En la bosce

Dan taking a focal

The other side of the river is Brazil

A rhino beetle

Fermino machete-ing some wood for a bridge

Fermino and Dan laughing about something

A huge toad

Badass. And that's the legit trail.

A cute juvenile. Here you go, Daniel.

Looong Day

In the last 36 hours, I've only slept 2. I worked the morning shift yesterday, relaxed in the afternoon, and then we went out on the town. Renata, our manager of sorts, decided to show us a night out. We started off going to this place called the Farinia, which is an alleyway with numerous stalls selling mostly wine, cheese, salami, and olives. It's a pretty cool outdoor place, and you can sit at some tables and drink lots of wine. We started off with a cheese/olives/salami platter, empenadas, and a couple of bottles of wine. Then we went to an outdoor market area and hung out with some hippies. Usually there are many stalls with various crafts but the night was bitterly cold so the place was pretty empty. Then we went to a hostel where a friend of Renata's works and he made us Caipirinias, some Brazilian drink, which were pretty good. Then we went to the dance club. I forgot how much I like to dance crazilly to techno sometimes. I have to give a shout out to my techno dance party ladies because I thought of you a lot, especially during some boom boom pow and satisfaction. I also made my friend try to high-five me during a strobe like session--it's insane. When I went to the bathroom in the corner I found out that there was an entirely other dance floor with djs. When I went to the bathroom in that room, I found yet another huge dance floor! This place was endless. All of a sudden it was 4 am, I still have very little idea of how it got to be so late, or early, depending how you see it. We were pretty tired, but decided that we would just have to stay out until it was time to go to work. We finally left the club at around 5am, got some hamburgers and hot dogs, and headed back to the park, where everyone else passed out, but Dan and I had to get up for work in about half an hour. I took a cat nap in one of the hammocks while he stayed awake to make sure we got up and out. Since I've been staying at Annie's house, I didn't have any other clothes with me so I had to go out into the field all day in the jeans and a tshirt I went out in last night. I was a pretty sorry sight. The two of us went out into the field and followed monkeys for the next six hours on no sleep at all. Luckily the monkeys were moving a lot so we didn't really have time to sit and let our bodies feel exhausted. When we finally did towards the end of our shift, it was very hard to get up. I got back in a daze, made some food and took a much needed nap. Dan and I are pretty much champs. So today has been a pretty long two days for me. On the bright side, I've seen plenty of toucans lately. There were about 7 of them just chilling in a tree by the side of the road yesterday and today. Tomorrow is my day off again, and the forecast looks better than my last one so I'm definitely going to trot over to the Cataratas! Now I'm going to rest.

Yesterday was the first day we've started taking focals on our monkeys, where we record everything they do for 10 minutes. At first it's pretty embarrassing to basically be talking to yourself for 10 minutes, and especially saying "hand to mouth" every second over and over. The forest is still pretty wet and swampy because of all the rain recently, though it's sunny, but very chilly, today. Because we were only practicing I decided to bring my new camera into the field with me. Sadly, my zoom is not nearly as good as I was hoping it would be. It was also a very cloudy day so my monkey pictures are not great, but I did try. All these photos will be going up in the next couple of days (it takes a while to upload down here). Towards the end of the day I finally got to see a Toucan! One just flew into a fruiting tree maybe 20 yards from us, at about eye level, and stayed there for about half an hour. Dan and I watched the toucan instead of tracking the monkeys for a while, but our guide friend helped us out there. Then I fell on my face. I was walking downhill on a trail and it was getting dark. My foot caught a liana (a vine) and that was that. I went face first into the dirt. Nothing but my ego got bruised and Dan laughed at me for about 10 minutes staight. It was pretty hilarious. Back at CIES, we made pizza for dinner and then the night somehow turned into a table-top dance party. Not sure how that happened, but I'm always up to groove. I think tonight we're also going out to a 'club' in town, which should be interesting.

