Hobbies

I've been working on painting in my free time. It's a great way to relax!

Relaxing just like this sloth

El Día Final

Today was the last day of behavioral data collection before trapping season starts. The Yale team and I were the only researchers on the island so it was a pretty quiet work day. The monkeys were also acting pretty freaked out- I think they know trapping season is fast approaching. Group V even came over to Big Cayo in the afternoon!

Goodbye for now, monkeys. Next time we see each other you will be hopped up on drugs getting your blood taken in the lab.

The Day of Thanks

All of the researchers got together for an authentic Thanksgiving feast! I brought the salad (the only green thing at the table). It was a lovely day of eating, drinking, and meeting old and new researchers who arrived in Punta for trapping season.

The Day Before Thanksgiving

Today the researchers and CPRC staff all celebrated thanksgiving together at Daniels Seafood. When I walked into the dining room, there was a documentary called "Primates of the Caribbean" (get it?) playing on the TV. It was filmed just a few years ago and is about what the researchers study on Cayo and goes into a bit of detail into the lives of group F monkeys. Yeah, that's right, I work with the famous monkeys. While watching the documentary, we enjoyed a yummy lunch of salad, potato salad, rolls, turkey, and (for pescatarians) a buttery fish fillet. Desert was perfect- a choice between flan de queso (tastes a bit like cheesecake) and flan de calabaza (sorta like pumpkin pie).

42L was definitely enjoying her Thanksgiving buffet

I'm ready for my closeup

I've been experimenting with taking very close up photos of the monkeys. I like the change! It's just a bit more difficult to take the photo because I have to get up in their faces.

3E2, the variant blonde female in group F.

Meet 29B

This beautiful girl is 29B, one of my favorite monkeys on Cayo. She doesn't like me very much, but she has the most lovely eyes! Don't you agree?

May the odds be ever in your favor

My parents left to go back to the states today. We did a lot in a week but it still went by quickly! This evening, the researchers all took a late night trip to Caguas to see Catching Fire at the movie theater. The movie closely followed the book (one of the few that actually does *ahem* The Hobbit), and it was very good! It was just a really late night - we got back at 12:30am and had to go to Cayo the next morning!

A family grooming session in group V

Day 7: Beach Day

After 7 (crazy and exhausting) days in Puerto Rico, we needed a beach day. We brought Carrie along on our drive to Luquillo and had brunch and drinks at Boardriders. Dad and I grabbed our snorkel gear and headed out to the reef, but unfortunately the surf was too strong for us to see anything. After relaxing on the beach for a few hours, we took a quick drive to the Seven Seas beach in Fajardo. The water clarity there was better, but it still was pretty murky. The patch reefs were a lot better than in Luquillo, however, and we found a ton of fish, some cleaner shrimp, and even a lobster!

What a great end to a fabulous week. Bloody Marys, guava mimosas, and piña coladas.

Day 6: Take me out to the Beisbol Game

After doing laundry and grocery shopping in Humacao, we headed over to Carolina for some good old-fashioned Puerto Rican baseball! Carolina was playing Santurce, a barrio of San Juan. After getting just a bit lost (damn GPS doesn't understand spanish), we paid the $2 parking fee and walked straight into the stadium! No cost for tickets, and drinks (beer, Johnny Walker Black Label, Grey Goose) were $2-4. A surpsisingly awesome way to spend an evening! And we (Carolina) won.

Roberto Clemente (stadium), the pride of Carolina!

Best free seats I've ever gotten!

What's a beisbol game without some beer con limón!

Day 5: Arecibo

We woke up bright and early this morning to take a trip to Arecibo to visit the Rio Camuy Caverns and the radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory.

Stalactites at las cavernas 

  

View from inside las cavernas

Sinkhole at the end of the caverns

Mini cave inside the caverns

Another sinkhole- someone died here zip lining!

On our way to the Arecibo Observatory, we stopped at a pizza joint and ordered ourselves an octopus pizza. 

Only in Puerto Rico

We then drove to the Observatory and it ended up being a LOT neater than I expected! There was a huge science exhibit that went into great detail about cosmology and physics. I could have spent 4 hours in there but unfortunately the observatory closed at 4pm so we had to rush a bit at the end. But if I ever get the chance to go back, I will make sure to get there earlier!

Arecibo has the largest radio telescope in the world- built into a sinkhole characteristic of the western side of Puerto Rico

Can you spot the anole?

