training continued

I continue my training in the rescate de mamiferos marinos by taking a trip to Lima city with Dr. Llannos (who from now on I will call by his first name of Carlos for the sake of informality!) and Fio (this is Fiorella's nickname) on Wednesday evening.  We arrive at Lima City beach, the main public beach inside the city limits.  Lima City beach is a crescent shaped gravel and sand beach ringed by high rise developments and restaurants, and has been the site of South American sea lion strandings.  Tonight we will drill in the method of containing injured and stranded sea lions, and we will also be interviewed by a local journalist who wishes to print a story to the local youth.
Many of the people in Lima's suburbs do not know what to do or who to call when they see a sea lion stranding.  Not far from Lima City beach is a South American sea lion rookery, yet many people do not understand what these animals represent and what is their role in the ocean.
After Carlos gives us our briefing, and I receive a demonstration on how to handle the rescate boards, we begin.  The rescate boards are for the animals' and the rescuers' protection, and consist of 1/2" plywood boards about 5 feet in height and three feet wide, with handles for gripping attached to the backs.  You hold the board by the handles in an upright position from the back.  The boards are multi purpose; they serve to help conceal the rescuer and to block the animals escape route.  Great care must be taken for everyone to form a barricade.  The volunteers also use the boards to guide the stranded animal into the waiting carrier for transport to the clinic in San Bartolo for assessment and treatment.

Carlos will be playing the part of our stranded sea lion, and we as a team discuss the situation at a distance.  One person will assess the sea lion from the closest possible vantage point and one person will be the team leader (which is obviously the person with the most experience).  Once an assessment has been made, we approach the "sea lion" from the best possible vantage point and begin the rescue.  It is essential the team communicate effectively, work calmly and quietly as possible, and keep our effort synchronized.  Carlos has his degree in veterinary medicine and his group of 40 volunteers have effectively rescued and rehabilitated hundreds of pinnipeds and cetaceans in their ten years of existence.  Some of his volunteers are students at Lima City university and one of his students will be leaving for the University of Grenada to study veterinary medicine.

Our team assessor has determined that our sea lion is a yearling and has an injured right flipper.  As we make our approach, Carlos plays the role of the yearling by becoming more alert as we draw close, forcing us to become motionless.  We have the sea at our backs, which serves to mask any noise we make and to cut off the sea lion's escape route.  From the experience of the ORCAs, the boards are a non-living, non-threat to the sea lions and as long as we remain concealed it is less likely that the sea lion will escalate.  Of course, the sea lion has its sense of smell but in Carlos' experience these sea lions depend more upon their sense of hearing to assess danger.

As we stand stock still for what seems like an eternity, I am relieved to take my turn in the interview with the journalist.  I back away from the board (I am standing on a slope) and head toward the water to gain distance from the event.  I missed out on what happened next but I heard it was good because there was a resulting applause from several bystanders that had accumulated on the beach!  Apparently the stranded yearling was successfully rescued!

The next drill involved a "blind, pregnant sea lion" and this proved to be a very strenuous exercise.  I made a mental note that extreme caution should be used to prevent damage to the fetus, and I was encouraged to hear members of the group point this out.  As we approached the "female", she rubbed her head against our boards, which we used to form a tight barricade.  Several times she attempted to break through, but we continued to position the boards in order to navigate her back to the transport kennel.  If she pushes against the boards, we can push back but we must take care to maintain contact with each other's boards (we form a polygon) and to not raise the boards off the ground.  This female is blind but she knows that something is up-she puts her flipper on the kennel to try to determine what is in front of her and she tries backing away, all the while grunting and bellowing (Carlos is very good at being a sea lion!), trying to climb on top of the carrier!  Patience, patience and communication, the briefing that I received was very useful: keep one foot solidly against the board and push with your entire body, maintain contact with the boards, and listen for the team leader's cues.  After what seems like hours of pushing, and nearly containing the soon to be mother only to have her back away, we have the female in the carrier and everyone applauds.
Now for the critique!  At one point the "sea lion" collapsed halfway into the crate after a prolonged struggle.  Did anyone notice that?  I remembered trying to keep from cracking up when Carlos lay face down, half in and half out of the kennel with his legs splayed-I blurt out "she was tired!"  "Yes!" Carlos says emphatically, and instead of taking a break ourselves,

Day two

Andean foothills near San Bartolo



Surfistas en la mer



Apartementes para los estudiantes de ORCAS Peru (student apartments)

14 Decembre 2010

Yerba luisa, that is the name of the traditional herb used in the Inca Cola naturalismo.  I bought some at the market last night and have been drinking it with my tea.  The herb looks like a thin scallion and has a refreshing lemony mint tast, much like lemon balm.  I am going to find Inca cola naturalismo and drink it when I travel south!

