Back in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

June 20th, 2009 by eanzalone

Hola chicos y chicas!

It´s wonderful being here again in port after a long, hard week up at the reserve.

This week was quite eventful. It started out Monday morning. We were ready and awake at 8 am with our machetes to take down some mora. We rode to a neighboring farm, took a hike, and the mora cutting began. Everything was going great. We had music playing and our spirits were up after a wonderful weekend on the tour. The day started taking a turn quickly. First, Erin had a terrible expereience with fire ants and a spider. A small spider slipped into my glove and bit my hand. It stung and ached for a good while, while my back and chest had bites all over them from fire ants slipping under my tank top when they fell from the trees. Then, Ian started complaining of a terrible ache in his stomach, constantly bending over with his hands across his belly. Luckily, the work was coming to an end so we jumped in the car and headed back to reserve. Upon reaching Jatun Sacha, Ian was immediately sick. We laid him down and he tried to keep down water and meds, but nothing would help. It was time to head back here to port to the hospital. Lydia, the wife of the leader of Jatun Sacha tagged along to help us with the language barrier. Unfortunately, she ONLY speaks spanish so the conversation between her and I was almost hilariously elementary. Lots of hand signs..haha. Ian was soon given an IV and drugged up. He was asleep within 30 minutes of arriving. We left about 3 hours later. Ian´s stomach was in good shape, but he was exhausted and very weak.

Tuesday morning after Erin had some breakfast, we headed back to the reserve. We had the rest of the day off to relax. But Erin was told she would be needed the next day out in the field. Later that night, 2 more girls from the tour went to the hospital. One with high fever and the other with the same stomach symptoms as Ian. Lydia was very upset, yelling to us in spanish about how somewhere the tour is sending us to eat on the other islands is unsanitary.

So Wednesday morning, we thought everything that was unfortunate was over..but we were wrong. While Ian slept for the morning, I headed out to work with other volunteers. We weren´t working but for 20 mintues, when one of the German boys, Phillip, asked if anyone had a bandaid. I told him yes, but as I walked over to him with the bandaid, blood was coming out of his boot. His machete slipped off a rock when he swung and sliced through his boot, cutting his big toes down to the bone. He needed much more than a bandaid. He soon left for the hospital to get stitches.

Hopefully, all the accidents and sickness are done from here on out!

OK! So I´m sure all of you are wondering what we are doing at the reserve with our reserach proposals. We have been getting quite a lot of work done. Ian and I have layed out and observed 20 plots. There, we sit and count evidence of herbivory and insect visitation. The first day of research we came up with his hypothesis. They seem to be proving correct thus far. For instance, we have noted that the invasive species Mora Comun, is much more visited and eaten when there are berries and flowers present. The Mora berry here is very popular on the island not just to the insects and birds, but to people too. We are about half way done with the plots and Ian has been taking a bunch of notes on the surrounding ecosystem of the humid highlands. This week, we will be sitting down with Cesar, King of Jatun Sacha. We have been told he knows everything we need to know about the plants. We are going to ask him about the history of the invasive species we have been taking a look at thus far. The photography work is coming along great too. Ian and I have been discussing in full on how the First Friday show will look. I feel that we are coming to some great conclusions and I beleive the show will be a success in documenting our experience here and the research we have done.

We head back to the reserve tomorrow afternoon, but after another full day at La Loberia Playa. We got a lot of sun today. The snorkeling was great. We swam all day with the sea lions. The port is such a great reward after putting in our time at the reserve in the highlands. And after the first few mosquito bites, you kind of get used to it!

Hope all is well in Los Estados Unidos. Happy Father´s Day to our dads and shout out to Justin and Mr. Ware for birthdays as well! We love and miss everyone, and can´t wait to see you guys!

Ciao from SudAmerica!

Ian and Erin