Yay!!!

I'm coming home!!! I'll be back in the States on Christmas Eve to return to normal life. It is unfortunate that my experience down here was not as great as it could have been and the problems couldn't have avalanched at a worse time. That said, I can't wait to get home and wish everyone in Argentina well.

Ushuaia

Ushuaia is a pretty place. Snowcapped mountains surround the city at the edge of the Beagle Channel. Tourists come into this port from cruises with calls on Antarctica and other islands dotting the Austral waters.

That said, I believe there are many other places in the world I would rather live. Don’t get me wrong, I do feel lucky to be here. But a short trip of two days would do. The weather down here is a little less than desirable. In fact, Laura told me the government pays people mounds more money to live on Tierra del Fuego just because of that fact. Ushuaia was originally colonized as a penal colony. Do you think they’d build a prison on the banks of Iguazu falls? I think not. hehe Without fail the wind blows through the city and whips through the valleys in which I work daily. The wind moves the storm clouds which calls for rain every day. Will there be heavy rain just as we start our nest checks? Probably. Will the rain pick back up again just as I am headed from the city center back to CADIC? Probably. Will it give us a break as we have to push the car for the upteenth time because it never starts on it's own? I sure hope so.

My waterproof pants have again failed me. I bought a pair for my work up in Nome, Alaska which were soon destroyed by faulty construction. My new pair was double the price. Double the quality, right??? Well, they are very nice and I wouldn’t trade them in for anything. (I did get a full refund from REI from the first ones, so it was just like buying those again.) But they just can’t hold up to the wind and rain here. After yesterday’s nest checks, my jacket (down jacket that is only water resistant), my longsleeved shirt underneath, “waterproof” pants, and warm pants beneath those were all soaked through. My left foot was nice and dry, but my right foot was a little wet from a small hole in the borrowed rubber boots.

I live in CADIC which resembles a Soviet bomb shelter in its numerous long hallways and little light. At least that’s what I would picture as a bomb shelter, granted this sprawling complex is above ground. I believe the design lends itself to keeping those who live and work there out of the weather, which would be quite important in Ushuaia. I share a room with both Alicia and Amos. It certainly makes things more interesting.

I have to correct that last paragraph. I sometimes live in CADIC. The other time I live over an hour outside of town in Harborton. It is basically a ranch dating back to the 1800’s by an English orphan adopted by a minister. They have since trimmed down their stock of animals due to poor weather and theft. Now they give tours (me too!). One of the buildings on the property houses a museum full of marine mammal bones. You know the smell when you find a skull or some other body part that has mainly decomposed but still needs a little more time? Yeah. The museum covers the bottom floor in a big warehouse looking room. Then there are the bathrooms (two for tourists, one for all of us) and the kitchen. Behind that is the “lab” which houses more bones which aren’t on display. The number of bones is amazing. There are bones from over 2,500 whales, dolphins, seals, etc and even more of marine birds that have washed up on the shores over the years. (Think of ocean currents and the fact that Tierra del Fuego is the only part sticking out into the southern circulation.)

Upstairs are four bedrooms where the girls volunteering at the museum stay. It is carpeted and heated and all together quite quaint. Then if you go through a door, up some more stairs (now above the warehouse type room), and some more stairs you come to a door that is about four and a half feet small. This is our room. It kind of reminds me of slave quarters back in the day. Perhaps the room that Anne Frank stayed in was a bit like this. Who knows. Against one wall are all the paint buckets, sealants, and general toxic smelling things. To each side of the room is a cut out to the eaves of the attic with more general storage. Then there are two beds with a non-functioning computer on a desk separating them. No pillows, no sheets, nada. Oh, no heat up there either. If I hadn’t brought my sleeping bag against recommendations, I would have froze. The whole building lacks electricity. Supposedly a generator is to come on to provide basic light from about 9-12pm. It’s broken.

So that’s Ushuaia for you! I miss you all!!! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The Journey

To make a long story short, I arrived in Ushuaia!!!

The whole story involves over 60 hours of sitting in a bus (including a couple hours of sitting in bus terminals waiting for late buses); five different buses (including two unscheduled bus changes), more kilometers than you can count on your fingers and toes (about 3000km), two border crossings, four new passport stamps, and a special two hours of waiting in Ushuaia that lacks a bus terminal making countless calls to someone, anyone to pick me up. On the way I was treated to a view of las pampas which in Spanish translates to scenery that consists of plains as flat as can be vegetated with small shrubs in varying shades from dead yellow to gray-green.

Oh, but I wouldn’t have taken a bus if that was all! Looking out the window, I could sometimes spot some waterfowl, wading birds, or even bunnies in addition to sheep and grazing cows. In the last few hours of my journey the trees grew taller, the landscape morphed into a deeper green, and rolling hills rose into precipitous mountains covered in snow.

I also made a pit stop in Puerto Madryn, which sits at about the halfway point between Santa Fe and Rio Gallegos. After stepping off the bus, I went to a travel agent in the terminal who kindly called a hostel for me and found me a bed. My only requirements were that they could book me activities for the one day I’d be there and that they’d pick me up from the terminal since I didn’t want to lug all my bags. I ended up having to take a taxi and pay for it. Then once in the hostel, the lady said that there was absolutely nothing that I could do there since I was just staying for one day and arrived after 8am which is when all the tours leave. We went back and forth with me refusing to believe that a tourist destination such as this did not have anything for tourists to do. She was adamant that there wasn’t. So I left. At another hostel I was first shown a room, able to put my bags down, and then helped in hiring a taxi to take me out to Peninsula Valdez which has an abundance of wildlife. Take that mean lady!!! (As such, I highly recommend Los Choiques Hostel.)

On the peninsula, my driver spotted a falcon eating a furry critter on the side of the road. Then we saw alpaca-like animals as well as emus. Awesome! He took me to the marina where I got in a boat pushed into the water by a tractor. That’s one way to do it without docks! The ride was quite rocky, but it was amazing because we saw whales and lots of ‘em! I suppose there are no laws in Argentina governing the proximity a boat can get to marine mammals. In fact, the Southern Right Whale is a threatened species and we were probably only 15 feet from them with the engines still running. We had free reign over the boat, and I climbed into the crows nest for an overhead view of the moms and babies. After almost falling off the top of the boat after one too many strong waves, I decided it was better to observe them from the deck. About half the schoolchildren accompanying me got seasick. Haha. At least I didn’t get pucked on!

So, back to Ushuaia… It is breathtaking here. Think of pretty Alaska, not permafrost Nome, and you’ll get a good idea of what it looks like here. Lots of rivers, lots of snow splotching the pointy mountains, lots of trees. Okay, a picture speaks a thousand words, so I’ll get some up! Our sites are all at tourist destinations. How much better could that be? One is at least an hour away which is home to a marine mammal museum and the embarkation point to see the penguins on the nearby island. Another is at an inn, which is a popular destination for cross-country skiers in the winter. Our last site is used for peat extraction but is adjacent to a popular camping area with fly fishers too.

The Alicia and Amos arrive tomorrow. I’ll write more about CADIC where I am living then. J Marcela is having a party/dinner at her house tonight that she invited me to. Yes, it begins at 10:30pm, so I am pretty much starving now!!! ttyl!

Contest

Okay, so are you ready for a challenge? First one to guess what this is wins... my utmost respect! :)

Yep, it's Bull Balls! Yummy!

Back to reality

Yesterday marked the return to the field after my oh so pleasant vacation. Today settled in the fact that vacation is definitely over. Too bad. I was told to be ready for work at 6:15am. Then after I finished getting ready, eating breakfast, etc, I was told that we would wait for the storms which hadn't yet arrived to come and then go again before we leave. (I was told yesterday by the same person that it was to thunderstorm today. And this is a surprise now?) So it is past 9am and we still haven't left for work. So many good sleeping hours wasted.

I've been quite productive though. I've been organizing my paperwork to send off to the Peace Corps. I have my last medical appointment tonight to get the final sign-off on all the labs and stuff. Oh wait, after working with the laboratory for over a month and a half, they still didn't do the required tests and just redid the old ones. So much for being done!

I also mopped up my room that flooded once again this morning. Water tight windows, who needs those? Uncovered ducts leading directly outside, what's the point in covering them? The resulting puddle would have provided hours of entertainment to any rubber boot clad, raincoat wearing, umbrella toting kid. I stuffed the big squeegy in the hole in the wall and closed rolldown shutters. I don't know if that helped stop the inundation or perhaps just the passing of the set of storm clouds. We'll see if it holds up to the next set.

