Interesting Culture

1) Yesterday I went out to do my galago research, as I have for the past 4 nights, from 8pm-1am. I always go out with Felipe, my UNGE student partner. We walked on the main road, which is lined on both sides with small trees and elephant grass, and few cars travel on at night. We walked for 4,000 meters, took a 30 minute break, then walked 4,000 meters back to the center. With galago research we walk at a slow pace and shine our headlights at the trees and elephant grass, and if the galago is looking at us its eyes will shine very brightly, just like that of dog’s at night when light shines on them. There are 4 types of galagos found here, two dwarf sized ones: Demidoff and Thomasi, and two squirrel sized ones: Allen’s and Euoticus. We’ve seen a lot of Allen’s and Demidoff. We can distinguish between the different types depending on how high off the ground they are seen, in what kind of vegetation, and whether they call or not. It’s interesting to learn this material, even if I probably won’t use it in my career. While Felipe and I were walking the road last night we talked a lot about the difference between our cultures. We talked about how, in Equatorial Guinea, polygamy is accepted and quite normal, how many men have a machismo attitude (aka men make the decisions in relationships and families), the difference between the two main tribes, Bubi’s and Fang, the importance of a name, the government style and political history, and much more. He speaks a little English, and is trying to learn more but it is difficult for him, so we have most of our conversation in Spanish, which is great practice for me. Felipe said I could consider myself to have fluency in Spanish, I’m not quite sure I’m comfortable saying that yet, but I’m getting there. Here, in EG, polygamy is acceptable and quite common because it is much easier for a man to provide for his wife, or many, than a woman for a man, at least now. Also, the more children someone has, the wealthier they are seen, as there are more children to make money for the family. And, biologically, men can have more children than women in a lifetime. It was an interesting conversation. On the topic of Bubi’s and Fang, Fang are the majority in EG, and they also hold almost every position of power in the country, with them ruling the political atmosphere. The last two Presidents of EG have been Fang from the same town. Well, that’s it for now, hopefully I’ll talk to you all soon, never know when I’ll have internet access again!

: ) Isys

I saw the President!

1) I’m catching up on a few posts, sorry about the delay! Yesterday the President of Equatorial Guinea came to Moka to speak, what an interesting cultural experience. The current President is Obiang. Moka was preparing days in advance for his arrival. He just finished the construction of a new palace near there, one of many, as well as a new road, so he was going to speak to Moka because he had never done that. New prepare, the townsfolk cut down the bushes, small tree, and brush along the sides of the road for about 2 miles leading into town, supposedly for security reasons so no one could hide in the bushes, but they only cut five feet from the road about. Apparently they thought it looked good like that and the President would like to see it, but it looked very messy to us. They cut down living trees, then planted palm leave stalks in the ground, tying them to stakes, to look like trees, and decorating them with flowers that were very wilted by the time the President arrived. The center of Moka is about 500 feet from the research center. We walked there at 11:30 because no one knew when the President would arrive. Many people came pouring into the center, including two troops of dancers. The President didn’t arrive until about 3:30, along with a 30 car entourage, tons of security, and the President of the Ivory Coast as his guest. The President of the Ivory Coast shook my hand as he walked down the side of the street lined with Ecuatoguineans, smiling. Obiang walked in the center of the street, straight-faced, passing within 5 feet of me. I can’t talk straight-out in this blog about what we, the American students, talked about after that event in comparing Obama and the way he is elected to that of Obiang, but it’s interesting.

: ) Isys

Moca and Bushbaby Research!