If you want to read another view on my life down here, read my friend Dan's blog: www.orangudaniel.blogspot.com

Foz

Today was my day off (well, I've had two now because yesterday was really rainy). Last night was probably the worst storm I've heard in years with torrential downpours and lightning and really intense thunder all night long. Today was really rainy and overcast as well so I didn't venture to the falls but instead went to Foz de Iguazu, Brazil. It's right over the border and you don't need a visa (which is expensive for Americans) to go to the town. I went with another girl in another research group, Taylor, because she needed to get a TB vaccination over there since they don't give them in Argentina. Anyways, Foz is muuuch bigger than Puerto Iguazu (the town on this side of the falls), with tall buildings and a real city center, etc. They also have a wider variety of food on their supermercados there than her in Argentina, so a lot of people go over there to do some grocery shopping. It only took about 45 minutes to get there by bus. I got my passport stamped twice more on the Argentinean side! Good thing I got those extra pages. So Taylor and I ran some errands, walked the streets which had some pretty decent stores and restaurants. We ate a really good bakery. They have these potato dough balls with chicken inside them that are delicious. Then we found a really really nice shopping mall. It had a great food court with chinese food (!!) and Subway actually. They have a movie theater, (which hopefully will play New Moon in November, I don't care if it's dubbed in portugese or spanish, I'll still go see it) that plays some new movies (like Harry Potter) and some old. They also had a really nice bookstore where I bought a copy of Harry Potter in Portugese to go with my foreign language collection of them (I think this one makes 7 in other languages). And that was my foray into Brazil!

Now the rest of my team had to go out into the field to look for the monkeys, that we haven't been following for a couple days because of the weather ,while I relax. This week we start taking focals on the monkeys that we've been learning to identify. That's where two people each find a monkey and record what they do for ten minutes into a voice recorder. Then we compile the paired comparison data into a spreadsheet and sample 15 seconds of each minute to identify their behaviors, feeding/foraging/resting/etc, and the environment, light/canopy hight/distance/available fruits, from which then Annie can extrapolate some results. So that should be fun to do a bit more in the field instead of just following. I'm also going to try to take some pictures of the monkeys this week, and will post those.

The Garganta del Diablo

The Garganta is the biggest waterfall in the area. Its huge and amazing, with lots of smaller waterfalls around it. It's a little ways away from the other falls and usually there's a huge cloud of mist blocking the view. You have to take a little train about 15 minutes through the park to get there and then walk along catwalks over the river for another 20 minutes before you reach the falls. It's basically the main tourist attraction in this part of Argentina, and definitely worth the visit.

The Garganta is the plume of mist waaay in the background around the corner from the other Iguazu Falls.

Looking downriver from Garganta

Check out that rainbow!

The rim

CIES--Centro Investigaciones de Ecologicos Subtropicales

This animal is a Coati, related to our racoon I think. They're everywhere in the park and tourists love to gawk at them and try to pet them, but they do bite.

This is the lab.

This is the dorm where we sleep

right in the middle of the forest

This is the main research station in the park, where I spend most of my time.

Hola

I've been pretty busy this week. I moved into my boss's (Annie's) house earlier this week. It's a little awkward sharing a small house with her and her husband and 3 month old baby, but it'll do for now. It's kind of a drag not to have all my stuff in one place. The other bad part is that its about a 20 minute walk away from CIES. The other night I walked alone in the dark along the train tracks in the middle of the forest to her house, and it was probably the scariest walk of my life. And in the mornings if I work the morning shift, I also have to walk in the dark along the tracks. I just listen to my ipod and try not to think about the lurking jaguars and pumas. Now she has a couple bikes which I'll take out tomorrow morning.

We've also had a couple of asados. One was at Annie's house, which was a very relaxing atmosphere. They cooked the usual assortment of meat on an open fire beside the road, accompanied by salad and lots of bread and wine. (Everyone here is getting used to my massive bread infatuation and consumption). Then Johnny, Annie's husband, played the guitar and sang some Argentinean songs. Then we had one at CIES as a going away party for the leaving field assisstants. They are a really fun group of people and I wish they were staying for a while because we got along really well. Again mass assumption of meat, bread, and wine ensued. We also went out to dinner last night in town at this outdoor stand/restaurant. We ate lots of empenadas which are usually corn and cheese baked in a dough shell-type thing. My favorite, to no surprise, are the ones filled with onions. The beer here is not too great, because they concentrate on wine. One brand tastes like watered down beer, one is a sweet stout, and one from Patagonia is actually pretty good.