Hmmm, what next, Golondrinas paperwork? I've got a whole day of fun to look forward to before we finallllly head out into the field. hehe

Iguazu!

Vacations are wonderful, especially when they are semi-required for work. I had to renew my Argentinian visa and I wasn't looking forward to a trip into Buenos Aires for that purpose. Instead I suggested to hop across the border into Brazil and get a new visa for free (as opposed to charges in BsAs) upon my return. Besides the fact that I would be crossing the Chilean border on my way to Ushuaia and that I don't have a Brazilian visa ($150 USD) to get into that country, I figured I'd go for it. I've always wanted to see Iguazu Falls and I couldn't let the opportunity go by since I was so close. I kept the details to myself and got the go ahead for my trip. Yipee!

I arrived at the bus station about 30-45 minutes early. My designated departure time of 12:45am came and went with no bus. At 1:15 I asked the ticket vendor where the bus was. He replied that it was in Cordoba (about 5hrs from here). I asked when it was due to arrive. He said it wasn't. Ummm, much confusion in my head. Was I not understanding his Spanish? Did I miss something? I basically repeated my question about a million times while he repeadted his answer: there was no bus. I asked why I was sold a ticket with the time written on it if there was no bus coming, was there a change in schedule? What happened? Nope, just no bus. Argh. He finally issued me a new ticket, this one for 5:05pm which he assured me would be there. (The original ticket I bought was coche cama, kinda like business class. The new ticket was semi-cama, aka coach... without any sort of refund in price.)

I went back to the apartment, slept, and then departed again for the bus terminal later in the day. At about 5:10pm there was still no bus. I asked the ticket vendor again, to which she responded that the bus is actually due to arrive at 5:30pm and there is no bus that was supposed to come at 5:05pm. Thanks. But the bus finally did arrive at it's new time (for me). About 17 hours later, I arrived!

On my first day up there, I decided it was best to try to get to the Brazil side of the falls. This would take care of my visa issues if possible and only required half a day to explore anyhow. I hopped in the bus to take me across the border. We stopped at the Argentina side of customs where everyone had to get out. It went pretty quick as we just had our passports stamped. Yes, one step down. Then we headed over to the Brazil immigration. The bus driver stopped the bus and walked down the aisle eyeing all the passangers. Don't make eye contact, pretend nothing is arye. Yes! Only about one or two people got off and the bus started up again!

This side of the falls offered a great view and was definitely the best way to start the trip. There was one trail which ended at a viewing platform to take in the Devil's Throat, a huge cascade that could literally swallow anyone or anything whole.

On the bus back, the fare was $4 (pesos). I paid with a $10 and received $2 back in change. I then asked the bus driver what the fare was. (I took the same bus there, and already knew.) He was honest and I asked him why I only got $2 back. He asked how much I gave him and finally gave me back my rightful change. An Argentinian guy was watching this exchange and gave me congratulatory nod as I returned to my seat. When we got off the bus, I went to the zoo with him and then out to drinks, and have his email with an invitation to show me around BsAs when I get there in Feb. hehe


The following day I covered just about all of the Argentinian side of the falls. Filled with loads of trails overlooking a multitude of vistas of the falls and ambling into the forest for views of hidden falls, I kept busy. Pathways led down to the water's edge and back up above the falls. Staircases wound around a large island in the middle of the falls. I even headed under the falls in a boat getting soaked in the process. I have to admit, while ducking under one of the minor falls was satisfying, I was a little freaked out when the captain gunned the boat straight into the biggest cascade. We're going into that one too???

Think back on all of the waterfalls you have seen resorts or landscape architects try to recreate. I swear they are all doing their best to mimic the falls at Iguazu. It was so idealic. So amazing. So tropical. I loved it! The sound of falling water penetrated the entire park. Birds called out to eachother and swifts made their homes directly under the falls. On on trail closed to vehicles (aka hardly any tourists visit it), I caught sight of toucans sitting in the trees, capuchin monkeys playing on the vines, and a baby fer de lance sunning on a rock in the middle of the path. Pictures were hard to take with the need to keep my hands still to accomodate my 10x zoom and my muscles shaking from a combination of the heat and exhaustion after a long day. I was eventually forced to turn back by a park ranger due to the late hour. However I returned the next day to complete the hike and was greeted by even more birds in my early morning jaunt.


I explored the Guirani culture both on a tour (hokey) and independently (the real thing). I toured an animal rehab facility with many birds one could only hope of catching a glimpse of. I climbed up the face of a cliff, rode a zipline, rappeled down and enjoyed a swim and cruise with new friends from Ecuador. All the while, cogs were turning in my head over what I believe makes a great interpretation center, tour guide, trail, etc. Hopefully in time I'll be able to make something of my "research."

I met many travelers in Iguazu. Interestingly, most were women traveling by themselves. One was on a two week vacation from a job as a lawyer in NY. Another had been traveling since Memorial Day all over South America with no end in sight. A couple from Ireland were on an around the world jaunt for the next 6 months. While it is great to travel, how much better is it to get paid to do so??? hehe. While my job has it's ups and downs, weeks like this certainly make it worth it. With that, I've only got 8 days left until I head down to Ushuaia!!!!!!

Ode to Avocado

Okay, so it's really just the entymology of the word, but interesting none the less:

The word "avocado" comes from the Spanish word aguacate, which derives in turn from the Nahuatl (Aztec) word ahuacatl, meaning "testicle", because of its shape. In some countries of South America such as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Uruguay, the avocado is known by its Quechua name, palta. In other Spanish-speaking countries it is called aguacate, and in Portuguese it is abacate. The name "avocado pear" is sometimes used in English, as are "alligator pear" and "butter pear". The Nahuatl ahuacatl can be compounded with other words, as in ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup or sauce", from which the Mexican Spanish word guacamole derives. (Wikipedia)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is just about the best day ever. Unfortunately, not all of it had to do with Thanksgiving which isn't celebrated here. I went to work as normal and not a word was said about the holiday. Come on! Both Laura and Rodrigo are taking English class, and you'd think that they'd mention something about it in class. Heck, the whole point of Spanish class as I remember it was to celebrate El Dia de Los Muertos and Cinco De Mayo. Perhaps that's why I didn't recollect much of the actual vocab and grammar... shucks.

Anyhow, after work I decided that I was going to do what any good American would do on an American holiday: visit some American stores. :) I jumped on the bus to the shopping center outside of the city. (It is one of about 3 buses I take regularly.) First stop was to see what American movies were playing. Unfortunately most of the good ones weren't starting until about 8pm, and it was about 2pm when I got there. I then grabbed a frappacino at McCafe, McDonald's version of Starbucks. It was delightful, although a lot smoother (aka melted) than a normal frap, but it did the trick. With my input of caffiene I began my shopping excursion at Walmart.

Now, don't get on my case about this. I honestly do love the store because of it's offerings, despite it's problems. With every turn of the aisle (yes, I go up and down every one, perhaps multiple times, at any grocery store no matter how many times I've been there) I was delighted by new finds. I picked up come capichino mix. Mmmmm. And I finally found canela (aka cinnimon) which I've been looking for since I got here. Then I found beer in a can, so I don't have to pay for the rediculous redemption cost of a bottle. (It isn't a formal kind of add-on, so whatever little store you go to writes on a scrap of paper that you can get your dollar (2 pesos) back when you buy your next beer there. I'm sure it is a great way to keep loyal customers, but I'm just not into that...) I also found, get ready for this... Peanut butter! It isn't the same as home, so I was a little set back, but I figured it was better than nothing. I lugged my grocery bags onto the bus and headed home.

On the bus I FINALLY got a call from the lab saying my results were in! Yay!!! Absolutely everyone in the office knows me know, since I've been there about 10 times. I considered hopping off the bus near the lab, but decided against it since I had my hands full. Once I got back to the apartment, the doorman stopped me before I went up the elevator. He had a package for me!

So I received the package from him (thanks to Mom), making my day even better. Once I got up the the apartment, the first thing I did was take care of the important stuff. I popped the beers in the freezer to chill. :) I couldn't wait that long though, so taking a cue from Jeff's mom, I filled up a glass with ice cubes and poured my beer in. Mmmmm. Then I was ready to open Mom's box. I got a brand new book to read and... REAL peanut butter!!!! I am so stoked to try it. It's been a LONG time.

