Entendamonos (so we understand each other)

“This is not a story of heroic feats, or merely the narrative of a cynic; at least I do not mean it to be. It is a glimpse of two lives running parallel for a time, with similar hopes and convergent dreams.” - Ernesto “Che” Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries.

Borrowing the introductory lines from one of my favorite books of all time, which I am currently re-reading. The story of two young, spunky adventurers hopping on a motorbike and traversing the South American continent- following their dreams and opening their eyes to the realities of the world. I’m inspired and re-inspired every time I read this book. Also a very fitting follow-up to Into the Wild, which I just finished.

One of my new favorite games to play in the late afternoons (if we’re not over in the lab) is to go over to The Wild Side and perch myself on a rock just out of reach of the waves… inevitably there is always that one wave that is juuuuust a little bit bigger than the rest and so I get soaked. It’s a fun game- seeing how long I can stay dry. And I sit there either reading or just contemplating various life mysteries and communing with the ocean. It was there that I started reading The Motorcycle Diaries yesterday and came across a passage that I wanted to share because it expresses exactly how I feel about the ocean but through the much more eloquent words of Che who was really a very entertaining and engaging writer.

El descubrimiento del oceano (the discovery of the ocean)- “Sitting on a dune, we watch the continuous ebb and flow, each with our own thoughts. For me, the sea has always been a confidant, a friend absorbing all it is told and never revealing these secrets; always giving the best advice- its meaningful noises can be interpreted any way you choose.”

The ocean has always been a good friend to me.

I’ve also taken to working on my bouldering skills over on The Wild Side. I got rock-climbing certified at the wall at UGA but haven’t really had time to exercise those skills and I’ve never actually been on the bouldering wall there. So I choose a big rock formation every time I’m over there and don’t give up until I’ve conquered it.

Since it’s been kinda slow over at the rehab center- no new arrivals- Michaelle and I have been alternating mornings to go help with feeding the penguins, then going over to the lab to do necropsies (I’ll spare y’all from the pictures). We’ve done a few oiled penguins that were dead upon arrival at the lighthouse and that Liz has been saving in her freezer for us and then we did a gannet that came from Bayworld (in Port Elizabeth) last week because he had aspirated, but he died the next day. Poor guy. He was in pretty bad condition though- his kidneys were terrible (gritty and full of urates like bags of sand) and there were weird plaques all on the abdominal and thoracic serosa- so he wouldn’t have lived much longer anyway. We’ve also started a sort of “herd health panel” project with the lighthouse penguins to get more samples to work with.

However, we will be much busier next week because… we’re going to CAPE TOWN!!! There’s another penguin rehab facility over there on the Western Cape called Sancob that does a lot more research than this Eastern Cape one does and they have permits to get on the islands off their coast. So we might actually get to get on one of the breeding islands- which would rock so much. Anyway, we’re catching the Sunday morning bus from Humansdorp to Cape Town (700 km) so it’ll be an all-day bus ride and then we’re gonna stay at the house where the Sancob volunteers stay, apparently including some guy from the Georgia Aquarium who is doing a stint here… small world! So we’ll have a lot more work to do over at Sancob and then explore Cape Town while we’re at it all before World Cup craziness begins, at which point we’re gonna wanna come back and hide in this peaceful little town of ours J But we’ve heard so much great stuff about Cape Town that we’re both really excited to check it out. South Africa’s San Diego apparently. So we’re gonna be there indefinitely- probably at least one week but maybe two. And hopefully by the time we get back the lighthouse will be busy with chick season!!

By the way, for more pictures, check out the photo album I made on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2706707&id=4922002&l=d44b320c2f

And I leave you all with two pictures- one of Pants who’s name reminds me of my own little black and white fluff-ball Britches and the other of the maiden full moon from South Africa. The same one you all are seeing from all over the world (this is a nod to you, Granny… love you!!)

"the lighthouse just bitch-slapped my retina!"

(Picture if of one of the night-time beach walks that Michaelle and I have gone on).

