August 5th

I wish it would rain so I could bathe! Never take nice clean water for granted, people. The river water is pretty gross and really difficult to carry up a hill to the research station. So, as you can see, the water situation has not been fixed yet (the pipes are clogged with rust since May). At least it is rainy season so I can catch water in buckets to use, but ironically my first day on Tiwai, not a drop of rain. Electricity situation also not fixed. There is (thank goodness!) still electricity in the library but none in the kitchen and bedrooms since May. Hallelujah for headlamps. Best invention EVER. I’m so afraid that the library electricity will go out and I won’t be able to use my computer or anything. It’s pretty darn dark here at night too. Guess I should invest in some lanterns. It sounds wussy but when you’re the only one on an island and it is pitch black, it is a bit unnerving.




We tried out my kayak today. It’s lovely. I gave some of the villagers a turn because they were so darn excited about it. Right now the river is pretty swift but we’re going to go down river tomorrow to check some hippo places. Don’t worry I will wear a lifevest. The kayak fits 3 people very comfortably. Hands down better than a dugout canoe. We’re going to deflate it and carry it back with us instead of going back up the river. Pretty spiffy!



I started out to Tiwai on Wednesday after meeting with the Ministry of Forestry and the U.S. Embassy. I got a letter I’ve been hoping to get for a year now that introduces me as a partner of the Ministry so I can use that to go many places. Yayyy! Then I went to meet the people who are more or less ‘in charge’ of me for Fulbright. The Embassy is like a huge fortress on top of a hill and had the guards with humungous guns standing outside. Really cool air conditioning inside – felt just like America! The people were really nice and hopefully I can count on them if there is an emergency.



Unfortunately I ended up paying a ridiculous amount to get to Tiwai, being at the mercy of my huge boxes and some car-renter issues that I won’t go into cuz it makes me sad to think about. But I got here and that is all that matters!! I doled out some candy to the kids and passed out the developed pictures I had taken over the past couple months of villagers. I feel like I never left. I feel very at home in Kambama and very comfortable with the people even though I can’t communicate sometimes.



Now for the exciting news. Kenewa set up the cameras on the “mainland” while I was gone. Just two. But when we went to look at the video he took. There, in front of the camera, was a huge female pygmy hippo. Eating. It is AMAZING. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I think I actually squealed when I saw the footage. I adore Kenewa!! He is now officially my favorite person in the world. Juuusst kidding people but really he is officially awesome.



So things are going rather well for me right now. I am excited for this next field season and am very very optimistic. I have the cooperation of the villagers and they seem to love me (at least Kambama does!!). I’ll keep ya updated. J