Mechanic shop

After meeting Stu and Catherine from Foundacion Cordillera Tropical yesterday evening and figuring out dates, schedules, projects, and ideas for the semester Coral and I have a better sense of how to plan the course over the next weeks. Stu is infectious with energy and ideas and is excited to introduce the students to the field with us on Saturday. Coral warns me, though he is double my age he has boundless energy and his idea of ?short hike? usually ends in day long affairs ending in crawls through the brush uphill off track. We?ll see, I just hope the students can handle it. Meanwhile Catherine is giving the first lecture for her course, Ecological Anthropology, on Thursday at the Museum. She is great and was a Roundriver instructor herself before beginning her position with FCT. So, check and check off this long list.

We sent the students off in pairs for an Espanol Pirate Treasure Hunt today in pursuit of such epic tasks as finding a Chifa, making key copies, specific conversation instructions about produce at the market in Espanol, a pan de yucca taste comparison test, and finding a woman named Maria?among other things exploring the city. Meanwhile Coral and I got many errands done, double checking the syllabi and course packs and binding them off for printing, arranging medical and insurance information, making phone calls and emails to guest researchers in the future from Quito, and picking up Big Blue from the mechanics shop. Another incredibly full day with nary a chance to sit back, but such as I expected this week, adjusting.

I snapped this shot in the back of the mechanics ?shed?. A curious still life of objects hanging on display, illustrating the trappings of one llife and just one of innumerable stories played out day by day.