So I kept a mini-journal of our camping trip because we've done a ton and I wanted to make sure I remember everything.
So on Day 1, we left early in the morning and drove four hours to La Paz. We stopped at CIBNOR, which is the main research facility for Baja California Sur. There are various CIB centers throughout Mexico, each specialized on area-specific subjects. We toured the facilities and saw agriculture experiments on desert farming, aquaculture experiments which looked at conditions for raising different types of fish and crayfish (which are blue in warm waters!), massive pools set into the bay for shrimp aquacultures, and typical labs that look at water quality, tissue studies, etc. We also looked through some of their specimens, which included a talk with a spider/insect expert (some people held a tarantula) and their stuffed bird collection. We also saw their Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) which science nerds will know is a really cool piece of equipment. Instead of using light as an energy source, they shoot electrons at things and can see very tiny images-like the hairs on a fly's body. That was awesome, and equally cool was I understood the guy's Spanish pretty well. In general, CIBNOR has a really pretty campus-lots of white buildings. They offer MS & PhD programs, and that's where Vero got her PhD, so she knew just about everyone.
We camped at a beach on La Paz, best part was the most awesome bright red sunset which my camera didn't even begin to capture.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
We had a ton of DR days this past week. We've been out to Isla Magdalena twice so far, and got stuck at the center for a couple of times as well. I hate getting stuck here, because it means I have waaay too much time on my hands. I end up using a small portion to get things done, but most of it I end up sitting around thinking "ugggh I have so much to do." I'm much more productive if I only have like 3 hours to work.
This morning Kay & I got up early to interview an agricultural extension agent for our pesticide project. He brought up some really good points about pesticides boosting productivity, and how we still can't feed everyone. He also pointed out that pesticides are expensive, so most farmers will try other methods first, and if they do have to use them will limit their use and try to do it in a way that keeps as much of the chemicals on their crops as possible. He's exactly the kind of person we wanted to talk to, besides the EPA. I'm just going to call them soon, I haven't heard back from half the sources we emailed.
Got the morning off (during which I did very little), then went to the island at one. We had three interviews with coop members, including some good ones. One guy told us a lot of people were worried about the NGO that's working with them, COBI (Comunidad y Biodiversidad) because he doesn't know what they want from the coop. A lot of these people aren't familiar with NGOs, so he thought that COBI would want a percentage of profits or something, he didn't realize it's totally free. Even (actually, especially) the government here wants a cut of everything.
Our last interview of the day was a knockout. The guy worked for CONAPESCA, the fisheries management/enforcement agency, and was also a member of the coop. He had some very different answers about how much people obey the rules and what needs to be done to improve enforcement. Everyone has been saying that they don't want outsiders watching the area, because they don't trust them. But this guy said that he does want an outsider, because half the time the coop members go out and the guatero (theif/bandit) is their cousin, or their brother-in-law or something, so they pretend they don't see them. This guy thinks that if it's a third party they won't be swayed by connections.
In general, this guy was very knowledgable and very dedicated to conservation. As just a normal fishermen, no extra education, he noticed that the fish stocks were going down and decided that they had to be protected. So he started patrolling the area. At one point, with CONAPESCA he completely cleared out the bay of guateros in fifteen days. Within those fifteen days people burned out his car while he was out patrolling. On the 18th day they beat the shit out of him. In that month he was driving down the highway and got chased off the road. And the worst part is that it's so hard to get anything to stick to anyone, he sends people to court and they just pay off the court and are back out in a few days. He knows one guatero that he's caught three times named his boat after him as a joke. But he keeps at it, because he says that after years of doing this, even with little judicial backup, he's seen results. Talk about amazing people. He's facing all kinds of challenges, literally risking his life to protect the bay, and didn't even go to high school.