Alright, so some impressions of South Africa so far:
1. Still can’t get used to them driving on the other side of the road. Always go for the wrong side of the car. Pretty sure if I had to drive here I would crash.
2. I apologize ahead of time if I come back to the States ending every sentence in “eh?” “Beautiful day, eh?” “Yeah, we had a great time, eh?” “Pass the salt, eh?” I’m very impressionable when it comes to picking up the way people talk. This one’s inevitable. Eh?
3. Trying to pick up a bit of Afrikaans. So far I can say “how are you?” which I’m not even going to attempt to spell. Then “good” or “cool” or “sweet” is “lekker”- got that one down. Then “thank you very much” sounds very much like “buy a donkey.” Slowly but surely. It’s harder for me to pick up a language without full emersion which is impossible here with all the English around me. Granted sometimes I can’t even understand when people are speaking English… sounds like a foreign language at times.
4. Veggie bombs are amazing. Last night Michaelle and I went to a braai that Sam (our downstairs musician neighbor) had invited us to and kept talking about all week. He ended up not making an appearance… passed out in his living room around 7pm. Classy dude that one. He’s also been paying Michaelle a whole lot of attention since we moved in. I’m highly amused by this. She is not. Regardless, last night we had a blast getting to know these two couples from Cape Town. They all work in the film industry and are down on vacation for a few weeks. So we braaied with them and they introduced us to veggies bombs- just a bunch of cut up veggies mixed together with olive oil and spices and wrapped in foil and put on the fire. Delish. I hadn’t actually expected to be able to eat anything since from what I understand typical braai fare is not very vegetarian friendly. Good surprise. Good people. Good fun. I ended up staying up and hanging out with them until early morning and then laid out on our balcony to watch the stars and then catch the first few rays of sunlight starting the day. Love this place. (Luckily I was not supposed to go into work this morning. Michaelle and I have been alternating mornings and it was her turn).
5. It kills me that the sun sets at about 5:30-6pm. Makes the day seem so short. And the days are just gonna keep getting shorter until the Solstice. Sigh. We have plans to celebrate the longest night of the year though. It’s gonna be rad.
6. Hummus is outrageously priced. Very sad times. However, they do have peanut butter here which made me very happy. The brand that we bought has a black cat on the label which for some reason tickles Michaelle beyond reason. Strange that one.
7. Instant coffee is very popular here. We’ve had to settle for it since we don’t have a coffee maker in our flat, but whenever we go over to other people’s houses and they offer us coffee it’s always the same instant Nescafe. I have many good memories of camping trips when I was younger and my mum always had instant Nescafe. Also on the Trans-Siberian Express I specifically remember drinking instant Nescafe all the time. So it’s kinda nostalgic. But I want some real coffee. Regardless, the big jar we bought when we first got here a little over a week ago is now half-empty. Very telling of my addiction (or maybe just adjusting to the time change. Yeah, that’s it.) And that I’m a bad influence on Michaelle who was all gung-ho about being off coffee for the summer. Heh.
8. Public transportation here sucks. No buses run between St. Francis Bay and Cape St. Francis. Or from Cape St. Francis to Jeffrey’s Bay or Port Elizabeth. We’d have to go all the way over to Humansdorp to catch a bus to anywhere. No bus to get us there though. This is one of our major frustrations right now since we have to rely on rides from people to get into town to do grocery shopping, laundry, etc. Still keeping my fingers crossed that someone will lend us a couple of bikes.
9. People don’t recycle here. Can’t tell you how many people Michaelle and I had to talk to about how to recycle… there aren’t any recycling bins anywhere around here, then there was some rumor of special bags that we could get at the grocery store (still have not located these mysterious bags), then about there being a center in St. Francis Bay that no one could tell us the location of, then finally we spoke with the woman who runs the small shop on the opposite side of our building and apparently she’s the one to go to. So we just bring our recycling down to her. Problem solved. Whew.
10. It was 13 degrees (Celsius) here the other evening and everyone was wrapped up in sweatshirts and talking about how cold it was. Yeah. This is winter. I’ve been enjoying it. Though I don’t think I could live here year-round. I love my cold weather too much. Happy with this weather for my summer though :)

P.S. I'm leaving you with a picture of Nip. One of the three Rock-hoppers at the lighthouse right now. His brother's name is Tuck.

