This _is_ science

I woke up feeling care-free because I knew I was going out with Simeon this morning. Also, I was leaving a little bit later than usual, so there was time for a lovely breakfast of fruit and granola (which as I’ve mentioned, a lovely breakfast makes my day).

When I showed up at Simeon’s house, he wasn’t there. A daughter or maybe niece told me that he was working in the fields and would be back in the afternoon. I was upset, mainly because I was afraid I probably just had not understood something, but I was also upset that maybe something better had come along and he had gone to do that without telling me. And of course I was upset that this probably meant I would get no samples for the toughness tester today.

I put this behind me and went to the forest anyway. Finding the monkeys was no trouble; they were by the rock wall, which was very close to where I’d left them the night before. Uno and Pink Lady were still hanging out together. The two juveniles who are constantly playing with each other were still playing. They were eating leaves from the same tree they always feed on when they are in that part of the forest. I studied the tree, thinking that maybe if I tried really hard, I could throw the saw up there and get a sample down. In fact, I was determined to do it. After the monkeys had finished their leafy breakfast, I got to work. I threw and I threw, but I could not get the saw over a branch. I studied the tree. I decided that I could climb it, so I climbed. About this time, apparently the monkeys decided that they would return to the tree for elevensies. Were they ever surprised to see me ascending the trunk. All of a sudden I had about 10 monkeys in the tree with me, giving me a look like, “Well, she has finally lost it.” They didn’t know whether to eat or to come down towards me to get a better look. Most of them came down towards me to get a better look. It was interesting to be that close to the monkeys, but I realized that I had my foot in a termite mound, and I would now have to displace the monkeys from their feeding site in order to get a sample. I descended the tree and watched them from below.

Luckily, howlers are messy feeders. They dropped a lot of leaves, and one of them jumped on a very thin branch that snapped and fell to the ground. Jackpot. Now I had my sample.

When I left to go home, I decided to stop by Simeon’s. He had returned from the fields, and greeted me kindly, asking if I needed his help tomorrow. I tried to explain that I’d thought we’d arranged to go out together today; I’m not sure I understood his explanation, so I’m going to just let that one go. At any rate. I showed him the plant sample I got and asked him what was the name of the tree it was from. “Ah, es Madera Negro,” he said quickly. Then to my horror, he took the leaves and crumpled them in his hand—sniffing them and having me do the same so that I could recognize the scent. Of course, he didn’t really know about the toughness tester nor that I would not be able to use crumpled leaves for this, so its not his fault. At any rate, there were still plenty of un-crumpled leaves that I could test.

After I got home and had lunch with Bernardo, I set up the TT. Here’s a picture of me at work. (Rob’s “office” is in the background). Amidst the ants, mosquitoes, and setting tropical sun, all I could think of was the post-it note in outside S.L.’s office, on which he had scrawled “This is science.”