I hopped back on the bus, picked up my results and even got my receipt to be reimbursed by PC for it. I still have to translate the results and go back to the doctor to have him sign everything off, but that should all be taken care of on Tues. On my way out of the office, the other secretary lady waved to me and asked how everything was going. (I had to go to her about 5 times I think.) I'm pretty popular there. hehe

Once I got back to my apartment, I cooked up my lovely Thanksgiving dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce (compliments of the international foods section in Walmart). It even all turned out well. Yes! Oh, and my appetizer of beer, chips (again only found at Walmart), and guac dip (avocados only at Walmart... see where I'm going with this?). Yummmm!

So that's my Thanksgiving. I hope you are all doing well! I miss you all!!!

Much love,
Kerry

Yum!

I just made my very first cream sauce from scratch! It really turned out great. I had some initial problems with it being too thick. I thought adding more milk would help, was afraid it was too thin, and added more flour. I now know being patient would have been the better option. Oh well, it still turned out well. I'm proud of myself. hehe

It makes up for the flop of my corn tortillas I tried making the other day. The recipe on the internet said it only requires corn meal and water... The problem was they tasted like corn meal and water. I didn't have a method of making them really thin, so perhaps that contributed to their lack of taste, as any bit was a whole lot of nothing. Add to that the fact that my second batch of hummus wasn't as good as the first (added too much liquid and tried thickening with some of the corn meal...). Oh well, I'll get the hang of that some other time. Perhaps I'll just go back to buying "pan arabe" at the store. It's only like $0.50 for a whole bag of them. hehe

So there are my adventures in culinary delights. (Yes I know, it's not much...) I plan on bbq-ing some more this up coming week. Those steaks I made the last time were delicious! I'm in the mood to host a Thanksgiving dinner now. hehe I'll spread the word to Laura and have her invite the other girls in her English class I met at the party the other week. yay!

Profesora? I think not...

My last day of taxidermy class was successful. I can now preserve a duck from start to finish. hehe. All we had left to do was stuff the neck with cotton, sew up the throat, stuff the rest of the body, and sew that up. Ohhh, before we finished with the stuffing, we were each given a length of wire. (12 gauge? I'm making that up cause I really have no idea how the classification of wire thickness works, but it was pretty thick.) We were then instructed to poke it through the head. I placed mine right at the junction of cut skull and clear skin. Nope. I had to redo it and actually stab it through the remaining part of the skull. That required sharpening the point, so all said and done, it looked ready to throw on a rotiseri. Remember the part about the meat still in the wings and tail? Well that little problem was addressed with none other than a couple squirts of formaldehyde. When I poked the needle into the wing, I was told not to use too much. Why? If I did, then when I pull out the needle, the extra could shoot into my eye. Oh, okay then. And why aren't we using gloves, or glasses, or any kind of protection with a chemical that is currently under consideration to be banned from all of Europe for it's toxicity? We took a few pictures (yes, still having trouble with the uploader here) and said our goodbyes. Good class.

The night before I decided to escape the apartment and headed over to the "mall." There's a Walmart over there, a huge food court, only a couple stores, and a movie theater. I didn't say anything to Ben before I left, because whenever the word Walmart comes out of my mouth, he gives me crap about it. Come on now... I can understand people's dislike about the supercenter, but then why do you eat and praise the food and produce that I get there that you can't find anywhere else in town? Plus, I wasn't even going to Walmart, just the movie. Anyhow, I had a very pleasant time and watched, "Al Otro Lado del Mundo." In English it's the "Painted Veil" or something like that with Naomi Campbell and Edward Norton who are English in the 1920's, marry and go to China during a cholera outbreak. Very good movie. :) I took the bus back and made it in bed by 1:30am. Since I drank mate before I left and coffee while waiting for the movie to start, I didn't fall asleep until about 3am. I was up for class by 7am. Reminds me of college...

Yesterday Martin met Ben and I at the bus station at noon to head over to Parana for us to give a lecture to an evolution class at the university. That's after I woke up early to head out into the field... only Ben had decided with Martin the night before that we'd be skipping the field. Nice to let me know too... Argh. On the bus Martin told us that the class was actually meeting for a symposium, so there would be about 40 more people there including anyone doing biological research at the uni. Thanks for letting us know. At least Ben was in the dark about that too. Martin also told us that we would give the lectures in Spanish instead of him translating for us as he originally informed us. Thanks again. If he didn't feel like it was important enough to fill me in on what I should be doing, I wasn't going care how it was going to turn out.

It did turn out good enough though. I wish I had known that it was a symposium, as the talk I gave was on the importance of color (adapted from the program I made at Big Cypress). I could have easily given a talk on the research I did in Costa Rica and the implications of color in that, which would have fit in better with the rest of it. Oh well. Again, I really didn't care. hehe Ben was all proud that he could add it to his resume. I'll be nice and keep it to that. lol

Today I woke up at 8am, the latest I have since I've gotten here I think. It was my first day off that I didn't need to run off to errands or appointments. Ben wasn't around, so I figured he was still sleeping. Then I read in my room for a long while. I still didn't hear any other rustling, so I investigated and saw that Ben's shoes weren't under the table like normal. He wasn't home. Eventually he came back with his field pack. Yep, he went out into the field today. Do I feel bad for not going? Nope! I had a very pleasant morning. It was supposed to be my day off. And he never told me I should have gone to the field. If he was expecting me to come (besides letting me know) he could have woken me up. (He's overslept several times here and I've never had a problem waking him up. hehe) And best news of all is that he said today was his last day in the field for a week, which means that he'll be leaving for BsAs to visit his wife who is coming down. (He said she would be coming at the end of Nov, but never told me when.) So I'll have the whole apartment to myself for a while. I can't wait!!! Party??? hehe

Taxidermy 101

How do you preserve a duck for a museum? Oh, I am so glad you asked! I had my second day of taxidermy class today. (Laura filled me in that one of the instructor's daughters was sick, causing the postponement.) Today we got to work on our specimens, mine being a duck. I can't remember the name of my duck, though I do remember that it is a type of Teal. (My retention of Spanish common names is limited.) At least, that is the bird I pointed to in the field guide, and I don't think the instructor said anything to the contrary. Hehe. Today was certainly a struggle with language!

I was fine with lectures and power point presentations. Class today was really without any structure at all. People just grabbed their specimens (most of which were ducks) and went at it. Whenever we didn't know what to do to proceed, we'd pull one of the instructors aside who would then fill us in on the next step. This continued for the whole class. I am really not good at figuring out if I am asked a question or simply audience to a statement. Therefore, I tried to avoid talking to anyone else but Laura and two of the other girls.

So, here's Part 1 of how to taxidermy a duck:
First, take your newly purchased scapula and cut down the belly of the beast. Be careful not to cut too deep, or it could get pretty ugly. Luckily, I used an every so soft slice. Now, separate all the skin from the rest of the body (aka meat, fat, guts, and bones). When you come to the feet, carve the skin around the drumsticks until you have enough in your hand to slice through. Yep, cut off the leg at the hip or whatever you would like to think of it. Then separate more of the skin until you get down to the end of that bone. With that, shave off all the meat from the bone and coat it in some borax. For good measure, sprinkle everything with borax whenever you feel like it. Do the same with the other foot and then work towards the tail. Before you get too far down, STOP and just chop off the whole butt through the meat (but still don't cut through any of the skin). Yeah, I missed that little note. I went too far, and ended up getting a hole in the skin (I think where the cloaca is). Oops. Not too much damage done.

