Liming Time

Wow, long time no post! It has been quite a while since I had internet, and quite a bit has happened between the last one and now! First of all I completed my first session of guppy mark-recapture, which is an achievement. It was a great experience- two weeks of guppy fishing and processing. I’m fully in the swing of things here now, I pretty much know the drill and can pretty much do everything now.

One big thing that happened is that we had our first time off. We utilized it well, taking full advantage of three days of relaxation. After work the last day of our mark-recapture we all showered (thank God) and piled in two vehicles (there were ten of us in two super small vehicles that actually were only supposed to fit 9 people) and drove east and then north to a sleepy little town called Grande Riviere where we had made reservations at a little beach-front hotel. The place was perfect; we were the only people there, there were good, comfortable beds with clean sheets and AIR CONDITIONING! The air conditioning was seriously so nice. I was actually cold at night and had to use a blanket. It was the perfect few days, we just hung out on the beach during the day, and limed at night, drinking beers and run drinks made with fresh coconuts. We also invented the Trini version of the Irish car bomb.... the Trini Maxi Bomb. (Maxis are these mini-buses that are sort of like a makeshift public transportation system.) The drink consisted of local Trini favorites--- Mackeson, an OK stout beer, and a shot of half creme de cacao, half White Oak rum. It was pretty awesome. I hope it catches on.... (it's not going to)

We had one more day off after the beach, and utilized it by heading to the mall and seeing a movie and soaking in a last bit of A/C. We saw Dinner for Schmucks. It was awful. seriously the worst movie I have seen in  a really long time. I wanted to walk out at multiple points in time. But it was still fun to see a movie.

And then it was back to work. Not having internet has made me a bit lazy in preparing posts, so I'll have to try a bit harder in order to have some more profound thoughts. 

BEACH DAY!

Well, lots of exciting things have gone on since the time of last posting. Immediately after the previous post most of the group went to see a movie. We all paid TT $22.00 (around US $5.50) to see “The Town.” It was a pretty good film, and we all agreed we were at the least entertained. And there was air conditioning. And the ticket was really cheap. So it was a good experience.

The next few days we did the usual work routine, catching guppies and processing them in the lab. One day we went out in the early morning as usual, got to our stream, unpacked and had about ten minutes of fishing time before it started a total downpour. We are in the wet season here, so it is normal to have rain, and indeed we have at least a 5 or 10 minute shower every day. This particular downpour though lasted much more than 10 minutes and was particularly intense. Will, the person I was fishing with told me after 10 minutes to watch the water level in the stream, if it went up an inch, then it was time to go, as a flash flood would be coming. So after 15 minutes or so the water was up an inch, and we packed up and headed out, and as we were doing so, the water was steadily becoming more and more brown and rising quite quickly. By the time we were leaving half an hour or so after the rain had started the river was a torrent, and the water level was up at least two feet higher than normal. At this particular site we have to hike up and back in the stream because the walls of the ravine are so steep, which presented a particular problem… If we walked in the stream, we would assuredly be transported swiftly downstream and over rocks, trees and waterfalls. So we inched our way along the side of the what I will now call a river, climbing on rocks that were out of reach from the stream bed just an hour or so before, but were now at the water’s edge. At a few points we had to cross from one side to the other due to particular impediments, and the four guys basically made a human chain across while the girls inched across using us for support. More than one person lost their grip and was swept a ways downstream. We eventually made it to our trailhead and out of harm’s way. Everyone in the group used their heads and stayed safe, working well as a team. It was quite an experience, and actually kind of fun.

The next couple of days we worked frantically to catch up from our flood-out. We had a day off on the calendar and we wanted to keep it there. On the second processing day/fish release day I got sick. Which is the worst. I was really looking forward to going to release the fish and have a swim in the river. Unfortunately I was not the only person who was sick. Two others dropped out as well, which meant that four people had to carry all the fish bottles filled with water back to the stream. (I/we average about 18 liters when we have 6 or 7 people, so having only four people is really a stretch) Anyway, I stayed home to rest and basically slept all day, I didn’t even know that the other people were sick and in the house even. Luckily the next day was our day off, to be spent at the beach. Miraculously, I recovered enough to feel like I could make the trek north to the coast.

