The bright side of (field)life…

Where the pineapple is born?

Did you know that both me and Bartek had thought that the pineapples grow up on the trees?!?!?! You could imagine our faces when seeing this…(as a consolation I’ll add that I’ve already got messages from two European that they had lacked this knowledge as well! :) And I’ve always wondered why the pineapples have this strange, hard end and where it came from! Well, I still have a lot to learn…

I was almost on the Nicaraguan television!!!

The day of the workshop at INETER Bartek was watching the evening news and he saw the director of the geophysics I was just talking with, giving a TV interview. I completely forgot that the television was there and we didn’t catch the whole report, but I saw the people from the event… So funny. I have to write to them and ask about the copyJ Maybe I am there too…

What is the best way to learn riding?

I had never before mounted a Nicaraguan horse. I had never before ridden any horse! I had never climbed a mountain on a horse! I had never before climbed a volcano on a horse!!! What an experience! Telica volcano reached! Generally speaking I’m afraid of animals and have a little fear of heights and I don’t know how I survived this most extreme riding school! It was fun, but after 6 hours there was only weeping and gnashing of teeth! :) The local farmer took no notice of my pain, tears and frustration, just making fun of us by showing the acrobatic manoeuvres on his animal. But the view was worth it.

(How did they do this??!!)

(view on the San Cristobal -the highest volcano in Nicaragua)

(And on the way down...)

(No, I didn´t like him any more ... :)

(But I survived...)

And after all I managed to talk a little bit with our “teacher” about the volcano and hot springs San Jacinto.

I was also satisfied with the visit at San Jacinto village. Again, after reading some materials about these hot springs (connected to Telica volcano and emitting SO2) I thought also about going over this place with a toothcomb, but one geologist I had talked to said that San Jacinto was so local phenomena that I could be disappointed by doing research there (he also wondered if there was any point doing fieldwork there – well, I thought about the words on the website of my university that says: no ecosystem is too small to being investigated. I think these words are also relevant for any group, community and even relation). And he was right. There are a few families that are living near Hervideros de San Jacinto and the SO2 isn’t so unbearable as I had supposed after reading the reports. It’s also a finding one could say :)

It was also funny to read danger plates round the village that says like this one: “Be careful. There are dangerous places at the hot springs. Please use a guide!”. Being a guide round the hot springs is almost the only source of income for the local. Playing with a fear?