On the road again

Number of Ticks removed: 37
Days Tick-free: 0

Resulting from a series of serendipitous events, Rob and I are hitting the road tomorrow. A few weeks ago, I got an email completely out of the blue from a U.S. scientist running a research station out of Laguna de Apoyo. Somehow he’d come across the howler predation report that I wrote after the dog attacks on my monkeys. He ended up inviting me to the research station to help some Nicaraguan university students who are beginning a project on howler monkeys at the reserve. At this research station, they primarily study birds and fish, and they need someone who knows how to collect primate field data to come out and help design methodology for the Nicaraguan students starting the howler project. That turns out to be me! Let’s hope I know what I’m doing. I am just about bouncing off the walls excited about all of this. Seriously, I didn’t even know there was a research station at Laguna de Apoyo. Now I’ve got a chance collaborate with the people working there; it’s a great opportunity. To make it even better, there also happens to be a botany student at Apoyo right now who can identify the plant samples I’ve been collecting all these long months—so that cuts out a trip to the national herbarium in Léon.

Anyway, Rob and I will be leaving tomorrow to go to Laguna de Apoyo. We’ve actually been there before—its sort of in between Granada and Masaya, and we made a quick trip there on our way home for Christmas. Its an ancient volcano whose crater has somehow collapsed and filled with water to become a deep lagoon—in fact, the bottom of the lake is supposed to be the lowest point in Central America (or something to that effect). Rob is excited about all the bike riding possibilities that the area affords, and I am excited about checking out the monkeys and relaxing by the Laguna. After finishing this month’s data collection, I am in desperate need of a break. Unfortunately, we just found out that that there is some type of Gay Pride festival on Ometepe this weekend, so we will have to miss that. (Harry, bless his heart, personally invited us). Dang. Maybe next year.

One thing is that I am hoping there are less ticks in the forests surrounding Laguna de Apoyo. Yesterday I removed four, count them, four ticks. This is getting to be a bit much. Ticks had been a problem December through February, but then they tapered off. Unfortunately, they have returned in May with a vengeance. I put bug spray on, but it doesn’t seem to deter them (even though the bottle indicates that it is a tick-repellant). Of course, who knows how many ticks I would have if I didn’t use the spray. Last night, I woke up at 2am feeling something crawling on me. By now, I am so used to waking up feeling something crawling on me that I can usually even tell what type of thing it is before seeing it. This time, I was certain that it was tick(s), and sure enough, it was. I woke Rob up and by flashlight (there was no power), he helped me pull off 3 ticks. That was in addition to the one I’d already removed in the afternoon. What is the deal?! I am getting seriously freaked out. All I can think of is Amy’s college roommate’s mother, who had Lyme’s disease, and how awful that was. I really don’t know if these types of ticks carry diseases; if they do, I’m afraid I’m a goner. Maybe my entomologist sister-in-law can take a look at these little buggers when she is here next month, but really, I am hoping that tick season is finally gone for good by then.

Just one more thing and then I promise I’ll sign off. Below are some photos of my new friend; I call her Lucy. She joined us for breakfast this morning. Rob is here for breakfast much more often than I am, so he sees her around a lot. He says she has a special fondness for toothpicks, of all things. I guess she thought I had a kind heart, so she followed us back to the room after breakfast. I gave her part of a cracker, which she loved, and one of the cleaning ladies (Sonya) got her to eat a mango right out of her hand! A little bit later this afternoon, I heard chattering outside our window, and sure enough, Miss Lucy was right there. I offered her some peanuts, but she turned up her nose at that and went on her way. Now that Rob and I are going away for a few days, I wonder if she’ll remember us when we come back?



Thanks for reading; I will try to take lots of pictures of Laguna de Apoyo and write about that when we get home.