Not much to report today, I awoke at 3AM and couldn’t get back to sleep, then I slept in (again) until 11:30AM.  There is a dove that wakes up at 6AM every morning and begins its call in very synchronized, repetitive notes.  It has the sound of a low piccolo and is very orchestrated.  I am beginning to wonder if it is a persona playing a flute.

Dr. Llanos and Fiorella arrived this afternoon to give me a tutorial on pinnipeds and cetaceans of Peru.  Of the pinnipeds, there are two resident and three migratory species.  They are the South American elephant seal, the San Juan Fernando fur seal, the South American sea lion, and the Galapagos fur seal.  The South American sea lion is a close relative to the Stellar sea lion, and it is thought that the two species diverged from a common ancestor millions of years ago.  Of the cetaceans, Peru has the sperm whale, the humpback whale, the killer whale, Bryde’s whale, the blue whale, false killer whale, short finned pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, the bottlenose dolphin, the dusky dolphin, the spinner dolphin, the spotted dolphin and many others.  Most of the pinnipeds are locally endangered, meaning their survival off the coast of Peru is in peril.  ORCA Peru has a crew of voluntaries that has grown in number over the years, many are local and many come from all over the world.  They receive training in the humane rescate (rescue) of stranded and injured marine mammals, and assist Dr. Llanos in their rehabilitation.  The animals are tagged and released at the mamiferos marinos centero in San Bartolo, and ORCA Peru receives word that many of the animals continue to do well.  Dr. Llanos causes human interaction as the main problem causing the decline of pinnipeds, because the local species will abandon their rookeries and young when too many humans are present.  Large whales have washed ashore with gaping wounds, and it is believed that an illegal whale hunt takes place in Peruvian waters.  It is illegal to hunt and kill mamiferos marinos in Peru, yet international boats have been sited at the same times that the whales have washed ashore.  Another problem is that people in the south of Lima see the stranded mamiferos as a food source.  ORCA Peru has responded to emergency calls of live stranded animals only to parts of the animal lying on the beach.  ORCA Peru is working to educate people on the hazards of eating mamiferos marinos, not only because of the high mercury levels in the meat but because of the diseases that the animals might be carrying that are making them sick.

As we are talking, Felipe excitedly runs in and out of the room, stopping to whisper into Dr. Llanas’ ear.  Tonight is Elena’s birthday and he is planning a surprise, so someone must distract Elena while he sets up the food and the cake.  Fiorella is tired and wants to go home, it is a 30 minute ride by autobus to Lima City so Dr. Llanas and Fiorella bid farewell.

Felipe is whispering “Leen!  Leen!” from below on the street so I lean out the balcony window.  He splays his fingers and holds them up so that I may see “Come down in 10 minutes!”  “Si si si” I say, as he runs off with Sebastian into the night and I go back to the little table in the cocina (kitchen area) to continue updating my blogs on the computer.  Presently, I hear the click of footsteps on the patio, Elena is returning home from somewhere and she goes inside and closes the door.  I wait longer than ten minutes, finally I hear the taxica pull up and two ladies climb out with Felipe.  Sebastian is also there, the taxicas are no more than a three-wheeled motorcycle covered by a three sided shelter with doors.  I suppose all four of Elena’s family members fit in the taxica and I watch them go quietly inside the gate.  This is my cue to come down, but Sebastian comes running up the stairs before I reach the landing.  “I have no place to keep the food!” he says, so we keep it upstairs and I wait longer.  Presently he comes back, we grab the food; Elena is reclining in her room watching the television, her mother, sister, and nephew (a fifth persona in the cab!) are perched on the sofa in the living room, all are waiting for Felipe to make his next move.  Felipe instructs Andrea and Sebastian to go into Elena’s room, and as they do so they shut the door behind.  I can hear Andrea babbling to her mother, Elena gently scolds her (mostly likely telling her to stop interrupting her program), but soon the door opens and Elena emerges with her eyes tightly shut, being led by the hand by her two children.  Everyone is tight lipped but smiling widely, as Elena is guided to the sunken living room she knows that she is getting close and she swings her foot wide causing everyone to laugh!  We all jump up and yell “surpriso!” and the party begins!  Elena is giving a festively wrapped package and Andrea begs her mother to hurry and open it.  It is a cookie jar with the smiling face of a pig perched on top, and we all say Bonito (cute).  Dinner consists of a broiled pollo (chicken), ensalada (salad), and big fat French fries.  There are also two kinds of salsa (sauce), one picante  (hot) and one media picante (mildy hot).

