Fieldwork and Easter Festivities

In the past few days, we finished up fieldwork for directed research.  I continued GPS mapping the coordinates of the Noolturesh River.  The landscape was mostly jungle, with a few banana plantations mixed in.  Here are the highlights:

Biting ant count: 5 

Huge, poisonous spider count: at least 10 (whose webs I practically walked through)

We were told that you needed to be near a hospital if one of them bit you.  We weren't.  Some were the size of my palm and all kinds of warning colors, reds and yellows. 

My water bottle fell in a river that certainly has typhoid bacteria in it.

Then I fell in it.

I got chased by some cows and slid down some more muddy ravines.

Took GPS waypoints 50 feet above the river standing on a cliff.

And found a poacher’s snare for dik dik (they’re kind of like baby deer).

Back at camp, it’s been pretty typical.  My mosquito net collapsed on me last night because the rat chewed threw the rope tying it to the wall.  I also played peek-a-boo with a bushbaby (a type of very small and curious monkey) yesterday while I was waiting for the shower.  He jumped down from branch to branch to get a closer look at me and then repeatedly hid and then poked his head back out, even mimicking me if I turned my head to the side.  Would anyone mind if I brought one home with me?

We went to church this morning on Easter Sunday, the Church of Pentecost in Kimana.  It was in a small cement building with a tin roof and little benches.  It was no bigger than my room at home.  As soon as we entered the choir started singing the most exuberant song I’ve ever heard in a church.  The only instruments they used were drums.  After the song ended everyone raised their arms and closed their eyes and each person was shouting their own prayer.  It was so loud and chaotic. Then we all clapped to praise the Lord.  We did this many times throughout the service. 

The pastor welcomed us several times and had us introduce ourselves in Swahili.  The sermon itself was in both English and Swahili since there were more of us there than local people.  It ended in shouting and prayers for our school and our research.  The pastor worked up such a sweat that he whipped out a cloth in the middle of his speech to wipe off his face.  It was so hot I thought I might faint.

After the service, which lasted two hours and ended only because the next one was about to start, we piled into the LandCruisers and went back to camp.  Some of the students organized an Easter egg hunt!  They even found some candy to fill the eggs with.  It was a fun way to celebrate several continents away from home. 

We’re conducting more interviews tomorrow then starting data analysis and write-up of our research paper.  I’m just hoping the rat doesn’t come again tonight, but I wouldn’t mind a few more bushbabies.  Happy Easter!