May 16, 2013
What actually happened today omg. Today we woke up at 6 so that we could leave at 7 to make that meeting that we had with the monkeys at the blind.
So I loaded up with all my gear. And we set out ahhhhhhh!!!
Lol guess who was just freaking waiting on us at the blind!!!!!! THE MONKEYS!! Lol they wanted nuts and corns. Doree threw those items all around the outdoor lab. And so they sprung into action. They are so political.
Then, when they had their full of foods, Allison and I followed them in the wilderness for 8 straight hours. Biggest news here is that I only peed once.
So, literally we were standing and walking RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of this group of monkeys for 8 hours. We picked one focal animal to stick with the whole time. Since neither of us have all the monkeys straight yet, it was easy to just choose Mansinho as our first focal animal. He is the pirate. I decided today that he is my favorite monkey and he is handsome like Jack Sparrow. He has a scar on his top lip that makes him look really rugged. He was basically very nice to every monkey all day. And wasn't scared of us AT ALL. They get so close to us.
We ate our lunch of scrambled eggs, rice, and beans that Maria already had packed for us when we woke up- on the trail.
I mean, my feet definitely hurt, it was really hot, I was definitely sore from the past few days.... But geez, I wasn't in a bad mood for one single second!! It was just so intriguing...
When Mannie would stop to rest, I would pull out my phone to practice Portuguese with Allison. She answers all my questions and I don't think she minds.
Here are the top events of the day:
-Mannie yawned and it made me yawn.
-Mannie carried two infants on his back. He doesn't know if they are his or not!! He just wanted to help those infants.
- Mannie picked a mini coconut little thing from a small palm, bit the bottom off, and held it up over his head and opened his mouth to let the milk drip into it. We thought that was ballin'.
-Coco and I held eye contact several times. He likes humans the most of everyone. And I really feel special when he stops to talk. Lol I imitate his noises and he responds. I'm not kidding.
-we had been following this dude closely ALLLLL DAYYYY and as Mannie was finally about to go up and over the cliff (actually, the same cliff from yesterday's phonebooth) he climbed and climbed and realized we weren't following him, it seemed. He looked down at us from like 3 stories... And he kept on raising his eyes brows, flashing them, at us... For like 10 minutes. As if to say, "y'all, come on! What? You can't climb? Come on, it's ok! You can climb this!" Or, "alright, y'all- bye. See y'all again soon, I'm sure." It was remarkable to us. He hasn't flashed his eye brows us all day... But as soon as he realized we weren't following him, it was a big deal! Isn't that something? I think it is.
- there was a BRIGHT GREEN iguana on a dang tree. What kind of freaking green was that!? NEON. I have a pic to show y'all one day.
-Allison and I talked a lot. Bonding. I think she is so awesome. I'm scared she will read this though. Lol K BYE.
Basically, you guys- I'm happy here. I'm exhausted like some kind of dirty buggy soccer camp. My feet hurt like someone stole my cleats. And my brain hurts from learning monkey and Brazil languages. Love you guys.
-LA
Monday, May 20, 2013
My first full day at Boa Vista
May 15th, 2013
Allison came into my room at 7 to wake me up.She did so very kindly. I'm thankful for that. Worst thing you can do to me is wake me up roughly or rudely. It will ruin my whole day.
Take note that my first night here I dreamt that Mason and ALL my friends were throwing a large fiesta at my MOTHER'S HOUSE without her knowing and I walked in on it! I was freaking out! Y'all woulda been murdered.
I woke up, went potty, and headed off to breakfast. Was that too much info? Too bad. I WENT POTTY.
Breakfast was tiny. Just coffee and bread+jam.
After breakfast Allison and I started to mess around with our equipment. We are using normal handheld GPS systems to take points while tracking/following the monkeys. Later we will use a program called ArcGIS to input those points and stick them to a map of where we are! In addition, though, we are gonna use an iPad. This part is extra cool. Before we came to Brazil we downloaded an app called PDF Maps. I also got it on my iPhone5. On this app we can download maps and then use satellite junk to place points!! And finally, we can export those points to the computer to mess with on ArcGIS.
Please Note: I'm about I start calling Dr. Fragaszy by her first name because it is much easier and she doesn't mind.
Allison sent me out to take points with the iPad to make sure that it is accurate. So Doree and I set out to go to the outdoor laboratory AKA The Blind. Allison set me up with the most fancy heavy duty OtterBox iPad case on planet earth. It was so sexy. I strapped it around my neck, and set out with Doree.
Alright, so the Blind is the outdoor laboratory. It is 15 minutes away from our little veranda home. Through the woods, of course. The blind is amazing. They have been studying this group of monkeys for 8 years now... And this is where it all happens. They have a scale strapped to a tree with a water bowl to lure the monkeys into getting weighed! Doree has 8 years of weights for the same monkeys! They also have several different areas where the monkeys can crack nuts. That's what all the stones were for! It is quite remarkable.
We were just durping around the Blind. Doree was explaining everything to me. I was learning. Actually, I think I learned more today than I have ever learned in a summer day in my life. It was so awesome. Just a learning experience. *happy sigh*
I took lots of points on the iPad to bring home to Allison. They were pretty correct! When I got home, Allison and I fiddled with the practice data points. Hopefully I can learn those programs quickly.