As we eat we talk, and I trade English words for new Spanish ones.  I ask “Que personas en Peru lengue naturalismo?”  What I mean to say is, does anyone in Peru speak the native languages?  Si, Elena’s mother speaks Chechuan, which is from the people who have lived in the Andes.  Elena’s mother is very petite and has a very is very face, she constantly tried to wait on me which is strange for me-I am inclined to wait on elders!

Elena speaks a little bit of French, and we laugh as we substitute French words for the ones that we can’t find in English or Spanish.  I say “Escoucher” (listen) and I get everyone’s attention:  En Anglais “Thank you”, en francais “Merci”, en espanol “Gracias”, en T’lingit “Gunalshcheesh!”  EVERYONE tries to say the famous T’lingit word, Felipe tries the hardest since he is the only one among his siblings that speaks a second language but his brother Sebastian pronounces the word first!  Felipe tries again, he can’t get past the second syllable and Sebastian pronounces the word yet again before Felipe can!  Andrea motions me to high five her, Sebastian wiggles and dances in his seat, pointing with both hands at Felipe as he continues to struggle with t he word-it is so awesome to witness this friendly rivalry between a boy and his younger brother.  Felipe keeps trying, I pronounce the word in sections so that he can hear the sounds and he is able to repeat the syllables in sequence.

It is time to retire and for once I am not exhausted.  I plan on rising early tomorrow in order to get to the internet cafeteria, I need to wash the dishes before I caminar de la plaza de San Bortolo va la cybercafe (walk downtown to the cybercafe).  I finally go to sleep at 11:30PM.  ¡Buenas noches!

First day in Peru

13 Decembre 2010

I awake at 6AM to the sound of a dog barking loudly in the car park below my apartment.  It is Comillo (Fang, Elena’s dog).  This is a morning lullaby because I miss my own dog Herkette.  I am able to go back to sleep since I am still exhausted from two days of trying to sleep on airplanes.  I finally rise at 11:15AM; Dr. Llanos told me the night before that the group would return to the apartemente at noon to take me on a tour of Lima City.  Shower, brush teeth, dress, and wait.  There is a washing machine in the apartemente, it is in a connecting room with no ceiling, open to the sky and consists of a deep basin, a faucette, me, and the bottle of Dr. Bronner’s castile soap that I brought along.

After washing my traveling clothes I have five minutes to explore the immediate neighborhood.  San Bartolo is located on a desert plateau that meets the South Pacific ocean, and is flanked by the desert foothills of the Andes mountain range.  The climate is mostly cloudy, but it never rains.  The neighborhood buildings are constructed of brick and concrete, and one building will house several spacious apartementes.  A handful of residents operate cantinas from their homes where you can buy gas for cooking, 7 liter bottles of water, fresh baked pan (bread), and other necessities.  100 feet from Elena’s apartemente is a plaza with a shrine to the Virgin Mary, I see a handful of city workers and two elderly gentlewomen sitting on a bench talking.  Many dogs roam the streets but they are healthy and friendly.  There are date palms and saguaros planted throughout the neighborhood, and there is also a variety of songbirds that compete with the intermittent sounds of reconstruction that is taking place in several of the apartementes.  I try to be careful not to wander too far, there is a small cantina a few blocks away and I am hungry!  I pass by two men who look at me and laugh, I hear the word “chica” which means girl, how flattering.

