Barriers of words and water

11:00 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010 – La Casa, Palenque, Mexico

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Today was a rest day rather than a work day—as scheduled. It was a sunny day rather than a stormy day—as predicted. This was bad news rather than good news—as expected.

Let me explain. Thursday we set out on the first day of our third cycle, charged with finding and observing the Pakal group. I’d heard many stories about this group, because it has two extremely lively juveniles (Kanika and Emma) who like to come close and cause trouble. It is usually hardest to find a group on the first day, because they could be anywhere within their territory. It often takes two to three hours of searching before we find them. But 9 a.m. came, and no Pakal. We found Balam, and heard several groups howling in the distance, but no Pakal. Noon came, still no monkeys. 3:30, nothing. At this point it began to rain heavily and if we hadn’t found them yet, we sure wouldn’t in a downpour. So we headed out.

Though it was certainly an unsuccessful day, our spirits had somehow remained high throughout the day and the four of us and Sarie had good conversation while circling the territory hour after hour. I also enjoy hiking for the sake a of hiking, so after a while started to feel like I was on a day hike in the rain forest with no other purpose than to enjoy the sights and sounds of the jungle. My legs and feet were sorer than usual, but we would try again the next day and all would be well.

That is, until we were informed yesterday that a day without usable data does not count as a work day, and we would have to make it up on one of our rest days. Therefore, yesterday we went into the forest even more desperate to find Pakal, with added motivation. We couldn’t stand the thought of losing two rest days searching in vain. Luckily, we found them around 10:30 a.m. and collectively sighed in relief. It started to rain around noon, and we all (monkeys included) hunkered down to attempt to stay dry while still collecting observational data. It rained for pretty much the rest of the afternoon. “Peggy, I’d like you to meet Rainy Season in the rain forest, Rainy Season, meet Peggy.” While I had grown somewhat accustomed in the few weeks I’d been here to nightly downpours and just the occasional daytime rain, it now seems like the rain is coming sooner and sooner everyday.

We had three straight field days where the sky opened up just before we completed our last scan; therefore, our return trip was always a wet one. But for the past few days the rain has been taking bigger chunks out of our day. What was thick mud in the morning becomes a deep, raging brown river by afternoon. The hills become deadly mudslides requiring a vine as a rope to rappel ourselves down. It’s difficult to recognize where I am because the trails I remember from the morning are transformed into streams. And somehow we have to get all our gear dry overnight and be ready to do it all over again the next day.

But yesterday evening Dr. Estrada emailed and said we wouldn’t be going into the field today because Tropical Storm Matthew would be dumping on some additional wind and rain (although it ended up being sunny most of the day), and the data probably wouldn’t be that good anyway (in addition to it not being very safe to be in the forest during a topical storm). Unfortunately for us, this would most likely take another day from our long anticipated break. We still hadn’t finished the Pakals, and would have to go back to the field two more days before getting some time off.

Last night, after finding out we wouldn't be working today, the household (plus Katie and Chiara's two visiting friends) went to Don Muchos in El Panchan for dinner. The community of El Panchan is set up around a little river, with walkways and bridges crisscrossing around the perimeter. We left that evening still in a relentless downpour, and walked down the road until we got picked up by a taxi. When the driver dropped us off, he had to do so at the edge of the street because the parking lot was so full of water. We started to take the path through the woods to the restaurant, but couldn’t even see the wooden bridge over the river because it was covered by rushing water. With only one light between all of us, we had to inch our way along the invisible path. We cautiously traversed the narrow bridge covered with two feet of water, knowing if we stepped to the left or the right we would drop off completely into the river. But we proved our worth, and took a leap of faith off the lion’s head like Indiana Jones. When we stepped down from the bridge, we still had 20 meters left to wade in water up to our waists before we finally arrived, drenched but alive, to the restaurant. We made the trip worth while by eating delicious Italian-Mexican pizzas and staying for the fire spinning show.

Today I attempted to get my stitches removed at the local hospital clinic. Last time I had Katie with me to translate, but I figured I would be all right on my own to just get them removed. I made sure to look up the words “remove” and “stitches” en Español (“quitar” y “puntos”) and headed to town. I waited at the front desk until a man came to help me. I said in broken Spanish what I needed and he kept shaking his head, saying what I thought to be tomorrow at 8:11. I was thinking, “Why 8:11 tomorrow?” I asked him why not now, and he kept shaking his head. There were people all around me waiting so I didn’t think it was closed (though it was Sunday), but didn’t know how to get any more detailed of an answer with my limited vocabulary. I told him I had to work tomorrow but he just shrugged. This was the first real problem I had experienced with a language barrier since I had arrived. My other experiences speaking Spanish (or trying) have just been attempts at friendly conversation, in the market or in a taxi. All of which have much less at stake. It was so frustrating needing something but not getting it, and not understanding why.

The experience reminded me of my court date in Raleigh last year for a speeding ticket. While I was waiting for the judge to call me up, I saw all of the other would-be law-breakers speak to him about their crimes. Most were there for speeding, like me, petty theft or possession. But one couple went up to the front, looking scared and utterly bewildered. It was a Mexican man and his wife. From what I could overhear, they had been caught fishing at a river near their home without a fishing license. I can only imagine how confused they must have been to be summoned to court and fined just for fishing. I watched and listened as the man tried to explain to his crying wife what was happening. But I could tell he didn’t understand much of what the judge was saying either. I wanted to jump up and shake the judge and say, “Really? Don’t you have better things to do than take money from these people?!” But I remained silent and seated at my bench.

Tonight I went to see Jason play a set at Mono Blanco and then followed the Red Sox vs. Yankees game as best as I could via ESPN GameCast. The Sox failed to sweep the Yankees, shrinking their playoff chances to less than the area of a pinhead. As in, they would have to win their next seven games (three of which are against New York again) and the Yankees or Rays would have to lose all of theirs for the Red Sox to have a postseason.

Tomorrow I will try my chances again at the hospital (I figured out later the man probably meant the doctor would only be in 8-11 a.m. tomorrow) and then join the others in the field.

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