After Arecibo, we decided to take another "scenic route" to Parguera, where we went to a bioluminescent bay. The tour operators were pretty shady but for $8 we got to swim with the bioluminescent dinoflagellates! Unfortunately, the bay is not very healthy due to the presence of humans, so the glow wasn't great enough for photos. It was still a neat new experience.

Day 4: Old San Juan

We drove to San Juan today to take the Bacardi factory tour and walk around Old San Juan. We started off our day with some Rum (straight for my dad, mixed for me and my mother) at the Bacardi factory.

During the tour the "bartender" showed us how to make Bacardi drinks

We then drove to Old San Juan to visit the historic forts, El Morro and San Cristóbal. Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling well (thanks a lot rum on an empty stomach) so we couldn't explore Old San Juan too much, but we ended up getting a fantastic dinner of lettuce wrapped fish tacos and monterey jack fondue at a "frou frou" restaurant.

Nice cruise ship leaving the port + the fort and a cemetery

Dad walking up to El Morro

Inside San Cristóbal

View of Old San Juan and El Morro from the top of San Cristóbal

San Cristóbal bell and Old San Juan sunset

San Cristóbal hallway

Day 3: El Yunque

We hiked through El Yunque National Forest today. It was really fun but unfortunately, halfway up the trail I realized my camera battery was dead. Thanks for warning me, camera…

Beautiful rain drops off moss on a tree

My parents at the fork of El Yunque trail

Can you spot the lizard?

Ah, rainforest scenery.

Waterfall…that is pretty difficult to see. Right before my camera died.

We quickly caught a photo at the peak! There were two other peaks we hiked to but unfortunately my camera wouldn't budge on the whole "dead battery" thing.

Day 2: Ponce

We took a road trip to Ponce today! We went to an art museum that apparently my parents visited 25 years ago.

A Catholic University campus in Ponce

Ponce is famous for its lions as the city mascot (named after Ponce de Leon)

Firemen's museum

We went into "Cafe cafe" for some sangria (handmade wine) and coffee

On our walk back to the car we found an Episcopal church and had a lovely tour

We then drove to the docks and found a very friendly pelican

And, of course, had some drinks (Piña colada and Mojitos)

And watched the sunset over the bay

We then took the "scenic route" home (an extra 3 hours) but found a great restaurant that served cheap Medallas and large pieces of salmon for dinner!

Day 1: Naguabo

My parents arrived this afternoon (they texted me saying "we're here!" in the middle of painting). After they moved in, we took a quick drive to Naguabo and enjoyed seafood and Medallas with a beautiful ocean sunset + Cayo as the backdrop.

Preparations

So, my parents are coming to visit for the week and they arrive tomorrow! I'm pretty excited since I haven't had many opportunities to travel around the island. On the agenda is Arecibo, El Yunque, and San Juan.

There are a few blonde variants on Cayo, but here's the first male I've seen and he's in group V!

Gotta get down on Friday

It was raining a lot today (but not enough to have a rain day), and I spontaneously decided to make a video.

Six-legged friends

As I was watching some adults in group V, I noticed this adorable jumping spider on my leg. He had a bright blue back and was carrying a fly in his mouth. He ended up climbing up my leg and jumping onto the camera!

 

A day full of V

Just because they are on a different part of the island and pretty much completely isolated from the other groups, V is still a group of rhesus macaques that loves to waste water!

"I must get to that decaying piece of chow at the bottom of the trough!"

Group V

Since I was assigned the project involving videotaping adults while they are drinking, I have needed to look outside of group F for my focals. Half of the focals I need are in group V, a small but widely-spread group that inhabits all of Small Cayo. So today I was able to hang out with group V all day, learning the IDs of around 25 monkeys and getting the chance to film about half of them. I am happy to say that today was the first day I have not been bored once. Since group V has small Cayo to itself, the group dynamic is much more chill and there is a lot less intragroup aggression and close to no intergroup aggression!

I mean, really, group V might as well be smoking medical marijuana they are so laid-back.

Meet 8B5

This drop-dead gorgeous fellow is 8B5. He is a sweetheart who has never once aggressed at me, and he only aggresses at other monkeys in response to being provoked. He also watches over a few of the juveniles, which is a just about everything to look for in a man anyway. If I were to get married to any monkey on Cayo (at least in group F), it would *hands-down* be 8B5.