Biology field trip

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Not sure about your thoughts, but in my mind biology field trips are not often affiliated with thoughts of excitement and fun (unless you are an overly eager biologist). I may be biased due to my past experiences with biology field trips. The first being to lakes at deakin (about a 2 minute walk from the class room) and the second to the anglesea bush (about 5 minutes from home) to measure and count trees.....neither aroused any slight feelings of excitement and both were far from fun.
With that in mind i smiled and agreed with Paus suggestion to tag along on her next field trip and at the same time pushing back the thoughts in mind of how bored i will be watching people take soil samples and discussing various rocks in spanish.
Well i can gladly say all thoughts were unfounded and mexican field trips receive no tips from the dull australian version, also thankfully public liability hasn't yet caught on to the unfortunate extent as seen back home and here it is assumed most people posses a functioning brain (works more to Darwin's theory than to the US theory).
So at midnight we jumped on a packed bus bound for the state of Colima. Thankfully i was instantly in a comatose state and the next 7 hours fly by perfectly for me, perhaps less so for others in the seats around me trying to the sleep to odd noises that apparently i make....
I awoke to the picturesque scene of the sun rising over the mountains, with its rays shedding light onto a dried lake bed that stretched as far as the eye could see. Half asleep we walked the width of the lake bed to the accompaniment of what i guessed was a description of the plant life delivered by the lecturer whose speeches and comments often induced fits of laughter. As the sun continued on its path it uncovered our next destination, the far from sleeping Volcan de Fuego.
After a short drive we arrived at the foot of the 4240m towering Volcan nevado de colima which is now inactive and neighbors the active volcano which as it name implies (volcano of fire) is mexicos most active volcano. Only 3 weeks prior to our visit it had erupted and propelled rocks and fragments 4.5km into the atmosphere but unfortunately we were in for no such show. While the majority were good students and collected samples, our plan was to climb nevado de colima which gives spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and the volcano of fire which is a mere 5 km away.
But first we had to get up the majority of the mountain and as the roads were unsuitable for the bus we all squeezed into the back of a couple of dump trucks, which initially seemed like a bit of fun. Ill note here it is quite common to ride in the back of utes, and even to amusingly see people somehow catching up on a siesta and looking quite peaceful despite the frequency of speedbumps and potholes. The serenity of the country side from the tray of the truck was rapidly interrupted by frequent up close interactions with the native plant life resulting in numerous bruises and cuts, but it was all part of the fun. After an hour of dodging and ducking under branches we resembled Vietcong soldiers trying to blend into the jungle so with clothes and hair full of twigs and leaves we started the walk up the remainder of the mountain, which on flat ground and lower altitude would take 20 minutes. An hour of panting and light headedness later (and some minor dirty snow ball fights) we reached the chilly peak of nevado de colima where the views were amazing and for the first time since arriving in mexico there was a complete eerie silence. The past destructive paths of volcan de fuego were visible as was the distant valley below, making for a relaxing view while attempting to get sufficient oxygen back into the blood stream.
After 20 minutes the cold became to much, although harder on the legs the descent was easier after acclimatising to the altitude. It was now time to jump back on the trucks and take some even thinner tracks to our campsite, with the occasional sheer drop to the side and the nerve racking 5 point turn backing towards a cliff we were glad to reach our destination with only a few more cuts from the trees. After such a long day my body was in shock at seeing the sun rise and exerting itself more than a leisurely stroll, so i was happy to ignore the bats and who knows what else that was present in the pitchblack building in the middle of no where that was to be our shelter for the night.
The following day, after negotiating the same tracks again a democratic vote decided our next destination would be Cuyutlan a sleepy little beach town. We made a detour on the way to the other side of the volcano for the benefit of those whose work prevented them from seeing it the previous day, it was then it treated us to a few minor burps of smoke which up until then it had refrained from doing so.
Unfortunatly i didn't really take any photos in Cuyutlan, the homemade alcohol i drank to the smirks of the rest of the group would of made for some extremely blurred photos anyway....with not much to do in the small town we set up camp on the beach and improvised quite the party, i cant remember the name of the the drink they initiate the new comers with but i do recall it was strong and the head ache doesn't compare even to that of red wine. Other than swimming in the violent ocean we visited a turtle farm, which has the massive effort of attempting to replenish the oceans rapidly declining turtle population. There unfortunate funding situation with the mexican government (zero pesos per year) makes what they are doing even more inspiring and they are providing our oceans with quite the service as these animals were really cool.
Well other than a long boring bus ride thats about it, and now im looking forward to next weeks trip....another biology trip but this time into the heart of the mexican desert.,....until then, adios

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