As I return to the apartemente I see Dr. Llanos standing at the gate, I wave and he begins walking toward me.  As he approaches I realize that this is not Dr. Llanos, but Phillipe, Elena’s son.  Phillipe is about 12-13 anos (years), he know some English and we begin a conversation, but he tells me that has to go somewhere so I return to the apartemente to take a nap.  It is now 1PM.  There is something about flying and spending time in airports sucks the life out of you.

I arise at 2PM and still no Dr. Llanos!  The sound of several children giggling downstairs is the music of life to my ears so I head down to see if I can use the phone to contact Dr. Llanos.  Phillipe is soooo gracious for a secondario (middle to high school age youth), he calls Dr. Llanos while his brother Sebastian and his sister Andrea wave their trabajars, or art work that they made in school, at my face.  I nod and repeat “Poquito, poquita!” so cute!  It is summer and December in Peru, and Papa Noelle (Santa Claus) will be visiting soon, so these children are very excited.  Sebasitan is shooting tiny plastic clay pigeons at the Christmas decorations, and Phillipe tells me that he cannot get ahold of Dr. Llanos but there is a stranded penguin on one of the neighboring beaches.  Such a gracious host, he invites me to a bowl of sopa (soup), he has everyone sit at the table while he fetches the bowls and the agua pera or pear laced water.  The meal is mucho delicioso!

Sebastian and Andrea giggle and speak to me in the most rapido Spanish, then smile and wait for me to respond, then giggle when I look at them with a baffled expression.  I say habla nada rapido, and thus begins my Spanish lesson for today.  Sebastian says a phrase, then repeats it nada rapido, then I repeat the phrase, and Andrea corrects me sternly when I mispronunciate the words en espanol.  We are about to play a game of Ludo when I hear voices outside.  It is Dr. Llanos and Fiorella and Elena has returned briefly from work. 

We decide on lunch at an outdoor cantina, where I select arrozo, huevos, and plantain for lunch.  Rice, eggs, and fried banana, a Peruvian delicacy and mucho gusto.  I choose café for my bebes (beverage) but Fria, Dr. Llanos, and Elena choose Inca kola or Peruvian cola.  Peruvian cola is a soda pop that has a golden color and comes in a liter sized plastic jug, but it is produced by Coca Cola.  I ask Dr. Llanos, “what is Peruvian Cola”, and he tells me that it is a beverage that was originally brewed with local herbs by a Peruvian company, and is extremely popular.  When the Coca Cola company tried to market its own soda pop product in Peru, it couldn’t outsell Peruvian cola and so they bought out the Peruvian company.  However, the founders of the Peruvian cola company would not give up the secret of the original ingredients, instead, they started their own small company and you can now find the original beverage for sale in the rural communities.  The Cocal Cola version has many artificial ingredients; Dr. Llanos tells me that it is much sweeter than the natural version, and my guess is that this is from the addition of corn syrup.  For those of you in Ms. McAdams class who participated in the research on the ingredients of popular food and beverages in the U.S., you might be interested to know that companies, including Coca Cola, do not have to list their ingredients on food labels in Peru.

I now have my schedule of activities while I am with ORCA Peru.  I had originally signed on as a volunteer, but apparently now I will be participating in activities as if I am an intern, which is good because I will be able to share my experiences with students in Sitka who wish to pursue a college education in marine biology.  Dr. Llanos has students come from all over the world to study under his program, and they live and work for a summer in San Bartolo.  There is also an international surfing community in the summer, and the students live in beachside apartementes where the surfing is good!  Students’ research work includes traveling out on survey vessels and to remote beaches to conduct their studies.  I will be traveling on two beach survey expeditions; one expedition is to a national marine sanctuary.  I will be conducting shipboard surveys of dolphins and porpoises, and I will be organizing a beach cleanup for Lima City estudientes (students).   There is a year-end beach party for the voluntaries on the weekend of Navidad, and we will have a celebration all of the mamiferos marinos rescates (marine mammal rescues) of 2010, and we will receive donations of rescate materials from the community.

Instead of the tour of Lima City that was originally planned, we meet up with Elena at the school where she teaches and catch the autobus to the nearby town of Lurin to visit the market where I will purchase arrozo, frijoles, tomatoes, café, sucra, saltado, te limas, (rice, beans, tomatoes, coffe, sugar, salt, tea, limes), also cebolla, patatas, ajo, zanahoria, pimienta negra, lentja, y brecol (onions, potatoes, garlic, carrots, pepper, lentils and broccoli.  I plan on making a stew that will last.  There is so much for sale, at the market you can buy clothes, handbags, toys, and the smells of the picantes and salsas from the food vendors is refreshing.

