The Puerto Rican Rainforest

Pictures from the field day 7 and 8

2006-12-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We hiked out about an hour in the mud - it is unrelenting here - and finished the Mahoe tree study in plot 117. I, along with Jean, Ali and Karen were in charge of measuring the canopy. Jean and I chose inline because we thought it would be easy...HA!!!! We were all over the place, slipping and sliding. We worked for a long time and I was starting to get a bit tired and weary of the walk back which is ALL UPHILL!!! Not kidding. Jean and I left the plot about 15 minutes before anyone else and I still got overtaken. I have been using BenGay all day today. I think it is the first time I have ever used it. Lots of firsts for everyone on this trip. Today was much easier. It was only about a 15 minute hike, in the mud and all uphill (I don't think anyplace here is downhill except where we work and then I am generally sliding down it!!) We worked with hardwoods today and I am sure that I had at least 100 spiders on me somewhere at some point during the day. I felt something tickling my ear and Jean told me it was a stick bug. I try not to shriek but it is virtually impossible. Any time there was a scream somebody would say, "That's Julie!" We hiked around in a VERY dense area looking for hardwoods to measure. It was very easy and relaxing and thankfully we had a machete and clippers to get through some areas. It was THAT dense! Karen and I started back a few minutes before everyone else and cleared about 10,000 more spiders that had crossed our path. I then returned to camp, showered, which is the absolute best part of the day, and packed to get ready for my 7 1/2 hour flight home tomorrow!!! Enough writing...I have many beautiful pictures to share...

Our Day Off!!!

2006-12-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

An explanation of the mangroves.

The mangroves growing in the saltwater.

All of us listening to the researcher.

In old San Juan, Claudines first experience with a twinkie.

The Fort at El Morro in Old San Juan.

A crab at the Mangroves. This is a male. Males only have one pincher and females have 2.
We woke up early yesterday and got ready for a trip out of the rainforest. We began our day off in the Mangroves. It was a big grove of trees situated right on the ocean. They are rather interesting trees in that they can grow in salt water in the absence of Oxygen. We saw many crabs and illegal crab traps and spent about 2 hours learning about the mangroves and the research taking place there. It was EXTREMELY hot and humid and I was beginning to get a bit cranky. The water was very shallow and therefore very warm so totally not refreshing. We left by cramming 16 people into a van (made for 15 small to average people) and drove 40 minutes to another spot. I stayed in the van at that stop to make an attempt at cooling off. My crankiness subsided after I talked to my sister and my husband. We then went back to the research center, dropped off the researcher, Sally, Sabine, Jean and Elles and headed for Old San Juan. It is a lovely city built on a hill that sits on the Atlantic Ocean. It made me think Mexico meets New York City meets New Orleans. Claudine, Ali and I spent the first half of the day shopping for souvenirs while the rest of the group headed up to the Fort at El Morro. We eventually made our way there and it was fascinating. I have never seen anything like it. (See pictures, which absolutely don't do it justice). We all met up for dinner at Mojito's for a traditional Puerto Rican dinner. They love garlic and onions here which suits me just fine. I think the majority of us had garlic shrimp and garlic yellow rice. We then made one quick stop at Big Kmart and home we came for a very restful night.

Who we are...

2006-12-21T12:06:00.000-08:00

I am a high school earth and life science teacher in Long Beach, California. I am married with 3 children. I really dislike grasshoppers so this has been an experience. I am using muscles on this trip I never knew I had!!!

Natalya is from Belarus and works for British American Tobacco although she doesn't smoke. She works on anti-smoking campaigns. There is no peanut butter in her country so she will be taking some home with her. Tonight she is making us authentic potato pancakes, a Belarussian favorite.

Elles (pronounced Ellis) is from Holland and works for Shell. Her boots fell apart the first day of our trip and she has been seriously duct taping them each morning. She thinks that our American cars are entirely too big! Don't get her to try something new, she won't do it!!!