Then start working up toward the wings. Basically, they are the same as the legs. Work at the skin until you have a good chunk of the skin off the wing, then chop through the appendage, and clean off the meat. Then work on the neck. Once you can't go any further (aka head is too big to slip through the pocket of skin you are making), snap off the neck with scissors. Then slice the throat until you expose a sizable chunk of the skill. Now cut of the remaining portion of the neck and some of the skull for good measure. Using another tool (of which I am a proud new owner), scoop out the brains. Once you have that pocket emptied, break through more of the skull to pluck out the eyes, which are unbelievably huge. As if the brains weren't a juicy enough constancy, when squeezing the eyes with the tweezers, they will inevitably pop. This drains black fluid into the crevasses you just cleaned out or, if you're really lucky, your face as Laura did! Now find the tongue and yank as hard as you can until it comes out. Spend the rest of your time chopping up more sections of the skull and pulling out more organs in there and other random chunks of meat. By now you are almost down, so coat the skin in some more borax. Fill the head with cotton (which you'll have come out the eyes a bit). And then roll up some newspaper or magazine paper to stuff the rest of the body with. Fold the head down across the newly emptied body and tie it up in some more paper. Now you are done with the first step and simply reek of dead stuff. No, there were no fixatives used, so these are just dead ducks and other fowl that just smell foul. hehe

On my walk back to the apartment, I picked up some apples and other veggies at the produce store. I was seriously considering trying one of the apples in the last two blocks of my walk. I had only washed my hands twice at this point and the thought of allowing them touch anything that would soon be in my mouth staved off any hunger for quite a while. More soap, more water, more dishwashing soap, more super concentrated soap, copious amounts of water, and I finally bit into my apple. It was a good day’s work. :)

More appointments

To answer some of your questions, think doing the med stuff in Argentina has it's advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages:
-Not understanding all the doctor requests of me, and them not understanding what has to be filled out on the forms: aka language probs
-Having to request a receipt for everything, and not really knowing if I will truly get one a week after paying (I've been told that I have to wait until after I receive results, etc to pick up a receipt... )
-Paying in cash for all appointments, aka, running around in block after block this morning in the rain trying to find an ATM. No, I don't want to walk 6 more blocks in that direction to go to Paratonal where there are lots of banks... I just want to know where the closest one is as my shirt, pants, and bra are already soaked through with water.
-Having to make more appointments with specialists since a single doctor can't do everything

Advantages:
-I get to practice my Spanish out of necessity, lol
-MUCH cheaper than in the US (about $10-13 bucks for an appointment here instead of like $120-200 for one in the US)
-Making appointments with doctors, specialists, and dentists is a matter of just waiting a week tops or even walking in and waiting a couple minutes depending on the office
-I can just go to whatever doctor's office I want, instead of being referred to specific specialists, etc. I just go to which ever one catches my eye as I wander the streets or ride the buses.
-It can all be summed up as a character building exercise :)

All in all, I think it's probably easier to do things here than in the States. It is certainly much cheaper. If I understood how health care works here, I'd probably be able to avoid some of my blunders here as well. I've just got my fingers crossed that I can get everything in tip top shape before I send it off so I won't have to repeat everything down in Ushuaia. And I hope I'll be cleared too. hehe

As I was surfing through some PC blogs on the net, I came across one about a current PC volunteer. "Meanwhile, I've been thinking that I'm so slim because of my active lifestyle and great diet! Cout it just be the worms? I mean, I'm down to 163 from 180 since I got to Honduras -- another couple of pounds and I'll look like a super model - a really hungry one. But, worry not - I think I'll be bulking back up without all these extra mouths to feed." LOL, I think it's amazing how eloquent this little goodie is. hehe. Speaking of some creepy crawlies...

Out in the field yesterday I was checking one of the boxes for fledges. Aka, I was looking to see if the chicks had grown up enough to leave the nest. I noticed that not only were they still in there, but that they also had some mites crawling on them. Gross! So then I realized that what looked like mold over the opening of the nest was actually a solid coat of even more mites that were scampering about. All too late, I noticed that I must have brushed up against said hole and had the said buggas crawling all over my hands... I started to shake my hands, trying to fling the mites off and being paranoid, I felt like they were crawling all over my face and head too with that creapy tingling feeling.

Nope, I wasn't paranoid. Sure enough I had loads more making a new home on my... well, me. Man, I'm getting the tingles again just writing this. lol So I do my best to brush off those guys, take my hair out of my pony tail and shake it out as well. Ewwww! I think I got all of them, but through the rest of the nest checks, I grabbed a few more off my forehead as I felt them crawling around. Suffice it to say that I also redid my hair quite a few more times out of what I hoped was now just actual paranoa. Worst thing was is that I didn't get out of the field and into a shower for another 3-4 hours!!! It was the longest day we've had in the worst possible circumstances. Okay, so I suppose it could have been much worse... but all I could think about is all the bugs that Ben must really have crawling around in his hat and head with the amount of chicks he plops in there each day. GROSS!

In other med news: After having my TB test read (negative!) and completing my eye exam today (20/20!), I just have two more appointments next week to pick up the rest of my lab results. (Lol, they know me by name at the main lab place as I've already been there 6 times.) Then I just need to make an appointment with the original doctor to have him sign off on all the results. I think I also need to go back to the dentist (3rd time) to have her fill in a few more parts of the form I think she missed. (She did the tests, but just didn't write down the results.) And then I'll finally be done!!!

So that's a cap of all things medical down here right now! I can't wait to be done with all of it and hopefully be cleared and get my invitation. I've been moved up for a departure in mid-April instead of mid-May, so that means I need to be cleared by mid-Jan now... Cross my fingers!!!

PS. The pic of the chick is happily mite free. I was too busy exterminating the mites off of myself.

Mate

Mate is definitely a cultural distinction of Argentina. I can't remember if I have explained it before, but it is basically like loose tea that you fill a hollowed our gourd with. Then you pour really hot water into it from a thermos, of which only about a quarter cup of water fits in the vessel at a time. You drink the mate out of a metal straw. Once you have sucked it dry, then you pass it back to your host. They refill it with water and pass it to the next person. This repeats again and again until all the hot water is gone.

Boy is the water hot!!! Because it is kinda a cultural necesity to share mate when offered, I always feel obligated to drink it. But the water is just sooooo freakin hot sometimes. Whenever I make it, I make sure to combine the boiling water with some room temp water to cool it down a bit. Not everyone plays nice though.

Tonight, I burned my mouth worse than I ever have. I mean, I've eaten hot foods before, sipped on hot coco or coffee a little too early and gave my tongue a run for it's money. However, I can honestly say that I burnt the roof of my mouth. How might I be so sure? I literally have a huge blister on the roof of my mouth!!! I thought I just had something caught up there... but I hadn't eaten any leafy anything or, well, anything that felt similar to the sensation my tongue kept prodding. Armed with my headlamp and mirror, I was able to confirm that yes, that was my own skin. Gross.

During dinner (which started at almost 11pm), it popped and I was able to fish the excess skin from my mouth. Yum. I was really too tired to care though. We JUST got back at 1:30am from DINNER. Oye. (I wrote the rest of this email before we left.) To say I'm sleepy is an understatement. Pues, buenas noches!

Clase

I woke up at 6am as always this morning, only I had no intention of going to work. For the past two weeks, I have been hoping everything will work out, with no real confirmation of my plans. I just had to hope for the best.

I dressed in jeans, instead of my typical uniform of black waterproof pants which despite washing about every week are starting to reak of bird poop. Perhaps they smell of cow dung, or maybe just bacteria filled water. Who knows, they stink! I was glad not to wear them. I don't think Ben remembered at all that I wasn't going to work this morning, or tomorrow, or the next day. (There's a class we both saw a flyer for about two weeks ago. We both were excited about it. Ben took down the email address of the guy... and then after a week of proding, he passed it on to me. I emailed the dude and never heard back. I also emailed Martin, getting the go ahead to attend the class as it is from 8-1pm T,W,Th. Then last night I found out that Laura was going to take the class as well. She was already enrolled though. Ben still hadn't said anything about the class, and I didn't feel the need to mommy him and prod. I figure if I am already cleaning up after him around the apartment with his dirty dishes, clutter, etc, I didn't have to check up on him in other ways.) Oh well. He caught on when I handed him the master notebook and trapping supplies. He said goodbye, and we parted our ways outside of the apartment.

I then took a bus up about 15 blocks to my doctor's office. As I got off, I struck out to find an ATM. I had enough money for all of my lab tests, but I wanted to make sure I could cover any extra fees they might come up with. After walking about 10 blocks this way and that, I still didn't come across one. I asked a gentleman if he could point me in the right direction. He replied that all banks are closed today due to it being National Banking Day.
-Okay, but I just need to find an ATM to get some money out.
--The banks are closed.
-Yes, but where is one?
--What do you need the money for?
-To pay a doctor.
--You could use Western Union. (I'm not even gonna get into that one...)
-That's okay, but if I wanted to go to the bank tomorrow, where is one?
--The banks are closed.
Yeah that helped, so I just said thanks and goodbye. I eventually ran into one just two more blocks. I got my money out and then realized I had just spent about a half hour wandering around trying to find a bank that I probably didn't even need. Argh.