This morning Kay & I got up early to interview an agricultural extension agent for our pesticide project. He brought up some really good points about pesticides boosting productivity, and how we still can't feed everyone. He also pointed out that pesticides are expensive, so most farmers will try other methods first, and if they do have to use them will limit their use and try to do it in a way that keeps as much of the chemicals on their crops as possible. He's exactly the kind of person we wanted to talk to, besides the EPA. I'm just going to call them soon, I haven't heard back from half the sources we emailed.
Got the morning off (during which I did very little), then went to the island at one. We had three interviews with coop members, including some good ones. One guy told us a lot of people were worried about the NGO that's working with them, COBI (Comunidad y Biodiversidad) because he doesn't know what they want from the coop. A lot of these people aren't familiar with NGOs, so he thought that COBI would want a percentage of profits or something, he didn't realize it's totally free. Even (actually, especially) the government here wants a cut of everything.
Our last interview of the day was a knockout. The guy worked for CONAPESCA, the fisheries management/enforcement agency, and was also a member of the coop. He had some very different answers about how much people obey the rules and what needs to be done to improve enforcement. Everyone has been saying that they don't want outsiders watching the area, because they don't trust them. But this guy said that he does want an outsider, because half the time the coop members go out and the guatero (theif/bandit) is their cousin, or their brother-in-law or something, so they pretend they don't see them. This guy thinks that if it's a third party they won't be swayed by connections.
In general, this guy was very knowledgable and very dedicated to conservation. As just a normal fishermen, no extra education, he noticed that the fish stocks were going down and decided that they had to be protected. So he started patrolling the area. At one point, with CONAPESCA he completely cleared out the bay of guateros in fifteen days. Within those fifteen days people burned out his car while he was out patrolling. On the 18th day they beat the shit out of him. In that month he was driving down the highway and got chased off the road. And the worst part is that it's so hard to get anything to stick to anyone, he sends people to court and they just pay off the court and are back out in a few days. He knows one guatero that he's caught three times named his boat after him as a joke. But he keeps at it, because he says that after years of doing this, even with little judicial backup, he's seen results. Talk about amazing people. He's facing all kinds of challenges, literally risking his life to protect the bay, and didn't even go to high school.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Also! Turtles!
Almost forgot!
Last night I joined Eduardo's DR group for a turtle monitoring camping trip. We packed up and had probably a 45 min boat ride (and a bouncy one at that) to a mangrove island. Set up camp, ate some dinner the cooks had made us, and I had my shift at 8pm. Nicki, Eduardo, AJ's friend Erik and I went out on one of the pangas to pull up the turtle nets. We didn't have any in ours, but one of the morning groups did catch a rather large turtle. I'll get pictures up sometime, I'm overdue but I can't seem to coordinate my memory with my internet service. But anyway, around 7 the turtle DR group measured the turtle's shell and head, weighed her, tagged her, took a skin sample and set her on her way. They have one more turtle monitoring trip left, which I may or may not do. I'd like to actually catch a turtle one of these times, but on the other hand I got like no sleep last night because it was so windy.
Last night I joined Eduardo's DR group for a turtle monitoring camping trip. We packed up and had probably a 45 min boat ride (and a bouncy one at that) to a mangrove island. Set up camp, ate some dinner the cooks had made us, and I had my shift at 8pm. Nicki, Eduardo, AJ's friend Erik and I went out on one of the pangas to pull up the turtle nets. We didn't have any in ours, but one of the morning groups did catch a rather large turtle. I'll get pictures up sometime, I'm overdue but I can't seem to coordinate my memory with my internet service. But anyway, around 7 the turtle DR group measured the turtle's shell and head, weighed her, tagged her, took a skin sample and set her on her way. They have one more turtle monitoring trip left, which I may or may not do. I'd like to actually catch a turtle one of these times, but on the other hand I got like no sleep last night because it was so windy.
Aaand I´m an idiot...
I just realized that I do not, in fact, have my account set up to let me know when I have a comment on a post. So for everyone who´s been commenting, sorry for never replying! I didn´t even realize I had comments!!
