Regresear a los Estados Unidos: Hasta Luego Mexico!

Buenos Dias, Amigos!

Our last week doing fieldwork in Mexico was a success, although eventful, with our little puppy Camila in tow. For the past couple of weeks, I was really missing my kitties, so having a puppy to cuddle and take care of was comforting, albeit a bit of work! While Cathy (Bryan's Professor) was here, she and Bryan were able to figure out a lot of the perplexing volcanic history of region, and created a good base for Bryan to do his PhD comps on. They also filled in quite a bit of the rock units, faults, and bedding orientations on geologic maps for the area. The local mining prospecting company, Paramount Gold & Silver, was so impressed with what Bryan and Cathy were able to do in such a short time (on a small budget), they are paying Bryan to come back into the field three more times before the end of the year to do more geologic mapping. This is really good for his PhD research because Bryan won't have to keep writing grants to fund his research and can get his data and maps done early for his dissertation. Paramount is paying Bryan to come down to Mexico in September, October, and December for 2-3 weeks at a time to explore the mountains mapping faults and rock units – which is what he needs for his PhD! Although this time apart will be really hard for me (I hate being by myself!), we're thinking that my first quarter in grad school will be very demanding, so maybe I can benefit from having more time to focus on school.

After Cathy left, Bryan and I had about a week left in Mexico to do fieldwork, while taking care of a puppy. Bryan and I haven't had dogs since high school, and we quickly realized that taking care of a puppy is a lot more work than our cats! But, Camila's such a sweet dog it made our responsibility easier and very enjoyable! A vet student friend of mine, Melissa, e-mailed us international and airplane vet forms to get filled out, so things would look more official. We were able to get Camila's rabies and vaccine paperwork filled out with some smooth talking and explanation – although there wasn't a "certified" veterinarian in Temoris, we had the local "Farmacia Veterinaria" stamp the paperwork. For the rabies certification, the local HUMAN health center in town distributes the vaccine, so I had to talk to doctors there to get them to fill out a little certification card. From the doctor at the health center, we learned that Camila means "blessing from God" – which makes the little girl's name choice for our puppy even more appropriate. Another friend from the US, Corinna, mailed us a crate and harness expedited by DHL to Los Mochis, so things were starting to look up on getting Camila to the US. A day or so after Cathy left, Camila really started to perk up – finally she was gaining weight and energy – and is now a happy, frisky puppy when she isn't in her sweet, mellow mood. She loves rolling around in grass, accompanying us on short hikes mapping the mountains, and chasing/eating grasshoppers and butterflies. A far cry from the asphyxiated puppy being dragged behind a horse only a few days before! However, we needed to get her a collar and leash before taking her into the field, but of course no store in town has anything like that. Everyone directed us to the leathermaker's shop, which just happened to be closed for 4 days straight! In the meantime, I improvised with getting a cowboy hat band, cutting it, and putting in on Camila as a collar. The band had a big brass plate on it, so she looked like a gansta puppy or something with her bling! Finally the leathermaker was in one day, and he made us a cute little leather collar and leash for only 30 pesos! It only took one or two times for Camila to become leash trained and over the trauma of being connected by a "rope" around her neck.