Claudine is from Ireland and is half Dutch, half Irish. She works for a medical device company and recently graduated college with a major in Geology. Claudine enjoyed several firsts this trip: first twinkie, first trip to a Big Kmart and first experience with a yellow school bus.

Mike is an economist from Chicago. He is married with baby #1 on the way. He ran the Chicago marathon in October, 2006.

Jean is my fellow North American buddy. She is from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and works for Shell, eh. When she left to come here, it was -30 Celsius with lots of snow.

Aziz is from Uzbekistan and works for British American Tobacco. He claims to be a professional anaconda hunter.

Ali is from Southern California and volunteers at the Aquarium of the Pacific. She is currently in college studying geology.

Karen is a naturalist from Virginia. She is here with her husband Kit. They have participated in the following Earthwatch Expeditions: Idaho mountain lions, Virginia's Shenandoah wildlife, Mexican forest carnivores, Polar Bears in Manitoba, Grasslands of Brazil and the Puerto Rican rainforest.

Kit is here with his wife Karen. He works in finance from Virginia and has participated in 6 Earthwatch Expeditions.

Sabine is from Holland, works for Shell and loves frogs.

Kate's 2nd Birthday

2006-12-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

Since I could not be home with Kate for her 2nd birthday, I had my new friends help
me out by singing happy birthday to her. Here it is...
Gabcast! Preparing for my trip #2

Some local wildlife

2006-12-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

This is only one type of Coqui that we found. They have very sticky hands and feet so I held them with my gloves. Maybe I will branch out tonight and try my bare hands.

This little guy hung out all day on the bench outside of the bunkhouse. There were about 4 others. It seems to be the place to be.

This lovely creature is on the rafters in our room. I think that Sabine loves them the most and has absolutely no qualms catching them. I will leave that to her!!!

Survivor

2006-12-18T08:38:00.000-08:00

Planting trees in the middle of the rainforest. It was a beautiful day today and not quite as humid as it has been. Super hot thought!!!

Jean (from Canada) my planting and tagging partner today.

The very dense forest that we trudge throught each day.

Planting. Closest is Elles (pronounce Ellis) from the Netherlands.

Me measuring and tagging the last tree.
I told everyone before I left that this would be my survivor and people laughed. Okay, no more laughing. Yesterday was really, really difficult. So much so that I didn't even post last night. So I will post twice today. Yesterday was a torrential downpour. We were very far from camp on the side of a mountain. I was beautiful but with the rain coming down so hard and so frequently that I was really unable to take many pictures. We worked on a plot trees, measuring the tree itself, the canopy and the distance between each tree. I was the data recorder which appeared to be the simplest of the jobs. HA!! It was virtually impossible to keep the paper dry. I was able to use the waterproof paper but even that was difficult as I kept falling down and breaking the pencil, pens, whatever I was holding. I thought at one point I actually broke my wrist but luckily the pain subsided and I was fine. The trek home was interesting. It was pouring rain and the mud was unbelievable. It was a foot deep in some places!!! If you stood in it for too long it was difficult to get out. It took about 1 hour to get back and it was all uphill. I was hiking back with Claudine (from Ireland) and she forgot to put her gloves on...an absolute necessity and got sliced wide open from the razor grass. Most everything here is not dangerous but you need to watch out for the razor grass. It is tall and sticks to everything and slices through skin like a razor!! We got back to camp, took a nap and headed off to the town. It was very fun. It was a small town with many, many people out enjoying the fantastic Puerto Rican food and several small shops where I bought way too many souvenirs. There is only one car so we rode back to the house in shifts. I was part of the last group so I was able to play some pool with my new friends for about 1 1/2 hours. I slept horribly last night. Today was wonderful and I have added some photos of our work today. We didn't journey far from camp and we were able to plant new trees. After planting a few trees I was placed on the tagging and measuring team which also included Jean (from Canada), Elles (from the Netherlands) and Molly from just above Santa Barbara. We only worked about 3 hours and the sun was relentless. I was sooooo sweaty I was thankful for the very misty shower when we got back. We are now about to eat, and we have an amazing cook (Julie, from Puerto Rico) and then rest time and the Coqui study this evening. I will update after the evening hike.

