Mexico, Mexico, here we come!!!!
Michele Diggs - Mexican Ecology & Culture 2005
Most people would start the whole Mexican adventure out with the trip, but I have enjoyed the entire class from day 1. When I enrolled in the class I was expecting a new adventure, but not to the extent that it turned out to be. I wasn’t real enthused about the reading assignments to begin with, but once I changed my outlook, I really started to learn more that I could have ever expected.
Ok, enough of that. Now down to the good stuff!!!The good ole’ road trip.
DAY 1 (March 12th): We met at the Prairie Kitchen in Ardmore, OK. Of course we were suppose to meet around 8:00 p.m. and our fearless leader didn’t arrive till almost 9:00, but we will let him slide. (HAHA) At this point we were joined by Dwight Moore and the Emporia State University crew. We all had a bite to eat and this gave Emporia a chance to stretch their legs since they had already been on the road for 5 hours at that point. Between 10 and 10:30 we headed out for the border. We drove all night and let me tell you driving that 15-passenger van was an experience.
Day 2 (March 13th): We arrived in Laredo about 7:30 a.m. Here we met up with Chris Taylor and the Mississippi State crew. We obtained our vehicle insurance, exchanged our money, made a quick trip to wal-mart (for those few forgotten things), and headed across the Rio Grande. Once on the other side of the river, we obtained out traveling papers and we were off to the races again. All I can say is that I am glad that Bruce was driving, those people drive like maniacs!!!
As we were trying to make it out of Nuevo Laredo, under the leadership of Bruce – “I feel like we should go left here”, so we turned left. “Ok now I am feeling right”, so we turned right, “turning left”, so left we went again, but we ran into a parade and were stuck until the parade had passed. It was the 5th annual Cabal Gaza, which included 10,000 horses and a lot of partying Mexicans. For me this was a once in a lifetime event. It was interesting to be able to see the differences between what we as American consider a parade and the excitement that was displayed as we watched the horses and riders show their spirits as they rode down the street.
From Nuevo Laredo we headed for Anahuac for some fine Mexican eatin’ at Los Abuelito’s. After our dinner of el cabrito (aka… young goat) we headed out for beautiful Bustamante Canyon. Before we reached Bustamante we stopped at the Mescal tequila factory for a little tour and some even had a taste. Bruce explained the process from the cactus to the bottle. Once you have seen the process, it makes you think twice before you take a drink (or at least it does me!) Once we were all back in the vans we went through town and stopped and picked up a few snacks for the night and the next morning. At camp we set up our tents, and a few of us took a quick swim in the springs. The water wasn’t all that cold, but it wasn’t warm either. If you were quiet and listened you could hear bats flying above your head and occasionally see one swooping down.
Our stay at the canyon was definitely and experience. A skunk at some point sprayed Dwight’s tent, and the wind started blowing in the middle of the night. If your tent wasn’t staked down tight, it would have blown to who knows where. But all in all it was a great adventure and I would gladly do it all over again.{insert bustamante pic }DAY 3 (March 14th): We woke early the next morning and broke camp. There was a herd of goats that just wandered through the camp as if they owned it, and I guess in a sense they did. Some of us climbed up the mountainside to take a look at the campsite below. It was a beautiful view. Once the vans were loaded, we headed into the water basin to look at the different life from what we had seen in the canyon. After a short look around we were on the road again headed for San Blas. We drove and drove and then drove a little more. We finally pulled into San Blas about 7 a.m. on the 15th.
DAY 4 (March 15th): It was lightly raining when we arrived, but we didn’t care. We were finally out of the van, and the view was breathtaking. We set up camp while we waited for the Mexico group to arrive. After camp was organized, the instructors needed to get prepared for the different groups and activities for the week to come. A group of us headed up the beach into the little town of Aticama to do a little sightseeing and even a little shopping. Around 3 p.m. the list of the groups was posted and we were ready to start the next leg of our Mexican adventure. There were nine in my group - Jimena, Krist, Tamara, Itzel, Lynette, Michael, Michelle G., Katie and myself. Our first night was herps. The instructor for this group was Chavez. He was a riot. When I started this trip I thought that the only group that I would really enjoy would be the mammals, but Chavez changed that and rather quickly. We went out in search of frogs and snakes and whatever else we could round up, and we even caught a few. Chavez and his sidekicks explained how to process the animals that we caught and how to log all the information.