We travel back to San Bartolos by autobus and Elena and Phillipe ask me earnestly about my Juneau friends that traveled here two years ago.  Elena and her family are very warm and caring, and I can tell that they are very passionate about their work with ORCA Peru.

I return to my apartemente and watch a program about volcanicos, there is an Arnold Schwarzenneger action movie that is dubbed en espanol, but I choose to listen to the news for awhile.  I am able to ascertain much of what is going on the television, sadly, Peru has its share of crimes and tragedies.

Sleep for now-tomorrow night I enter my first day of training in the rescate of mamiferos marinos.

Hasta luego!

Ahhh...the ecstacy of confusion!!

El Salvador

San Jose, Costa Rica

Quito, capital of Ecuador

I departed LAX at 12AM this morning, I was pleasantly surprised by the ambiance in the airport; I had expected legions of chiquely dressed, coiffed patrons, but that was not the case.  Most people were down to earth and friendly.
I have since passed through El Salvador, my first time back in 15 years and such a beautiful country; I would like to do some volunteering there so that I may get to know the place better.  When I first visited El Salvador in 1995, the country was still stabilizing from the social unrest during the Reagan years, and the Native Central American Indians were in the process of benefiting from a government land-for-farming program.  On that trip, I remember the expensive haciendas ringed with date palms and dotted with swimming pools that lined the Pacific Ocean, and just one mile inland were the shanty towns and tar paper shacks; today the haciendas are still there but the shanty towns have been replaced with farms and spacious bungalows.  I hope that the Native Americans did truly benefit.

Through Costa Rica (I could SMELL the coffee beans!), and then, Quito. Quito is a sprawling city situated between mountains and farmland, and is a 6 hour bus ride from the Amazon forest.  I will be returning to Quito after my time in Lima to volunteer for Jatun Sacha, and I plan on exploring the old city.  The departures gate at the Quito airport spits you straight onto the street much like Rachel Carson's little mackeral were spit from the harbor to the sea, and you are faced with throngs of locals waving signs and endearing you to take their taxis.  Too friendly; move fast and don't make eye contact!  But yes, they are very friendly here and I feel comfortable.  I have just finished waiting for two hours in the International departures terminal, a cavernous but clean place yet I was supposed to be checking in at the domestic terminal since my next stop is Guayquil Ecuador!  Takes me back to my earlier days of travel when I didn't know what the ... I was doing.
All is well, I am checked all the way to Lima and waiting to board my plane.  I will be in Lima at 9:13 tonight (Lima time), and I am hoping that the ORCAS Peru crew will be waiting for me!
Pictures to follow.

you gotta get there somehow...

It's one oh five PM in Seattle, and I have one more hour to wait before I board my plane for Sacramento.  I just got off the phone with my adopted sister Lana, the phone is beeping telling me that the battery is about to go and I suddenly realize why it is such a big deal to bring one's charger when one travels!  SEATAC is such a weird place to people watch when you leave Alaska; most people treat each other very kindly and some don't seem to be aware that other humans share the same space.  Information overload comes in the form of a billboard of the "Northwest's Best Casino"; the image of a statue of a killer whale leaping out of a brightly lit fountain is not what I expected to see when I think of Ken Balcombe's beloved J and L pods.  Then again, what will future visitors to the ruins of our society learn from us after viewing the crumbling statue of Orcinus orca?  Well, I have to keep my focus.  I will have a 2 hour layover for my flight to LAX-enough time to navigate the airport extension and find my gate!  And then a three hour layover, probably just enough time to find the LAN Ecuador gate, and at last, sleep on the plane to Quito Ecuador!
I'm treating this time by zombifying my brain, I'm not doing alot of ambient thinking but I AM watching the videos from the places that I will be volunteering, in order to keep my spirits up!
http://haciendatranquila.com/
Bear with me while I practice with the slideshow in the upper right hand corner of the blog, it's a loose end that I didn't tie up before I left but I will get it figured out.
Hasta la Vista!