We had a delicious lunch. I was so hungry.
After lunch... The unnamed boy from yesterday's soccer match came rushing up to to our veranda. He told us that the monkeys were on the way to the Blind!!! He had been following them all day. Doree and I quickly got ready to trudge on over to the Blind. I was so excited to see the monkeys for the first time.
They are absolutely adorable. How can I describe them!? I need to take so many pictures... I just don't know... Ahhhh. All the bugs and long walks and wilderness is worth it, I'll just say that.
I guess I will start introducing them to y'all. I will start with the obvious.... Lol since I absolutely do not know how to tell them apart.
I've mentioned Jatoba before. He is the big guy on campus. Alpha. Dominant. Also be is missing four toes* and has a gross bum finger. It is dangling just by its skin. And he gives no cares for it. He just manages. It is pretty gross. He seemed pretty uptight about the world while all the monkeys were eating... But after all the food was gone and he had had his fill, he was wrestling and playing with three babies at once... And it was so sweet. They were so happy to play with Dad!
Mansinho used to be the alpha male, as I may have me ruined before... But he got in a big right a few years back and was chased off for a long time. Then, Doree says, he just showed up again (minus one foot). So, because of this fight, he is easy to spot. He is a pirate. He uses his stump like a peg leg. Literally his foot is not there and he gives no fudges.
And the last easy one is Amarelinha. He has something wrong with her. We don't know what, but she is 12 years old and severely impaired. She is pretty weird looking. And slow. But she and Mansinho growled each other by the end of our visit. Which was good because one thing that I noticed was that she can't/doesn't move her eyebrows up and down to greet us or any other monkeys, which all of the monkeys do by nature. She just can't. So she is also socially awkward. And absolutely not a competition to the others, so she never gets in fights, says Doree.
Eventually the monkeys left the Blind since we didn't give them any more foods. So we went back to the house.
Right when we got back, Allison decided we ought to go out to find cellphone service. This is a good story.
Cellphone service is available in one place over here. Guess where. Yepp, a 20 minute walk to the edge of a 7 story cliff. Then climb that cliff. Pretty sketchy cliff... But TOTALLY WORTH IT. An amazing view, I couldn't even believe I saw that view. Allison and I were totally dirty after climbing up and down to the phonebooth. I looked like a rugrat. Such an awesome trip. And of course I didn't have signal.
I didn't play futbol today because I wanted to write all this and recover from all the physical activity. I showered, and ate a dinner of mashed taters, tomatoes, and rice. They also had little beef pieces.
After we ate, Noami invited everyone to play a card game called 'Bang!'. Two of the sons, me, Allison, Doree, Lucas, and Noami all played. Y'all, I love Noami. She's funny.
OKAY SORRY- so the instructions were read in English and Portgugues. I'm the only one at the table who can't speak Portugues. But they always try to keep me included; no worries.
The game was super fun, even though I was nervous to play due to language issues... But it ended up being fun. I'm so shy.... But I'm trying to learn so hard. In fact, at one point I said a Portuguese word and everyone was so encouraging!!! It really made me feel better. I just gotta keep trying, for real y'all. The encouragement I keep getting for my small words really helps.
And now I am lying in my bed writing this. I really hope I can post it soon. I just don't know how I'm gonna be able to..... Also, I've picked two bugs off of me while laying here, and one spider has crawled up its silk attached to my iPhone. So that's that.
Two days here, two mosquito bites. I'd say that's pretty good. But I still have 70+ days to go... :-/
We have a meeting scheduled with the monkeys at 7am tomorrow. But who knows if they'll show; you know how monkeys are.
Allison came into my room at 7 to wake me up.She did so very kindly. I'm thankful for that. Worst thing you can do to me is wake me up roughly or rudely. It will ruin my whole day.
Take note that my first night here I dreamt that Mason and ALL my friends were throwing a large fiesta at my MOTHER'S HOUSE without her knowing and I walked in on it! I was freaking out! Y'all woulda been murdered.
I woke up, went potty, and headed off to breakfast. Was that too much info? Too bad. I WENT POTTY.
Breakfast was tiny. Just coffee and bread+jam.
After breakfast Allison and I started to mess around with our equipment. We are using normal handheld GPS systems to take points while tracking/following the monkeys. Later we will use a program called ArcGIS to input those points and stick them to a map of where we are! In addition, though, we are gonna use an iPad. This part is extra cool. Before we came to Brazil we downloaded an app called PDF Maps. I also got it on my iPhone5. On this app we can download maps and then use satellite junk to place points!! And finally, we can export those points to the computer to mess with on ArcGIS.
Please Note: I'm about I start calling Dr. Fragaszy by her first name because it is much easier and she doesn't mind.
Allison sent me out to take points with the iPad to make sure that it is accurate. So Doree and I set out to go to the outdoor laboratory AKA The Blind. Allison set me up with the most fancy heavy duty OtterBox iPad case on planet earth. It was so sexy. I strapped it around my neck, and set out with Doree.
Alright, so the Blind is the outdoor laboratory. It is 15 minutes away from our little veranda home. Through the woods, of course. The blind is amazing. They have been studying this group of monkeys for 8 years now... And this is where it all happens. They have a scale strapped to a tree with a water bowl to lure the monkeys into getting weighed! Doree has 8 years of weights for the same monkeys! They also have several different areas where the monkeys can crack nuts. That's what all the stones were for! It is quite remarkable.