My schedule was tight. I had to wait until 7:30am until I could go to the lab (fourth times a charm!) to drop of my pee sample and get all the other tests done. It was 7:39 already. I ran down the couple blocks to the office building. The enterance to the lab was locked. No! I refused to believe that it too could be closed, so I went around the block to the other enterance. The door gave way to my push and I was directed back down the long hall to the lab. Yes, getting somewhere.

I go into the office for the umpteenth time and finally can pay for the labs as they are open! I waited in line and handed over my cash. I asked for a reciept, but was told I'd get one once I was done with the tests. Okay. I hope so.

So then instead of just having my blood taken then, I was directed to go back out of the office and wait to be called. Argh, by now it is about 7:50am. I keep going in and out of the office, wanting to ask how much longer the wait is going to be. However, the secretary is going in and out (much more out than in) as much as me. When she is in the office, she is simply picking up papers from the now much longer line inside and shuttling them to the bench space in the back. I debate in my head whether it is worth the wait to just get the tests done this morning and probably miss my chance at attending the class which I was still not enrolled in, or leaving and trying to get into the class (if that didn't work, I'd could still return in time to get the tests done today). I say screw it and jetted out of the office and back into the street.

I now have about 3 minutes to get about 10 blocks down the city (3300 block down to about 26/2700). I start running now. After a couple of blocks, a street sign catches my eye so I could gauge my progress. It reads 3500-3600. NOOOOOOOO! I totally went the wrong direction. I give up and wait for a bus which comes at a snail pace compared to my racing heart. I board, pay my fee (just a mere $0.30 each way), and wait. Not all corners have signs, so I strained to catch them when I could. In my concentration, I realize that I won't pass the big plaza I was hoping to use to mark my point of debarkation. Shoot, I am one block over for that. Then the sign for 2700 comes. I get off. I run down the sidestreet and start running up. Perhaps it is closer to 2800, there are some big trees that way...

As I am running I realize that the plaza isn't a super long walk from our apartment. That would place it at the 2300 block instead of 2600. Yep, I'm going in the wrong direction again. I cross the street and start back the other way. I finally make it there. I know I am late. I have never been inside the musuem before even through I have tried the door on multiple occasions within the posted open times. It opened this time though! I listed for voices as there were no signs directing me to any sort of instructional area. I heard people downstairs, so I cautiously decended the steps adorned with signs mentioning a restricted area.

With chairs spread out in front of a projector, I felt good about the situation. I asked the two girls sitting if this was the bird class. Yes! Confirmed. Okay, so by this point it was about 8:16am. I wasn't sure if I had missed something. There were more bags than there were people seated. The instructors weren't in the front, though I could hear more voices in the other side of the basement. Perhaps there was something I was supposed to be doing over there too, but I decided to sit tight. After a couple of minutes Laura showed up. Geesh, I guess I could have waited the 20 mintutes or so more to do my labs.

What is this class might you ask? For those of you who know me, I've been looking into taxidermy classes for about the past year. It is just one of those things that I really want to learn how to do. I guess it isn't as random as my passion to someday be a stunt car driver for all those coreographed driving scenes in comercials and movies... I have an even stronger desire to learn how to preserve specimens with my approaching Peace Corps tour. How cool would it be to set up a little minimuseum as a secondary project??? So yes, this is a taxidermy class, focused on birds! I figure birds with all their feathers are probably one of the hardest kind of animals to taxidermy. I tried my hand at butchering small roadside animals in Florida to collect furs, but I had no clue how to deal with the birds. So they just stayed in their exposed graves covered in a fine coat of dirt, gravel, and any remnants of the rubber that marked their demise.

The first instructor was great. His slides were filled with tons of words (my typical pet peeve for lectures in college), but boy were they helpful to reinforce what he was saying at a pleasantly slow pace. We then took a break after his introduction to musuem collections in general when I officially paid for the class (less than $7!) and enrolled. Evidently everyone was supposed to have a dead bird to work on. Luckily another girl in the class had a couple of extra ducks for Laura and I. (I'll be working on the species in the center of the photo.) Where did these people come up with some many dead birds? It was obvious that one guy just killed his rooster for the project, but still. Kinda weird to think about...

The next instructor discussed the problems that museums face with their collections, focusing on insect invaders. While most of the kids looked a little bored with this topic, I took it as a challenge that I'd need to think about if I were to set up my own rural colleciton. We then took an upclose look at some of the bugs with a microscope. Then we labeled the birds we'd be working on for the following two days by tucking little pieces with our names on them under their wings. After a bit more mate we returned to the seats.

The third instructor spoke as fast as a sports announcer when he interjected into the other's presentations so I braced myself for his own presentation. He didn't disappoint either! He discussed the diversity of birds in general and went through the different families found in Argentina and Santa Fe. His presentation had exactly two words on every slide, the name of the order and the name of the family. While I would definitely approve of this type of slide design, it did make things a little more challenging. Luckily I was familiar enough with the different birds to understand what he was talking about, even if I didn't catch everything. (There are still a lot of birds that I didn't know, but I can look those up later.) With that, our first day was over.

Between our breaks I chatted with some of the other students in the class. They are all biology students at the university. Due to the difference in school systems here, most are still probably a year or two older than me. One of them works at the museum with butterflies, which she took me up to see afterwards when I told her I worked with some in Costa Rica. I don't know how much she is doing with them besides pinning them, but we can talk about that in the days to come. It was cool to see the differences in musuems in different parts of the world though. (I'll give more of a comparison of musuems when I take a better look at their public collections.)

I felt pretty good with myself after the class. Not only did I understand most of what was going on during the lectures, I could also interact with the other kids when they weren't adjusting their Castellano for me. Okay, so I definitely did better with the lectures than the kids. I've got about three months left here, so I'll have it down by then!

I'm off to go help Laura with her English again tonight. I love English, as it is something I actually know. hehe. Oh and our buddy from Mar Chiquita is coming to stay with us tonight. I should be back in time for his arrival... but I really have no clue when that might be 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, perhaps 1am like the time we arrived there??? We'll see. Plus I won't be in the field with him tomorrow, so I guess I should be as good of a host while I can. :) ttyl!

Fiesta

Parties are a little different here in Argentina than I'm used to in the States. Don't get me wrong, they are still a blast, but just culturally very different. On Friday night after getting back from Mar Chiquita, Laura invited me to a party at a high school. Wait... translation problems? It must be a party with her friends from high school. Sure, I'll come!

So I get to her apartment at 10:30pm. I have to ring the buzzer for her apartment outside of the complex. Evidently it is a speaker kind of thing and they can buzz you in. I have absolutely no clue how to use it though. Yes I can push the button, but besides that, I'm lost. Do I need to keep it pressed? Is it like a walkie-talkie that you need to release the button to hear them talk? Do you have a conversation outside before you are let in? I still have no clue. I pressed the button a couple times and tried to ask for Laura. Turns out she was in the shower... and none of her friends call her Laura. That surely made things easier for me!!! Finally someone else from outside opened up the gate for me. Thank you!!! Then I bumped into some of her friends just inside the gate who told me where her apartment was: last one with the door open with people inside.

I walk down to the end, and there are two doors open. The last one didn't have anyone inside that I could see. So I poked my head into the second to last one that had two people sitting at the table. Mani? (That's Laura's nickname that I only knew because of her email address.) Yes! They know her!!! They invite me in and share the obligatory mate with me. Eventually more people arrive and soon everyone is there, except Laura. I feel like I held my own with Spanish. Yay, I'm getting somewhere!!! After everyone else in the apartment slowly changed out of their clothes and into going out close, I no longer blended into the crowd. Oh well! That's one great thing about being a foreigner... it doesn't matter how much you stick out, as it is just kinda expected. hehe (I didn't bring any going out clothes with me in my small bags to come here. Perhaps a shopping trip will be in order!)

By 1:30am we finally made our way out of the apartment and to the party. Geesh, I kept debating whether it was a good idea to go to the party or just head back if it was going to be such a late night. Laura wasn't going to work in the morning, yet I was. I figured I couldn't back out after meeting all of her friends. I also really wanted to have a great night and finally experience some of the night life here.

