aimless erin: May 2005

Swamp update

after doing some preliminary-preliminary sampling last month, i had somehow managed to talk myself into a false sense of security:

so maybe i got lost once or twice. got stuck in the mud. stuck in a tree fall. maybe we lost the diameter tape in the swamp one day and had to go back and find it the next. and i may have put my compass through the washer and drier. (may have). but this whole rain forest field research thing is a piece of cake. really. it will take me no time at all to go to my 40 (now 48) sites. honest. and the swamps have a certain appeal. they're almost homey.

the last two weeks have proven that i am full of shit. which many of you already know and know well. but every once and a while i like to pretend otherwise. but no. i really am full of shit. and the swamps are NOT homey. by any stretch of the imagination.

week one: 7 sites in 5 days. from only 4 of which did we collect USEABLE data. one site we never actually managed to find. (due to more inpenatrable spiny thorny viney buisness). we did, however, manage to find and disturb a wasp nest. and in order to get stung by the wasps and not find the marker, we crossed the river 4. then another 4 times to get back. the last site, though, was the best. ooooh, it was located in swamp, all right. but in the middle of a clearing. surrownded by thick viney vegetation. surrownded by dense trees and undergrowth. that were entangled in sharp, pokey, viney buisness. that we had to wack our way through. those other 4 sites, they were good and swampy.

week 2 went had a similar degree of success (or lack there of). only was even better because i think i managed to get some wierd (but luckily short lived) little tropical bug. i think it may have had something to do with those bananas growing outside the clearing that bernal keeps bringing me to eat. but damn, they taste soo good! and i cant say no to bernal. besides, i'm just trying to accomodate new bacteria into my digestive tract. i need some new flora.

and today bernal brought me a guaba fruit! they are long pods from Inga trees with white furry seeds inside. you eat the fuzz off the seeds, which may smell a little like fish, but tates really sweet. almost like cotton candy. and clearly i have yet to learn my lesson on eating strange unwashed fruits here.

Anyhow, a few highlights from the past 2 weeks in the field:

-- found ONE cabeza de chancho (pig skull). ONE foot stuck in some creatures burrow, ONE boot almost lost to the creature of the burrow (mau had to pull my boot out cuz it didnt come with my foot) and (may have) gotten lost once. oh and ONE fer de lance on the trail
-- found TWO wasp nests. have TWO mysterious rashes that may or may not be the result of a fuzzy caterpillar in my shirt
-- THREE spiny palm attacks (infected hand, infected knee, thorn in the forehead)
--have sampled FOUR of la selva's swamps
--FIVE sites in thickets of thorns and spiny palms and spiney lianas
--SIX hundred meters of sliding up and down the hill on LOC
--SEVEN umm... i dont know. i probably fell at least seven times
--80 meters of elevation climbed up and down six times in 2 hours trying to get around the thickets

anyhow, i've run out of numbers. perhaps its time to enter some numbers of my data.

fern

wasp nest

really big tree

really really high

we're really high

view from tower

maybe this one

can i have an island?

morning, ships coming in

ferry dock

lonely nite

from my room

public transportation within panama city

from the hostel

polluted bay

sky scrapers of panama city

Panama city and BCI (last one, i promise)

Next stop was Panama City, only a 7 hour bus ride from david, checked into hostel at 2 am. wandered the city the next day, successfully getting lost 4 times. not a huge fan of panama city. we walked past the bay, big mistake. all raw sewage of panama city is dumped untreated into the bay. that night we met up with a friend of melissa's, andrew, for a chill evening: beers, pasta and some illegal stuff on the balcony. our hostel did have a great view of the city lights, and the nearby casino. up at 5 am the next morning, caught hour long bus to panama canal, took ferry to BCI, arrived around 9 in the morning. beautiful trip through the canal. you can see for yourself. BCI is a research station, often thought of as a sister station to la selva. it is an island of about 15 km2. drier forest, no venemous snakes or large predators (the whole island thing...). at BCI we went for a hike to one of the canopy towers. its about 40 meters of scaffolding that you climb up, no harness. open on all sides. awesome view from the top. we were really high up above all the trees, could see a bunch of little islands and mainland across the canal. then was a hike through the forest. saw a ton of howler monkies who were none too thrilled to have us walking through. made it back to eat and catch the ferry back through the canal. and i discovered i had 23 ticks. mmmm. 23 ticks.

another nite in panama city, then bussed back to san jose. it was a 16 hour bus ride, including the 2 hour boarder stop, were we had to get past the panama boarder and through costa rica immigrations. shady shady boarder crossings. first we were herded into a run-down room in panama for the drug sniffing dogs to come check all the luggage (officials didnt even look at the id in my passport) then walked a halfmile down a gravel road, no lights (and it was at night) to the costa rica side, where we were herded into a little fenced in area for our stuff to get checked again. back in costa rica we made our way back to la selva (HOME!) and melissa got to see la selva in all its glory. including the lab assistant that inappropriately tries to pet me. and we went for a float down the river :). and la selva does feel more or less like home now, mainly because i have my hammock up. with mosquito netting. and stick nearby to try to hit the pecaries with if they come too close.