We were just durping around the Blind. Doree was explaining everything to me. I was learning. Actually, I think I learned more today than I have ever learned in a summer day in my life. It was so awesome. Just a learning experience. *happy sigh*
I took lots of points on the iPad to bring home to Allison. They were pretty correct! When I got home, Allison and I fiddled with the practice data points. Hopefully I can learn those programs quickly.
We had a delicious lunch. I was so hungry.
After lunch... The unnamed boy from yesterday's soccer match came rushing up to to our veranda. He told us that the monkeys were on the way to the Blind!!! He had been following them all day. Doree and I quickly got ready to trudge on over to the Blind. I was so excited to see the monkeys for the first time.
They are absolutely adorable. How can I describe them!? I need to take so many pictures... I just don't know... Ahhhh. All the bugs and long walks and wilderness is worth it, I'll just say that.
I guess I will start introducing them to y'all. I will start with the obvious.... Lol since I absolutely do not know how to tell them apart.
I've mentioned Jatoba before. He is the big guy on campus. Alpha. Dominant. Also be is missing four toes* and has a gross bum finger. It is dangling just by its skin. And he gives no cares for it. He just manages. It is pretty gross. He seemed pretty uptight about the world while all the monkeys were eating... But after all the food was gone and he had had his fill, he was wrestling and playing with three babies at once... And it was so sweet. They were so happy to play with Dad!
Mansinho used to be the alpha male, as I may have me ruined before... But he got in a big right a few years back and was chased off for a long time. Then, Doree says, he just showed up again (minus one foot). So, because of this fight, he is easy to spot. He is a pirate. He uses his stump like a peg leg. Literally his foot is not there and he gives no fudges.
And the last easy one is Amarelinha. He has something wrong with her. We don't know what, but she is 12 years old and severely impaired. She is pretty weird looking. And slow. But she and Mansinho growled each other by the end of our visit. Which was good because one thing that I noticed was that she can't/doesn't move her eyebrows up and down to greet us or any other monkeys, which all of the monkeys do by nature. She just can't. So she is also socially awkward. And absolutely not a competition to the others, so she never gets in fights, says Doree.
Eventually the monkeys left the Blind since we didn't give them any more foods. So we went back to the house.
Right when we got back, Allison decided we ought to go out to find cellphone service. This is a good story.
Cellphone service is available in one place over here. Guess where. Yepp, a 20 minute walk to the edge of a 7 story cliff. Then climb that cliff. Pretty sketchy cliff... But TOTALLY WORTH IT. An amazing view, I couldn't even believe I saw that view. Allison and I were totally dirty after climbing up and down to the phonebooth. I looked like a rugrat. Such an awesome trip. And of course I didn't have signal.
I didn't play futbol today because I wanted to write all this and recover from all the physical activity. I showered, and ate a dinner of mashed taters, tomatoes, and rice. They also had little beef pieces.
After we ate, Noami invited everyone to play a card game called 'Bang!'. Two of the sons, me, Allison, Doree, Lucas, and Noami all played. Y'all, I love Noami. She's funny.
OKAY SORRY- so the instructions were read in English and Portgugues. I'm the only one at the table who can't speak Portugues. But they always try to keep me included; no worries.
The game was super fun, even though I was nervous to play due to language issues... But it ended up being fun. I'm so shy.... But I'm trying to learn so hard. In fact, at one point I said a Portuguese word and everyone was so encouraging!!! It really made me feel better. I just gotta keep trying, for real y'all. The encouragement I keep getting for my small words really helps.
And now I am lying in my bed writing this. I really hope I can post it soon. I just don't know how I'm gonna be able to..... Also, I've picked two bugs off of me while laying here, and one spider has crawled up its silk attached to my iPhone. So that's that.
Two days here, two mosquito bites. I'd say that's pretty good. But I still have 70+ days to go... :-/
We have a meeting scheduled with the monkeys at 7am tomorrow. But who knows if they'll show; you know how monkeys are.
Finally Arrived
May 14th, 2013
I just honestly can't believe we even made it. The number of things that could have gone wrong was just too high. It is surreal being here. seeing all of The photos Allison has been showing me for the past 5 months.... Has been awesome.
We hopped off the back if the truck and started shaking hands with everyone. Here are the new characters in the life:
-Maria: She is the owner of the whole ranch. She is a short, older woman with a sweet smile. She is who feeds us and basically looks after us.
-Marina: She is the daughter of Maria. Young girl, probably my age. So pretty.
Leonardo: Marina's 2 year old son that I am in love with. Here is a picture of him with Luge.
Lucas: He is a graduate student from the University of São Paulo. In a nutshell, he is studying the monkey's diet. Get it?
Noami: She is an Italian post-doc from the University of São Paulo. She is studying humans in Gilbues and their reactions/thoughts of the projects that occur here in Boa Vista. She is short, beautiful, and I basically love her. She has pretty curly brown hair, with two dreads underneath that she lets free when she wears a ponytail. She is so cute. I can't deal with looking in her eyes. I have a lot to say about her.