Shell's First Post

href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cshell%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml">

Hello! I am guess blogging today on Claire’s blog. Today marks a week that we have been here in South Africa and a much needed week it has been. Time, movement, activities happen at their own, slower, pace here in South Africa, and I for one have been grateful for it. I have not had a proper vacation in close to 2 years and all this week, I have felt all the stresses that have built up in between, slowly melt away. It is so nice to wake up every morning and take our breakfast on our balcony, hearing the roar of the ocean and catching bits of the waves. Our flat faces east and we welcome the sun every morning over coffee, with shades on.

It is so nice to be able to walk where we are volunteering, setting out each morning to be greeted by hungry penguins. They are the darlings of our day for sure. After we help out there where we can we have frequently went and hung out on the beach, daring to play in the cold blue-green waves, or just lying on the almost deserted beach to let the sun warm our skin. I love it here. For one, I can lie out on the beach for an hour and not get blistered by the sun. Never have we been on such friendly terms and indeed my skin shows it’s appreciation by sporting tons of freckles. I love to be spotted!

The little village here is incredibly dog friendly, in fact sometimes there are more dogs at the pub downstairs than people. The dogs are well cared for here and love to play on the beach with their owners. There is one cute little white dog that has taken a fancy to lying around the beach with us when we are there. Twice now it has just come over and then proceeds to lie on whatever body or towel it takes its mind to. I am a bit stricter about it getting me all sandy so it snuggles up to Claire more. So cute and sweet though. I love that we have our own beach dog. It makes me long for my own to be here with me.

As it happens in all small villages, everyone here knows everyone else and they are a tight knit community and they help each other and even Claire and I out whenever we have need. It feels really nice to be in such a place and there is not a lot of drama that we have observed so far. This place really is relaxing and idyllic. Especially the amazing sunsets!

We have been slowly getting everything in place, our lab is set up and we are slowly familiarizing ourselves with protocols there, as well as slowly learning how to care for the penguins that are at the center. This slowness is a good thing as it has taken almost all of this week for us to adapt to this time change. I have had trouble falling asleep at night and both of us would sleep longer in the morning if we could, me in particular, having a time of it to get out of bed. But today was much easier and I think my body is finally getting into the rhythm of being six hours ahead. Next week, when I know I can get up in time, I am going to start my yoga practice again in the mornings. I can’t wait to greet the sun each day in sun-salutation! In the meantime I am enjoying my long soothing walks down the beach. Today I am going to try and time my walk with high-tide.

Our downstairs neighbor, Sam, who makes his living as a guitarist and singer (as well as local handy man) is hosting some lesser known American musician tonight and he has invited Claire and I. It will be or first Braai (we know it as a Bar-B-Q) here and promises to be a fun night with musical jamming and good food. I am excited to go as it seems Sam is a bit of a local legend when it comes to guitar.

Oh and if you had any doubt that Claire can sleep anywhere. Here she is collecting impressed looks from everyone that saw her at the Amsterdam Airport.

Okay well that is all from me for now. Until then, cheers! Michaelle

"alright now, you can go wild but don't go destroying [stuff]."

In Cape St. Francis there are two main beaches. What we call Long Beach is the sandy, chill beach where a certain duo of vet students can be found diving into the waves and sunning on the sand during periods of down time. Then there is The Wild Side. (Cue an unnecessary amount of cheesy jokes streaming out of my mouth having something to do with “walking on the wild side,” “going wild” and so on. Sometimes I wonder why I have friends. Michaelle is good enough to tolerate me though.) So yesterday with Andrew Bird providing my soundtrack and with the excitement of a child, I went to explore The Wild Side. It’s basically a rocky, cliffy beach with waves pounding on the boulders- the power of the waves is just indescribable though. As I rock-hopped along the cliffs, I couldn’t help but be filled with utter wonder of the power and majesty of Nature. And my soul was just sooooo HAPPY. I decided that the next day I would have to come back with Michaelle so that we could be like little rock-hoppers together. So we went back today and oh, it was a WILD time!! Waves crashing, ocean water spraying, souls soaring… incredible. Definitely one of our favorite spots. I feel like we could go back every day and explore new areas. There are so many nooks and crannies and little canals carved out by the water- it’s like an unending mystery. We both love being close with Nature, and Nature is definitely making her presence known over on The Wild Side.