1) Right now I am sitting on the porch at Moca, the research station on Bioko Island where BBPP (Bioko Biodiversity Protection Program), the organization running this abroad program, is stationed. We, the 4 students, live in Malabo, the capital of Eq. Guinea, when we are taking classes at the Universidad de Guinea Ecuatorial (UNGE). We will be in Moca for about 2 weeks. We get back to Malabo just in time to watch the Superbowl, which will be showing at around 2AM our time. We’ll probably watch it at our friend’s house at the Mobil compound. We go over to their house every Sunday night when we’re in Malabo to eat dinner. That family is so nice, they are a huge help with organizing the Expedition we just went on in the southern area of the island, where we censused monkeys at the beach for a few days, then hiked 12 km uphill to another camp near the Caldera, the crater. That hike was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life, such a mental battle because you’re hiking uphill, ranging between 40 and 80 degrees about at all times, for hours upon hours with no end in sight and it was so hot and humid, I don’t think I’ve ever sweat that much in my life! We would go out twice every day to census, walking a 3km trail at a speed of 1km per hour, which is really slow, but you need to go that slow to be able to see monkeys, otherwise you’d be looking at your feet at all times because the ground is so rocky, covered with volcanic rocks. The beach, where our Beach Camp was located, is a black sand beach, and the sand is very fine. It was very pretty, and when it rained, it cooled down enough so I could sleep at night. It rained 3 out of 4 days there, and when I say rained, it poured, harder than I’ve ever known it to rain before. This is actually the dry season which is crazy; they get 36 feet of rain here a year! There are 7 primate species on Bioko Island: Erythrotis, Pogonias, Nictitan, Preuss’s, Red Colobus, Black Colobus, and Drill. We saw a lot of Pogonias and Erythrotis monkeys. The black colobus are huge! I never saw a drill but some other people did. We went out to dinner in Malabo last night, 28 of us, including the students, volunteers for the expedition, UNGE students, and a few others. We ate chicken and plantains, a very typical, delicious dish in Malabo, and it was very fun. It was crazy during the trip because our diet consisted of rice, beans, tomato sauce, spam, sardines, and spaghetti. I would eat what we had for dinner the night before for breakfast, or oatmeal if I had any left, a power bar for lunch, then a large dinner. One night we had spaghetti and the only sauce options were sardines or spam, and everyone was so sick of that, so I brought out the Spicey Mike’s, and we used that as sauce and the bottle was finished after one dinner, everyone loved it! They really want to buy some they said, we’ll see if they follow through. Everyone on the expedition was keeping a food log of food they couldn’t wait to eat, mine is wonderful, the first thing being baby back ribs with cornbread. I also have mac and cheese on the list, banana bread, cereal and milk (because they only have powdered milk here), and such. When we got on the Hess boat to come back to Malabo, we were all craving the sandwiches and soda we knew would be on the boat, which included a plain roll with some type of meat between, such as hot dogs, ham and cheese, pastrami, salami, or such. I didn’t realize how good that could taste! One of the ladies who came to pick us up had brought homemade peanut butter cookies which were seriously some of the best things I’ve ever tasted in my life, and I had only been deprived for two weeks! Here at Moca it is much cooler and less humid; I’m in a sweatshirt, pants, and socks and I’m still chilly. At beach camp, on the southern tip of the island, I was basically constantly sweating it was so hot and humid. Each of us 4 study abroad students is paired with an UNGE student to do our research projects here at Moca. My partners name is Felipe, he participated in the program last year and is really nice, and we’re studying galagos, basically counting how many we see and marking the type of vegetation they are seen in and at what altitude. My research will take place from about 8pm to 12 or 1am every night for the next two weeks. As of right now I am glad I chose this program; I am around a lot of biology/scientist people, but I am learning a lot, practicing my Spanish, and enjoying learning about their culture. EG is very similar to Nicaragua in many ways, the countryside, architecture, cities, shops, and such. It has made me realize and appreciate yet again how comfortable of a lifestyle I have in the US. It would be nice to travel as part of my job, but I wouldn’t like it to be a central part of my job. I also have yet again noticed the excitement that I feel whenever food is involved in anything, whether it be cooking, walking through the local market, observing the agriculture and the plants being grown in the countryside, eating at a restaurant, or anything. I think that’s a good summary of what I’ve been up to so far. Hope to talk again soon!

: ) Isys

Monkey Census Practice

Today we went to the Mobil oil compound where the rest of the trip participants are gathering, there will be a total of 30-40 of us I think, including the porters who help carry bags, cooks and assistants, guides, and all of the volunteers, managers, and us students. We will head out Wednesday morning at 4am to pack the equipment onto the boat that will take us form the northern tip of the island to the southern beaches where we will make camp. We will be doing two censuses a day, each, and traveling between two other camps. We practiced censusing today, walking really slow, and taking down a lot of other information, such as species, elevation in the tree, and such. We're headed to a Cameroonian restaurant for dinner now, hope all is well with you!

: ) Isys

I'm in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea!!

Hi guys! So this is my first blog post, ever, and I have a lot to catch you up on in the last 4 days. It is a little difficult for me to connect to internet here, but I will post as often as I can. I left the US on Dec. 29 and arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea at 1am on Dec. 31, adjust for a 6 hour time difference. I've never been on flights that long, and it was also the first time I had ever had a meal, rather than snacks, served to me on a plane. The food from JFK to Madrid wasn't too bad, but the food from Madrid to JFK was kinda gross, basically an indistinguishable seafood salad thing and some dry linguini with a type of meatball, hmmm.... Anyway, I sat next to a guy on the plane to Malabo who is an oil worker of the coast of Equatorial Guinea, he works 4 weeks then has 4 weeks off, it's a continuous cycle, so he flies back to England every 4 weeks to be with his family. We had an interesting conversation about how when he was young he got caught up in the business chasing money, now that he' sin it he feels stuck, basically hates his job, and secretly wishes he could open up a comedy club. I felt sorry for him.

Oh, and I forgot to give you a little background on Equatorial Guinea. It is a small African country on the west coast of Africa at the Equator. It is often mistaken for New Guinea but is a different country. Oil has brought an influx of money into the country in the past few years, most of it going to the top, as in most African countries, where the country's leaders are corrupt and embezzle their money into wealthy foreign nations such as the US and European countries. The house I'm staying in until Jan. 6 is located on Bioko Island, where Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, is located. The house it right across from the New Palace, a palace President Obiang had built for him, which he doesn't live in. The wealth disparity here is huge, I have passed many nice houses flanked with crumbling concrete "houses", as well as seen many nice cars, such as Mercedes, Lexus, Infinity, and Audi, driven around by government workers usually. There is also a huge ex-patriot population here, basically anyone who is not form Equatorial Guinea, which mostly includes all of the oil workers. Each oil company here has a compound where it's workers stay and managers live, and the compounds look like resorts, it's crazy! I went swimming in one of the pools the other day, which felt really nice; my computer tells me it is 17 degrees at home in Kingston, NH right now, brrr! It's probably around 85 degrees here now and very humid.

Well, I've met quite a few new people, and I really like my group members: Avalon and James are 5th year seniors at Drexel University and they are really nice, I am also with Dana, a junior at Cornell as well whom I knew coming into the trip. We are a small group compared to last year, which is nice. In three days, on the 6th, we will head for the jungle to hike and count primates for about 3 weeks, so that should be really cool. Then we will all be doing our own research for about 10 days, mine is on bushbabies so I'll be doing night research. I'll catch you all up again soon! Hope all is well! Adios!

: ) Isys