Micheal: He is Naomi's boyfriend, from what I have gathered. He has wild curly brown hair and a matching wild beard. He struggles with English, but who the hell am I to judge!?
Junior: Son of Maria. He is around 25 years old. Slim and muscular, very attractive. Perfect teeth. Olivia, he would love you.
Marcio: The boy from the truck! Maria's other son! And my buddy.
Claudio: another son. He has a very serious demeanor.
Lilly: the young captive monkey that Junior saved from people in town!!!! She is a juvenile, and is absolutely adorbz. She doesn't know how to crack nuts.... So she can't be released into the wild :-(
I was taken On tours of the various buildings and huts around the "farm". We figured out which rooms we would take. I am rooming with Dr. Fragaszy for now, and Allison with Lucas. Here are some pictures!
I will take pics of Maria's house hopefully soon.
I am quite comfy here!!!
We ate a delightful lunch of scrambled eggs, rice, some tasty white beans. Then we focused on setting up and sorting out all of our equipment. Y'all know I love setting all my junk up. Here are some pics of my room.
I was soooooo sleepy yesterday, and plus I hadn't had any coffee, so I had quite a headache. I was laying on a hammock and on the brink of entering stage 1 sleep when... *bounce* - *boom!* I heard a ball being kicked!! I quickly sat up to see if I could see the boys playing! I knew they were, so I walked out of our patio towards Maria's house. They were playing futbol! I asked Michael if I could play, and he said yes. He tried his best to explain the rules of the little game they were playing... But I didn't really get it from how he was explaining. But I tried. And I think they were impressed. Lol except for how I didn't know the rules! Lol so we had to keep starting over. Finally Lucas came over to play. He explained the rules in English perfectly; now it was game on! So now it was me, Lucas, Michael, Marcio, Junior, and another boy. I think they were impressed!! Since we had enough people, we then set up a little two on two tournament. I was on Marcio's team. Omg, it was so fun. But it was also very hard since we were playing in sand!! I fell a few times. Skinned my knee. Marcio helped me up. We were a great team!! I started trying to say the Portuguese versions of the common words in the game. Like "falta" for "foul" and such. Marcio and I were the bomb together... Despite losing twice. Brazilians are all about creativity; the beautiful game (the opposite of Germans).And it is so natural for them!! So it was great to play in their style. I hope to get better this summer. Plus, they haven't seen me juggle.
Actually, this morning Noami told me this morning at breakfast that all the boys told her that I was really good. .... :-) I'm glad they told her that.
We stopped playing when it got dark. So I took my first shower. I was superrrrrr dirty from the traveling and the futbol. Here is a picture of the shower! It is better than I expected! Cold water only, of course. But geeez it was a blessing at that point. No bugs messed with me, though there was a cute froggy watching me (awk).
Then we ate supper. Tomatoes, cucumbers, rice, bolhino darroz (migt be wrong spelling. Yall), cheesey potatoes, and they had chicken wings. Y'all, we eat good.
Ok then I was about to literally die via tiredness. So I headed to my room, stuffed with food. Listen, AS SOON AS I TURNED ON THE LIGHT IN MY ROOM, a hugggeeee spider scurried across the floor. I'm talking HUMUNGOUS. Not a tarantula. An overgrown brown recluse. No. Lie. I wanted it GONE immediately. But I couldn't make myself kill it. So I grabbed my flipflop and tried to scoot it out the door... But it very quickly took off under Dr. Fragaszy's bed. I couldn't find it. And I soon realized that even if I DID find it, wtf was I gonna do with it? So I left it, climbed into my bed, and very thoroughly tucked my mosquito net underneath my mattress all the way around. That was my solution to the spider issue. Whatever. Goodnight.
I just honestly can't believe we even made it. The number of things that could have gone wrong was just too high. It is surreal being here. seeing all of The photos Allison has been showing me for the past 5 months.... Has been awesome.
We hopped off the back if the truck and started shaking hands with everyone. Here are the new characters in the life:
-Maria: She is the owner of the whole ranch. She is a short, older woman with a sweet smile. She is who feeds us and basically looks after us.
-Marina: She is the daughter of Maria. Young girl, probably my age. So pretty.
Leonardo: Marina's 2 year old son that I am in love with. Here is a picture of him with Luge.
Lucas: He is a graduate student from the University of São Paulo. In a nutshell, he is studying the monkey's diet. Get it?
Noami: She is an Italian post-doc from the University of São Paulo. She is studying humans in Gilbues and their reactions/thoughts of the projects that occur here in Boa Vista. She is short, beautiful, and I basically love her. She has pretty curly brown hair, with two dreads underneath that she lets free when she wears a ponytail. She is so cute. I can't deal with looking in her eyes. I have a lot to say about her.
Micheal: He is Naomi's boyfriend, from what I have gathered. He has wild curly brown hair and a matching wild beard. He struggles with English, but who the hell am I to judge!?
Junior: Son of Maria. He is around 25 years old. Slim and muscular, very attractive. Perfect teeth. Olivia, he would love you.
Marcio: The boy from the truck! Maria's other son! And my buddy.
Claudio: another son. He has a very serious demeanor.
