Lazy Day - Trip Day 6

I woke up to a high pitched noise but the rain from last night had finally stopped. It's the 1st of August and our first activity was herpetofauna surveys on transects 1 and 2 using pitfall traps. We didn't have any herps but there were a few spiders in one of the pitfall traps. Eww.

 

 

It was probably the hottest day of the week so far since I was sweating buckets and smelling of crap after only an hour. We had some time before the next lecture so I went and got some Pringles. The lecture we had lasted just over an hour in the steamy hot lecture room/dining room and I honestly kept falling asleep. I don't even remember what this lecture was about. Oops. We had another break before lunch so I sat in the museum on the sofa for a while because even though it is still hot in there, it is slightly cooler than anywhere else.

Lunch today was lentil soup and hibiscus water. I had a completely free afternoon so I just hung out in a hammock in the science room and read my book whilst waiting for dinner. Egg fried rice with carrot bits mixed in with what Hannah called 'still lemonade'. Purely just lemon juice.

 

We were supposed to be going to do a bat project but it had been raining and bats can die from the cold so that was postponed. I went for a shower in the dark with spiders and a huge butterfly instead. Bit of a lazy day for me this one but should pick up tomorrow.

 

Toodles for now.

First proper day of the expedition - Trip Day 4

7 am start with cornflakes and powdered milk and mammal transect lines, looking for tracks. Our team leader for this activity was Natalia from Ecuador. She was a genius because she was finding tracks everywhere when I couldn't find a thing. She pointed to indents in the leaves where an animal had trod and the faint footprint underneath, another indent where a red rocket deer had been laying and on our way back we saw a group of about 6 or 7 peccaries. One even came towards us until Natalia shooed it off.

At 11.30 we learnt some jungle skills with John the Australian. It lasted 2 hours with a detailed discussion on how to survive if your plane crashed in the middle of a jungle and some knot tying.

Lunch today was chicken soup with rice and mango juice. Definitely much better than I was expecting. Since it's a conservation trip. we were here to learn as well as help in the projects. We had a lecture about the Calakmul area that we were in. At 3.30 I was in the bird group with Tiffany the Canadian and Enrique the Mexican who knows what any bird is just from hearing its call. Unfortunately we had no birds in the mist net this afternoon. They were probably put off by the thunder going on around us.  We'll have to come back.

I had a shower in daylight today which was much easier than the dark. The shower was in a little cubicle. And dinner was those beans and mashed potato with hibiscus water. I am starting to sense a theme with those beans and also I now know I like to drink flower juice!

Toodles for now.