Today wasn´t horribly exciting, but not bad. Started out with Eduardo´s class, which was pretty much analyzing labwork from the bird exercise and a mangrove thing we did earlier in the semester. The mangrove one is fairly cool-I forget if I mentioned it, but we went out to this area of mangrove forest that was dug up for a pipe. The center had put in permanent quadrant markers (PVC pipe stakes) and we laid out the square and took a picture of the area. The point is to see what kind of colonization mangrove has-does it sweep across an area gradually or does it get picked up by the wind and "jump", are there some plants that prep the area? So we have the pictures and there´s a computer program (Vidana) that´s a lot like paint. You color different areas (in our case, different plants) colors, specify your quadrant, and it calculates percent cover. For anyone who´s ever tried to estimate percent cover (coughWillcough), you know it´s VERY hard to get repeatable data. This program still isn´t fantastic, but it´s much better than eyeballing it. We don´t have to write up the data, but we do give to Gustavo because it´s a project he´s been running for awhile.
After lunch we had site cleanup (boys bathroom...yay...actually literally yay, it´s a lot nicer than the girls!). Then we went into town to do prep work for the mural we´re painting. We´re doing it on the side of the recycling center, so we split into shifts and painted the wall white, as much as we could reach until our paint ran out.
Not much else going on today. Found a calendar template online so I could have a copy of due dates on me...oh my god our schedule is horrifying. We have at least two reports or papers due every weekend until the end of the semester. And the end of the semester is less than a month away! When did that happen??? Just when I was starting to get a little homesick (or at least "ready to go home") I realized that. It makes me feel like a little kid hanging on to my blanket: "No! You can´t make me leave!" And it´s terrifying that I have so much to do in such a short time. A short paper and a large paper (+ interviews) for AJ, two reports for Eduardo, one report for Vero, and the laaaaarge DR paper which involves not only doing more interviews, but sitting down and translating those interviews, which will take at least as long as the interview itself, which is running 30-40 minutes.
Which reminds me! We went to Isla Magdalena yesterday and got a FANTASTIC interview with this one fisherman. He was very eloquent, seemed like a very kind man (or at least came off that way, since he has both puppies and a kitten right now lol) and gave us a lot of information. He also started tearing up when we asked about why protect the area. He said "Our fathers gave us this island and said it´s yours now, you´re in charge. It´s our duty and responsibility to take care of what they gave us" He started choking up and Guadalupe (Eduardo´s wife and our translator) and I almost lost it. I´m loving these interviews for those awesome moments when you get to see someone else´s life and stories.
Today wasn´t horribly exciting, but not bad. Started out with Eduardo´s class, which was pretty much analyzing labwork from the bird exercise and a mangrove thing we did earlier in the semester. The mangrove one is fairly cool-I forget if I mentioned it, but we went out to this area of mangrove forest that was dug up for a pipe. The center had put in permanent quadrant markers (PVC pipe stakes) and we laid out the square and took a picture of the area. The point is to see what kind of colonization mangrove has-does it sweep across an area gradually or does it get picked up by the wind and "jump", are there some plants that prep the area? So we have the pictures and there´s a computer program (Vidana) that´s a lot like paint. You color different areas (in our case, different plants) colors, specify your quadrant, and it calculates percent cover. For anyone who´s ever tried to estimate percent cover (coughWillcough), you know it´s VERY hard to get repeatable data. This program still isn´t fantastic, but it´s much better than eyeballing it. We don´t have to write up the data, but we do give to Gustavo because it´s a project he´s been running for awhile.
After lunch we had site cleanup (boys bathroom...yay...actually literally yay, it´s a lot nicer than the girls!). Then we went into town to do prep work for the mural we´re painting. We´re doing it on the side of the recycling center, so we split into shifts and painted the wall white, as much as we could reach until our paint ran out.
