Tree!

Hey guys!

Week 2 down.. almost half way through! This week passed by much quicker because we have so much work to do everyday. We finally started digging this week and found lots of cool pottery and some human bones. Yesterday we dug up the backfill from the unit they started last year where they found tombs. An engineer came out from Panama City to help us do resistivity testing in that area to pinpoint locations of where similar artifacts would be. It´s been pouring, thundering and lighting every day and night. Mike built us an overhang using bamboo, tarp, and ropes so the rain and sun don´t even faze us ... and I must say it´s pretty impressive. The best investment I´ve made here is my rainboots. I realize as long as I have dry feet nothing else matters. It´s a shame that ponchos and rainboots aren´t the fad in LA because they are so pratical!

Today I learned how to tree climb and made it 70 feet up a tree! It´s way more exhilarating and gratifying than zipling and rappelling because I had to pull my own weight up and it was free. Stayed up there for a good 20-30 mins enjoying the sight of the entire beach and the tops of surrounding trees. Sorry I wont have any pictures to show though because my NEW camera broke last night. So bummed. The instructor is one of the guys from the ecology center with a base out in Drago also. I think he´s around 80 ish and still climbs even after he disturbed a wasp nest a few years ago and almost died from the number of stings. He lost vision in one eye and had severe kidney or liver damage too.

Not much else going on here. I really appreciate the responses and it makes me feel closer to home than I really am. Thanks!

xoxo,
Lisa

week one of panama

Hey guys!

I´ve only been in Panama for a week, but it feels like i´ve been here forever because we basically work from sunrise to sunset 6 days a week. Spent the last week surveying a forest, looking for artifacts and trying to determine how large the archaeological site is, walking at least 5 miles a day. We just keep an eye out for any rocks (because they aren´t native to this island), shells, and ceramics that date back 1000 years ago. I found 3 manos on the first day which were used to grind food back in the day. It´s so exciting finding artifacts! We start excavating tomorrow... hopefully that is easier/ more exciting than surveying because we have a chance of finding human remains!

So we wake up at 630 every morning to the sound of howler monkeys and the wailing of the bipolar dog across the street, except Sunday which we get to sleep in until 730 after a long night of partying, and work until 4 or so. Then after dinner we do another 2 hours of lab work which consists of sorting through midden (aka trash). I´m a pro at picking out bits of fish bones and charcoal. By the end of the night we´re all pretty exhausted, but it´s cool cause we get to chill in the hammocks or at the beach in our backyard.

We come into town every Sat night as a group to have dinner, hit the happy hour at bars, and then to a popular club because it´s built over a sucken ship. My TA, Mike, is a 33 year old 1st yr grad student who acts like he´s still 21 with the way he loves to drink and dance. He´s pretty much with us 24/7 cause he lives in the house also and comes out with us on weekends and is determined to teach everyone how to salsa and meringue. Extra credit= pick up trash or cuba libres for him. Not so bad.

There isn´t any internet out by Drago, our field site, so I won´t be checking any emails til Sat night or Sunday. But the internet is annoying slow today throughout the entire town and there isn´t much else to do out here... The area that we live in and digging in belongs to a highly respected fellow named Don Bolo who bought the land a long time ago and everyone in town knows him as the Godfather. It´s pretty awesome because supposedly the police will let us go if we mention that we are living with him.

Not gonna lie, it´s a tough job out here, but I´m still having a great time meeting new people. The only thing that kinda sucks is the water situation in our house because it runs off of a water pump that is powered via solar power, which is only charged when it is sunny or at night when we turn the generator on. We´ve run out of water so many times it´s not even funny... which means no flushing, no showers after long sweaty days, and no filtered drinking water!!! But... even with the lack of resources this program has opened up my eyes to a bunch of opportunities that I probably wouldn´t have thought about on my own. I´m thinking about applying for an anthro or archaeology masters program and looking for work in the CRM (cultural resources management) field. They´re called shovel bums and they get paid to travel and dig!

Miss you all!
Lisa

Summary of Costa Rica

In case youre all wondering what ive been up to the last two weeks.. these are the updates that ive been sending people. i guess ill start blogging from now on.

6/24
Hey guys!
Just wanted to let you guys know that we made it to costa rica safely.
Hitched a ride down to zancudo beach from the owner of the cabinas.
We've been relaxing on the beach and made some friends who taught us
how to surf. It's really nice here cause it's so isolated.. Mainly bc
it's rainy season but it only rains in the afternoon. But that means
mosquitoes!! Im getting eaten alive here.. I have hundreds already..
No joke. I am the talk of the town. We're gonna take a propellor plane
back to San jose and then catch a bus to la fortuna to see the volcano
arenal on thursday.

K more later. Hope you're all doing well.



6/28
Hey all!

We´re in La Fortuna right now. Left Zancudo early Thurs for a 12 hr trek to get here via boat taxi, small plane, bus ride to san jose and then 5 hr bus ride to la fortuna and got here at 5pm, in time to catch a view of the volcano and some lava boulders. it wasn´t too clear so we couldn´t catch spewing lava from the top.

it´s been an adventure here. went water rappelling yesterday and it´s not as dangerous as it sounds because a 5 yr old girl also did it with us. we saw the family again today at the ziplining/canopy tour. there were 10 zip lines and you can go up to 50mph on the last one. i THINK it´s mph... maybe it was kph. we also rented out mopeds for an hr cause it was only 15 bucks and ventured around town. then we talked a lady into giving us a swedish and hot rocks massage because another place offered it for a cheaper deal. still not sure what a swedish massage is but it felt pretty relaxing after.

that´s it for now, heading out to tortuguero early tomorrow (it´s on the caribbean coast) so until then...!


7/3
Hey guys!

Sunday night-- made it to Tortuguero to try to catch green/ leatherback turtles laying their eggs on the beach at night. It was storming when we went out, but like they say, turtles don't care about the rain! We walked for about an hr on the sand before we found researchers measuring a green turtle burying her eggs in the sand. Her shell measured a meter long in diameter.. it was HUGE. We watched it dig/ bury in the sand for another hour before she made her way back to the ocean. It was pretty awesome.

We've been here in Puerto Viejo since Monday. It's a tiny beach town really close to the Panama border on the Caribbean side. We've made a lot of friends here with the locals and the same tourists we see. Many of locals here moved here from the states years ago and it gets me thinking that if i ever left the states, I'd come here too. Never thought I'd ever ride an ATV, and I don't think I will ever again because they are dangerous!! Everyone bikes here with the beach coasters so it's really fun and chill. Oh yea, it's all about the Jamaican attitude and the Bob Marley music. We tried going scuba diving today but the waves were too rough and it's actually storming now. We still got to do the diving course and use all the equipment, so we are temporarily certified for 90 days. We actually get tv in our hotel here and all we've been watching is CNN around the clock... and ALL we've learned in the last 3 days is about Michael Jackson's will and the replay of his last rehearsal/ Senator having an affair from some state/ CA's IOUs/ and today's latest news.. Sarah Palin. Please tell me there are more important/ interesting things going on in the states.

Will left on a bus for San Jose about 2 hours ago which means I am alone for tonight here. Luckily I've been sleeping at 10ish/11 every night so hopefully it won't be too bad because I hate being alone at night. I'm heading out to Bocas, Panama tomorrow via shuttle and hopefuly meeting some people from my program. If not... then it's another night alone before I start school.

I've only been gone for 2 weeks and the thought of being away for another 6 weeks is kinda unbelieveable still. I think this is the point where I start getting homesick.. but it should get better when I get to meet up with more familiar faces from school.