We arrived at... a high school for the party. Strangest thing ever. I still don't quite understand it. It used to be a high school, or still is, but it is also a boarding school, or used to be? I don't know. Then the party was a fundraiser for the hungry by a priest.

Enter the party: After walking through a short hall, double doors opened to a patio and an airy auditorium. Now, imagine a typical frat party (well, cash bar instead of free booze) complete with people doing beer bongs (cabeza seca) with slightly less people than the cattle packed freshman parties. Yep, I almost felt at home. JK. It was a lot of fun though. All the music was Argentinian and I even picked up some of the dances.

Oh, another note to add is that like mate, all drinks are passed around as a social affair. Drinks came in liter cups and were passed around to everyone in our group. I can't imagine partying like that much, as if I stuck around as late as everyone else did, I would have had a hard time working the next morning. (I left at 3:30am, got to sleep at 4am and woke up for work at 6am. Yay me!!!) Most people don't leave parties and clubs here until 8am. Ouch!

So there's my little party story. Sorry, I didn't bring my camera with me, so I don't have any pics. I've got a busy morning tomorrow so nighty night and wish me luck! I love and miss you all!!!

Mar Chiquita!

Hola,

I just got back from Mar Chiquita! It was wonderful! (BTW, the dentist appt went well. She really did her homework and knew what more things on the form meant than I did!!! We had some laughs, and 13 x-rays later, I was done! I go back on Tues to retrieve them, but from the initial check, I've got no cavities or any other probs. Yippee!)

Back to the travels... Although I didn't lose any of my insides forthright from the trip, I think they are now fully perforated with ulcers. Oye. I'm currently erasing all memories of how I got there and back from my memory. Suffice it to say, I'm alive and I will never get in a car again with someone, who shall remain nameless, driving. It is currently a very touchy subject. But hint: it wasn't Laura or me.

We were greeted by Alberto, the mayor of Miramar (city on the banks of Mar Chiquita and location of park headquarters). He set us up in a local hotel which was very nice. We got some sleep and then started bright and early the following morning. Well, Laura and I did. Ben insisted we start an hour earlier than they had planned, but he still wasn't up at the time to leave, so I woke him. Thanks for the suggestion. *Purge bad thoughts from head... deep breath...*

Okay, so then we met a park ranger... whose name I can't recall at the moment. He's a great guy who kinda reminded me of a hillbilly Santa Clause: huge smile, white hair, bright red face, round belly, and quite a few missing front teeth. We all piled into their truck and headed out to the lake. It is the largest of Argentina's salt lakes. I don't know how big that is on paper, but there's no you can see across it! And the best part is that its shores are lined with flamingos!!! Mar Chiquita is home to three of the world's five species of flamingo. These guys were way brighter than the birds lining Lake Nakuru's shores in Kenya and their black-tipped wings gave them a sharp look that reminds me of quite a few of my sorority shirts. hehe

Oh, and my second favorite part is that I found some natural swallow nests! It was so cool after measuring so many of our nest box nests to find real ones they made all by themselves! Okay, so our swallows can't make cavities by themselves, but they all nest in cavities. The nests I found (one with chicks 15+ days old, and the other with chicks 10 or 11 days old) were in the tops of tree stumps, not on the side of a trunk as you might expect. Very cool. The older guys were too close to fledging to do anything with (except snap a pic), but the littler guys were the perfect age to band! I reached my arm all the way up to my elbow to pull them out, scraping my forearm against the jagged edges of the petrified wood all the way. I suppose it's just what one does in the name of science... hehe We taught our new counterparts how to band and measure the chicks, which they'll get lots more practice with once the get some nests in their boxes. Speaking of which, we set up about 22 boxes, out of the 31 they made. We didn't have any poles, so all the boxes went on the dead trees or fence posts. (There was huge flood which wiped out many of the trees around the lake.) It was a very successful day. LOL, Laura and I didn't have to do more than carry the boxes around, as there were no holes to dig, no posts to lug around, and our counterparts did all the chopping away with the ax and drilling with the hand drill.

Annnnnd, I'm going to a party tonight with Laura, so I'm happy! hehe

Mite-y funny

Okay, so scratch that. Turns out I am not very good at looking at my appointment cards and instead just remember what day and time I say I'm available for the appointments. I said I could do anything after 3pm. So I thought my appointment was at 3pm. Oops, I just looked at the card and it says 1700hrs, or 5pm. Sorry Ben and Laura, that means we'll be leaving a little later tonight! At least I got everything else I needed to do today done and didn't have to rush back for my nonexistent appointment at 3pm. hehe

Anyhow, Laura and I were laughing so hard out in the field today. She was working with Ben yesterday and was measuring 12 day old chicks. The chicks in that nest in particular were just infested with mites and fleas. Several of the other birds have mites and stuff, but they aren't super bad. I guess when Laura was handling the birds, she had quite a lot of the little buggas crawling all over her hands. Instinctively she starts squishing them. Ben tells her not to worry because they don't bite, they only eat the feathers on the birds. (He told me the same thing too when I encountered some of them on another bird. I didn't buy it.) Laura most certainly didn't either as each time she squished one, blood squirted out of the delicate exoskeletons. She showed Ben, to which he replied that it is just their pigmentation. Ummmm, I don't know about that. Laura asked her mom about it, to which her mom agreed with her.

Wanna know the best/worse/funniest part of it??? Guess where Ben holds all the chicks as he waits to measure them? In his felt hat he wears all the time!!!! GROSSSSSSSSS! We couldn't stop laughing and guessing at how many creepy crawlies he has roaming around his head. Ewwww, yuck! I will definitely be more aware of any noggin scratching he does. But even if he won't admit that they bite, don't you think they could be chewing on his hair if he thinks they eat the feathers of the birds? I don't know, but I am going to continue putting my birds in the two bird bags each of us have as part of our banding kits. As gross as it is, I can't help but smile just thinking of it!

PS. I just got an email from PC and my estimated departure date has moved up to mid-April!!! Ahhh, I better hope I can finish up all this med stuff down here! But I'm super excited!!!

Appointments

Well, I had my doctors visit yesterday. (Oops, I thought it was supposed to be Tues, but good thing I checked my appointment card before I journeyed up there!) The doctor was very nice, but I think his English was about at a first year level, maybe a little below. It was actually kind of funny, and I was doing all I could not to laugh. For example, when he wanted me to sit on the table, he abruptly said, "Here" and tapped on the table. Even I can say that in Spanish! hehe. Then when he wanted me to take deep breaths, he said, "look" and he took a couple himself. The majority of the physical was in Spanish to say the least. But it was certainly the easiest appointment I have ever had. The PC form is every long, and extremely detailed with all the things that are supposed to be checked out. Suffice it to say that even with the language probs, I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes and didn't even need to take off my shoes! Now that's what I'm talking about!

Today I went to the laboratory again with my self-made Spanish translations of the tests I need. Yep, for future reference, CBC is hemograma (Complete Blood Count), and G6PD is a really long name for some obscure enzyme deficiency that makes some people allergic to certain anti-malarial drugs. Geesh, glad those were the only two they couldn't figure out! I came complete with my urine sample (which leaked a bit in my bag on my PC forms, lol, they just don't make them the same as in the States!). Turns out that I have to come back to do all the tests in the morning. Well, you could have told me that the first time when I was there yesterday. I actually think they did tell me that, but I didn't catch that it had to be before 9:30am, and couldn't be at 10:45. Oh well. So much for the pee! There's plenty more where that came from. hehe

So then I was able to do one of the tests not available at the lab. Yep ladies, you know what I'm talking about. This doctor didn't know a word of English. Interesting... But I've got an appointment in 10 days to get the paperwork back! Then I was off to the hospital again to try to get my final vaccine. I'm due for a tetanus shot and they don't do that kind of stuff at the doctor's office. I went to the hospital yesterday only to find a line around the outside of the building at 4:50pm. Turns out the hospital doesn't open back up until 6pm, and people were already waiting in line!!! No thank you, I'll come back later. So today I navigated my way around the hospital to where the vaccines were. Yay for a socialist medical program, cause it was free! (I was going to the private everything else for quicker service and the availability of that "English" speaking doctor.) As the only one there, I just told her what I needed: lots of pointing at English descriptions on my old vaccination card. Then she took my name, led me into another room, and jabbed me with the injection. Easy as pie, which of course I had to reward myself with afterwards.