Not much else going on today. Found a calendar template online so I could have a copy of due dates on me...oh my god our schedule is horrifying. We have at least two reports or papers due every weekend until the end of the semester. And the end of the semester is less than a month away! When did that happen??? Just when I was starting to get a little homesick (or at least "ready to go home") I realized that. It makes me feel like a little kid hanging on to my blanket: "No! You can´t make me leave!" And it´s terrifying that I have so much to do in such a short time. A short paper and a large paper (+ interviews) for AJ, two reports for Eduardo, one report for Vero, and the laaaaarge DR paper which involves not only doing more interviews, but sitting down and translating those interviews, which will take at least as long as the interview itself, which is running 30-40 minutes.
Which reminds me! We went to Isla Magdalena yesterday and got a FANTASTIC interview with this one fisherman. He was very eloquent, seemed like a very kind man (or at least came off that way, since he has both puppies and a kitten right now lol) and gave us a lot of information. He also started tearing up when we asked about why protect the area. He said "Our fathers gave us this island and said it´s yours now, you´re in charge. It´s our duty and responsibility to take care of what they gave us" He started choking up and Guadalupe (Eduardo´s wife and our translator) and I almost lost it. I´m loving these interviews for those awesome moments when you get to see someone else´s life and stories.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Went kayaking for real this time today, out in the lagoon behind the school. I'm fairly tired, because paddling didn't really click until about 15 minutes before we left. I was having a hard time and pulling at the paddle rather than pushing with the other arm. Finally realized that if I think of it like pedaling something with my arms, I could get the feel right. Saw some more birds-pelicans, great blue herons, a White Ibis, some small shorebirds, lots of gulls, and an osprey. And then once I got back to school I saw a great egret.
Before we went kayaking though we watched this documentary called de Nadie (Nobody). It was about central americans going through Mexico to get to the US. Getting through Mexico is the most dangerous part for these people, there's a gang called the Mara who target immigrants and will rob, beat, kill & rape immigrants. A lot of people try to jump on the trains (immigration doesn't really check them), but sometimes the Mara will be in control of a train and require payment. If someone doesn't have the money for the Mara they'll throw them off the train. And the Mexican police are just as bad, robbing people and beating them. A lot of the people they talked to were leaving because they couldn't earn enough money in their country to feed their children. One man had a distended stomach-literally coming out of his abdomen-and was trying to get to the US to get an operation, and then send money home to his children. Brady told us about how she's helped some of her Mexican friends apply for visas. Her one friend paid over $2000 on applications, got to the interview and was turned away. When she asked why, the guy told her "no reason." The people who want to, and need to, come to the US can't afford to do so legally and by the time they get to the US border they've already come through 4/5 of the journey and have probably gone through worse than most of us could imagine.
Before we went kayaking though we watched this documentary called de Nadie (Nobody). It was about central americans going through Mexico to get to the US. Getting through Mexico is the most dangerous part for these people, there's a gang called the Mara who target immigrants and will rob, beat, kill & rape immigrants. A lot of people try to jump on the trains (immigration doesn't really check them), but sometimes the Mara will be in control of a train and require payment. If someone doesn't have the money for the Mara they'll throw them off the train. And the Mexican police are just as bad, robbing people and beating them. A lot of the people they talked to were leaving because they couldn't earn enough money in their country to feed their children. One man had a distended stomach-literally coming out of his abdomen-and was trying to get to the US to get an operation, and then send money home to his children. Brady told us about how she's helped some of her Mexican friends apply for visas. Her one friend paid over $2000 on applications, got to the interview and was turned away. When she asked why, the guy told her "no reason." The people who want to, and need to, come to the US can't afford to do so legally and by the time they get to the US border they've already come through 4/5 of the journey and have probably gone through worse than most of us could imagine.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Today was the first day this week that I've done anything more than sit in class or work on my directed research paper (hence no blog posts, I hate writing a post "I wrote a lot today..."). We have three sections of our research paper due on Sunday, including a literature review which probably took the longest time as I had to find articles that applied and then read them and pull out the important parts. I wasted a lot of time looking at papers that ended up not having much to do with my project.