This morning we set out to follow the monkey group but around 9:30am we lost track of where they went. This group is apparently really quiet so following them can be difficult. We spent a few hours spreading out on the various trails but to no avail, so we came in early. The afternoon group gets to go out later than usual because it would be a waste of their afternoon wandering aimlessly looking for them. Instead they'll hopefully find them as the monkeys head to bed. Since we all had most of the day off we took the little train here to the Garganta del Diablo, the huuuuuuge waterfall that is part of the Iguazu Falls. The thing was absolutely amazing, a beast of nature. It definitely is up there with Victoria Falls. I can't quite decide which I like better yet. It's hard to describe, but it was awesome. I plan on going back on Tuesday, my day off, and taking lots of pictures of the falls and posting them. I promise pictures are coming soon! We actually just found out that the park has wireless, and the signal is sometimes not too bad around here in the hammocks (where I am now), so that should help out a lot. Yesterday I went to town with Boi, from Spain also a new assisstant, and we walked to the Tres Fronteras, where you can see Brazil and Paraguay, and below the two rivers merge. Each country has a flag that you can see from the other two and lookout points. Sadly, I didn't have my camera but I'm sure I'll go back soon. I'll definitely add some pictures on my day off this week...

I'm Alive!

Sorry it's taken me a little while to update this, but internet has been scarcer than I thought. That problem should be corrected in the next couple of days when my boss gets a portable modem. Right now I snuck into the Sheraton hotel that's about a 5 minute walk away from where I live. Technically these computers are for hotel guests only, but if you walk in like you belong they don't get too suspicious for a couple weeks until they start to recognize you and realize that you're not just a turista.

Anywho, my flights went very smoothly, business class was a definite help (thanks dad!). They had some great movies on the flight, so I watched the new Star Trek because I heard it was good and some of I Love You Man, but because the seat\bed was so comfortable I did get some sleep. Annie (my boss and the researcher I'm working for) was there to pick me up at the airport with no problems.

So basically I'm living in the legit jungle. The Parque Nacional Igazu is absolutely gorgeous. I got a chance to swing by the Iguazu Falls the other day brifely and they are absolutely incredible. (I'll post some pictures when I can use my computer). They definitely rival Victoria Falls. On my day off next week I plan on going down there to see them some more, because I love waterfalls. There's also a huge waterfall and swimming hole about 3km down a path from where I'm living that should be fun to swim in when it gets hotter here. The past few days have actually been pretty cold and rainy, which isn't too fun, but I figure it'll be hot and humid soon enough. I'm currently living at CIES, the main research station. There are about 4 groups of researchers there now. I'm staying in a very small room with two bunkbeds, so 4 field assisstants. There is a bit of a bed shortage so I think I got stuck moving into my boss' house with another girl in the next couple of days, which has its pros and cons. But all of the researchers are young 20somethings, so it's pretty fun. There's a couple of hammocks and I've been reading a lot (right now Harry Potter 7 haha). They don't eat dinner here until around 8 or 10 pm, but their wine is great---tons is made in the Mendoza provence of Argentina. My group of assisstants includes one guy from Ohio, one coming from Spain, one girl from Columbia, one girl from London, and one girl from Arkansas who is training us. Living here, I'm definitely working on my Español! It's not great now but I'm sure in a few months I'll be pretty conversant. All the people seem really cool so far. Most of them are more scientisty than I am which is interesting so I'm learning a lot. The jungle here also has some pretty cool animals, thought it's no Africa. But it does have Capuchin monkeys, coatis, capiberras (sp?), chimeans, tapirs, snakes, toucans, lots of other birds, and mosquitos unforturnately.

So my days are like this-- A few of us wake up at dawn and, dressed in our cool khaki outdoor gear, go into the jungle on mere suggestions of trails (sometimes a machete is needed, and on which I've been getting pretty lost) looking for a group of Brown Capuchin monkeys. Once we find the group we try to identify the individuals, which is quite a bit harder to do than with baboons because they are high up in trees and much smaller and less distinct I think. Then we follow them as they search for food along the ¨trails¨ and next week we'll start recording their foraging habits for 10 minutes at a time. One group does this from dawn until noon, and a second group does this from noon until dusk, when they settle down for sleep. Today I was on the afternoon shift, but the morning shift couldn't keep up with the monkeys so they came back early and we are going to go out later than usual, which is great because its basically a day off for me! But trekking through the jungle in rain boots is certainly fun and dirty and wet. There are tree roots and vines and puddles to avoid and slosh through and it's all great fun for me.