Lilly: the young captive monkey that Junior saved from people in town!!!! She is a juvenile, and is absolutely adorbz. She doesn't know how to crack nuts.... So she can't be released into the wild :-(
I was taken On tours of the various buildings and huts around the "farm". We figured out which rooms we would take. I am rooming with Dr. Fragaszy for now, and Allison with Lucas. Here are some pictures!
I will take pics of Maria's house hopefully soon.
I am quite comfy here!!!
We ate a delightful lunch of scrambled eggs, rice, some tasty white beans. Then we focused on setting up and sorting out all of our equipment. Y'all know I love setting all my junk up. Here are some pics of my room.
I was soooooo sleepy yesterday, and plus I hadn't had any coffee, so I had quite a headache. I was laying on a hammock and on the brink of entering stage 1 sleep when... *bounce* - *boom!* I heard a ball being kicked!! I quickly sat up to see if I could see the boys playing! I knew they were, so I walked out of our patio towards Maria's house. They were playing futbol! I asked Michael if I could play, and he said yes. He tried his best to explain the rules of the little game they were playing... But I didn't really get it from how he was explaining. But I tried. And I think they were impressed. Lol except for how I didn't know the rules! Lol so we had to keep starting over. Finally Lucas came over to play. He explained the rules in English perfectly; now it was game on! So now it was me, Lucas, Michael, Marcio, Junior, and another boy. I think they were impressed!! Since we had enough people, we then set up a little two on two tournament. I was on Marcio's team. Omg, it was so fun. But it was also very hard since we were playing in sand!! I fell a few times. Skinned my knee. Marcio helped me up. We were a great team!! I started trying to say the Portuguese versions of the common words in the game. Like "falta" for "foul" and such. Marcio and I were the bomb together... Despite losing twice. Brazilians are all about creativity; the beautiful game (the opposite of Germans).And it is so natural for them!! So it was great to play in their style. I hope to get better this summer. Plus, they haven't seen me juggle.
Actually, this morning Noami told me this morning at breakfast that all the boys told her that I was really good. .... :-) I'm glad they told her that.
We stopped playing when it got dark. So I took my first shower. I was superrrrrr dirty from the traveling and the futbol. Here is a picture of the shower! It is better than I expected! Cold water only, of course. But geeez it was a blessing at that point. No bugs messed with me, though there was a cute froggy watching me (awk).
Then we ate supper. Tomatoes, cucumbers, rice, bolhino darroz (migt be wrong spelling. Yall), cheesey potatoes, and they had chicken wings. Y'all, we eat good.
Ok then I was about to literally die via tiredness. So I headed to my room, stuffed with food. Listen, AS SOON AS I TURNED ON THE LIGHT IN MY ROOM, a hugggeeee spider scurried across the floor. I'm talking HUMUNGOUS. Not a tarantula. An overgrown brown recluse. No. Lie. I wanted it GONE immediately. But I couldn't make myself kill it. So I grabbed my flipflop and tried to scoot it out the door... But it very quickly took off under Dr. Fragaszy's bed. I couldn't find it. And I soon realized that even if I DID find it, wtf was I gonna do with it? So I left it, climbed into my bed, and very thoroughly tucked my mosquito net underneath my mattress all the way around. That was my solution to the spider issue. Whatever. Goodnight.
May 14th 2013
First if all, Happy Birthday to my dear RFFL, Cammie!
I have never been on a long-distance kind of bus... So the following is a description of just any normal bus ride. It coulda been a bus from anywhere in the world. Just a normal Mercedes-Benz bus. Just so happened t be in Brazil.
We boarded the bus at 7pm. It was initially extremely comfortable. The seats were about a million times better than those aboard the airplane. They laid back farther. There was air conditioning and big windows and I was quite comfy. So I sat there next to Dr. Fragaszy. Then- we took off!
We made our first stop three hours after boarding. Then another some time after that. Then we took several others all along the way. At 4 am we stopped at a big bus station and were all required to get off the bus. Apparently they had to pull the buss around back to wash it. So we all exited like a bunch of sleepy mummies. Some people bought food and such from the stores within the bus stop. Some people, like me, just hung around like a literal dead people. Then we got back up on the huge bus.
Soon we made the real breakfast stop. I didn't need to eat at that time! So I just hung around.
FINALLY I was light enough outside that I was able to see where we were going and what we were passing!! Um, wilderness. That's it. The whooooole way! Not jungle, y'all. But what Dr. Fragaszy said resembles the African savannah (shout out to my baby sister, hi Savvy!)
It was very beautiful... But after two hours of it I became quite sleepy. So I slept (in a position that is still affecting me now, about 24 hours after). I listened to Yuna. My new Malaysian love.
I was nervous about meeting people here.... So I wasn't ready to get off the bus when we finally made it to Gilbues. Alas, I was forced to.
We got off and retrieved our luggage from where they had thrown it under the bus in Brasilia (rude). Then we got into the back of a very rugged old truck.
The back of the truck, of course. And we proceeded down the main road of Gilbues. Um, the town is BEAUTIFUL!! The houses and shops were all so cute and painted soft colors. Or they were made of bri is that are a strange version of those we are familiar with.
We had to make a stop at the farmácia to buy shampoo. BUT GUESS WHAT ELSE I GOT!! A banana popsicle!! Omgggg it was so delicious that I was bouncing with laughter as I was getting back into the back of the truck! Apparently a girl my age thought my reaction to the popsicle was special. I saw her smiling and giggling and watching me from across the road. I would say that we are friends now.
