for a drink and some dancing. I figured out that the solution to altitude dizziness is beer. I felt incredibly better after one!
So far just a slow morning. I feel wrecked! I think because of the altitude I didn´t sleep that well. Santy said I was talking in my sleep and he had to keep asking me if I was ok.
The plan now is to go to the shopping centre and get some groceries for a family barbeque today. While we are there, we are going to get a few things that I need as well.
Oooo Santy just showed me a bunch of BEETLES that he caught, in vials with ethanol, and LABELED like an entomologist! Roses and beetles... what more could a girl want?
Santy picked me up at the airport and I did the running into his arms like in the movies thing. He gave me possibly the largest bouquet of roses I have EVER SEEN... It is half my height and incredible. I need to get a photo of it. I was feeling a bit altitude dizzy but otherwise fine, so we headed to the bar to meet some of his friends for a drink and some dancing. I figured out that the solution to altitude dizziness is beer. I felt incredibly better after one!
So far just a slow morning. I feel wrecked! I think because of the altitude I didn´t sleep that well. Santy said I was talking in my sleep and he had to keep asking me if I was ok.
The plan now is to go to the shopping centre and get some groceries for a family barbeque today. While we are there, we are going to get a few things that I need as well.
Oooo Santy just showed me a bunch of BEETLES that he caught, in vials with ethanol, and LABELED like an entomologist! Roses and beetles... what more could a girl want?
Saturday, August 23, 2008
soon!
The shuttle arrives in an hour and a half. I need to get going on an exhaustive list of things like unplugging all my appliances, closing my windows, turning on the heat slightly, etc...
Shan assured me that I will have no trouble finding carts at the airport for my insane luggage. Shannon, I expect a cart. Otherwise, I blame you!
Bye Canada!
Shan assured me that I will have no trouble finding carts at the airport for my insane luggage. Shannon, I expect a cart. Otherwise, I blame you!
Bye Canada!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Last day...
Well I finished packing today after my last load of laundry. I thought my personal bag felt a bit heavy, so I took out a pair of dressier shoes as well as my running shoes, and just put in a pair of lightweight street shoes. It actually helped a lot. I still think about the weight of my bags constantly. It will be better once I get there with all of them... (crossing fingers)
I know that it is unwise to put all your eggs in one basket... but sometimes in life you just have to. I still have major problems which I hope to sort out once I arrive, including the lack of PERMIT. Santy seems to think that if we show up at the ministry with a box of chocolates it might push the process along. I hope it works out. I have a feeling it's one of those things where they see September 1 on the application, so they get it ready for August 31.
I know that it is unwise to put all your eggs in one basket... but sometimes in life you just have to. I still have major problems which I hope to sort out once I arrive, including the lack of PERMIT. Santy seems to think that if we show up at the ministry with a box of chocolates it might push the process along. I hope it works out. I have a feeling it's one of those things where they see September 1 on the application, so they get it ready for August 31.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Packing and driving
Last-minute things are under way at the moment. It is beginning to feel surreal. Most of the time when I think about leaving I am happy about it, but occasionally I feel a sudden jolt of sadness of the people and things I will miss when I am out of touch with my life in Canada.
Today I got a refresher lesson from Aynsley of how to drive stick-shift. She said I was doing quite well, at least until we were inspected from afar by campus security. Apparently we were driving in the forbidden lot. Eventually I think they figured out what we were doing, although never actually asked us. Great security guards we have... way to protect the students!
I also packed, well, mostly. I am getting fixated (worriedly) on things that I perceive as future problems. These OCD style fixations are very typical of me. Right now, I am fixated on the weight of my bags. I'm apparently allowed two checked bags and a smaller carry-on. The checked pieces are a maximum of 50 lbs, which is a ridiculous lot if you are going on a holiday, but not much if you are going for 4 months of work where you need a large variety of clothing, objects, and equipment. I have two big duffel bags, which are far lighter than traditional suitcases, but the downside is that I have to actually carry them, and I can't carry them both at the same time (let alone pull my carry on). Now I know how high-maintenance women feel in the airport. (Wait - they would have luggage with wheels). I wouldn't be so worried, except there is a stop on overweight bags to Quito - meaning if my bags are heavier, they won't make it. I can just see myself in the Buffalo airport wondering how to courier a bag that size to Ecuador. It's just not an option.
My fears were allayed somewhat by my bringing my blue duffel to the shipping office at Brock and weighing it on a scale there. It was about 41 lbs. Since that point I added three light items, and it shouldn't be over 50. The other bag (my personal bag) feels slightly lighter, so I think I am in the clear. Still, I am carrying my weight in baggage. I really sincerely hope that I can find carts, especially in Quito, to get myself around the airport. At least (I think) my bags fly through to the destination. Once I'm there, I plan to leave a lot of my things there in Santy's house. He did get two drawers in that dresser ready for me...