On our last day in the field, we hiked up the tall mountain, Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) to do some last minute mapping. Camila was happy accompanying us on her leash, and each time Bryan took a few minutes to write notes or draw a fault, Camila had time to rest and chew sticks to satiate her sensitive gums from teething. While we were atop the mountain, fog started to roll in, and very soon after we heard booming thunder, saw lightning, and began to hear rain. Since we were surrounded by fog, we never saw the storm clouds approaching the area to warn us, and found ourselves suddenly caught in a large thunderstorm… atop a mountain. We immediately hightailed it down the mountain to the truck, me carrying Camila and Bryan trying to keep his instruments dry. We were trying to beat the quickly eroding mountainsides, worried about lightning, and getting to the bottom of the mountain before the creeks swelled with water and became impassable. We made it to the truck; Camila was shivering in my arms, and started to ford the quickly growing rivers and newly formed puddles in the road before the rainfall and creeks became un-manageable. I'm sure my fire captain Dad is cringing at reading this, as his biggest warning to us was to watch out for flash floods in the canyons – but we had to get down from the mountain and through the rising creeks before things got worse. It was pretty frightening, and I was very worried about Camila shivering – I held her to my body to try and give her warmth, but I was soaked myself. After driving for 30 minutes while avoiding new landslides in the road, Camila stopped shivering and soon fell asleep in my arms. We made it back to Temoris safely, and dried the puppy off and put her in the bed, thankful that we'd made it back.

The next day we headed to the train station to take the seven-hour ride down from the Copper Canyon to Los Mochis – what a nightmare it turned out to be. First, the man that drove us to the train warned us that animals weren't allowed, I told him Cathy had asked and they told her to have the dog in a cardboard box or carrier and we felt optimistic. About 30 minutes into the train ride, the first employee approached us about the box, and we had to show him. He gave us a lecture about how all animals were prohibited, I talked and pleaded with him for a good 10-15 minutes, and he finally said just to keep her in the box and hidden. But, throughout the next three hours, three separate employees came up and gave us intimidating threats; one guy in particular was so mean and wanted to kick her off the train right there in the middle of nowhere (about two hours into the ride). I pleaded and explained, and the confrontation went on for about 15 minutes; he even wanted to report us to the federales; luckily he got distracted by people walking between us so I sat down and we hoped he gave up... two other men came up and intimidated us and threatened to kick her off too - I was trying to bargain to just let us get to El Fuerte (only stop between Temoris and Los Mochis) instead of nowhere. Every time the train slowed down, we were worried they would kick us off. The whole trip we were on edge and very worried. Somehow, they stopped intimidating us and ignored us for the last 2 hours. Bryan was still worried we might get in trouble coming off the train with federales waiting or something, so I high-tailed it out of there as fast as I could with the box! Camila was so good on the train - no barks, whines, or accidents! But, it had to be tough on her - no water, food, or comfort for 7+ hours. We felt terrible for her, but what could we do? We're so glad it's all over. Once we got to the hotel, Bryan gave her water and took her for a walk, while I checked in and picked up the crate Corinna had sent us.

Juxtaposed to the train, the airline (with it's long list of regulations) never even asked to see paperwork for Camila! They took good care of our puppy, and made sure to put her in the shade during plane changes. US customs was equally lax – after all that work getting rabies vaccine information and paperwork, they never asked to any paperwork or check the dog either! This was unexpected and relieving to experience after the horrible train ride harassment. What a journey for such a little animal! From being dragged behind a horse, to bumpy trucks, a long train ride, smuggled into hotels and taxis, and two flights to the US, she's now happy living in Santa Barbara! Camila is at Cathy's house until she is adopted permanently, a friend of mine in Los Angeles is very interested and I hope it all works out!

We're in Santa Barbara for the next week for my friend Rachel's wedding, and I head to Nicaragua with my sister for three weeks on Wednesday. I've posted pictures from our trip on Picassa at: http://picasaweb.google.com/seadana/CopperCanyonMexico . Thanks again for all your e-mails and help/ideas for getting the puppy to the US - it worked!

Pobrecita Camila - Rescue Update

Thank you for all your encouragement and suggestions for getting little Camila to the U.S.! Something that seemed impossible yesterday is seeming more and more possible today, and I'm optimistic - thank you. I'm coming up with a plan, and have been doing research this evening (see bottom of e-mail), but besides the airline the hardest part might be getting a crate and harness/leash! The towns around here are so rural they don't have anything and of course she's traumatized by ropes - especially around her neck - so we can't make a collar/harness from a rope ourselves (we already tried that). She also gets a little scared, understandably, when she hears horses walking by in the streets - luckily, so far no sign of the evil horseman! We're going to go to the local leather shop tomorrow to see if they can make a harness or something for us. Bryan and I are going to take the train to Los Mochis a day early so we can hopefully find a crate there before our flight.