Basically, Gilbues is equivalent to any small town in Mississippi, says Dr. Fragaszy. In addition, all of the residents are familiar with the foreigners that are always in town to study the monkeys. So we might have been a sort of spectacle.
We stopped on our way out of town to pick up rice, melons, and a boy. I think his name is Marcio. He is very cute. He is younger than me, and enjoying life with braces. He said i looked like a brazilian singer named Maria Gadu. Thanks! Then, we were on our way!
The trip the the research site, AKA Boa Vista, was only 30-40 minutes long. We had to stop on the side if the road once to pick up some stones that Dr. Fragaszy thought would be perfect for the monkeys to use as hammers. Then, we completed our journey and arrived at our new home!!!
First if all, Happy Birthday to my dear RFFL, Cammie!
I have never been on a long-distance kind of bus... So the following is a description of just any normal bus ride. It coulda been a bus from anywhere in the world. Just a normal Mercedes-Benz bus. Just so happened t be in Brazil.
We boarded the bus at 7pm. It was initially extremely comfortable. The seats were about a million times better than those aboard the airplane. They laid back farther. There was air conditioning and big windows and I was quite comfy. So I sat there next to Dr. Fragaszy. Then- we took off!
We made our first stop three hours after boarding. Then another some time after that. Then we took several others all along the way. At 4 am we stopped at a big bus station and were all required to get off the bus. Apparently they had to pull the buss around back to wash it. So we all exited like a bunch of sleepy mummies. Some people bought food and such from the stores within the bus stop. Some people, like me, just hung around like a literal dead people. Then we got back up on the huge bus.
Soon we made the real breakfast stop. I didn't need to eat at that time! So I just hung around.
FINALLY I was light enough outside that I was able to see where we were going and what we were passing!! Um, wilderness. That's it. The whooooole way! Not jungle, y'all. But what Dr. Fragaszy said resembles the African savannah (shout out to my baby sister, hi Savvy!)
It was very beautiful... But after two hours of it I became quite sleepy. So I slept (in a position that is still affecting me now, about 24 hours after). I listened to Yuna. My new Malaysian love.
I was nervous about meeting people here.... So I wasn't ready to get off the bus when we finally made it to Gilbues. Alas, I was forced to.
We got off and retrieved our luggage from where they had thrown it under the bus in Brasilia (rude). Then we got into the back of a very rugged old truck.
The back of the truck, of course. And we proceeded down the main road of Gilbues. Um, the town is BEAUTIFUL!! The houses and shops were all so cute and painted soft colors. Or they were made of bri is that are a strange version of those we are familiar with.
We had to make a stop at the farmácia to buy shampoo. BUT GUESS WHAT ELSE I GOT!! A banana popsicle!! Omgggg it was so delicious that I was bouncing with laughter as I was getting back into the back of the truck! Apparently a girl my age thought my reaction to the popsicle was special. I saw her smiling and giggling and watching me from across the road. I would say that we are friends now.
Basically, Gilbues is equivalent to any small town in Mississippi, says Dr. Fragaszy. In addition, all of the residents are familiar with the foreigners that are always in town to study the monkeys. So we might have been a sort of spectacle.
We stopped on our way out of town to pick up rice, melons, and a boy. I think his name is Marcio. He is very cute. He is younger than me, and enjoying life with braces. He said i looked like a brazilian singer named Maria Gadu. Thanks! Then, we were on our way!
The trip the the research site, AKA Boa Vista, was only 30-40 minutes long. We had to stop on the side if the road once to pick up some stones that Dr. Fragaszy thought would be perfect for the monkeys to use as hammers. Then, we completed our journey and arrived at our new home!!!
Monday, May 13, 2013
Lololol
Guess what. We are stuck in the lobby of the hotel.
So we ate then left. We went back over to the market place we were at yesterday. :-( most of the little shops were closed. We talked though! THEN GUESS WHAT!!!! We did this!-
I'm just gonna blogggg.
So Allison and I left for a walk out on the town. Dr. Fragaszy split off from us togo doodledaddle with the federal police about her research visa. Lol, we ain't gotta cuzzzz #Argo.
*sigh* For those of you who haven't seen Argo, here is a joke for you to make up for the Argo jokes that you don't get. My sister told me this one:
Her: "What did the grape say when it got smashed?"
Me: "I don't know."
Her: "nothing."
Me: "oh....."
Her: "It just let out a little whine."
So anyways, Brazil.
Ummmm, we didn't really know what to do out on the town. This city is laid out weirdly... We are in the hotel district. There isn't so much to do exactly where we are. So we walked over to the mall again to eat at the food court because Allison "eats like a baby bird," as in, every three hours. Lol but that's fine. I had French fries from This place:
I know, French fries aren't a meal. But I woulda felt awkward eating giraffe meat.
Jk.
Guess what that is.
We also met this little baby.
Lol he can't see a single thing. But he licked my feet. I think it was a kind gesture, especially since he had JUST met me.
Ha!- and as we walked away, his leash broke right in half so easily! I grabbed both halves quick! Lol each end was sopping wet... The lil guy had been chewing before we stopped by! His owner giggled.
