Day Three in Batipa

May 21

Today we had cereal and fruit for breakfast. It was my first time trying papaya, and I actually really liked it- it's a really striking, reddish-orange color. I'm normally a pretty picky eater, but I've had a lot of fun trying foods that are new to me. We can't exactly walk to the grocery store or to a restaurant from out here, which means we pretty much just eat whatever our hosts make! I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to keep on enjoying new things. 

Today was our first day doing work out in the field. My group is studying insect distribution in different parts of the preserve! We went up the same path that we took yesterday, though this time it almost felt harder. I think we were going at a bit of a faster pace, and we took less breaks. It meant that we got there quicker, but it also meant that I really struggled to catch my breath. This trip has really made it hit home how non-athletic I am. (Hopefully by the end of it I'll be a little more fit.) When we got far enough up the trail, our work began. Our mentor guided us through the steps: First, we picked a series of random areas to sample. Then, we set out from the trail to find good plots. We marked out an area of one meter by one meter each time, took some environmental measurements, and then used a sieve to filter through the dirt from that area. We counted the number of insects we could see in the soil, and marked down how many there were of each type. (We didn't bother with specific species, though; we focused more on the shape/size of each.) It was a little laborious, but it wound up being really interesting; you can see a lot when you get up close and personal with the dirt. On the way home, we saw a group of howler monkeys up in a tree; thankfully they didn't seem too bothered by us, so we were able to get a good look at them (from a respectable distance, of course). I don't think I've seen monkeys in the wild before I came here!

When we went back to the main area, we sat and put our numbers into the statistics system we're using. After that we had a couple hours of free time, which I mostly spent sitting and chatting with some of the other students. We were given a bowl with a hot fruit mixture and some cheese. The fruit itself was a little too tart for me on its' own, but I actually really enjoyed the way the cheese tasted in it. We had dinner (chicken burgers), then the whole group got together to discuss a paper we'd been sent to read. It was about the flaws with the way we teach sustainable development and proposing new ideas about our future. 

Then it was time for bed. I've been going to sleep a lot earlier than I would back home, to make up for waking up so early most of the time.