The plan is to take Camila to a veterinarian around here to get a health certificate and make sure our rabies vaccine paperwork is legitimate. Bryan and I will take her back to the U.S. via train-taxi-plane on the 29th, and Cathy will meet us at LAX to foster Camila until we can find her a good home. She has been such a great dog! We took her out into the mountains with us today where she followed us around, chased crickets, and chewed on sticks. I REALLY wish we could keep her, but UCSB family housing doesn't allow dogs, and I think it would be pretty hard to conceal her! Please let me know if you or someone you know would have a good home for Camila!

I'm a little worried about our airline Aeromexico - I can't believe the airline is more strict than the USDA and the CDC! Those of you who suggested driving across the border, I wish we could! But, we have to fly out. Luckily, the flights are short, but they are pretty warm... I'm going to try and wait by the plane when they change baggage onto a different plane in Hermosillo and give Camila a little water. Cathy leaves for the US in a day, so for the next week while Bryan and I are studying rocks, we'll also work on putting a little meat on her bones before we take her through customs so she looks healthy (right now her ribs and hips are pretty gaunt).

Thanks again to all of you - I really appreciate your help and think this will work!

This is the information I've gathered from your e-mails and the internet:

CDC:
- Rabies vaccination 30 days prior if dog is over 3 months old
(She was just vaccinated 2 days ago, so we're going to fill out a quarantine/confinement form for her to stay in a house (Cathy's) for the remainder of the 30 days)

USDA/CA DFA:
- Proof of rabies vaccination for dogs over 4 months old

Aeromexico (Airline):
- Caged
- Muzzled & Leashed
- Vaccination papers
- Health Certificate from a licensed veterinarian
- $75 + taxes fee
- Put in baggage hold

Camila Rescue - Help Needed!

What a heart-breaking couple of days! As Bryan, Cathy, and I rumbled along the bumpy mountain roads in Mexico in our truck on the way to Cerocauhi, we came across a horrific sight. A man was riding his horse quickly down the road with a little black puppy being dragged by a noose behind the horse. The poor puppy's tongue and mouth were blue and she was foaming at the mouth from asphyxiation and exhaustion while she tried her best to stay out from under the horse's feet. We stopped the truck, and Cathy told the man to stop and pointed at the puppy and said that the dog was dying. The poor thing was barely breathing! The man just laughed and kept on riding! So we got back in the truck and Bryan drove ahead of the man and blocked the road to stop him. Cathy and I jumped out this time and told him that he was killing the puppy – and he smiled and laughed! Cathy grabbed the puppy, took the noose off from around her neck, and told the man, "I want this dog. This dog is mine." We got back in the truck with the puppy and drove away.

At this point, we hadn't considered that we were now stuck with a puppy in Mexico … all we knew is that the puppy had been minutes from death and we had to save her. Once we started assessing the puppy she seemed even worse off – barely breathing, in a total state of shock, skin and bones, and petrified. After driving a little while, we stopped at a creek so she could have a drink, but she didn't even open her mouth and she kept cowering from us; she seemed so close to death. When we got to the nearest town, we looked everywhere for a veterinarian, but the locals said there wasn't one. We drove on to the next town, Cerocauhi, and searched for a veterinarian and a place to stay the night. Not only did we find a cheap place to stay, but after telling the owner about the dog and asking her questions, she told us her son was a veterinarian! What luck!!

