I flew from Boston to Miami and then Miami to Buenos Aires. On the flight to Miami I sat next to a Hanover student and her grandparents on their way to visit family in Argentina. What a small world!
I had to take a shuttle bus from Ezeiza, the international airport in Buenos Aires to Aeroparque, the domestic airport to catch my flight to Bahia Blanca. The flight was orignially scheduled to leave in the afternoon, but it kept getting delayed and didn't actually leave until 9 or 9:30 at night. Needless to say, it was a long day.
I had mixed emotions as I started this adventure: I was really excited, but I also felt scared and a little overwhelmed to be alone in a country where I don't speak the language and had no idea of what to expect.
We explored the city of Bahia Blanca for awhile this morning and at 2:30 were back at the hotel to rendezevous with the rest of the team. Claudia, our principal investigator was there to greet us and take us to our research site..
It took about an hour by van to get to Los Alamos Farm where we will be staying while working on the project. It is a beautiful ranch located near Chasico Lake in Buenos Aires Province, near the town of Medanos.
The volunteers have 2 bunk houses to stay in on the farm-- the four girls, Rachel and I, Jane, and Kath, are staying together in this little bunk room. It's small, but cozy. The beds are very comfortable and the shower is nice and warm! Steve and Alex are staying in a similar room next door. The researchers sleep in an unbelievably tiny trailer nearby.
We had mate (a traditional Argentine herbal drink), coffee, tea, snacks (yummy dulces de leche!) right away when we got there. It was a great opportunity to meet the team and the volunteers, get to know each other a little bit, and learn a little about what we will be doing on this project.
Claudia- Our principal investigator. This is her cats (gatos) project as she works toward her PhD.
Estela- (Co-principal investigator ) Is also working towards her PhD. Her passion and expertise is with foxes (zorros) but has a lot of experience working in the field.
Diego- (Co-principal investigator) A postgraduate student who works with hog-nosed skunks. Because of an injury, he was only with us for the first few days of the project.
Miriam- An undergraduate student who has been working here for about a year. She is going to use this research to write her thesis.
Ariane- Graduated with a degree in biology from a university in France. She has been working on this project for the last 3 months in order to gain more research experience before starting her masters' program.
The Volunteers:
Me- A wonderful 7th grade science teacher from Massachusetts :-)
Steve- A small business owner and father from near Salt Lake City, Utah.
Alex- Steve's son, a psychology/pre-med student from Utah
Rachel- An attorney from Sydney, Austraila who works for a telecommunications company there.
Jane- A high school English teacher/writer from New York City
Kath- A scientific supply company representative from Baltimore.
(Back L to R): Jane, Kath, Estela, Rachel, Ariane, (Anna)
(Front L to R): Me, Claudia, Steve, Miriam, Alex