If only suitcases still looked like this...
Today I got a refresher lesson from Aynsley of how to drive stick-shift. She said I was doing quite well, at least until we were inspected from afar by campus security. Apparently we were driving in the forbidden lot. Eventually I think they figured out what we were doing, although never actually asked us. Great security guards we have... way to protect the students!
I also packed, well, mostly. I am getting fixated (worriedly) on things that I perceive as future problems. These OCD style fixations are very typical of me. Right now, I am fixated on the weight of my bags. I'm apparently allowed two checked bags and a smaller carry-on. The checked pieces are a maximum of 50 lbs, which is a ridiculous lot if you are going on a holiday, but not much if you are going for 4 months of work where you need a large variety of clothing, objects, and equipment. I have two big duffel bags, which are far lighter than traditional suitcases, but the downside is that I have to actually carry them, and I can't carry them both at the same time (let alone pull my carry on). Now I know how high-maintenance women feel in the airport. (Wait - they would have luggage with wheels). I wouldn't be so worried, except there is a stop on overweight bags to Quito - meaning if my bags are heavier, they won't make it. I can just see myself in the Buffalo airport wondering how to courier a bag that size to Ecuador. It's just not an option.
My fears were allayed somewhat by my bringing my blue duffel to the shipping office at Brock and weighing it on a scale there. It was about 41 lbs. Since that point I added three light items, and it shouldn't be over 50. The other bag (my personal bag) feels slightly lighter, so I think I am in the clear. Still, I am carrying my weight in baggage. I really sincerely hope that I can find carts, especially in Quito, to get myself around the airport. At least (I think) my bags fly through to the destination. Once I'm there, I plan to leave a lot of my things there in Santy's house. He did get two drawers in that dresser ready for me...
If only suitcases still looked like this...
Monday, August 18, 2008
Enjoying my last...
I'm going to great effort to enjoy those things that I will miss while I am away, not so much due to cautiousness as much as my own paranoia. I hate being sick, so much that I avoid many enjoyable foods like fresh cool veggies, ice cream, and raw fish while I'm away. I think I have eaten ice cream almost every day for the last month... delicious.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
I am still waiting
I am beginning to feel a bit nervous about my upcoming field season. I have thought through the experiments, the protocol, the data collection and the "plan", but in the field everything tends to go awry and all you can do is react, react, react until you have a pile of hopefully useful data. My goal is to return with a stack of this type of useful, well-replicated data, as well as specimens and all my toes.
There is so much to consider when planning a trip such as this - it is not merely an easy jaunt across the water. Many apparati that we need are only available from North American shops so I had to plan this well in advance. I am double checking frequently and hoping I made the correct decision.
Otherwise, I have been mentally packing and trying to figure out exactly what I will require to keep me going for the next 4 months. Sometimes I feel like I would be happy with just the clothes on my back, but when I start thinking of things I might want or need, the list grows exponentially.
I suppose ultimately I have been waiting a long time to leave, and it is just time.
There is so much to consider when planning a trip such as this - it is not merely an easy jaunt across the water. Many apparati that we need are only available from North American shops so I had to plan this well in advance. I am double checking frequently and hoping I made the correct decision.
Otherwise, I have been mentally packing and trying to figure out exactly what I will require to keep me going for the next 4 months. Sometimes I feel like I would be happy with just the clothes on my back, but when I start thinking of things I might want or need, the list grows exponentially.
I suppose ultimately I have been waiting a long time to leave, and it is just time.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Leaving soon
After some deliberation and discussion with friends, I decided to come back to the world of blogging for the purpose of writing about my experiences while in the field. I am a graduate student, field ecologist and medical entomologist, and I am heading to the Andes to try to characterize the breeding ground suitability for different Anopheles mosquito species. This group of mosquitoes is the one responsible for transmitting malaria. At the moment, most species are limited to lowlands where the habitat is suitable for larval development and adults. However, most scientists agree that this altitudinal barrier will change with the progression of global warming.
I'll see.
I have big plans this year for a four-month stint in Ecuador and Peru. Although most of my collecting plans in Peru fell through, I am still planning a trip to Lima to visit some of the main entomology collections. For anyone planning to collect in Peru: it is possible, but so easy to get your permit stuck in a heap of bureaucracy.
I'm leaving in three weeks, and arriving in my new favourite place, Quito.
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