By now the puppy had perked up a bit, and we'd fed her a small amount of kibble and water, which she quickly gobbled up like she'd never eaten before! A little girl from the owner's family named the puppy 'Camila'. We gave Camila a bath with shampoo and the family loaned us a towel to use. We were told to find the veterinarian later in the day, so we headed out into the field to study rocks for the afternoon as planned, with our little field-puppy, Camila. Throughout the afternoon, Camila perked up even more, playing a little with us, cuddling, and just being a plain-old good dog! After returning from the field in the evening, we met Noberto the veterinarian, who gave Camila her rabies and distemper vaccinations, as well as medicine for her intestinal parasites.

We tried searching for a family for Camila in Cerocauhi, but to no avail. We brought Camila out into the field all day with us today and she's a completely different dog than the one we rescued yesterday – she's a happy and loving dog. She's already housebroken and waits until she's out of the truck/apartment to do her business outside, and she follows us wherever we go! She's a mellow puppy, well-behaved, and I've already taught her to fetch a stick. Tonight we arrived back in Temoris and can't find anyone who will take care of her here … and the local veterinarian says we can't take her back to the U.S. Does anyone know how we could get Camila to the U.S. to find her a home there? What is the process and what papers do we need? We really need some help!

Watch out for the centipedes!

I've been in Temoris, Mexico for almost 3 weeks (Bryan for 4 ½ weeks) and it's been very interesting to be here as the season has changed from the dry to rainy season. When we arrived here, most of the landscape was dry and brown, the cows and burros were skeletal, and the creeks and waterfalls were dry; now there are creeks and waterfalls cascading down the rocks, the landscape is brilliant green, farmers have started plowing and planting, and the livestock is visibly fatter. Quite a change! It's still hot, so with the rain, the canyons and valleys are feeling like a humid tropical forest.

The canyon environments around here are intriguing – the vegetation is a cross between temperate forests (pine trees, oaks, etc.) and tropical, as is the wildlife. I've seen a gray fox and a large jackrabbit, but apparently there are also ocelots and jaguars here. The birds are also a mix of temperate and tropical, with colorful trogons to red-tailed hawks. The reptiles and amphibians plentiful – we've seen a few snakes, and as the rain has come we've also seen several species of frogs. Having to climb and study rocks everyday in remote canyons has given me the opportunity to do a lot of insect observations – from leaf-cutter ants to dragonflies (dragonflies are everywhere!) The beetles are especially interesting as many are iridescently colored and big – some are 2-3 inches long! There are big, orange, creepy centipedes all over the place, as well as millipedes, spiders, and scorpions, so we have to be careful where we put our hands and check under rocks when we pick them up. I don't have any field guides for the area, so I'm taking pictures of interesting species and am planning to do a little research when I get back to Santa Barbara (I'm not even sure if there is a field guide to this area…)

Bryan's research is going well, but has been challenging, as it's very different than his master's fieldwork in Bolivia and there haven't been any geologic studies here outside the gold and silver mines. In Bolivia we focused on sedimentary rocks with a specific task (constraining the timing of the uplift Eastern Cordillera of the Andes), whereas here he's doing reconnaissance work, making maps, and studying mostly igneous (volcanic) rocks trying to figure out how these mountains and canyons formed and when. Yesterday we climbed a huge ridge in order to take samples of the rocks (ignimbrites) at the very top, all in this humid heat. Quite a workout – whew! We really have been gobbling up all those bean and cheese burritos for energy for lunch everyday (once we leave, I'm not touching a burrito for a year!). Bryan's professor, Cathy Busby, joined us a week ago and it's been neat to see her and Bryan have these big discussions and epiphanies up on the tops of mountains figuring out where faults are, what the mountains are made of, where lava flows are, and when volcanoes erupted. I'll usually listen for the first few minutes, but it is all so far over my head and technical how they figure all this out, so I have plenty of time to study the insects or read during those intervals.

