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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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?

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!

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.

This seems oddly appropriate...

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...

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.

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.

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.