martes, 17 de abril de 2012

Ecuador from the sky

I got to Quito two days ago, after 13h of flight. And as soon as I stepped down the plane, I noticed there was something going wrong with my body. I got tired really quickly and I couldn't breathe properly. I asked Carolina (an Ecuadorian biologist that is helping me with the project) what was the altitude of Quito, and she said we were at 2,800m! Luckly now it is getting better.



Yesterday I was all day at the immigration office in order to register mi visa, and I had to wait for 4h until it was my turn...This morning, when I went back to pick up my passport, thinking that I didn't have to do any more procedures, they told me I still had to go to the Consulate to "census" my visa. So I went there and they said they didn't have the official papers to register any one and that they wouldn't have them until the end of May. That’s how thing work in here, I guess.

After that I took the “TeleferiQo”, which goes up to 4,100m above sea level! I had to rush a little bit because I had a meeting at the University of San Francisco of Quito with a professor to get some extra advices about my project. After explaining what I was willing to do, she said you need between 6 and 12 months to do develop a poject like mine…and that didn’t sound to good. Hopefully I’ll find the way!



Tonight at 22.30 I’ll take a bus from Quito to Manta, that will take around 8h and then I’ll finally be in the study area!

Let the adventure begin!

miércoles, 25 de enero de 2012

Time to go back to work..!

Despues de unas merecidas, pero quiza demasiado largas, vacaciones, ha llegado el momento de volver a Oxford! Esta misma tarde volaré hacia allí con una compañia especial, la de mi madrem que vendrá unos dias a visitar la cuidad!

En los proximos meses realizaremos las asignaturas pertinentes del segundo semestre (genetica, manejo de primates en cautiverio y educación ambiental) para a mediados de abril tomar un avio hacia Ecuador!

Allí tengo previsto realizar un estudio sobre la población de primates que se encuentra en el bosque de Pacoche, provincia de Manabí. Nunca nadie antes ha estudiado la población de primates que habita esa area y por eso es muy importante realizar este estudio para saber en que estado se encuentran y que medidas debemos tomar para asegurar la permenecia de estos monos. Durante los meses de abril, mayo, junio y julio me alojaré en el Pacoche Lodge (foto) y realizaré mi estudio. Si alguno de vosotros tiene interes, estoy buscando voluntarios que colaboren conmigo en este proyecto TAN interesante (lauracervera_graupera@hotmail.com).


Una vez termine el proyecto en Ecuador viajaré hasta Cancún para asistir en una de las conferencias más importantes a nivel de primatologia, The International Primatological Society. Allí presentaré mi proyecto en formato poster y luego volveré a Oxford para redactar mi tesis!

Espero tener noticias vuestras!

La de los monos