Monday, August 20, 2007

  Campo Grande, Brazil
Friday, August 24, 2007

Wow, Monday was a whirlwind day. So much happened, so fast!
EarthWatch Team XI to the Pantanal was to rendezvous in the hotel lobby at 7:00 am.  There we would meet and load the transport van leaving for the research site.
It was great fun to finally meet the team. There are 10 of us total.

The Team (Dr. P in back)

Myself, Todd, Claiton, Isabel, Craig, Fara, Hayley, Isabelle, Celia, and Peggy. (You'll meet them all individual when I post their biographies soon.) We are international travelers from all over the world.

Touring area

   In the lobby, there were brief smiles and introductions. Then we jumped into the van for the two hours drive to the little town of Aquidauana. During this drive, we chatted and spent the time getting to know one another. My teammates are terrific! You'll like them too, as you get to know them. We arrived into tiny Aquidauana and were loaded into two small Cessna airplanes for the final leg of our journey to the research site at Pousada Ararauna.

Team getting ready to board

We were only allowed one soft sided bag and a rucksack. The total allowable weight was to be forty pounds!

Dr. P getting ready for take off

   The pilots were very polite, and never had us weight in our gear, but I did see them discreetly "heft" them to make sure we were within safe loading weight.

 
The flight in was incredible.

The Pantanal

   To get to the Pousada by jeep would take five hours. We were there in 30 minutes. The pilots flew at one thousand foot elevation so that we could get a good look at the boundaries and interior of the Pantanal flood plain.

Pantanal in dry season

Wow what a sight! I loved being in the airplane, but I couldn't wait to get down into the field. Soon, our little planes touched down and skidded to a stop at my new home for two weeks.

At the Pousada

 
Please visit our research site web page at...
 

http://www.pousadaararauna.com.br
 
We were then hurried through a check-in process and a quick meal.

Hungry Travelers

  The rest of the day was spent in our "classroom" getting a full mission briefing. These meeting went well into the evening, after which most of us went to our little beds and passed out from travel exhaustion.

Accommodations

 
Here is what our mission expedition is all about:
 
To be continued...

Tuesday, August 21 2007
Sunny-Hot
 
It's an exciting day! It's the first day in the field. I drew the Herp Project today!
Today we will drive out and "open" all the traps. The traps have been shut since the previous study group. The lids are closed, dirt is swept over it, and a branch or small log is placed on top to keep it in place during wind. We will uncover them, lock the lids open, and put water in the trays. ********
Last night we held a lottery to see what group each person would be with each day. Ellen was very excited to get "all the boys" for Tuesday. She said "that's good for opening trap day". Now I know why. Opening the traps is hot and dusty work. Even though the lids are on, dirt and leaves still find their way inside the trap. All the leaves and sticks must be removed. The traps are deep, so you have to lie on your belly sometimes to get to the bottom. The traps are full of crickets, spiders, and ...SCORPIONS!  Using bare hands is not recommended. Oh and by the way...the ground, leaves, and bushes all have a healthy population of tiny ticks no bigger than a poppy seed. They want nothing more than to get on your clothing and then crawl their way to some warm skin, there to burrow in for the duration. This is what we did all day. It took most of the day. Dinner was quick, and bed came early.