Trip Day 8

I can't believe I have survived a whole week! It was a habitat day today. We walked all the way down to transect 1 to a 20 by 20 metre plot to do some touch poles and measure trees. Once we did that we walked back via the old transect 3 and up the road. You could say I was a little sweaty! I needed a shower by this point since I didn't have one yesterday and as I did I rinsed a couple of my tops at the same time. A sit on the sofas in the museum with my book before lunch, which was delicious. Spicy minced meat and carrots with rice and hibiscus water.

I had a free afternoon and at first I laid in a hammock which Mira lent to me then I ventured to the science room because it was quiet, played some cards, did some puzzles and chatted with Jamie the habitat guy and Josh - part of the monkey team. Dinner arrived but we didn't notice. Deep in conversation. We noticed when a large queue began to form out of the kitchen. Vegetable soup and pineapple juice AND finally they brought back some bananas. We had some on the first day which were lush but hadn't seen them since.

Today was Katie and Etienne's birthdays and they had an angry bird piñata full of sweets. Which was a nice 'dessert' since we haven't really had any treats since being here.

We had a late night bat session as well and luckily we managed to get 3 and one of them were pregnant! Considering the last bat night got cancelled. I got a surprise when Veronica released the bat and it flew straight into me! At KM27 (where we were for these bats) the radio signal isn't very good and we couldn't get through to base camp since we finished our research early. The truck was coming to get us at midnight anyway but as we were early we ended up laying in the road for 45 minutes. (As I think back on that now, all the creepy crawlies that could've been on us and we didn't have a clue. Imagine the tarantulas!!) The sky was incredible though. There was a gap in the trees above us and with everything being pitch black the stars lit up so bright. There was a perfect view of the Milky Way! Best thing I've ever seen!

 

 

Toodles for now.

Mayan Ruins! - Trip Day 7

A jungle lie in today as our museum tour wasn't until 9.30 but I woke up at 5am just like every other day of the trip. I didn't mind though, it keeps me closer to UK time. Vanessa gave us a tour of the museum talking mostly about the Mayans and their temples. At 11am we set off in mini buses to the Mayan ruins of Calakmul. It was the most interesting thing I have ever seen in person. We climbed all the way to the top of structure 1 which was very steep and then to the top of structure 2 which was even steeper. By this time I was covered in sweat and smelt like a skunk but still we went up another structure which to me felt even taller than the last ones. At the top there was a swarm of dragonflies. It was beautiful but of course couldn't get them to stay still to catch a good photo. (see below)

 

 

We saw the Mayan king's house but weren't allowed in because they were excavating something. We had our lunch in the carpark. It was mole (anyone know how to put an accent onto a letter?) chilli and chocolate with chicken and rice and more hibiscus water. We left the ruins at about 4.10 pm (very specific) and took about an hour to get home and by the time we did the showers had a queue. 25
people trying to get in 2 showers. I waited until after our second lot of herpetofauna surveys so I wouldn't go to bed smelling.

We were sitting in the lecture room when the science team came in to watch a movie and since the only plugs were in this room I gathered they needed some power for the laptop. Dinner was shell shaped pasta with veggie chunks and pineapple juice. John asked me how the food was. Which was very nice, then translated it to the cook lady from the village who smiled back at me and said thank you. Some of us chatted for a bit and some played cards to pass the time before the herps.

We left around 8pm in the back of the truck to KM27. Unfortunately we didn't get any snakes but we did get some frogs. A couple really big ones and a couple really, really small. We got to the end of the transect and headed back to the truck to go jungle cruising to find random animals. We got to about KM35 and turned around to come back to camp. We had a few emergency stops because Ettiene was seeing snakes in the road. He jumped out only to find it to be a trick. It was funny. The only thing we definitely saw was a tarantula. It was a biter but Ettiene decided to pick it up anyway. We really weren't that keen but he obviously was! We got back to camp around 11pm, the latest I'd been up since we arrived at camp.  I couldn't be bothered to shower at that time of night so I wet wiped it!

Toodles for now.

Trip Day 5

Up at 5 for another session of birds. This one was at a place they called KM27 so we had to take a truck ride. Mexico: the place where health and safety seemed to be out the window and I find myself sitting in the back of a pickup truck.

This session of birds was more successful than the last. We had 2 hummingbirds, a pygmy kingfisher and a yellow breasted tanager. There was a 5th bird in the mist net but managed to untangle itself just before we got to it. All I got was that it was red. I released the tanager back into the sky unharmed of course. For part of the Operation Wallacea research we needed to take measurements of the birds wings, beak and body.

 

 

On the way back from the bird surveys the truck had metal railings around the bed so we were able to stand up. Although you do have to watch out for any branches hanging low!

 

 

Lunch today was rice, beans and plantain and our second lecture. This time about reptiles and amphibians. I found out that slow worms have legs! Small ones but still legs. I never knew that.

 

4 o'clock was a trip down the road to transect 4 to measure some trees and to do a touch pole experiment. A touch pole experiment means you put a pole vertically every 2 metres in a 20 mete square plot and see how many points of a plant touches it. Trying to walk through a very dense forest with a pole and  cobwebs everywhere was a mission alone. After that we went on a 1km walk to try to find peccaries again. We were unsuccessful but did find a tarantula nest. I know the best thing to find ever! Luckily no tarantulas came out of it no matter how much Natalia tried to make them.

 

Dinner arrived later than expected tonight but when it did arrive, the swarm of people that ran towards the kitchen was crazy! It was like no one had eaten all week. Pasta and veg with iced tea.

 

 

We had an evening lecture on neotropical mammals with Kathy - the expert on spider monkeys. She was making a joke about how they hug each other just to get favours. A nice torrential downpour, which they haven't had in weeks so they were loving it and off to bed.

 

Toodles for now.