We hung out at the closed market. As we were walking back to the hotel we talked about the monkeys. Apparently there are TWO groups! The group be mainly study is led by Jatoba, and we get less friendly with the other. Jatoba is missing four toes. Here he is:
Allison told me that both times she's been at the field station she has gotten teary eyed from watching the monkeys crack nuts. They feed them nuts at the field station to study their movements. I couldn't be more excited.
Possible last post.
II can't know for sure, but this may be the last post I get to write for a while.
Also, I just took the last hot shower of my summer. So, I hope you guys enjoy civilization.
Basically I still love my pants... But it has kind of developed into a situation... Because I bought a new red soccer ball today... And I also think I might love it. I dunno if I can juggle this love triangle.
(But I can definitely juggle half of it!! Tehe!)
Today we had a wonderful, WONDERFUL breakfast. That happened after I slept for 10 hours like a dang BABY. I literally had absolutely no clue where I was when I first regained consciousness. Then I was like, "....oh yeah..."
Then we got dressed and walked across the road to the mall again. 
And that's where I bought my soccer ball:
The mall here smells like Lenox Mall.
It is also fancy.
After the mall we walked over to the huuuuuuuge TV tower. It is pretty high up. We took an elevator. Here are some pictures of this:
Lol that last one is awful... It's the view from halfway up the tower of the top half of it. Blahg.
I wanna point out how beautiful the people are: They are gorgeous. I'm a sucker for beautiful people.
But for real, it is quite remarkable- they are ALLLLL different colors!!! I'm thinking that if I ever write a book about Brazil... I will probably name it 'Fifty Shades of Brown'. Beautiful.
So, we are having to check out of the hotel 6 hours before we board the bus. I don't know what we will do during that waiting time... But I guess I will probably find out. Y'all won't. MWAHAHA!
I love y'all. Not in a creepy way. Jk, yes in a creepyyy way!!!! Bye, momma! Bye, sisters! Bye, friendsss!!! And bye, people that I likelike but don't like me back!
-LA
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Quick story.
We went to the mall to murder time and we were walking around blah blah.
So we needed to eat. And I went to a simple little place called Mini Kalzone. I'm so shy about Portuguese right now... That I asked for the vegetarian calzone without even trying to pronounce it in Portuguese (vegetariano). Also, I figured it would be simple enough for the teenage boy working the counter to understand regardless of the English- PLUS, it would signal to him that I don't speak his language.
So he bursts out asking me this and that. And I smile, stare at him, shrug my shoulders, shake my head, and tell that I don't speak Portuguese. It took all of those actions to get him to quit trying and call his buddy out from the kitchen.
Lol this cute teen boy come out from around the corner... Clearly he had been eating the food he was producing lol... And he started clearing his throat. A third boy and the first boy were chattering about the situation, and I smiled at this second boy, who was preparing to try out his apparently rusty English... I said, "Do you speak English?" That threw him all off. They all giggle and laugh. And chatter. And I feel very odd. And nervous! And sorry!
Then, out of the dang sky drops this 20something year old girl who had been there next to me the whole time. She tells them I'm American! I understood that. She looks at me, points at her watch, then hold up seven fingers! Lol, I laugh my head off, and look at the boys, "Oh! It's gonna take seven minutes! That was easy! Mas facil!"
The boys laugh. I'm still embarrassed... I feel like they are making fun of me OBVIOUSLY. Lol, I told the girl, "You should work here!" I pointed, of course, and she understood.
The boys get to working on what I ordered... And the girl and I stand waiting. BOOM- She turns and says to me, "you're beautiful!" WITH ENTHUSIASM, y'all. I gasped, and told her she was too!
She asked me my name, I told her Anna... Then asked for her name- lol but I couldn't make out the syllables. So, I don't know what her name is.
Bye.
And everything turned out OK
What the heck. As soon as the plane landed I was like, how in the world do planes constantly end up OK!? I don't know.
The flight was hard for me. It was a smaller plane. Not super small, of course, because I would have had to reschedule my flight... But it was a smaller plane. And it was cloudy yesterday, y'all! And it was just a bumpy ride through the night. The flight was from 9pm-6am... But I did not get a single wink of sleep. This is what i did instead: 
I've been awake for 29 hours straight... My body thinks it's about to have to take a final exam. Naw.
Lol ok, so Argo was a FLIPPING BREEZE, you guys!!!!! Lemme explain that whole situation finally (I didn't wanna bring it up before because I was obnoxiously superstitious).----- I got a tourist visa instead of a research visa. Research visas are required in order to do research. Allison and I did not comply with that... So we had to plan a whole story about what we were doing with all the random gear we had in our bags, and it was just a big scary mess. (It is hard to explain the seriousness and fear I felt in my heart, but the point of these blogs is to aid my memory of my journeys... And I'm not gonna forget that part. For sure.) So anyways, by golly they didn't even ask ONE QUESTION!
Travel Tip: Need to Argo past some airport security? Attach a small beluga whale stuffed animal to the outside of your carry-on pack. This will annihilate any speculation that you are lying about your purpose in the country. You're probably a sweet darling who is scared to fly.
.... Speaking of my carry-on bag.... I just recently bought a really sexy black knife. I have been so excited about it (not in a violent way. In a fieldwork way). However... It has been lost for the past three days. Guess where I just found it. In my carry on bag. Is this legal!? 