More pictures

2006-12-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

This is right outside of our outdoor dining room.

Are you looking for the trail to cut through all of that? There isn't one, we just make them as we go!!!

Lunch break...

Pictures from the field

2006-12-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

My sleeping area. It's not much, but at least it isn't a tent!!

My roommates

Training in the field

The bunkhouse as you are coming down the hill from the bathrooms and the main house.

OUR TEAM!

2006-12-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

Well here I am!!! The plane ride was uneventful, thankfully, and I have felt no effects of jet lag. It is absolutely beautiful here. The forest is the densest I have ever seen and I can really tell how thick it is as we trudge through it. There aren't many trails so we make our own. I don't look my best but thankfully I followed the packing list and brought everything I needed to make my way through the forest. Today we trained. We learned how to measure and identify mahogany trees. There was a lot of "free time" as we waited for everyone to learn as we did all of our training in groups of two. Thank goodness for raingear. It was beautiful and warm and within seconds it began to pour. This made the mud incredibly slippery and we were sliding all over the place. I haven't actually gone all the way to my bottom YET, but I expect to at any time. I am sleeping in a bunkhouse with 4 other women: Alice and Sabine are from Holland, Natalya is from Belarus and Jean is from Alberta, Canada. It is very exciting to meet new people and learn about different cultures that are pretty unfamiliar to us in the United States. I think we often think that we are the only ones on the planet so this has been very exciting to hear of their way of life. I have only seen a few of the frogs that I will be studying over the next few days but I know that they are here. They are the LOUDEST creatures on the planet!!! I will upload pictures this evening and for my students who are checking in as they should be, I will also post some extra credit questions and assignments. Please check back each night and if you have any questions, please post and I will get back to you the next day.

2006-12-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

I am leaving for the airport in 15 minutes. I was originally taking the train to San Diego only to layover in Los Angeles, then another layover in Miami and then off to Puerto Rico. Luckily, I changed all of that at the very last minute and am now taking off from Los Angeles. I am not really nervous, which makes me nervous. I guess I don't really realize how long 10 days is. My husband is a bit more nervous than I am. He doesn't know how well I will do so far away in the middle of the forest. We shall see. I will update tomorrow night and let you all know how my first night in a tent with complete strangers is going! I am looking at this as a great opportunity to meet new people who will teach me a lot. Talk to you tomorrow!!

Less than 4 weeks!

2006-11-19T20:31:00.000-08:00

Here I am less than 4 weeks away. I have had ample time to prepare and yet I still feel as if I need another 4 months to get everything done. It is completely crazy but I am sure that it will all be worth it. I plan on updating on a regular basis and everyday once I reach Puerto Rico. I am submitting my press release tomorrow and will post it here once it is published. I will soon be posting my lesson plans as well so that my students can be active participants in my field experience. I will post for senior high school as well as for primary elementary as my children and their classes will be following me, also. Make sure to listen to me on gabcast also. I am so excited and I cannot wait to share with all of you. What a great way to start my winter break and the holiday season.

Gabcast! Preparing for my trip #1

A Trip to the Rainforest

2006-04-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

In April, 2006 I was awarded a fellowship grant based on an application I submitted to Earthwatch.org. In May, I found out that I will be teaching "Live from the Field" in the Puerto Rican Rainforest. I will be coupled with Madelene Loftin, another science teacher from Jackson, Mississippi, as well as 10 other environmental advocates to "test a new way to manage tropical rainforests that could provide local income while protecting biodiversity." Life has been crazy for the past couple of months as I prepare for my big trip. Not only am I a full time teacher, I have 3 small children and am currently submerged in the Master's of Educational Administration program. I have busily been preparing my wardrobe for a very warm, wet experience, preparing my children for 10 days without mom and preparing my students for an exciting adventure that they will journey (through the wonderful world of the internet) with me. I look forward to this exciting opportunity and am glad to share it with you.