But anyway, we did some fun stuff today! We had two quick lectures in the morning, one from Vero on tourism and one that an intern Nicki taught on birds, mostly on the main types of birds and how to identify them. Then we got into pangas and had a bird field exercise, where we drove around the bay counting the different species we saw. I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would, I may have the potential to become a "bird nerd" as Nicki called it. I also somehow knew all the random silhouettes she used in her powerpoint (stuff like herons, warblers, swallows). We saw the obvious ones, like gulls (no such thing as a seagull!) and brown pelicans, but we also saw Brant geese, cormorants (diving/fishing birds), 2 American Oystercatchers (largest species of shorebird), Royal Terns, lots of Magnificent Frigatebirds (which also do this and I think what Nicki decided was a Least Sandpiper which were little tiny birds on the shore. I liked birding, it seems pretty easy to get started in, and you can do it wherever you go. I may pick up a bird guide when I get home, I already have a pair of binoculars.
We were supposed to go kayaking in the mangroves for more birding after lunch, but we all decided that the water was too choppy for it to be very enjoyable. So instead we had more time to write (which I happily wasted) and are tentatively rescheduling for tomorrow afternoon. It should be fun, I've liked kayaking when we've gone, even if I'm still not very good at it.
Oh! I almost forgot to retell my April Fool's successes. I really love April Fool's day, probably too much. I got both my postdoc Rickey and my mom. I've spent probably the last three months designing my own project with Rickey for the summer, and we've gotten funding for it and everything, so I sent him an email telling him that I got offered an awesome job in Mexico for the summer and couldn't pass it up. I was already planning on doing it, then Rickey sent me the perfect entry in an email confirming my summer start date. Mom also gave me a perfect opportunity when she sent me the usual "I haven't heard from you in X days, are you ok? Are you still alive?" So of course I sent her an email that casually mentioned I had typhoid and that if it didn't get better in the next week I'd have to go home. But don't worry. I let Rickey sweat it all day, but Mom would probably have a heart attack and die after news like that so I killed it within the same email.
But anyway, we did some fun stuff today! We had two quick lectures in the morning, one from Vero on tourism and one that an intern Nicki taught on birds, mostly on the main types of birds and how to identify them. Then we got into pangas and had a bird field exercise, where we drove around the bay counting the different species we saw. I actually liked it a lot more than I thought I would, I may have the potential to become a "bird nerd" as Nicki called it. I also somehow knew all the random silhouettes she used in her powerpoint (stuff like herons, warblers, swallows). We saw the obvious ones, like gulls (no such thing as a seagull!) and brown pelicans, but we also saw Brant geese, cormorants (diving/fishing birds), 2 American Oystercatchers (largest species of shorebird), Royal Terns, lots of Magnificent Frigatebirds (which also do this and I think what Nicki decided was a Least Sandpiper which were little tiny birds on the shore. I liked birding, it seems pretty easy to get started in, and you can do it wherever you go. I may pick up a bird guide when I get home, I already have a pair of binoculars.
We were supposed to go kayaking in the mangroves for more birding after lunch, but we all decided that the water was too choppy for it to be very enjoyable. So instead we had more time to write (which I happily wasted) and are tentatively rescheduling for tomorrow afternoon. It should be fun, I've liked kayaking when we've gone, even if I'm still not very good at it.
Oh! I almost forgot to retell my April Fool's successes. I really love April Fool's day, probably too much. I got both my postdoc Rickey and my mom. I've spent probably the last three months designing my own project with Rickey for the summer, and we've gotten funding for it and everything, so I sent him an email telling him that I got offered an awesome job in Mexico for the summer and couldn't pass it up. I was already planning on doing it, then Rickey sent me the perfect entry in an email confirming my summer start date. Mom also gave me a perfect opportunity when she sent me the usual "I haven't heard from you in X days, are you ok? Are you still alive?" So of course I sent her an email that casually mentioned I had typhoid and that if it didn't get better in the next week I'd have to go home. But don't worry. I let Rickey sweat it all day, but Mom would probably have a heart attack and die after news like that so I killed it within the same email.
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