Last contact for a while

So I´m about to head out into the reserve for a while and will be out of touch for 3 weeks! Yeah: 3 WEEKS!!! Anyway it´s going to be so much fun. On the first day we´ll be herding alpca and then it´s Biology field work in the paramo of the Mazar wildlife refuge, fun! I´m so excited. However, I have some bad news. There will be no pictures untill I get back. I am so sorry for this, but here are some pictures to tide you over maybe:
http://www.cordilleratropical.org/gallery.html

I promise I´ll find an inernet cafe that lets me get them up there. I´ve just been so busy! Yesterday we went to a pre-incan ruin. It was so amazing. We got to drive 2 hours there and crossed the continental divide to get there. The countryside is amazing. So much has happened to it. Virtually none of it is in the condition it would have been had people not been there. Lots of invasives, such as eucalyptis etc. But anyway, on the way hope we stopped and ate pig skin and Inca Kola (a bubble gum type flavorted soda). Today we went to el Ferria libre to stock up on food for the three weeks. It´s cuenca´s biggest mmarketplace and they sold everything there! We bought 2 chickens and a turkey (for thanksgiving) and were tempted to buy one of the manny cute puppies or ducks. I bought an Ecuador national team jersey it´s sweet. So I think that will have to be it for a while. Keep emailing and again sorry about the pics. Back in 3 weeks!

P.S. as for journaling, mom we just have to keep a careful record of wehre we go, what we see and when we see it. It´s the grinnell system. Google it it´s pretty detailed.

Last contact for a while

So I´m about to head out into the reserve for a while and will be out of touch for 3 weeks! Yeah: 3 WEEKS!!! Anyway it´s going to be so much fun. On the first day we´ll be herding alpca and then it´s Biology field work in the paramo of the Mazar wildlife refuge, fun! I´m so excited. However, I have some bad news. There will be no pictures untill I get back. I am so sorry for this, but here are some pictures to tide you over maybe:
http://www.cordilleratropical.org/gallery.html

I promise I´ll find an inernet cafe that lets me get them up there. I´ve just been so busy! Yesterday we went to a pre-incan ruin. It was so amazing. We got to drive 2 hours there and crossed the continental divide to get there. The countryside is amazing. So much has happened to it. Virtually none of it is in the condition it would have been had people not been there. Lots of invasives, such as eucalyptis etc. But anyway, on the way hope we stopped and ate pig skin and Inca Kola (a bubble gum type flavorted soda). Today we went to el Ferria libre to stock up on food for the three weeks. It´s cuenca´s biggest mmarketplace and they sold everything there! We bought 2 chickens and a turkey (for thanksgiving) and were tempted to buy one of the manny cute puppies or ducks. I bought an Ecuador national team jersey it´s sweet. So I think that will have to be it for a while. Keep emailing and again sorry about the pics. Back in 3 weeks!

P.S. as for journaling, mom we just have to keep a careful record of wehre we go, what we see and when we see it. It´s the grinnell system. Google it it´s pretty detailed.

Finally!

I´m here! Finlly! After a nice flight down with Amy that included a stop in Atlanta, a man with our names on a sign to give us a ride in Quito (Ben I´m still looking for that perfect doggie gift) and a stay in a way too nice hotel in Quito, a mix up with an electronic ticket the next day, I finally made it! Cuenca is an amazing city, though in reality it´s not too much different than american cities. The similarities outnumber the differences from what I´ve seen so far. I´m living, for the next week at least, in a very sparcly furnihed, but very very nice house on the outskirts of the city. This is our sort of home base when we aren´t in the Reserve living in tents or the research station. We had a great dinner of burritos with an appetizer of fried plaitines and guacamole. There was a fun game of egyptian rat screw in there as well. We then went out and I had the minty-est hot chocolate ever. But it got pretty late and we went back to the house, our cabbie almost hitting a dog on the way home. Today we explored the city more going multiple markets and generally attemtping to soak it all in. It really is amazing. We went to the ¨new¨ cathedral which was enourmous. I didn´t take any pictures today but there will be ore to come. We ate in a wonderful Colombian resturant and I had a great dish of beans chicken and beef on a corn tortilla type thing. I´ll try to bring my journal to write what it´s called because I can´t remember for the life of me.
So we´ll be in Cuenca untill Thursday. exploring and getting some lectures and more guideline type stuff then it´s the 2.5-3 hour drive up into the reserve to begin our field work. I´ll for sure be in touch before I leave and I´ll try tp get some pictures up as well. So I think that´s it for now. Sorry I don´t have time to wrtie more or email all of you, but I´ll try agin later. Caio.

A Taste of Home

Just a little something to look pretty and remind me of Vermont.

Well here it goes...

Ten Days and counting. I can't wait! More to come.