Techo is Spanish for roof. No idea how Techo got this apodo but he did. Techo is an 8 year old Ngabe boy who became my watcheyman (Guariguari for security guard) in Guacamayo. He noticed two mysterious lights in the forest one night and started telling us all it was a crazyman who kills cows at night, eats them, and lives by himself in the woods because he ate his family. What!! I was scaried it was dark as heck in Guacamayo and the latrine was far enough away from the house for me to be freaked out. So I told him he had to be my watcheyman. He went and did a good job of protecting me from the boogieman. Techo has an odd ailment, there is a bone sticking out right over his heart. ... read more

I have just returned from the most beautiful place- Peninsula Valiente in the Comarca Ngäbe Bugle in Bocas del Toro. This huge area juts out into the Chiriqui lagoon off the Caribean coast of Panama in Bocas del Toro province. It is a long way from nowhere. It took 3 hours by boat from Isla Popa, which is 1.5 hours from Bocas! Once I arrived, I had to carry my bag along a sidewalk from Ensenda to Gucamayo, about 1 hour from Kusapin. I ended up in a typical Bocas house- up on stilts made of wooden boards. There is an excellent ocean view from the porch and the hospitality was great. I was greeted in english by Steven, my friend’s brother. He has taught himself english mostly through books and a little help from random ... read more

So I missed the trip to Elk Island to see deer, bison, etc because I thought I wouldn;t get back in time to make my flight (little did I know!). I was also a bit bummed to miss hockey season in Canada, thinking no one cares about hockey when it's 85 degrees and sunny until 11 pm. Then I found out about Oilers Prospect Camp. I made my way to a small local hockey rink in Clareview to watch 2 hours of the Edmonton Oilers hockey prospects camp. Some are 18 year old kids drafted out of high school, college kids from the US, or older junior league players from Canada. The hot prospects are Eberle, Taylor Hall (who looks like he belongs in the Twight movies), and Magnus from Sweeden. And man was Magnus good. ... read more

I arrived just in the knick of time for my poster session. I brought only carry-on items, breezed through customs in 5 minutes, and took a taxi directly to the Shaw Center. By 6:05 pm my poster was up at the session at the International Congress of Conservation Biology. Yeah! My advisor arrived at 6:45 or so. This was my first time to meet her in person and I will not see her again until I graduate. A bit wild but it's the Prescott College way. Edmonton is an okay city. I skipped the meeting festivites tonight and headed to the Edmonton Capitals baseball game. They beat Tijuana Cimmarrones 14-5. It was fun and more people were there than the tourism agent at Edmonton Tourism told me would be there. The capitals are in the Golden ... read more

There is a saying in spanish "borrocho de sueno" (there is a squiggly over the n) -drunk with sleep. Well I am suffering from a Panama hangover. I got home last night after a 17 hour journey from Gamboa to Panama, then DFW, LAX and finally San Diego. My cell phone died in the middle of the night and I thought the beeping was monkeys calling. I was confused why the floor was suddenly so comfortable and why was it so cold? Shouldn't I have been sweating and swatting mosquitos? Luckily I did not arrive home sick this time and the only hitchhikers were a few tiny ticks. Tommorrow the Panama hang-ver will be gone and I'll start planing the next one:) I've downloaded my pics and hope to write a few more back blogs about ... read more