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.
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.
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.
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.co
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