Well, I've got my dentist appointment in 10 min downstairs. I'll update this later with how that goes! I'm off to Mar Chiquita tonight, so I won't be back until late Fri (tomorrow). ttyl!!! I miss all ya'll!!! (lol, yay for living in the South for 6 months!)

Medico

Yay, I just received my medical packet for Peace Corps. It arrived in the States just after I left for here, so now I can finally start this new eval process. After reading everything through, I couldn't wait until my day off tomorrow to start hunting for English speaking doctors here. There's a medical office on my block, so I figured I'd start there. The lady at the desk didn't speak any English... and I forgot the word for physical, or check-up or whatever. Oh well, I suppose I should look that one up. (I thought I'd be okay with appointment.) The dentist at the office knew a little tiny bit of English. Score! I made an appointment with her next week and left her the forms so she can use a Spanish-English dictionary to figure out what everything is this week. hehe Progress! She also left me the name of a doctor who knew English. He's the son of her English teacher. (She took the classes a long time ago, evidently. hehe) If all else fails, his mom can translate for him, so I'm not worried about that. That's my mission tomorrow, wish me luck!

Pictures!

Saphron Finch on the left and a Vermilian Flycatcher on the right.
Some kind of water snake that I've determined won't kill me. (Don't worry, I asked Martin to make sure and didn't have to figure it out through personal experience.)

In the spirit of Halloween, what's better than a bat in a cow carcass? This little guy was originally in one of our bird boxes, but fell out when Ben opened the door to check the box. Instead of leaving him in the sun, I picked him up with a stick to transport him elsewhere. (Ben didn't want to get near it in fear of rabies... And he has a rabies shot already!) So, there weren't any trees in the general area of this nest, but there was a dead cow. What better shade could you ask for?

Jajaja

I really love my new program. I don't know when I am going to get to sleep tonight, but I figure I just have to share this. This is one of the first lessons to become familiar with masculine and feminine words:

Está Pedrito en la clase y le dice la maestra:
-A ver, Pedrito cuáles son las vocales.
-No sé las vocales, maestra.
Muy bien, entonces, ven a mi casa a las 17:00
A las 17:00 de la tarde va Pedrito a la casa de la profesora, entra y ella le dice:
-Ven Pedrito vamos a mi cuarto.
Pedrito va al cuarto y la maestra se quita la blusa y Pedrito dice:
-Ahhhhh
Y la maestra se quita la falda y Pedrito dice:
-Ehhhhh
La maestra se quita las medias y él dice:
-Ihhhhh
La maestra se quita el sostén y él dice:
-Ohhhhh
La maestra empieza a vestirse y él dice:
-Uhhhhh

Fin.

As I was reading it, I thought that I must be missing something and it couldn´t possible mean what I thought it did. But yes, it did. hehe. Just for a bit of translation help, se quita means to take off... I think you can figure out the rest just by guessing!

Start at the Very Beginning

It's kinda funny how certain events can foreshadow others in life. When I was at the zoo, all the little kids kept calling out "yacaré! yacaré!" which is Spanish for alligator. Then yesterday we actually had an alligator at our site!!! I knew just what Martín and Laura were talking about when the called out the same word. See, I am learning a little. hehe On that note, I have decided that I am going to start from the very beginning to refresh my Spanish. All too often I blurt out incorrect conjugations knowing full well that I am not using the right one, and then say a few more just to get to the one that I am thinking about. I really don´t know why... but I need to correct it. As you would expect nothing less of me, I downloaded a FREE program. hehe. Although I have just started using it, I really like it. It´s called SpanishUno and the verb conjugations originally drew me to the program. I really like the graphical interface which I need to keep me interested in using the program. hehe. Plus it has tons of sound files so perhaps one day I´ll start using the real pronunciation of ¨rr¨ again. Oh, and I switched my keyboard to an international one, so let me know if most of the punctuations I write are jibberish. It´s just a whole lot easier to type all the accent marks this way when I am writing to Martín, Laura, and Rodrigo. Well, I just wanted to share that with you in case any of ya´ll have a desire to learn some Spanish too. hehe, or perhaps I should say, jaja as they do here...

Learn Something New Every Day

First, I have to catch this up a bit...

On Wednesday, I played tour guide for Ben and Rodrigo out in the field as Martin and I changed the entire numbering system for our nest boxes to incorporate new boxes we will be placing next week. After checking all the nests which took forever since we didn't split up, Ben and I headed off to Santo Tome. I've taken the bus there, but instead of getting off at the terminal where we could easily catch it, we got off our collectivo much earlier. After waiting at one corner, switching to another corner (again having no clue if the bus actually travels on that street), we hailed a cab to jet us over. Then we started making some new boxes with all the wood we ordered last week.

We kicked butt! I drilled all the holes for every screw Martin set in place. The two of us also put traps on every box as well. (Ben drilled the hole for the door in the front piece of wood and cleaned up while waiting for us to finish.) We were like a well oiled machine. I was actually a little afraid that I was going to drill my fingers or Martin's at the rate we were going! By the end of the day, we started and finished 45 new boxes!!! Anyone want a bird house for Christmas? I'm an expert at making them now! hehe

We got back to the apartment at around 8pm, so instead of making dinner, we went out to celebrate. Every day when we take the taxi to our field site, we pass this Arabian restaurant. I've been eyeing it and was quite interested in trying it out. (We've probably gone out to dinner twice a week and have tried all kinds of places. Because real dinner isn't served until after 8:30pm though, most of what we've tried has been sandwiches (and burgers, lomos, etc).) Well, I ordered lamb which was served with onions on top (cebollado). Yum! It was cooked so which is a big difference between the pan fried steak Ben's been dishing up at the apartment. He ordered some kind of ground beef scoop marinaded in a lime juice or something. I liked mine way better! hehe. For desert I had oranges baked and drizzled with a sugary syrup. Mmmmm.


Okay, yesterday I worked with Rodrigo out in the field while Martin and Ben paired up. Each team was tasked with catching some birds and checking the nests on their side of the field. Our first nest to catch the female in was tipped upside-down by a cow and all the eggs were on the ground around the box, broken in half mid-incubation. It was too bad to see that there weren't going to be any chicks from that nest, but as Rodrigo said, it's less work for us. We checked all of the nests in that section (before ducking under the fence) and then processed the next female. We did all of that before the others even caught their first bird. Yes, we rock! Then we checked some more nests, measured some chicks, and tried catching a female that needed to be painted. (I've painted all of mine with a bright blue fat sharpie, but some of them either weren't painted at all, or got a speckling with a fine-point black pen. Yeah, as you might imagine, it is a little tricky to tell the males from the females as they are flying around if they are only a little bit more grey. Mine look like a whole new species!!!) We couldn't catch her again, as this was the same bird that took several days when she was incubating. Now with chicks in the nest, she has no reason to sit there forever. Oh well. We gave up and finished the rest of the nests.

By this point, Martin split up from Ben and finished checking the nests on their side. Ben was still trying to catch his bird. Rodrigo and I were walking to see if they needed any help when I froze... About three feet ahead of me lay a snake with a distinct triangular shaped head. In my book, that means bad news, so I asked Rodrigo to confirm that it was dangerous (peligroso). He replied with "do you want to take some pictures?" and "beni-noso". I'm flipping through my mental Spanish dictionary and it's not ringing any bells. So then I do the next best thing and run through possible English cognates... beni-fit, bene-volent, etc. Ummm, that doesn't make too much sense. Peligroso, si? Muy beninoso. Hmmm... still not helping, answer my question. Ohhhhhhh, light come on. So what you're saying is, this is the most venomous (actually spelled "venenoso" in Spanish) snake in all of South America. With this realization, I take a couple steps back. I think this snake doesn't need quite the intimate photo shoot Rodrigo seemed keyed up for. hehe, oh foreign languages...