Below: Michaelle and I feeling at the top of the world. Me getting pummeled by a wave. And just a shot of the awesomeness... :)

"seagulls look like footballs with heads"

Finally I have some time to actually sit down and write a proper update. We’ve been pretty disconnected from the rest of the world since the first night we were here our power exploded and destroyed Michaelle’s power cord for her computer. I made that sound way more dramatic than it actually was, but there was a definite loud pop followed by complete darkness followed by utter confusion and resulting in a non-functional power cord that rattled. Bad. Anyway, yesterday we finally replaced the cord, figured out that we can use the wireless connection at the lab where we’ll be spending a lot of time, and also procured an old cell phone with a pay-as-you-go plan that we can use for local calls in case of strandings- both for us being in need of rides and so that we can be called in to collect samples if a penguin comes in while we’re not at the lighthouse. That is why my last entry was so rushed- had to squeeze it in while at in internet café in St. Francis Bay and our ride was waiting on us. I did enjoy the ability to remain in the present moment without having to worry or consider connecting with the outside world, but it’s nice to be able to do so when I so choose. And I really want to update y’all about the penguins!!

So for the past four mornings Michaelle and I have gone to the lighthouse to help with the feeding of the penguins. They all have to get certain meds in the mornings so it’s important that they all eat and important to keep track of their consumption. I have a feeling that our hands will perpetually smell of dead fish for the next few months. New incoming penguins are kept separate in the hospital until they have been rehydrated, are eating properly and have had all of their wounds treated. There is a penguin currently in the ICU that has a wound that goes straight through his body. Like you can stick a probe in one side and it will come out the other. Just about his left leg. Craziness. He seems to be doing well though. Another one just came in the first day we were there and I named her Ray. She’s the first one that we’ve gotten to examine blood smears and fecal flotations on (that’s what we spent most of this afternoon doing).

I think my favorite part of being at the lighthouse is getting to know all of the individual penguins (there are 22 there currently). Each and every one of them has such a distinct personality! There are three Rock-hoppers (Michaelle’s favorites I gather from the squeeing that happens over them…) and the rest are African penguins. A few of them are blind either in one or both eyes and, sadly, none of those will be releasable. The blind ones are the absolute cutest though. Stevie and Adri have been two that have definitely already weaseled themselves into my heart. Adri especially. The first day we were there she just hung around my legs, putting her wings around my calf, messing with my shoes. She can’t see so she follows people’s voices. She followed me all around the outdoor pen this morning, would put her head in my lap when I crouched down and even shoved her head up under my shirt in a playful gesture. Oh I could take her home!! I have a feeling she’ll be the hardest for me to leave when we go. Such a sweetheart!! Especially compared to a few of the other penguins who are just plain mean and will bite your hand off. Guess I can’t blame them though… I probably wouldn’t want some human messing with me either. They don’t know we’re trying to help them.

Both Michaelle and I are definitely looking forward to getting to know the penguins better and getting to do more work with them. As our landlady said this evening “Neither of you have been bitten or pooped on yet?! Oh you haven’t truly worked with the penguins yet then!” I absolutely can’t wait :)

P.S. Our mailing address will be the PO box of the woman who runs the lab, so PO Box 223, St. Francis Bay 6312, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Letters, cards, care packages, etc are more than welcome!!

can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars?

We made it to South Africa!! First, of course, we had a 22 hour layover in Amsterdam which is where this picture is from. As soon as we hopped off the train into the city we rented a couple of bikes and pedaled around the city for a bit, checking out the canals, shops, etc. Then we made our way over to the Van Gogh Museum which was absolutely fantastic... what an amazing artist... we found the pictures coming alive and engulfing us- a rad experience. Then we somehow managed to find our way back to the bike shop- Amsterdam is one confusing city, let me tell you. We wandered around for a while longer, checked out the Red Light District, had some coffee, went dancing, and then exhaustedly made our way back to the train and the airport and tried to sleep for the next few hours before our flight to Johannesburg.