I went into town yesterday afteroon, Puerto Iguazu, and it's actually very nice. It's very safe and friendly. It basically caters to the tourism around the park, so there are lots of shops and nice restaurants, and there is an easy bus to get around everywhere. The town also takes a siesta from about 1230-430pm every day. For the first couple of months we work 4 days on, 1 day off. After a trial period we can change to 25 days on, 5 days off so we can get in some travelling. It's easy to get into Brasil and Paraguay from here, since they're right across the river. There's a spot where you can see all three countries. They have some cool traditions here. One is they have a tea-like drink called Mate (ma-tay) that is actually quite good. It's a big guest-host relationship tradition, where you basically have to serve it if you're a host and its very rude not to drink it if you're the guest. I definitely plan on bringing some home with some of the special cups they drink it out of. They also have these bbq-like get togethers all the time called Asados, much like the South African braii, where there's lots and lots of wine and meat. I've been here 5 days and I've already been to 2 and have 2 more invites to in the next week. They're a great way to meet people who work in the park and to relax with my fellow assisstants and to work on my spanish for sure.

It's been a hectic few days, but that's what my life is looking like for the next 6 months! When I get the modem for my laptop I'll definitely post some pictures. Until next time I can sneak into the Sheraton...

Overview

So here's a quick description of what I'll be doing down in Argentina, since people keep asking. The researcher, Annie Green, summarizes her research like this:

Overview
This proposal studies the fitness consequences of individual color vision
variation in wild Cebus apella at Iguazú Falls, Argentina to discriminate between alternative
mechanisms that maintain allelic variation in color vision genes in platyrrhine populations. This
study will expand on the few existing studies of food detections in wild monkeys by using a
statistically more powerful paired-comparison sampling design, comparing multiple groups of
differing composition, and using sensitive objective measures of the color and lighting contexts
associated with contexts of sampled observations.

Intellectual Merit
Knowledge on how variation is maintained in natural populations is essential to evolutionary
ecology and to understanding the evolution of adaptive traits. The color vision polymorphism in
New World primates provides a unique opportunity to investigate this problem. Previous work
has demonstrated that color vision affects behavioral response, but the connection to natural
fitness consequences remains ambiguous. The proposed research will expand upon previous
work by collecting appropriate measurements on the ecological context and consequences of
potential fitness influencing behaviors such as foraging and vigilance exhibited by different
visual phenotypes in multiple social groups. Consequently, this study could have important
implications for understanding the high frequency of dichromacy found in human, Caucasian
males, and may shed light on maintenance of the large number of L-opsin alleles in human
females.

Broader Impacts
This study will generate new data, including behavioral, nutritional, spectral, and DNA data,
which will be made available to the primate and color vision research communities. The project
will provide employment and training for members of the local Guaraní community and
undergraduate women of both Argentina and the United States. Additionally, this work will
compliment Charles Janson’s on-going research on predator detection (NSF BCS 0515007).
Finally, the provocative nature of this subject provides immense potential for public outreach
and education.

Behavioral sampling
Pairs of observers will follow groups from dawn to dusk for 3-25 consecutive days. Activities of paired individuals will be recorded during synchronized 15s continuous focal samples taken at 1-min intervals. This paired sampling design will be provide greater power in determining differences between color vision variants. By controlling for
habitat, time of day, and group activity contexts during the sampling process, any differences in
foraging success or behaviors between visual phenotypes should be much more salient than
would be the case when individuals of different visual phenotypes are compared across these
important sources of variation.

Translation: I go out into the jungle and observe a family of Capuchin monkeys and take notes on their foraging, eating, grooming, etc. And then compare those observations to their known DNA which tells us what kind of vision they have (two or three cones) and do some statistical analyzes on that. That's about as much as I can understand haha. I"ll update this more when I get down there!