11:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010 – La Casa, Palenque, Mexico
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Today I was feeling much better until a certain incident involving my arch nemeses, The Ants, came along to ruin my day. When I first got here, they warned me that you have to put more things in the fridge than what I’m used to. Pretty much anything that’s been opened: cereal, pasta, bread, etc. will be infiltrated by ants if not sealed properly or refrigerated. If you leave food out on the counter for more than a minute, they will find it. For those who have camped in bear country before, it’s a similar experience. When you leave your camp or go to sleep you must lock every food item in the bear box or tie it up in a bag and suspend it from a high branch. Even items like toothpaste and deodorant are a liability because of their scent. But to be honest, I would choose bears over ants any day. At least bears make it quite obvious when they are in your camp eating your food. But ants are devious, more subtle creatures that may go undiscovered until you take that first bite.
I took heed of all the advice I had been given, but left my new box of cereal out because it had not yet been opened. This afternoon I fancied a nice bowl of cereal for a snack. My aversion to ants has died down a lot since being here, as they are absolutely unavoidable. Though my reasons for hating them have increased tenfold, I just don’t have enough hatred in me to go around to the thousands I encounter daily. But this time, after I had been so careful, I did not expect them to be inside my cereal box. I was even more horrified to find they’d somehow made it into the plastic, sealed bag. Little, tiny, red, obnoxious and tenacious ants.
I carried the box outside and made to throw it in the dumpster, but I couldn’t bear to waste a brand new, unopened box of cereal, especially when I was already running out of food. I asked Chiara if she would still eat it and she shrugged and said, “Yes.” I asked Jason, and he said “Heck yes. But freeze it first.” I’m not used to being the skittish one who won’t eat something that’s fallen on the ground, or in this case is covered in ants, so I decided to fight back. After all, I couldn’t let my arch nemeses win so easily. I opened the bag and looked over every single cereal flake individually, and sifted out all the ants. Then I stuck the decontaminated bag into the freezer. “Better to eat them dead than alive,” Jason said. “Extra protein,” Liz piped in. When my cereal was finally disinfected, I tasted victory in every bite.
Ants are just one thing to get used to here, but there are plenty more. The 10-12 hour work days are another, although I had a similar experience with that last summer. Since the animals we study don’t follow standard work hours, neither do we. The showers are cold, but that is usually 
welcomed after a full day’s work. Although, you usually only feel clean for about ten seconds after getting out of the shower before you start sweating again in this heat and humidity. I’m getting used to sleeping with no covers at all, not even a sheet. Never before have I wanted to sleep naked so badly, it’s that hot. But I share a bedroom with another girl and guy, so that’s not really an option.
Our water comes from big jugs we buy from the neighbor’s, and our fruits and veggies are soaked in iodine before eating. On the plus side, we have lime trees in our backyard, which I am taking full advantage of. So far it’s been sunny every day, but storms violently every night. It’s very consistent, and I’ve greatly appreciated that the rain has come only at night. However, with the start of the monsoon season upon us, I hardly think our luck will hold up.
Tonight I finally got off my butt and went to El Panchan with Jason, Chiara, Evelyn, Liz and Brittany for the evening. El Panchan is a little community near
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