The beach day was great, but the sun wasn’t out much, which was just fine with me, because the medication I started taking to combat the sickness makes my skin super sensitive to sunlight. We spent most of the day in the water just messing around, body surfing and such. I brought a small fishing rod and reel with me as well, and we had fun tossing a lure in, although we didn’t catch a thing, or even get a bite. I’m still hopeful that I’ll get a chance to do some real fishing sometime.

After a few more days of working, I had to go into Port of Spain, the capital city in order to try to get my visa extended (see the previous post about that fiasco). We woke up around 5 am in order to drive to the city and be there around 7:00 am, get to the immigration building, take a number, wait, and then get called to the desk. At the desk, I simply filled out a paper, and handed it to the worker. She told me “Come back on the 22^nd”. So I have to go back and get my visa officially extended. But we took the time in Port of Spain to get a smoothie from this little shack. It was a delicious combination of sea moss and pumpkin. I have no idea what sea moss is… I guess it is some sort of algae maybe. Also we walked around a bit and brought back roti for everyone for lunch. Roti is a sort of Indian dish, two layers of dough with some egg in between, then wrapped and stuffed with curried meat, and sides. I had goat with pumpkin and potato/channa (channa is chickpea). Goat was ok, a bit tough though and I probably wouldn’t get it again.

Things are rolling along here! I’m having a great time so far.

Bieber Fever

So I’ve been here in Trinidad for nearly a week, and I’m beginning to settle in. I’ve had 3 full work days at the time of this composition, and probably more by the time that this actually gets published. The rest of the group returned from their vacation on Tobago and our party of two here at the house quickly became a party of nine-plus. Stephanie, stayed home from Tobago to pick me up from the airport, Erin, Katie, Corinne, Nicole, Katherine, Will, Mike, and I have all been working on the Guppy mark-recapture project, and Brett, Karen, Keely and Andy have been working on other parts of the project. I’ve started to get to know everyone a little bit, feeling out personalities using my standard barometer of the poop joke. In my 23+ years I’ve found that you can find out a whole lot about a person by their response to a poop joke.

The living arrangement here is typical of a developing country in a tropical location, with our house having lots of large windows with screens and steel bars, mostly concrete/cinderblock construction. I share a room with two other guys, and I have a large mosquito net above my bed, which I haven’t used to date, but I think I am going to start, because I think that I’m getting a little bit up during the night. And speaking of getting bit up, I’ve pretty much come to terms with the fact that I’m going to get Dengue fever. There isn’t any prevention and there isn’t really any cure except to wait it out. But I’m getting bit a lot during the day by the type of mosquitoes that carry it, so it might just be a matter of time… I hope not. We have a nice view of the ridge across the river, and although our view is a little limited it is really nice to see the jungle trees and some nice tropical birds. Sometime soon I’ll try to take a few photos.

On a side note, someone just turned on “Hips Don’t Lie” by Shakira as I am writing this. I just thought that everyone should be aware.

Anyway, here’s a little bit on what I’m doing here in Trinidad. I am part of a team who goes to a number of streams and catches guppies. Yes, the same guppies that you can buy at the pet store, although these are a bit less colorful, but I think that some of the ones we catch are way more impressive than the ones you can buy in the store. Once we catch the guppies, we put them in bottles and bring them back to our lab (just a room off the side of our house) where we mark each fish with an injection of colorful plastic under its skin, weigh it, measure it and take a photo. Once we do that, we take the fish back to the stream where we caught it and release it in order that we can catch it again. The most basic point of our project is to track the life history of the guppies over generations. I’m still a little fuzzy, but if I understand the most basic point of the project, it is to demonstrate that evolution can happen very quickly. We see the evolution in the changing of life histories. Females will have lots of small babies in an environment with high predation, and in areas of low predation they will have few babies but they will be large, with a better chance of survival. In biology this is known as R selected vs. K selected. (just the jargon for two strategies of reproduction). I’m getting the hang of what is going on, and I’m feeling not so lost during field days and in the lab preparing, which is good I think. It’s been a while since I’ve been the new guy and not had any company.

While adjusting, I’ve found it hard to have my camera out and taking photos, although I did get to the field and take a few.

