Uncle Ted

In honor of conviction today of Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, check this out, pure brilliance. Its no wonder our government is broken.

Volleyball and trail running

So Friday I took Amalia to her first official Hokie sporting event, a women's volleyball game. We went early because it was faculty night so I got a free pair of Crocs. Amalia seemed to have more fun running around the arena than watching the game. We finally had to leave when she insisted on going onto the floor and I wouldn't let her. 

Saturday I did the Brush Mountain Breakdown trail running race. I did the 15 miler which ended up being 16 miles with 4750ft of climbing... let me explain. It started off well enough, given that it was below 50 degrees and raining. It rained all day friday so the trails were nice muddy. At the top of the main climb I got lost. The trail was marked with baking flour but it had washed away and I got confused by the markers for the mountain bike race the next day. The daze of exhaustion didn't help. Anyways, thats why the 15 miles race became 16 miles. That ended up being significant. I was lost on top of the mountain and it was super windy and I got cold. Then I found my way back onto the trail and figured I had about 7 miles left. So I started down the mountain. Then I started to bonk. I had been eating but I should have eaten more as the cold was taking it out of me. Then with 2 miles left I started to cramp, bad. With a mile left I had to stop as my quads were locking up. It was horrible. I finally made it to the finish but was one of the last I think. The take home message, if you are going to do long races, you should probably do long runs.

I like bees

A guy in Punta Cana named Rubio is a beekeeper and he had a great time showing me around his hives. Rick Fell was also there at that time and he is a bee keeeper and the state apiculturalist. I am seriously thinking of starting me own hive.

last day in the DR

Leaving the DR in a few hours. Interesting country. Unfortunately, it shares many of the problems of other developing nations in latin america, specifically a wide gulf between the rich and the poor. Its particularly evident at this resort as there are plenty of Mercedes, BMWs, and Porches and then hundreds of people serving the them. These people are often Haitians that come across the border looking for work. These are the lowest class and do such jobs as raking the beach each morning. I try to speak to them in French but their French is almost unintelligible to me. I always wonder what these poor people think when they see the obscenely rich... I can't imagine its anything other than jealousy, bitterness, and hate. We need to spread the wealth.

On another note, I have eaten my way across this country. I have made it a point to eat lots of roadside food and still haven't gotten sick. The fruits are particularly outstanding, a highlight being limoncillos. I have no idea what it is but its delicious!

Los Haitises

Made it back from Los Haitises last night. Amazing place! Its really hilly and rainy there. Each hike we went on we got rained on multiple times, usually dumped on. Neat area. Here are some highlights.

Some kind of big skink I caught after breakfast under my bench:

This is the Risdgeway Hawk. This guy is super rare, only occurs in this park and only ~200 individuals in the world. Got up early the last day to see her. This pic is through the scope.

This is the hotel area, very cool. It is built into the side of this mountain.

This is the front of the main area with the waterfalls and the main gathering/eating area.
Another view of the waterfall. The water was cool and refreshing and a good way to clean up after a muddy hike.
This is the local pet crow. Its an indigenous white-necked crow. Cool bird and very curious.
Pretty little anole:
Big old toad. There were dozens of them around. Marine toad?
Tiny little frog on the stem of a very big leaf:
Lots of smaller frogs were about calling up a storm. Its always nice to fall asleep to sounds of frog calling.

Made it back from the Los Haitises national park last night. Amazing place! 

update from the DR

Tomorrow we are going up to the Parque Nacional de los Haitises. It should be a fun trip. We are staying here. Won't be back until wednesday evening I think so no pics or updates until then. I think we will be out of email contact completely. 

Dominicanos speak a spanish that I am having a hell of time trying to understand. For one, many of them that I deal with aren't very educated. But to make it even harder, apparently Dominicanos don't pronounce the letter/sound "s". So "buenos dias" becomes "buen dia". This makes is very hard to follow what they are saying. I am slowing getting used to it, now that I recognize some of the issues. 

cave hikes

Here are some pics from the last two days. Yesterday we went to a place called Oyo Claro which is full of sink holes that are full of fresh water. The land here is all karst and lots of water flows through it. We saw some cool stuff.

Today we went to Parque Nacional Del Este. I rented a car and drove there with some of the students. Cool area will a giant cave. Finally saw a toady, the broad billed. The pic isn't much as its backlit, but you can see its a toady.

BTW, the whip scorpion from the last post is as big as your outstretched hand!

Hispaniolan mockingbird (endemic):

Another species of Parrot snake:

Snail (shell) for Lisa:

Some kind of cool skink:

Here is the broad-billed toady:

night in the DR

Went on a night hike last night and found lots of cool things. Its always amazing to hike a trail during the day and again at night and see how the world changes.

Tailless whip scorpion:

Tarantula:

Land crab of some sort. It was big, probably 6" across the carapace.

Snails for Lisa:

Sleeping anole:

herp world

Today was a pretty cool day. Saw some cool stuff including:

Hispaniolan lizard-cuckoo

Rhinocerous iguana (captive breeding program)

Lots of anoles including this beauty

And a frog for Lisa!!!

Today we went on a hike to some fresh water lagoons that are located nearby. Its kind of surprising to see fresh water near the beach. They are very beautiful. The best thing about the hike was the three snakes we saw, two of parrot snakes (the green one) and another black one that I haven't identified yet.

pics for the DR

The local fundacion

Where I teach:

Where the students live (upstairs of the fundacion)Lots of lizards

dominican republic

So I am currently in the Dominican Republic at Punta Cana. I stay at the resort, while I teach at the foundation. We have a class of students from VT that spend the whole semester here while professors come in for 2-week stints to teach them. I am here to teach Behavioral and Physiological Ecology, focusing mostly on lizards as they are really common here. So far so good. The resort is way too fancy for me but the area is beautiful. Yesterday we went snorkeling which was very cool. This morning I went sailing on a windsurfer and then a catamaran. Good fun. That said, its really hot here and the mosquitos are pretty dang bad. I'll post pics later.