We told Martin who after fixing the broken box joined me in telling the ranchers. Rodrigo left with one of them to go find it again and kill it. I am all about letting wildlife be, but these snakes can give birth to 60 live, venomous babies. Then with each bite, then inject more than double enough venom to kill a person, let alone all the cattle, horses, and little kids the ranchers have running around. Needless to say, the snake is no more. The main rancher (whose name I can't remember for the life of me) told Marin and I an interesting remedy for a snake bite. When his dogs have been bit by snakes, he injects kerosene into them. We asked all kinds of questions like how much and where to gain a better understanding. Evidently it would work for people too, but he said an alternative for treating people is to drink a mixture of milk and garlic. I don't think I want to try it just to see if it works. I'll try my luck at the hospital if I ever need to. But it is definitely neat to know that in a situation far from any medical treatment and without antivenom, you can live from such a bite. I'd love to learn all those little tricks, which makes me even more excited for Peace Corps. hehe

Today Ben and I had our day off. We split up and he paid for our accident insurance. (I am now covered with Argentina accident insurance, Cornell's International SOS health insurance, and my own travel health insurance. Overkill, doncha think?) I walked to the post office (12 blocks) and picked up the certified mail we got a notice about, which turned out to be our accident insurance papers. I also hunted down a stationary store to buy an envelope. That was another little lesson in Spanish, as I couldn't remember the word for envelope. I knew letter was "carta" and I had what I needed to send in my hand. So I told the lady I needed to send a letter, pointing to the paper I had in my hand. She then directed me to some nice, blank pieces of paper. Umm, let's try this again. I need to send this paper, and I need one of these (Pointing to the envelopes I just picked up), but smaller. Yes, success! I then went back to the post office and waited in line again. When I got to the counter, I told the lady I needed to sent "una carta certificado" or a certified letter. She just took the letter, gave me a price which was way less than I expected and slapped a stamp on it. No, I know what the word is this time, and you didn't even listen to my bad Spanish!!! :) (I didn't say that to her, but just repeated what I said the first time.) She looked annoyed, but totally understood that yes, I didn't just want to send the letter internationally, and that I pay a lot to send a little piece of paper in the mail that I had already faxed to it's destination. (That's how I see it at least.) But I'm not paying for it... if I ever get my reimbursement, that is.

Then instead of heading back to the apartment, I set out with my camera. I found llamas, picaries, flamingos, parrots, foxes, tapirs, pumas, and more!!! Yes, I took the bus up to the zoo. (I mapped out the bus system here in Santa Fe and have been exploring the city. Yes Jeff, that means that I have seem more than just Walmart. hehe Oh, speaking of which, I made peanut butter yesterday!!!! I was in a desperate search for a cheap, yet functional blender which I found at Walmart. I'm happy now. lol) At the zoo, there were no maps, no brochures, no gift shop, just animals. It was a different experience with the focus really just on seeing the animals. All the big animals were in similar enclosures which consisted of grass at varying heights and a house for the animal to get out of the sun all surrounded by a fence. The birds had perches to sit on, the monkeys had trees and swings to play on, and the nutria (think huge rat) had water to swim in. It wasn't the best zoo I've been to, but for a small city in a country with a struggling economy, it better than I expected. And for a dollar to get in, I'll have to go back to just watch the animals some more and perhaps sketch a little.

Just as I was leaving the zoo, the same Mormons were coming back down the street that passed up the street as I was going in the zoo. I had been kicking myself for not talking to them. When we passed the first time, they said "hola" and I replied with a "Hi." They each did about ten double takes as they walked further up the road. So we had a chat about where we were from and all that kind of stuff. I learned that they stay in each town for about 6 weeks and are in the country for a total of almost two years. For one of the kids, it was just his first month here while his partner was finishing up his mission. Then at the bus stop an older gentleman (who I stopped earlier looking at a map) asked me what I was doing and the like. He overheard me speaking in English and there you go. hehe. He's just traveling all around Argentina with this trip scheduled to last 5 weeks. (His Spanish is about at the level of a second week Spanish 1 student. I'm definitely more appreciative of my own ability now!) After practically a month here, I'm running into all kinds of Americans! Several stops before my apartment, another pair of Mormons boarded the bus. I would have talked to them too, but I needed to get off too soon. Crazy though.

Tonight I made the best dinner ever. I still have no clue how to control the heat in the oven. It is gas powered and there aren't any labels on the knob to tell you how hot the oven is going to be. We need to get a thermometer before I try baking cake or something. Anyhow, I put some foil down on a pan, drizzled it with oil, and sprinkled some salt, pepper, and seasonings. Then I plopped down some chicken breasts and repeated the same base layer on top with the addition of some chopped onions and tomatoes. (I realized too later that we were out of peppers.) I folded down the foil into a little packet and popped it in the oven (which is supposed to be at 400F but who knows what it was) for 30-45 min. (I think I took it out closer to 45 min after a bit of a disaster cooking the rice too high. Smoke. Bad.) The chicken turned out so well though. It was so tender and would have been even juicier had I cooked it properly. It was still loads better than anything we have eaten here at the house though. hehe Well, I take that back, I now can make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. mmmmm

Peanut butter and BBQs

Well, I just got back from my jog and had a great time. Then instead of coming straight back to the apartment, i went on a search for a blender/food processor to grind my peanuts. I was hoping to just pick up a cheap one... but that might not be possible. The cheapest they had was $30 USD, which is a little disappointing as then they jump to $45. (It makes me think that the cheaper one is actually cheap. Too bad. They had normal blenders all the way up to $100 and more! I was hoping to spend about $15 bucks on one. Kels got Scott a coffee grinder for pretty cheap for his birthday, like I know she didn't spend more than $15, probably about $10 if I recall. I only saw one coffee grinder here and it was again $30.

So in defeat, I picked up a burger off the street. Not literally, it was at a food stand. I thought it would be about 2 pesos, as I had a 2 bill. Nope, when it turned out to be 3 pesos, and I only had another 100 bill and no change. I felt so bad for the guy as he pretty much gave me all the change he had to break my 100. Oops. It was a pretty good burger though, nothing special, but not covered in all the grease and fat that you might associate with a street vendor. Perhaps the burger didn't quite counteract the affects of my run. hehe

Then I went to the grocery (like a corner produce store). I picked up some more fruit, as I ran out quickly from my last shopping trip. Si, un kilo por favor. Beer caught my eye when asked for anything else, so in good nature, I got one of those too. I have to support the local cervaceria (beer factory), don't I? Well, when I got back to the apartment, I ingeniously stowed away my beer in my extra nalgene. After a bit of a trying day in the field today (not to much with me), I figured I could use a good, whole beer. No more of these splitting a single beer between two people (60/40 not in my favor), or even just drinking one out of dixie cup sized glasses. yum. My theory proved correct that just as I finished preparing my new beverage, Ben was sitting at the table of the family room, complained about the tv, left, asked me for one of my apples I just bought, and then returned to complain about the new show that just came on. Good thing I didn't have to wait until he finished drinking my beer too! hehe.

Last night was a blast. After arriving at Martin's house an HOUR late because Ben had a fight with his wife and wanted to get a drink beforehand, I had a chance to mingle with Martin and his wife. She is so bubbly and friendly. I just love her! Martin is such a great guy as well. He's the best host/boss we could have. Perhaps a good description would be the friendliness and concern of a kindergarten teacher, the fun and determination of a frat guy, and the ease of conversation of a friend you've known forever. Anyhow, they decided to have a Argentinian asada bar-b-que for us. That basically means take about a whole cow, cut it up in various pieces, pop all of it in the bbq (which looks like a brick pizza oven), and enjoy! There was sooooo much food and it just kept coming. We had appetizers of cold, bite size pieces of steak dipped in a veggie mayonnaise sauce. Then we had sausages, one that was probably normal and the other "blood sausage". I have no clue what all was in them, but yep, I'd say the later was at least 50% blood. When in Argentina! Then we had one cut of steak. And then another. (By this time I was stuffed.) But then Martin took even more off the bbq. (The pics are from an asada that we had about two weeks later out in the campo.)

I couldn't eat any more, so they switched from beer to some other kind of drink. I can't remember the name of it, but it starts with an "f" (perhaps some fennel-based alcohol...ah it's Fernet) mixed with coke. It was pretty good. Then came the coffee and tea (which I didn't take). Ohhh, I forgot the ice cream in between. mmmm. Then Martin's wife cooked up some marshmallows for us which she had a kick out of. I guess you can't get them anywhere but Walmart here, so most people haven't had them. mmmm :)

That about catches things up here. Hope ya'll are doing well!