Bill Gates, Donald Trump.... LET ME IN

Whew. Well I’m here. It was quite a long day. It really was fine except for a McDonald’s filet o fish replacing a double cheese mix up in Dallas. And of course the immigration fiasco in Port of Spain…

I started my day off well, I got to the airport in St. Louis in plenty of time, said goodbye to Mom and headed off toward security, where I was sure that they would make me take my camera out of my bag and explain to them what it was. But they didn’t, thank God. And I was on to my first flight of the day, St. Louis to Dallas. No problem. I got to Dallas, had to take the “Airtrain” to another terminal, and decided to pick up some lunch. This is where the Filet o Fish fiasco happened. Actually not that big of a deal, it probably didn’t ever really reach fiasco status. And then I was on the next plane, this time a 777 instead of a MD80, and on my way to Miami. I liked the 777… it had a bit more room than the other two. I got to  Miami, had to do a quick terminal change, no big deal, and then I called a few people and said some goodbyes, as telephone is probably not happening for me for a while. I was on the plane, a 757, bound for Port of Spain, Trinidad. 757s suck if you’re taller that 5’4” by the way. The flight was fine. It was actually pretty cool to fly over Puerto Rico and see all the lights. There were a ton of baseball diamonds lit up. (cue grandpa voice) It reminded me of my playing days.

We touched down in Trinidad, and I was feeling pretty good, but then there was a bad omen. The health inspector was not there to meet the plane to collect the proper paperwork. So we waited at the gate for 10 minutes. Minor in the scheme of things to come…

I went to the line marked visitor at immigration, waited, and waited, and waited. And it was finally my turn. So I went to the officer, gave him my passport and slip, and told him what the purpose of my visit was. He looked at the slip, saw I was staying 88 days, and decided to have his supervisor call the place where I was to stay. Which, as it turns out, is not actually where I am staying. But anyhow, they took my passport and told me to wait. So I waited. And waited longer. And longer. And longer. And finally the guy told me that he needed someone from the University of the West Indies (located on Trinidad) to call and tell them I was legit. Which is a problem, because I only had one name of someone from the University of the West Indies, and it I only had her office telephone number, and she has no idea who I am…

So after making frantic phone calls via skype, (thank God I had my computer and there was some sort of free internet), I got a hold of the person who was picking me up (thank God she didn’t leave) and showed the immigration people that I did indeed have a return ticket to the US in December, and dropped a couple of names, the let me into the country.

But only for two weeks.

I have to go back to immigration and show them the proper paperwork, and to be honest, I am not really sure what the proper paperwork is. So hopefully they do not kick me out of Trinidad in 2 weeks.

Bed time.

View from our front porch

Home Sweet Home

So I've been back in the good ol' U.S. of A for about a week now. Which seems like a long time sort of. Mostly because I have gotten quite a bit of stuff done while I've been here. Except putting away the clothes from my suitcases, that is... Yes, they are still half full / half spilled on the living room floor. Instead of putting the clothes away, I have begun the daunting task of cleaning my room and closets. This is quite an undertaking, because I don't think I have done anything like this since we moved into this house when I was in 5th grade. So needless to say, some cousins will be getting some hand-me-downs and Goodwill will likely see a windfall. I am already on day 2 of this operation, and I foresee it totaling 3-4 days. So why waste my time on this while at home for such a short time? I guess I don't really know when I will have another chance to do anything like this, so I thought while I had the time it would be a worthwhile thing. I won't post any pictures of the carnage in an effort to save myself some embarrassment.

I've quickly been ticking things off the list of things I was going to do here. One of the first items to go was a having a steak. mmm mmm! It was nice to have some real beef. That's neither here nor there though. I got some yard work done for mom, and went swimming one day. Also, I invested (ok, I blew half my summer salary) in a new lens for my camera. I got a super-telephoto lens that I can take some pictures of wildlife and such with. The impetus came when I was in the woods taking some photos, and I saw a really nice pair of indigo buntings, and I tried to take a photo of them, but they were just so far away that they were tiny in the frame. If I wanted any bird photos to turn out in Trinidad, I would have to have something different. So I broke down and got it. Here are a few photos that I took with it.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Archilochus colubris

Wild Turkey, Meleagris gallopavo

I also have been seeing a bit of wildlife in the woods and in the yard around the house. These are various creatures taken using various lenses that I have.

This Five-Lined skink, Eumeces fasciatus

'

Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina carolina

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Papilio glaucus

Things I will do when I get home on August 17th:

Hug my parents.

Eat a big fat steak, medium rare.

Have a real beer.

Listen to “Empire State of Mind” and “Young Forever” by Jay-Z.

Watch TV.

Not be surprised when a stranger waves.

Marvel at how cheap food and beer are.

Ride my bike.