I know they switched the laws around a little... Lol but that shouldn't have been allowed on the plane. Whatever.
I know they switched the laws around a little... Lol but that shouldn't have been allowed on the plane. Whatever.Ok so anyways, what else happened? Oh, remember that bus we were supposed to hop on tonight? LOL- yeah, try again tomorrow; all sold out. So now we get a WHOLE EXTRA DAY IN THE CITY!!! :-) I was very excited for this. Baha, I love when plans change spontaneously change in foreign countries. That was not sarcastic. Neither was that! I'm for real... It is fun.
Look what I saw at the market we visited: 
And if you didn't know- I've been dying for some harem pants for monthhhhsssss, so look what I bought for $17- 
Go Dawgs.
And the hotel- is THIS CLOSE to the brand new World Cup stadium!! It is 95% completed, said the bellhop. 
See that big thing back there? Look past my face. It's back there. Brazil World Cup 2014! This is attached to the outside of our hotel: 
And this is me walking around:
See that excited face?
Also, shout out to the queers:
Ok, so now I'm all showered. Dr. Fragaszy is working on a grant or something grown-up like that, and Allison is doing what I'm also doing- Sucking the wifi out this whole building.
Maybe I will post again to tonight!!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
It's May 11th
May 11th is the day of my flight to Brazil.
Dad wants me to talk to ya'll about our trip to the grocery store and our discussions of my future.
Not gonna do that.
Instead- I'm gonna list off my top 5 fears as pertaining to this trip.
#1- Getting out of the Brasilia airport. Once that happens, I will be much less anxious.
#2- Not being fit enough to hike with my marathon running mentor.
"Omg, but you're so skinny, Leigh Anna!" Um, yeah- A) That's an optical illusion produced by my haircut, and
B)Being skinny has nothing to do with lung function. Nice try.
#3- Not being smart enough.
I'm traveling with some really accomplished and smart people. I can't even spell. And I don't know what a monkey is.
#4- Loss of internet.
"Internet" means communication.
#5- Wasps.
So that's that. My plane rides are both at night, so I guess I will just sleep through those. Planes are completely ridiculous and I will never understand how they fly through thin air. But whatever. One day I'll ask someone at GA Tech. But yeah, so I will just sleep.
When we get to Brasilia I will make a facebook announcement. Maybe I will blog. Who knows? JK, I will do both plus instagram plus tweet plus text via KIK plus.
A basic explanation of the plan is that we land in Brazil at 6:53 AM. We will Argo through security, then head to a hotel. We just just be in the hotel for the day. Wifi. Shower. Potty. Then I wanna go party on the streets. Hopefully we can shop and whatnot. Then after the day has passed, we will continue our journey by boarding a big 'ole bus that will carry us for 15 hours north. That sounds like hell on wheels, but secretly- these rides are what I live forrrrrrrr. I love long travels along foreign roads. 'Cept this one will be at night. I may be forced to sleep, but we will see. Then- we arrive at wherever we arrive, and pay some dude with a truck to tote us over to the field station place. That will prolly be bumpy.
The next time I blog it will probably be based on what I literally just said. Or it will be about none of what I just said because I've been booted out of the country for not complying to visa requirements. Argo.
Anyways, bye. See ya'll in 77 days.
-LA
Dad wants me to talk to ya'll about our trip to the grocery store and our discussions of my future.
Not gonna do that.
Instead- I'm gonna list off my top 5 fears as pertaining to this trip.
#1- Getting out of the Brasilia airport. Once that happens, I will be much less anxious.
#2- Not being fit enough to hike with my marathon running mentor.
"Omg, but you're so skinny, Leigh Anna!" Um, yeah- A) That's an optical illusion produced by my haircut, and
B)Being skinny has nothing to do with lung function. Nice try.
#3- Not being smart enough.
I'm traveling with some really accomplished and smart people. I can't even spell. And I don't know what a monkey is.
#4- Loss of internet.
"Internet" means communication.
#5- Wasps.
So that's that. My plane rides are both at night, so I guess I will just sleep through those. Planes are completely ridiculous and I will never understand how they fly through thin air. But whatever. One day I'll ask someone at GA Tech. But yeah, so I will just sleep.
When we get to Brasilia I will make a facebook announcement. Maybe I will blog. Who knows? JK, I will do both plus instagram plus tweet plus text via KIK plus.
A basic explanation of the plan is that we land in Brazil at 6:53 AM. We will Argo through security, then head to a hotel. We just just be in the hotel for the day. Wifi. Shower. Potty. Then I wanna go party on the streets. Hopefully we can shop and whatnot. Then after the day has passed, we will continue our journey by boarding a big 'ole bus that will carry us for 15 hours north. That sounds like hell on wheels, but secretly- these rides are what I live forrrrrrrr. I love long travels along foreign roads. 'Cept this one will be at night. I may be forced to sleep, but we will see. Then- we arrive at wherever we arrive, and pay some dude with a truck to tote us over to the field station place. That will prolly be bumpy.
The next time I blog it will probably be based on what I literally just said. Or it will be about none of what I just said because I've been booted out of the country for not complying to visa requirements. Argo.
Anyways, bye. See ya'll in 77 days.
-LA
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