I have uploaded many pictures on facebook so you should check them out! Here are my two favorite ones:
As for my week - this will be a long one so grab a cold one :)
After a 2 hour very long and bumpy drive to Petriky from Fort Dauphin I arrived in the first village and met the President. We sat in his hut and I met the Treasurer, my cook, and my guide. We then headed to the campsite. The bridge was broken so we had to carry everything for about 3-4 KM. It was a very long and hot walk through the sand to our site. It rained a bit too. At this point of time, I hated that the bridge was broken, but after discovering the lemurs playing in the roads, I decided I was happy the bridge was broken. For if the bridge was fixed, there would be many cars and the lemurs would be hiding even further away from. When I arrived at the site I was surprised to find huts/shelter for the hanging out area (with a loft +mouse and snakes), a cooking area, a shower area, and a toilet area. We set up our tents, and mine was the most difficult especially because I can't explain how to put it up in French or Malagasy. Then it rained! We have electricity (solar panels) at our station so that's nice for charging my computer. The meat had lots of bones in it and its a bit hard to eat (dinner). We watched the movie 27 dresses while eating dinner. The next day we got up at 5 to meet our guide. I had to meet the 2 villages and the 2 Presidents (about 6-7 KM apart) so that meant lots of walking. I had to keep a smile on my face though, everyone was excited to meet me and to talk to me and to have me take their pictures. One President offered whiskey shots for showing that he respects me and accepts me into his forest. My guide is a bit annoying only because he keeps telling me how beautiful my white skin is and how much he likes my boots. I told him I was married, but it really doesn't matter here. The men have many 'wives.' There is a lake right beside my site and its beautiful to sit at during sunset/sunrise. We watched The Fighter and Black Swan and everyone loved it because they said the 'F' word in the films. I usually fall asleep by 8PM in the forest and we wake up around 5 or 6 AM. The forest is usually quiet so I hardly ever wake up throughout the night. Sometimes I can hear my security guards farting loudly and its quite funny to me. The next day we started marking our transects. It takes a couple of hours to do one and I had to do 6 throughout the week. The point is to walk it randomly throughout my study and make notes of what lemurs I see and how many and their behaviour. I even perform this at night. We eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and my cook always gives me way too much food. I think its because my Grandma and mom have been praying for my cook to make fat. Thanks guys!! :) Sometimes while I'm at the site the Forest police will tell me that they saw the Maki (ring-tailed lemur) so I immediately get up and run towards them with my GPS and notebook in hand. This isn't the best idea because I'm usually wearing flip flops and there are scorpions here, but if I have to follow them and its very rare for us to find them. I haven't been stung yet and I haven't been attacked by the poison ivy yet either. Unfortunately my guide and student both have. I like to wear long-sleeved shirt while in the forest. It isn't too hot in there either so its comfortable. Most days we only see the lemurs footprints in the sand, but we follow it hoping to find them.
My cook is about my age and lives in one of the neighboring villages, but while I'm there she lives with us on site. She asked to clean my clothes because I think she saw me struggling :) We wash our bodies and clothes with the lake water. I do have bottle water provided by QMM so I have clean drinking water. I like my cook a lot. We can't speak the same language, but we now understand each other and I'm quickly learning Malagasy so its getting easier. We have lots of laughs and love dancing together.
My students supervisor came to visit for a few days and we showed her the forest. Unfortunately the lemurs did not want to meet her so she left without seeing them. She was very kind and is going to buy me a Malagache dress - super excited for! The first night I met her, we were having dinner and I started having stomach pains. I quickly ran from the dining area to the toilet, but didn't quite make it. I ended up vomiting for a while. I think it was because of my anti-malarial drug. I went to bed early that night.
I snuck some cookies and chocolate out with me to the field and randomly would snack on them. You have no idea the joy I get from eating these treats. I had one twix bar and it was so delicious I seriously thought about how great it was the whole next day. It makes you really appreciate what America, even England, has to offer. Its so convenient to find these things there. Here, you have to plan everything ahead and decide if the money is worth it or if you need it for something like chicken or rice. I love being out in the forest, but I often dream about the delicious food America has. I miss it dearly.
We've discovered the fruit trees that the lemurs like so we've decided to GPS point them in hopes to go there each day to try to find them. I would like to put GPS collars on the lemurs, but since I'll only be here for 2 months the stress it will add to the lemurs is just not worth it. Maybe my PhD :)
I've learned a lot of bad Malagasy phrases and I usually like to repeat them in the forest when we are doing 'roll call' to try to find each other. My guide loves it! He's the one who taught me them so he thinks its hilarious that I actually remember them. I like to pick words out of their conversation and I usually say them over and over and throuhgout the days to remember them. I can't make sentences, but I can name a lot of food and animals :)
I'm now back in Fort Dauphin wiht hopes of returning to the forest tomorrow. Unfortunately I was just informed that tomorrow is a public holiday so I'm not quite sure how my plans will turn out :) Its been raining here so I haven't been able to enjoy the beach. If I do get stuck here tomorrow, pray for sunshine!
