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14 August 2012

in Rwanda: 13 July 2012, 450 Colobus

blog entry - Friday 13 July 2012

Today is usually my lucky day. Not so sure this time around, but we’ll see. I’m still feeling a little nauseous this morning. It’s been ongoing for several days. Food hasn’t been very appealing to me. I’ve lost the huge appetite I had in the first week of this trip. Maybe that’s ok. I don’t know.

I had a weird dream last night. We all – the primatology students – went to Big Flats, which is the town I grew up in for the first ten years of my life. I pointed out where I used to live from a long ways away, then we were there. I couldn’t find my old house; it seemed that everything had been replaced by new development. Then, I saw our tree with the swing in the front yard, and our barn. The house was there in my peripheral vision, but I didn’t notice it. We went into the barn and all my dad’s things were there. It was much more than he ever had in reality. I spent the rest of the dream trying to haggle with the current residents over the cost of me buying some things from them. Of course that meant trying to pick just a few things that I wanted, when I really wanted all of it.

I wonder if I could go without my medication today. Maybe it would help my stomach. I think I at least have to take the malaria medication; maybe I should just skip the Aleve again, like yesterday. It could be just that I’ve been taking too much of that. I’ll see how I feel after breakfast.

~

Just took my shower. Realized that I’ve been feeling pretty uncomfortable in my clothes lately. I’ve been trying to just repress the feeling and ‘soldier on,’ but I think it’s catching up to me. Maybe I just need to adjust that. And take the anti-depressants.

~

Took two welbutrin and the malaria pill. Dressed in a way that made me comfortable emotionally. Well, as comfortable as I could be, with the limited wardrobe. Felt a little better today, just very low-energy and sad. I should do laundry before it becomes really important, but I just don’t want to. I might do a couple pairs of underwear before I go to bed tonight, but that’s probably my limit.

~

This morning did turn out lucky: we didn’t have to hike to see the Black & White Colobus Monkeys. There was a group close by that has ~450 individuals. That’s beyond huge. It’s the largest Colobus group in the world. The other group in the park has 15 or 16 individuals, by the way. We drove right up (on the road) into the middle of the Colobus group. Then we got out and wandered through, underneath the monkeys. They stay almost entirely in the trees, and usually pretty high up, so we didn’t disturb them. I think this group is relatively well habituated, too. I’m not sure, because I don’t know whether their familiarity is the result of intentional habituation by humans, or if they’re just not too worried naturally. Anyway, it was awesome. We stood there, completely surrounded by rainforest and monkeys, and just did behavior observations for about two hours. I got some good video and pictures. Happy morning.

[These are Black and White Colobus Monkeys.
Grace (fellow student) took this picture.]



[My camera obviously lacks the necessary zoom.
There's a couple Colobus up there grooming each other.]



[This doesn't get interesting until :29, and it's only :33 long, I think.
Still, it's a totally awesome leap made by a Colobus.
No biggie for him. He does it all the time.]





~

I like this blog. It keeps me honest. With myself.


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