Harsh Winds and Blazing Sun 12/8/2010

Another rough day in the field was spent lazing under the hot sun. At this point my hands are so tanned it looks like I am wearing gloves. I keep the rest of my body protected with warm clothes, so the only thing exposed most days are the manos and carra. I am starting to resemble a raccoon. Tomorrow I have a day off. Maybe I will go outside in my bathing suit and try to add some color to the rest of my body. It will only take about ½ hour until I look like a lobster.

With only one capture, there was a lot of time for planning and making to do lists. The schedule has pretty much fallen apart with regard to who will be assisting me in the field with the last colony. I decided not to worry about it. As for the ‘to do’s, it’s really just a matter of cleaning the house, laundry, entering data and making labels. My professor, Dr. Loren Hayes, requested a thesis outline, some figures, and some graphs to show my progress. I balked at this at first, but having no internet, he gave me an extension. I have been working on these things, but really I don’t know how detailed to be. I will send rough drafts down with Gaba to be e-mailed and see if what I have so far is sufficient. I hope things are going well in Berkeley with Michael and all the blood smears, and parasite identification and density counts. I certainly do not envy him.

I have been giving a lot of thought to the different angles we can approach the data I have collected. I have so much data to analyze I am not sure how I will finish it all in one year. However, this spring, I will have to start developing a portfolio of research topics/hypothesis to pursue for (and present to) prospective programs for my Ph.D. thesis. Loren recommended I go to University of Miami to work with one of his colleagues, but I am thinking of taking my research in a different direction. I really want to continue to pursue acoustic ecology, and I have taken a greater interest in hormones and their role in behavior since last summer. Also, the 2010 Müller and Cant paper on what can be termed as culture in banded mongoose really caught my attention. I also wish to continue working in S. America. So, I have to see if I can find a program somewhere that will allow me combine my interests and explore some of my questions. I will also have to take the newly revised GRE general and subject tests. I am not looking forward to that. Incredulous.

Calling Spalacopus cyanus

I keep fantasizing about the moment I step off the plane in San Antonio. Seeing the beautiful faces of my family and getting great big hugs will be a dream come true. A dream I have been having for near to six months now. I think about the bath of kisses I will receive when finally get home and see my Sammie-dog. Will she be mad at me that I left her for so long and not even come see me? Impossible! I can’t wait for kitty kisses from my fuzzy brothers. And maybe Sky won’t growl when I go to love on her…probably asking for too much on that one.

I hope mom and Lizzy saved some ornaments and space on the tree for me. Then afterward, we can go Christmas caroling in that spiffy new truck of my mom's with the seat warmers. It is possible I will be wearing shorts on Christmas day, being so used to the cold here in the mountains.

After tomorrow, there will be only one more week of trapping coruros, then more characterization work. The first few days I was in the field, I was characterizing habitat openness. This time, I will attempt to collect information about the density and complexity of the burrow systems. This will take two days. Maybe I can do some relaxing in between, with two extra days saved for bad weather that I have not had to use yet. After that I pack up and head back down to Santiago to unload cargo and work on samples to send off for two days, hopefully with all the paperwork is prepared for easy shipment of the samples.

Passing Days 12/7/2010

It has been 12 days since Thanksgiving and I have not taken a single day off from working in the field since. I need a break. Each day gets a little harder: harder to roll out of bed on time, leave on time, walk out to the field site, which seems farther each day, and to lay down traps quickly. My hands are so dry the cracks in my fingers often break open and bleed on the traps. I use lotion and gloves, but the damage has been done and it is a slow road to recovery. I may need a manicure when I get home. Thankfully the wind and dry climate has been more merciful to my lips.

We did well today with 4 individuals in Colony D (4). As I was recording the third capture’s alarm calls, the wind picked up and that familiar sound of wind passing over enormous wings caused me to look up. You will never imagine what I saw. I did not believe it myself. I counted 20 condors riding the thermal above our heads. TWENTY. Both the coruro and I were quite distressed about the whole situation. The wind continued to be rather harsh today, but as the day came to a close, and I was busy fending off hungry, rambunctious animals of the grazing kind from the trapping site. Suddenly, Gaba brought to my attention that there was a bird of prey hovering, much like a kite (raptor) would. We watched dive after what we only could image to be lizards or a tasty coruro. The distribution of the bailarín did not reach this altitude, so we decided to investigate. As soon as I say the distinctive bars over the eyes, I knew it was a peregrine falcon. Gorgeous.

The summer Chilean trail horses.

I went back to my herd which comprised of some familiar faces I had come to recognize in the past three weeks. I realized last weekend that the horses living in what are being used as pasture lands were used as trail horses for tourists visiting La Parva. They are used to people, but my impression is that they are trained and behave out of fear of people. None will let me touch them, but I get close enough to, before they move away. There was a foal in this herd today. He was so adorable, playing with the rocks in the water. He took an interest in me and got rather close, but was weary and went to hide behind mom after a while.

Last night Gaba made a stew out of the lentils I had soaked the night before. It was fantastic. Tonight, I will attempt spaghetti… And maybe some garlic bread.

I am trying hard not to spend the moments between bouts of activity, working, and housekeeping, breaking down the days I have left until I am on a plane home into hours. I wish I had internet, so that I could check in with family each day, but I am down to pennies when it comes to buying anything other than food or supplies. Field research comes at a cost. I’ll be home soon.

Making the Change 12/6/2010

Yesterday was another slow day in the field(1 capture), but the location of Colony D (4) is very steep, so hiking back and forth to check traps and using another language (poorly) to communicate gets rather tiring after 9 hrs. This was also the day scheduled to make another change of field assistants. I was going to make dinner for everyone who was coming with groceries and people.

I was excited to have people coming because we could talk and laugh, and I could spend time not feeling so lonely and homesick. Even though I typically understand about 2/3rds of what people are saying, it is far better than when I started in June. It feels like a lifetime ago since I arrived in Chile. I certainly see the world much differently now.

Well, as it turned out, when everyone arrived it was a whirlwind of over-stimulation. More people than I could process walked through the door, Nasrim, Claudia, Gabriela, Joseph (Nasrim’s brother), maybe someone else… There were conversations, questions, packing, moving about; and before I had time to turn around ask everyone to stay for the dinner I was making, they were gone. Only Gaba and Claudia stayed. I was so worried about not making enough rice, but it ended up being too much for just 3 people. I was exhausted after dinner and trying to make sense out the news and the dinner conversation turned out to be just too much for me. I went to bed early.

Abrothrix olivaceous

Today we had much better success. We even trapped Abrothrix olivaceous. Not purposely, of course, but they often tend to use the active tunnels of the coruros. I am not sure how well they coexist, but it is interesting to speculate. I asked Claudia and Gaba, but they were just as curious as I. I spent time talking to them that morning and learning a little about their research experiences and learned techniques. Unfortunately, Claudia’s sister had possibly gotten lost in the mountains just north of us, so she left early. Thankfully, we heard later that everything was okay and that her sister and her companions had simply taken their time returning. Gaba and I returned to the cabin about 4:30pm that day. My knees were starting to act up again, so I simply changed into less soiled pants and flopped on the couch with some crackers, palta, salami and cookies and watched telenovelas for 2 hours. I hoped that Gaba did not think me lazy.

I love the telenovelas in Chile. They are so dramatic. Every 30 seconds a new development devastates one of the actors. And all the actors appear in the different dramas. Hijos del Monte and La de Familia a Lado have many of the same actors. How exhausting it must be for them each day. They portray so much emotion! I think it makes my work seem like cake.

I hope for more success tomorrow, though my impression is that Colony D (4) is much smaller than the others. We shall see.