Updates!

I haven’t blogged in a while and still I’m not sure that there are that many interesting things to talk about or tie together so I’ll just cover some highlights.

The research team was here for their usual 10 days at the beginning of the month which is always a weird but fun time. It’s a little rough to have so many people in one small house, and I stay in a different house while they are here, but I still cook and hang out in Juan’s house. But I like to have some alone time.  One night the guys were all out calling their families and it was just me and Juan hanging out in the kitchen. Hector was the assigned cook and Juan and I agreed the dinner wasn’t that filling. Juan pulled down this algae stuff called luche that he had been drying outside for a few weeks. He asked me if I wanted to try it and I ask “How?” because it wasn’t prepared or anything. So he said he was going to make something. He kept saying he really hoped I like it and he really really likes it but he doesn’t know if I’ll like it. First of all, everything Juan makes is amazing. Secondly, he was battering it to fry it! I told it of course I’ll like it, it's fried! It was the BEST thing I’ve ever had!!!! Just fried algae that he collected from the ocean. He tried to tell me it was super healthy but I said no way now that it's fried. 

Another fun excursion with the guys happened on our way to take the other Juan to the highway to catch a bus. We were outside the park where we commonly see horses, donkeys, cows, cows, sheep, etc. and we see a cabrito (a little baby goat) running around the road trying to jump up the cliff on the side of the road to escape the truck. But he was too small to get up! Juan jumped out of the car and I thought he was going to help it get up the cliff but the goat ran away. So Juan starts sprinting after it! We followed him in the car and he finally caught the goat and starts bringing it over to the truck. Of course I got out to pet the goat but then Juan puts it in my arms and pushes me back into the truck and we continue driving!! We had the goat in the backseat all the way to the highway and all the way back. Jose Luis and Juan kept saying we were going to eat him for lunch the next day. They loved that whenever they said that the goat would yell. I wasn’t sure to believe them or not because lately they had been talking a lot about how to butcher animals like sheep and goats. But they were talking to the goat in cute voices so I figured that they must be kidding. Turns out Juan planned all along on taking it to a guy with goats to find the goat’s mom.

Okay, now to the serious stuff. We haven’t warm water for showers in a few weeks. The water heater broke and Juan couldn’t fix it. Then we got a replacement and we thought Juan would replace it but they need a technician to come out which probably won’t happen until the beginning of October when the guys come back. UGHH. It has been rough. Appreciate your hot water people! And for those of you in Phoenix saying to yourself that it's so hot you would enjoy a cold shower remember that it is cold and windy here!

Juan invited Matías and me to the forest one day when he was working. It was so beautiful and different than any part we had seen so far. We also saw puma poop which was interesting but also scares me because I really don’t like thinking about them being out here! 

Found this cool guy in the forest

Katie and I visited Juan’s family a few times since he was home for over a week. We visited the town of Barraza to visit the church there and the artesana which has beautiful hand made art.

I’ve also had some amazing wildlife sitings lately but unfortunately they weren’t captured on film because they were quick moments. Juan and I saw an abrocoma (Bennett's Chinchilla Rat) in the road one night when we were going to pick up Matías at 4:30am. They are hard to find because they are nocturnal but sometimes the researchers catch them in traps and I hope to get a picture in the future. They are round with short legs so he couldn’t even move that fast across the road. Megan and I were driving back to the house one day and a coruro popped its head out of its burrow right in the middle of the road! Not a good place to tunnel out. They don't come above ground so you will only see one popping out of a burrow like that. Finally, before Matías left we were driving back from trapping and two guanacos leapt together across the road and they were so fast we didn’t even see them when we reached that spot. 

Abrocoma

Coruro