More Success!!!

David has only one camera still in place in the jungle.  He plans on collecting that one on Monday. None of us can believe we have to leave next Wednesday...  These images were on the camera he took down last week.  David has been going out with the crew that hauls water for washing dishes and bathing.  While they pump water from the river he investigates nearby "aguadas" or watering holes. He has placed cameras where he has seen footprints of animals he was hoping to capture "on film".  These two images are from an aguada that the workers here call "Los Loros" (The Parrots).  David saw puma and tapir tracks there. And he captured images of both.  We all knew his method was sound.  Still, I told him he is either the luckiest twelve year old in the world or this jungle is FULL of animals.  David is already formulating plans for his 2014 research year.

Jungle Perks

One of the advantages of living in the jungle is that you get to swing on vines. It is at least as fun as it looks.  While doing it one feels a little bit monkey, a little bit Tarzan.  And almost everyone yells: "Oooooohhhhhhhooooooohhhhhooooohhhhhh!"  You just can't help it.  

Food Chain Interference

We didn't actually want to interfere with the food chain, but while I was taking close up pictures of the snake trying to drag the frog away, the boys and I must have spooked the snake because it released its prey and slithered away.  The frog immediately jumped onto Cenzo's leg.  It seemed like the frog thought it camouflaged against Cenzo's pants. The snake went quickly up the nearest tree and into the roof of a champa (a champa is a pole and thatch hut).  The boys just love it when the jungle interrupts their daily activities with curiosities like this. So do Bill and I.

Jungle Insects: Familiar, Just Bigger

This jungle is full, and I mean FULL of interesting bugs.  Some of them are quite beautiful and some are very menacing.  And sometimes they look just like bugs we have in the New England, but much bigger.  This one found it's way into Bill's office yesterday.  David put his hand next to it for scale.  I have seen locusts down here that are bigger than this, but this is a decent size for a grasshopper.  Here this kind is called an "Esperanza" and when you see one you get to make a wish.

ZIPLINE

So... Giancarlo got a Zipline for Christmas.  He waited and waited for our time in the jungle so we could put it up.  I am sorry I am just getting around to posting about it, because all of camp has been enjoying it for more than a month now.  Even putting it up was fun, hard work, but fun.  One end had to be over 20 feet off the ground and the other end at least 10ft off the ground.  Well, we didn't have a ladder that tall.  So, as you can see below, we used the ladder we did have, and then Eddie stood on Matteo's shoulders while Adan held the ladder.  The second pictures shows that it still wasn't high enough so Eddie had to shimmy up alone to loop the cable around the tree.  At the other end of the zipline it took a group of people to pull the cable tight.  But it wasn't tight enough.  In the end we had to pull it with the Landrover.  Nice driving, David!  The whole process involved a lot of giggling and a fair amount of bracing for disaster.   The final result can be seen in the smiles of our boys who by now have ridden it alone, together, backwards, forwards, at night, with balloon wings (my birthday) and with Coca Cola bottle jet packs. Bill has ridden it. I have ridden it.  Just about every single person in camp has ridden it, as well as almost every visitor.  It is wonderful fun for everyone.  Now we can't imagine camp without it.

Look - A Baby Fox!

On Saturday the family got to go visit the site of Xultun.  It is 12 kilometers from San Bartolo by bad road.  Most of the team is working there, but the trucks are crowded, so we don't get to visit much. We love to catch up on current excavations, but we aren't allowed to take pictures...  so Look! A baby fox!  This is one of two babies living in this hollow log with their mama.  The hollow log is right behind one of the buildings being excavated. I hope you can blow the image up to full screen on your computers, because this little pup is beyond adorable.

Visitor!

Last week my dear friend, Kristin Rasmussen, came to visit.  Kristin and I went to high school and college together.  Over the years we have visited or traveled with Kristin in Boston, New York, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Monterey... and outside the US in London, England; Antigua, Guatemala; and Cancun, Mexico.  Now she has come all the way to San Bartolo.  Kristin arrived on a Tuesday and showered us with gifts of Nutella and other chocolates, as well as plenty of Sour Patch Kids, or "SPK's" as the boyos call them.  Kristin got to see the murals here at San Bartolo, as well as walk around at Xultun.  We took several other walks in the jungle and saw plenty of monkeys and birds.  I don't want to put words in her mouth, but I think she thought it was pretty fabulous here.  Kristin had to hitch a ride out with the supply truck, which leaves at 2 am on Saturday morning. Of course, around 9 pm Friday night we realized we hadn't taken any pictures together during her visit - we were too busy walking and talking and just hanging out.  We all piled into Bill's hammock, and giggling, took the last minute photo below.  Thanks for coming, Kristin!!!

David, Kristin, Giancarlo, Cenzo, & Jaime

March16th 2012