Sweat my ass off.

Make gratuitous numbers of calls on my cell phone.

Wear shorts.

Go swimming.

Get a tan.

See some stars.

Shave my beard.

Listen to insects at night.

Go fishing.

Miss Iceland.

The remnant population

Today is my last full day in Iceland. I have spent the past three days here in Reykjavik, and the few days before I arrived here were spent in Mývatn frantically finishing the processing of our samples, taking down our sites, saying goodbyes and cleaning up the house, barn and field station. This frenetic pace is certainly to blame for my recent lack of posts. I will do a bit of recap of our last days in the North.

About 5 or 6 days before we were to depart Mývatn we were informed that another scientist on our project and his family were to arrive at Kálfaströnd. This usually would be welcome news, but with 3 children already in the house and 3 more arriving we began to be a bit concerned. We three interns and Jamin were asked to move to the field station. Which sounded OK when we discussed it before the arrival, but when the time came it became a bit of a hardship. We kept asking ourselves if we were really to pack our things and move to the field station when we had only 5 nights left in our house? Bre and I had just gotten used to our new quiet space in the attic. And we would come to the house just for meals? And there would be another group cooking in our tiny kitchen? 14 people in our house at meal time? It just didn’t make sense. So we didn’t pack, hoping that we could convince them to go to the field station for a few nights at least. It didn’t work. So we moved. And it turned out to be ok, but at the time none of us were too happy. The field station became a bit of a refugee camp, as the four of us threw all our possessions into bags haphazardly and dumped them on the floor when we arrived in our new home.

Our final days working in Mývatn were quite strenuous. We scrambled finish our samples, and worked ~14 hour days for nearly a week. And while all this was going on we had become addicted to the TV show “Mad Men,” which Kyle had on his computer. This meant we would watch episodes from when we stopped working at 23:00 until at least 1:00 or 2:00. We didn’t exactly get much sleep. Also during these days, I celebrated my birthday, complete with cake and ice cream! I can’t say it was the most special birthday ever, really it was just another day that we were working really hard, but it was certainly nice to be in a beautiful place with people that I like.

We finally finished all our field sampling on the 11^th. Which left the morning and early afternoon of the 12^th to pack up the lab and clean everything. Which we all thought was never going to happen. But it did. Just in time to drive to Akureyri and pick up our rental car to drive to Reykjavik. The drive south was nice, but the landscape in the west certainly is not as scenic as the drive taking the easterly route. We made it to our temporary home, Oli’s apartment. Which also became something of a refugee camp, as there were 6 people (Oli’s cousin was visiting as well) crammed into his studio. Which incidentally has a single air mattress and a single chair. And a really hard floor. We had a fun night in Reykjavik though. It was great to be there again with good friends. We did the usual bar-hopping, hitting some favorites like Bakkus and Boston. Bre even left a souvenir, which I have passed many times as I walk back and forth from downtown.

The next morning it was time for the crew to take off. Bre, Jamin and Kyle’s flight left four days before mine did, so we said our goodbyes and I was left to hang out with Oli and his cousin Dave for a few days. We also did the typical Reykjavik Friday night, visiting some friends at a “house party” and then heading downtown for some bars and eventually ingesting a hotdog to cap the night off.

The following day I ventured back downtown to walk around and hit a museum or two. I ended up at 871+/- 2, which is the settlement museum. Basically this place is a preserved archeological dig of what is probably the first settlement in Iceland. The museum is really quite well done and it gives some indication about what life was like in the 9^th century in Iceland. After this, during my rambling about the city, I ran into Oli and Dave, and we contemplated what to do for dinner. Wit hit the Bónus, and decided on an Icelandic oddity, horse. It really was quite good. Much milder than I expected, and certainly it was not tough. The meat did have a distinct flavor though.

Yesterday I wandered about town again, this time stopping at the National Gallery of Iceland. There was some really great art from Icelandic artists, and a whole lot of it I just didn’t get. I guess that comes with the territory of being a scientist… There also was an exhibit of Edvard Munch, which was quite nice. It contained mostly lithographs and prints he made. Unfortunately “The Scream” was not present.

I returned home and saw Oli and Dave off, as they were heading eastward to camp. And now I am alone in the city, sort of just hanging out. I will hit a couple of more museums, and have a drink with my archeologist friend Frank, who is still in town, but it really is quite lonely. And with that, I am quite ready to head home.