madasascientist

Back in Ecuador

Time flies (yes, we all know that but the more - or longer it flies, the more things end up on the "to-do-list"). There's is quite of things I have been meaning to post and have found no time to do so. Unfortunately posts end up being like the ubiquitous desk drawer which ends up with all the random bits of stuff that a) don't seem to rightly fit anywhere else or b) have been forcefully stuffed in there during a hurried attempt to bring the chaos on the desk under temporary control.

Firstly and perhaps most importantly: I am now back in Ecuador.

Breakfast of Champions: Courtesy of AirFrance

I arrived two weeks ago and the months prior to this latest round self-imposed exile have gone from busy to absolutely insane. The item at the top of my list was to find a field assistant. This was highly successful since a) I now have an assistant and b) we received over 60 applications for the position. It was interesting going through the whole selection process but this time from the other side. The first couple of days in Quito were spent trying to sort out my research permits and going through the visa application ordeal (I spent the last two days in Manchester trying to get a CRB -Criminal Records Background Check done, as well as getting a medical certificate from the University Health and Safety people in case they asked for them). Usually it feels like being told that all your teeth need root canal treatment but this time it went smoothly and I was only asked to provide one extra set of photocopies of some documents that I had with me. I was able to pop down to the conveniently located photocopying and laminating stall outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then jump the queue.

I will hopefully be working alongside the German Development Agency, which will be very interesting since it provides a link between the sometimes theoretically centered world of academia and the 'on the ground' development community. It might also provide some extra funding to add to the postgraduate research grant I was recently awarded before coming out here.

The schedule for the next couple of weeks looks pretty busy. We have just come back from Bellavista, a small cloud forest reserve to the west of Quito which is the first step of the University of Manchester Tropical Ecology and Biodiversity Field Course. The idea of the course is to introduce second year Life Sciences students to the Biodiversity Hotspot that is Ecuador, give them a taste of some of the research techniques used in the field and expose them to some of the current research issues related to conservation and sustainability. Tomorrow we head out to Coca, our entry point to the Amazon Basin. It is one of my favourite places in Ecuador. Coca's entire economy relies on the Oil Industry and it is not exactly what you would associate with the word picturesque but it has the character that imagine the old Yukon to have had.