DAY 5 (March 15th): That was only the beginning of our herp adventure. The next morning we met again and went in search of iguanas and lizards. We found a male and female pair that took us an hour to dig out of a dead tree, but it was well worth it. After hiking the hill outside the camp we headed back and processed the iguanas. Once the group broke, I stayed around and helped with the preserving of the large male iguana. {insert herp pic } Our group had the rest of the afternoon off so I just rested, and spent time chilling on the beach.
DAY 6 (March 16th): This was ichthyology day. Around 8:30 a.m. we headed into Aticama to the little creek that run through the town to take readings and see what kind of fish inhabited the creek. We were taught the correct way to log the information and then headed back to camp to get ready to seine in the ocean. At 3 p.m. we headed to the beach with the 100 ft seine net to see what we could catch. Don’t let anyone tell you that seining is easy, because that 100 ft net wore us out. We only caught 5 fish in the 5 or 6 attempts, but it was an experience that I will never forget. Later that evening we started the ornithology group. Laura and Fernando taught us how to set up the mist nets that we would use to catch the birds and also the critical information that we would need to log. {insert seine adventure pic }
DAY 7 (March 17th): We woke up “EARLY” and left the campsite at 6 a.m. to head up the mountain side to look for birds. Half of our group took our binoculars and bird guides to see what we could catch a glimpse of. We saw woodpeckers, hummingbirds, hawks and many more species of birds. The other half of our group then headed out to spot birds and we attended to the mist nets. We caught a hummingbird and took the measurements and recorded the data that was needed. We headed back to camp at noon and waited for our next group, which were mammals. That evening, Dwight and Marco showed us the Sherman and Hav-a-Hart traps that we were going to set baited with sardines and/or vanilla and oatmeal. We set the traps and then after dark set up the mist nets to catch bats. While we waited for a bat to be caught in the net, Dwight showed us some termite mounds and I even tried a few (MMMM…tastes like wood). Once we got back to the nets, we had caught 3 bats. Dwight and Marco showed us how to detangle and process them. We were out till around 10 p.m. then headed back to camp to call it a night.
DAY 8 (March 18th): At 7 a.m. our group met again to go and check the live traps we had set the night before. We only caught 3 of the same species of mice, so we let 2 of them go and headed back to camp to process the mouse and a bat from the night before. Dwight explained the skinning process of the mouse while Marco explained the skinning process of the bat. Once the skinning process was complete we learned how to tag and prepare the specimens for the museum. We then went to the outskirts of the Mangrove swamp to look for animal tracks and make castings of the tracks that we found. Once we had finished we headed back to camp and this concluded our classes. {insert mammal pic here}
That evening the entire camp loaded up on the bus that the Mexico students had brought and headed into San Blas for some shopping and relaxing. San Blas was beautiful. The church that stood in the square was a breathtaking sight. We headed back to camp after 2 hours of shopping and sightseeing to get a good nights rest for our trip to the Mangrove swamp the next day.DAY 9 (March 19th): We loaded on the Mexico bus again and headed to the Mangrove swamp to take a little tour and see if we could find a gator or two. We saw many species of birds and we did find that gator. We were able to swim once we reached the clear water and had a lot of fun swinging off the dock. We then headed back to the bus and back to camp to have our awards ceremony and pack up for our drive to Real de Catorce. {insert mangrove swamp pic}
DAY 10 (March 20th): We drove all night again and arrived in Real around 7 a.m. I had heard that the streets were narrow and steep, but I never imagined just how steep they were. We were now at 9000’ elevation and boy could I tell it. The views were beautiful and a group of us rented some horses and rode up to the ghost town. It was well worth the 120 pesos we paid for the horses. Everything in Real was beautiful and I would love to visit there again someday.
DAY 11 (March 21st): We left out headed for home. I had a great time, but I was glad to be headed home. We said good-bye to Mississippi as soon as we crossed the border, had a bite to eat, loaded back in the vans and headed out.
DAY 12 (March 22nd): Back at home
This was a great trip and I want to extend a special thanks to Bruce, Dwight and Chris for the job they did. THANKS GUYS!Maybe I will be able to go back again with you guys!