And we're back!

  9 Octubre 2020

        On October 6th at around 2 am, Shawn and I finally arrived back in Ecuador to head back out into the field and check on the cameras and audiomoths that have been sitting unattended for practically 9 months. With how the year had been going, I was not convinced the trip was going to actually happen until we were driving away from the Quito airport. I could feel the excitement that we would finally be able to proceed with data collection and that my masters was moving forward again. All this after feeling like I was on pause for months was such an incredible relief.

        We spent two days in Quito preparing supplies for the field. In these few days, it was remarkable to see the difference in COVID-19 precautions. Where I am based in the U.S., not everyone takes the masks seriously. Businesses will require them on the premises and provide hand sanitizer, but in Quito, you were required to wipe your feet, be sprayed with disinfectant, use hand sanitizer, and have your temperature checked before entering most indoor locations. Anyways, on the 8th, we were finally on the road back to Jama-Coaque. We took a different route than usual, so it was neat to see different sights of Ecuador that were mostly new to me. For the most part, though, the drive was uneventful. At one point or another, all of us were trying to get some shut-eye. The only true stop made along the way was to grab groceries in Pedernales. The great thing about stocking up on food for three weeks is the shop owners typically are so thrilled by the massive purchase that they'll start throwing in extras. Which was definitely the case for us. Each time I looked over, I could swear the woman was giving Ryan extra fruits to go with the purchase. Seeing acts of generosity like this never fail to make my day.

        One of the most amazing things about the bamboo house at the reserve is the constant improvement that is made. This time when we arrived, the road had just been resurfaced in light of the intense downpour that nearly blew out portions of the road. The government had been in the town of Camarones to re-do the road and Dany, the field operations manager for Jama-Coaque, ran into them. He asked if they could fix the road leading up to the reserve, but the contract only covered the road through town. He offered thirty dollars and a chicken, and they accepted the deal, meaning we had a smooth drive up the parking area by the reserve. Simply amazing! When we walked up to the bamboo house, we were amazed by the new floors that had only recently been placed. This time, the floors were smooth and there's not the concern of tripping over a nail. To top it off, Dany left us some flowers in a vase.

       But, we came with improvements ourselves. The reserve purchased some large solar panels so we wouldn't have to rely on a gas-powered generator. In the coming days, we will be installing them, along with working to fix the hydro-electric dam to ensure our power is 100% renewable.

        Alongside that, we had two packs of fairy lights to wrap around the banisters of the common area and the kitchen. With all the settings the lights have, we called them 'party lights', but in coming times, they could serve as a deterrent to people stopping by the river to illegally shrimp since the lights are solar-powered and visible from the trail to the river (making it appear as though someone is always around). 

        Friday, the 9th, was set aside for practicing, planning, and installing the solar panels. Another incredible aspect of this trip is the number of people we have to aid in checking CAIPs this time. In addition to Shawn, Ryan, and myself, Moises and Nicholas are joining for this maintenance period. Moises is a student from Quito who is interested in ecotourism and aspires to be a nature guide. He may also complete his undergraduate thesis work at JCR! Nicholas is a friend of Shawn's from Colombia and is considering getting his graduate degree in the U.S. That all said, we'll have enough people that we can divide and conquer on these trees, which I am beyond excited about.

        Anyways, for practice, Moises, Shawn, and I visited a tree that has a canopy camera but is not part of the project. Shawn showed Moises the ropes (ba dum tsss), while I worked out the logistics of collecting all of the habitat measures I decided were relevant based on my research. Moises, being a rock climber, took to tree climbing like a fish to water. I also felt confident about collecting the habitat variables, so Shawn went to help install the solar panels, while Moises and I went to practice on one more non-project tree.

View from the bamboo house

        To say the next tree did not go according to plan would be accurate.

        This tree, Shawn and Ryan warned us, was in a thicket of bamboo, so I was prepared for a rough climb, having to clear thorny bamboo out of the way. As an aside, I know some of you may be thinking - Jackie, bamboo isn't thorny! Trust me, it can be - just search for guadua bamboo thorns. Guada bamboo is the strongest species of bamboo and the only species native to South America, and it has some CRAZY thorns. Back to my point, we found one end of the climbing line just fine, but, for the life of us, we couldn't find the other end. We spent nearly an hour searching for it when Moises found where the other end had been tied, and snapped. That was a shame, but I figured we could still salvage the hike out by practicing tying the anchor on. However, as we were starting to set the anchor, Moises heard a noise from above. He looked up to see what it was and a monkey pooped on his eye! I'm not sure if it was on purpose or an accident, but we took it as a sign to move. We flushed his eye out with some water and then booked it back to the house. Thankfully Moises was totally okay, his eye was fine the next day, but I don't think either of us will ever forget that day.

This trip, I decided to change things up a bit with the blog and asked that my field partners write about their experiences. So, here is one from Moises.

9 Octubte 2019, Moises

        El día anterior, estuve muy contento de haber llegando, tuve grandes expectativas y emociones conjuntas por estar en un lugar tan tranquilo y poder respirar aire fresco, pero nunca me hubiese imaginado lo que viene a continuarión...

        Fuimos al primer árbol, muy cerca de la casa y tuve que cargor una maleta muy pesada, pero no la sentí, por la razón de que estuvo cerca, escalamos el árbol y fue super grandioso. Horas después regresumos a casa para el almuerzo para nuevamente salir a otro árbol, pero esta vez, solo Jackie y yo, fue corta pero muy empinada, al llegar allí buscamos la pequeña y uuuuhh! Después de mucho tiempo lo logramos, pero rota!! 

        Gue un poco triste porque en verdad quería escalar ese árbol, así que decidimos solo practicar a poner el anclaje y lo que pasó fue de película. Mientras armábamos el anclaje empezamos a escuchar ruidos en el canopy de los árboles y yo escuché como caían cosas así que decidí regresar a ver y una bola de caca cayó justo en MI OJO!!! Fue una experiencia muy dolorosa y asquerosa. Pero manture la calma y Jackie me ayudó a limpiarlo y quedó muy rojo y toda mi ropa con olor a caca de mono. Desde es día supe que este trabajo no iba a ser fácil.