Love you all. XOXO
 |
| Ring-tailed lemurs in petriky! |
After a 2 hour very long and bumpy drive to Petriky from Fort Dauphin I arrived in the first village and met the President. We sat in his hut and I met the Treasurer, my cook, and my guide. We then headed to the campsite. The bridge was broken so we had to carry everything for about 3-4 KM. It was a very long and hot walk through the sand to our site. It rained a bit too. At this point of time, I hated that the bridge was broken, but after discovering the lemurs playing in the roads, I decided I was happy the bridge was broken. For if the bridge was fixed, there would be many cars and the lemurs would be hiding even further away from. When I arrived at the site I was surprised to find huts/shelter for the hanging out area (with a loft +mouse and snakes), a cooking area, a shower area, and a toilet area. We set up our tents, and mine was the most difficult especially because I can't explain how to put it up in French or Malagasy. Then it rained! We have electricity (solar panels) at our station so that's nice for charging my computer. The meat had lots of bones in it and its a bit hard to eat (dinner). We watched the movie 27 dresses while eating dinner. The next day we got up at 5 to meet our guide. I had to meet the 2 villages and the 2 Presidents (about 6-7 KM apart) so that meant lots of walking. I had to keep a smile on my face though, everyone was excited to meet me and to talk to me and to have me take their pictures. One President offered whiskey shots for showing that he respects me and accepts me into his forest. My guide is a bit annoying only because he keeps telling me how beautiful my white skin is and how much he likes my boots. I told him I was married, but it really doesn't matter here. The men have many 'wives.' There is a lake right beside my site and its beautiful to sit at during sunset/sunrise. We watched The Fighter and Black Swan and everyone loved it because they said the 'F' word in the films. I usually fall asleep by 8PM in the forest and we wake up around 5 or 6 AM. The forest is usually quiet so I hardly ever wake up throughout the night. Sometimes I can hear my security guards farting loudly and its quite funny to me. The next day we started marking our transects. It takes a couple of hours to do one and I had to do 6 throughout the week. The point is to walk it randomly throughout my study and make notes of what lemurs I see and how many and their behaviour. I even perform this at night. We eat rice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and my cook always gives me way too much food. I think its because my Grandma and mom have been praying for my cook to make fat. Thanks guys!! :) Sometimes while I'm at the site the Forest police will tell me that they saw the Maki (ring-tailed lemur) so I immediately get up and run towards them with my GPS and notebook in hand. This isn't the best idea because I'm usually wearing flip flops and there are scorpions here, but if I have to follow them and its very rare for us to find them. I haven't been stung yet and I haven't been attacked by the poison ivy yet either. Unfortunately my guide and student both have. I like to wear long-sleeved shirt while in the forest. It isn't too hot in there either so its comfortable. Most days we only see the lemurs footprints in the sand, but we follow it hoping to find them.
My cook is about my age and lives in one of the neighboring villages, but while I'm there she lives with us on site. She asked to clean my clothes because I think she saw me struggling :) We wash our bodies and clothes with the lake water. I do have bottle water provided by QMM so I have clean drinking water. I like my cook a lot. We can't speak the same language, but we now understand each other and I'm quickly learning Malagasy so its getting easier. We have lots of laughs and love dancing together.
My students supervisor came to visit for a few days and we showed her the forest. Unfortunately the lemurs did not want to meet her so she left without seeing them. She was very kind and is going to buy me a Malagache dress - super excited for! The first night I met her, we were having dinner and I started having stomach pains. I quickly ran from the dining area to the toilet, but didn't quite make it. I ended up vomiting for a while. I think it was because of my anti-malarial drug. I went to bed early that night.
I snuck some cookies and chocolate out with me to the field and randomly would snack on them. You have no idea the joy I get from eating these treats. I had one twix bar and it was so delicious I seriously thought about how great it was the whole next day. It makes you really appreciate what America, even England, has to offer. Its so convenient to find these things there. Here, you have to plan everything ahead and decide if the money is worth it or if you need it for something like chicken or rice. I love being out in the forest, but I often dream about the delicious food America has. I miss it dearly.
We've discovered the fruit trees that the lemurs like so we've decided to GPS point them in hopes to go there each day to try to find them. I would like to put GPS collars on the lemurs, but since I'll only be here for 2 months the stress it will add to the lemurs is just not worth it. Maybe my PhD :)
I've learned a lot of bad Malagasy phrases and I usually like to repeat them in the forest when we are doing 'roll call' to try to find each other. My guide loves it! He's the one who taught me them so he thinks its hilarious that I actually remember them. I like to pick words out of their conversation and I usually say them over and over and throuhgout the days to remember them. I can't make sentences, but I can name a lot of food and animals :)
I'm now back in Fort Dauphin wiht hopes of returning to the forest tomorrow. Unfortunately I was just informed that tomorrow is a public holiday so I'm not quite sure how my plans will turn out :) Its been raining here so I haven't been able to enjoy the beach. If I do get stuck here tomorrow, pray for sunshine!
Love you all. XOXO
1 comment:
Hi Mandy. I received a little blog love via Nicole @ Nicole.Starr and wanted to pass it on to you. Read my post below for details. Hope your week is off to a great start. http://chroniclesofawildcat-melissa.blogspot.com/2012/05/passing-on-liebster-award-love.html
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