After the 10.5 hour flight down to South Africa, we spend the night in a cute little bed and breakfast right next to the airport so that we could catch our flight from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth early the next morning. That flight was only about 1.5 hours and we sat next to a Jo-burg native who was very excited about his city and told us all about it. In PE, we were met by Liz who runs the lab for the penguin center. She took us grocery shopping and drove us to our apartment in Cape St. Francis- which is absolutely adorable by the way- the picture of the two of us above is off the balcony of our place... facing the ocean!!
We've spent the past couple days learning about the penguins, exploring the town, getting to know the locals and spending some quality time on the beach enjoying the Indian Ocean.
More to come!!

18 hours to go...

In approximately 18 hours we will be on our flight. 18 hours. If you would have seen either Michaelle or me earlier today you would not have thought that either one of us was about to fly over to Africa. I, for one, was sitting on the floor of my old room surrounded by utter chaos (probably hugging my knees and rocking back and forth) wondering how I was ever going to pack up all my belongings to move into my new place... let alone how I was going to pack for South Africa. Michaelle, while in somewhat less dire straits, was still surrounded by closet vomitus and armed with pepto bismol to ward off stress-induced stomach-aches. Throughout the day there followed a constant stream of increasingly panicked phone calls and text messages between the two of us. What are you bringing? What should I bring? What do we need?! Really... what do you bring for two months in South Africa? Beats me! The only advice that we got from our contact over there was that it would be fall weather. And to make sure to bring a "light waterproof anorak." I had absolutely no clue what an anorak was until I googled it. When Michaelle was reading that email later in class, she turned to me whispering "what the hell is an anorak?!" "A warm rain jacket, of course" with just enough touch of "know-it-all-ness" to be believable but not too over the top. I'm a good friend like that.

So having finally packed my ridiculous amount of belongings, moved across town with the help of my wonderful father and his van, ran around Athens trying to finish all my last-minute business, got really lost in Conyers at 1am trying to deliver baby animal food to a wildlife rehabber, and made it to Atlanta... I'm now finally feeling ready to actually pack for this trip I'm setting off on in... 18 hours. So what do I need to take again? No clue. But I think I have the most important piece- the pendant pictured above- and that's all that matters... everything else will fall into place. The spiral is a symbol of the goddess, of the feminine serpent force, of constant change and evolution. This particular spiral was a gift from my amazing grandmother and I feel like it is the symbol of this trip for me, so it stays around my neck.

So bring it!! Here we go... and first stop? Amsterdam! Arriving Thursday afternoon. 22 hour layover. Flying to Johannesburg Friday morning. Spending the night there, flying to Port Elizabeth Saturday morning. From there we'll be met at the airport and drive an hour or so to Cape St. Francis- our final destination. So there's the outline of the next few days of travel. Safe travel thoughts are most welcome!

And so it begins...

The Countdown Starts

In a week and a half Michaelle (my classmate, friend, travel buddy, and partner in crime) and I will be flying over the Atlantic to begin our Great African Adventure. We will be spending two months in Cape St. Francis, South Africa, working at a penguin rescue and rehabilitation center and conducting a study on vector-borne blood parasites in African penguins on the Eastern coast of South Africa. Basically we'll be collecting blood samples from penguins (and other wild birds) that come through the rehab facility in order to determine the prevalence of blood parasites (Borrelia, Babesia, and Plasmodium) and comparing the detection rates by analysis of blood smears versus PCR (polymerase chain reaction). We will also try to identify potential vectors of Babesia and Borrelia by collecting ectoparasites from the birds that come through the rehab center. We're still hoping to get on the islands in order to collect ectoparasites from the environment, but that will depend in if we can get in with another group making a trip since we have not been approved for an independent trip to the islands.

Here's the website for the rehab if y'all are interested in checking out where we'll be spending most of our time: Penguins! Our apartment will be in Cape St. Francis within walking distance of the beach and the rehab center and we'll be going into St. Francis Bay to use the lab facilities, do grocery shopping and get internet access. I am hoping to update this blog with stories and pictures throughout the summer, so stay tuned!

FYI- May 12th is our departure date and July 8th is when we'll be returning to the States. Good times to be had in between :) And much preparation to be done before I leave- finals, moving, packing, etc... yikes!