Coming back to technology after so much time away really is its own culture shock. When I got my laptop back a week ago, I was absolutely overjoyed. Finally- my key to the world, my link to home, friends, news, media and music. But now with all of this accessible to my fingertips, all I want to do is read my books or work on my portuguese. All of a sudden my technology is limiting me. It finally took a nice e-mail from my mother- kindly asking me to just assure her that I am alive- to remember I really do need to connect with people again. So here I am! And now I have to catch up on all the adventures of the past three weeks...
The inferno of the Cerrado, hidden dangers in the Rainforest, the animals of the Pontanal: this will all take hours to write about! For now, I am going to begin on where I am currently in my journey. I have just started week one of my internship at CEM-UFPR, the Oceanography and Marine Sciences center of the Universidade Federal do Paraná, with Camila Domit. Camila is a wonderful teacher who is very passionate in her studies on Cetaceans (dolphins and whales) and sea turtles and human impacts. Currently I have been doing a lot of reading on habitat and behavior on both of these, as well as learning how to identify the different species, their scientific names, and their common names in both english and portuguese. Tomorrow I and my other internship comrade, Lucy, are giving a short presentation on a paper we read... all in portuguese!
Yesterday and today we finally got to do some hands on work... maybe a bit too hands on even. Yesterday evening we were put to work cleaning skulls and bones that had all their flesh rotted off. The stench vaguely reminded me of my uncles milkroom on the dairy farm, only taking that smell and multiplying it by a thousand. I was so thankful for my surgical mask. Returning home though (oh, that is right, we have our own beach house!), we had to strip off all our clothes outside because the smell would move to anything our clothes touched. I am not sure who was more embarrassed, me or my neighbor when she spotted me darting inside quickly in just my underwear. What she must think of americans now...
This morning we woke up at the grand hour of 6 to walk along the beach and collect beached specimens. Today we only found turtles, from which we retrieved the skull, femurs and humerus for further lab analysis later (after more cleaning of course...). Unfortunately/fortunately, no dolphins were found. As much as I would like to sample a dolphin carcass, I think it would be very hard at first to find a dead one.
I recently re-watched a documentary that I absolutely love- The Cove. For anyone who has not heard of this, it is about the massive dolphin killings occurring in Taiji, Japan. This movie has really touched me in many ways. First- since I never grew up eating much sea food, I am disgusted at the sea market industry. The by-catch rates and fishing practices are horrible, and the current consumption rate is rapidly depleting ocean fauna. The biggest change for me though, was my stance on dolphin and whale captivity. Realizing the intelligence and beauty of these creatures, I cannot just accept their treatment. Dolphins have an enormous range, they migrate hundreds of miles and enjoy surfing the waves and playing in the ocean. These creatures cannot be kept in a small tank in Sea World. As amazing as it is to experience their tricks and fun in a dolphin show, I don't think I could ever enjoy seeing one again. I know I could keep discussing this topic, but honestly, seeing this film is the best way to find out. Making an impact doesn't take much if many people make the decision together to stand up for what is right. The first step is to get informed!
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