We've met some interesting people back in the canyons, as we're usually crawling under farmers' barbed-wire fences and asking ranchers' permission to get to areas to map. Once we were following a hardly-used dirt road that according to our topographic map would lead us to a specific mountain, but somehow we ended up right in the middle of some farmer's yard thinking we were lost. Of course, the whole family came up to us to see why we were there, and after explaining, the grandfather offered to show us around the area and hopped in the truck next to me. Ricardo Lopez Torres then spent the afternoon showing us old mines from the 1600's and lamenting that if we'd brought flashlights with us, he'd show us around inside the mines … hmmm, as tempting as an offer as that was (sure sounds safe!), we declined. We took him back to his farm at the end of the day, where his sons were busy plowing the fields with oxen for the corn-planting season.

One day we decided to explore some of the other barrancas (canyons) and drove for 6 hours along bumpy, eroding dirt roads to the towns of Creel and Divisadero where we witnessed spectacular canyon views, traditional Tarahumara people, and cool rock formations. We spent the night in Creel and went hiking to a large waterfall, passing Tarahumara people in the canyon as we hiked. Tarahumara are the indigenous people of the Copper Canyon area, and are very reserved, yet interesting and tranquilo. The women dress in colorful layered skirts, an equally colorful blouse, and a headscarf with their hair braided in ribbons down their back. Their sandals are made of local fibers and old rubber tires (before cars they used to be made of leather or rawhide), kind-of like the tire sandals many East Africans wear. The men dress like the rest of the Spanish men in town, in big cowboy hats, jeans, button-shirts, and cowboy boots. Spanish is also their second language, so it's a bit hard to communicate with them, but one Tarahumara woman told me how they make their baskets from pine needles, and showed me how she makes them. They dye some needles red and black from pigments they can find in the forests, so their baskets are weaved of several colors – green, brown, yellow, red, and black. The baskets are beautiful and look like they take forever to make! Historically, the Tarahumara people lived in the caves of the canyons, but now also live in adobe homes. The only field guide/research I could find for the area was a book on the Tarahumara people, and I was fascinated to find out that they're known as phenomenal runners, out-running their prey until the deer they're hunting rests or collapses in exhaustion!

The women in "Restaurante Gaby" know us pretty well by now, and have been making me "surprise dishes" now and then for variety – it's a good thing, as I'm beginning to get a little sick of corn tortillas (I have them with breakfast, lunch, and dinner!) We definitely won't be having any Mexican food cravings for a while once we get back the US… Grateful for a change in diet, one night we were invited to a BBQ of carne asada for "Dia de los Mineros" (Miners' Day), which I'm not sure is a real holiday, but rather just an excuse to party with Tecate, tequila, carne asada, and guacamole! It was a great evening, cut short by a huge lightning and rainstorm that cut out the power and drenched us all outside. Man, these lightning storms are intense! Yesterday it even hailed! Tomorrow we're heading to a new area, Cerocahui, for some reconnaissance work – I hope the rivers are passable…

Lightning, Trains, and Tortillas in Mexico

I arrived in Mexico last Monday after two short flights to Hermosillo and Los Mochis in small planes (the plane from Hermosillo was a two-propeller plane) to be greeted with hot, balmy, weather. I spent one night in the coastal city of Los Mochis, Sinaloa – a city known for its mariscos (seafood) as well as its drug cartels. That evening I indulged in some excellent homemade salsa and fresh local fish from the Sea of Cortez ... only remembering halfway through my meal that I should be avoiding vegetables I can't peel (like tomatoes) due to the water - oh well! I didn't get sick, and since then I've broken a few other 'food and drink rules' of travel and my stomach is still going strong!

The next morning, I had to catch an early ride to the train station at 5 AM. I could hear my taxi ride before I saw it… loud Disneyland-Mad-Hatter-Teacup..-ride music pumped out of the taxi as I was zoomed along the dark streets of Los Mochis with my duffel bag full of geology gear. In the train station I made small talk with locals and Mexican tourists waiting to take the famous "El Chepe" train through the mountains from Los Mochis to Chihuahua. After a delayed departure, I made myself comfortable on "El Chepe" as it began its ascent up into the mountains, going from sea level to over 7,000 feet in elevation. Although I had bought an "express" ticket, this was the slowest train I had ever been on – even slower than the rickety Kenyan Railways last summer! My seatmate, Victoria Gonzales, and I joked how we could walk faster and that if this were the "express," how slow is the "economico" train?? Victoria and her family were great company, and shared their breakfast cinnamon bread with me as we took in the verdant scenery and flowing waterfalls as "El Chepe" chugged it's way up into the canyons of the Sierra Tarahumara. The Chihuahua Pacific railway (El Chepe) took 63 years to complete and is known as one of the major engineering feats in the world with over 99 tunnels and 39 bridges; one tunnel I went through is about 6,000 feet long! The train track hugged mountainous cliffs when it wasn't in a tunnel or crossing over a river on a bridge. No wonder we were going slowly; the engineer didn't want to take a turn too quickly and have us tip into the canyons!

After about 6 hours, I arrived at my destination: Temoris Station. My new friend Victoria wanted to meet Bryan, but the stop was so short I just had Bryan wave to her from the platform, and she gave me two thumbs up and a wink… haha. Bryan got embarrassed and quickly brought me to our major luxury while in Mexico: a 4x4 truck! Very necessary, as the roads are rough and muddy, and there is no public transportation. Thank goodness for research grant funding! As we walked to the truck, I was wondering where the village was – cliffs surrounded us and there were only a few houses and the train station that I could see. Bryan pointed up and I saw where the train was headed: through switchbacks and tunnels up the cliff, and the "road" was similarly snaking its way up the mountain to the village on the rim. After a very bumpy 30 minutes, we arrived in our home for the next month: the village of Temoris. This village is so remote (1-2 day drive from a city to the North-east, or a 6 hour train ride to the south), but I am constantly amazed by the amenities the town has – for instance, shrimp delivered by the train each day and the fact that there are so many trucks in town.

Driving into town, I was greeted with tons of Tecate beer cans strewn about the street; around 4:00 every day the men in town start drinking – and driving – so we always make sure to be back from the field by 4:30 when drivers become even more reckless than usual. We get a little worried when we start seeing cans in the street around 10:30 AM … Our other indicator of when its time to come back into town from our fieldwork is when the thunder starts booming in the afternoon. Growing up in California, I am not used to the thunder and lightning storms every day – wow! Each afternoon around 4:30 or so, we see dark clouds making their way over the mountains to our area, then we begin to hear boom after boom. That's when we pack up and get outta dodge! If we get caught out in the rain, it's very dangerous as we're working in canyons, and the roads become impassable. The skies light up with tons of lightning – it's quite a show! We usually get 'home' in time to take a quick shower before the power goes out for the evening.

We're well-fed by 'Restaurante Gaby' a place in town where we eat breakfast and dinner, and take bean burritos to go for lunch. The food is really good – especially since they make fresh tortillas and have fresh cheese from a Mennonite settlement not too far away. Their albondigas soup and quesadillas are tasty! We're staying in a 'hotel' of sorts, which is much like our old tile-floor, cinderblock wall, Jamaican apartment. We depend on fans to keep us cool in the daily 90-degree heat, and have running water collected from a cistern on top of our room. All in all, we're pretty comfortable. The people here are very nice, and we have fallen back into the custom of greeting everyone you see, something we miss when in the US. The men dress in full cowboy-attire, as most of them work on farms or ranches, and the women are seldom seen outside their homes. The town is quiet most of the time, except when the drinking gets rowdy, and the power outages are actually a good thing: no loud music late into the night!

Bryan's field area is about 20-30 minutes from town, and has lots of pine and oak trees – which actually isn't a good thing, as the pine needles cover Bryan's beloved rocks that we're trying to study. I'll give more details on our fieldwork and the environs later...