August 26, 2018

Happy end of August!

As the summer wraps up and fall begins, I thought it would be a good time to let you know what I have been up to for the past few months. In early June, Matt and I got to go to Oaxaca, Mexico for a few days. Matt had a scientific workshop to attend, and I spent my time exploring the city and the surrounding countryside with our friend, Rozy, from Toronto. We had a great time and I learned so much! I really didn’t have a good sense of the history or geography of this region before our trip. We visited two ancient Zapotec cities, Monte Albán, which was active from roughly 500 BCE to 900 or 1000 AD, and Mitla, which was active from ca. 1000 AD to 1520 CE, when the city was conquered by the Aztecs and Spanish in close succession (actually it is still a sacred city, but nobody actively lives in the place). Rozy and I wandered about the markets in downtown Oaxaca. We also visited a nice community weaving studio outside of the city, where we learned about the various natural dyes that are used.

I also learned a lot about the geography of the region for an outreach event. Matt and I and several other scientists from his conference participated in a science outreach event at a local middle school in a nearby village (Zimitlán). I talked about why Oaxaca and other parts of Central America have mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes (with the help of a translator). Our little team received a lot of fanfare. Our reception was accompanied by flowers, gifts, and a speech by the mayor. I have never felt so appreciated for my volunteer efforts. I think all of us were pleasantly surprised. What a positive experience!

I definitely enjoyed my time in Oaxaca. I had been looking forward to it ever since Matt attended the same small conference several years ago and came back with glowing reviews. I met some wonderful people, ate a lot of cheese, drank a lot of mescal, and practiced my Spanish, which is good because I needed it when we went to Chile at the end of July.

Yep, we had one more international trip this year, and it was great. I had a conference in the coastal city of Viña del Mar, and Matt pulled some strings with a colleague to get an invitation to give a talk in Santiago. It’s winter in South America, but it was still lovely. We just had to make sure we had hats and jackets and long underwear for the mornings and evenings. Santiago is a massive city situated in a valley between the Andes and the Chilean Coastal Range. The Andes were snow-capped when we were there and wow were they pretty. We arrived early in the morning after an overnight flight and spent the day wandering about the neighborhood where we were staying. We were very close to a university, and consequently, there were lots of intriguing nooks and crannies to explore. It turned out to be a beautiful day so we decided to hike up a local hill (called Cerro San Cristóbal) for some views. This mini mountain has a gondola that goes to the top, but the line looked endless and we wanted to stretch our legs, so we took the long way up. When we got to the top, we were very excited to find an empanada stand. We then proceeded to eat our empanadas while we explored a catholic sanctuary that occupies the highest point of the mountain. We had great views of the city and the surrounding area, although we were also reminded that there is terrible pollution in Santiago.

Our second day, it rained and we didn’t do too much. Matt gave a talk, we enjoyed a leisurely lunch with his colleague (accompanied by a flight of pisco tastings), and we got some work done. We tried to go a museum, but the entire block was blockaded and guarded by soldiers with guns… maybe next time. Then we got to spend a day with two friends from Cincinnati who now live in Santiago and meet their son, Sam. We went up in the Costanera Tower, which is almost exactly the same height as the Eiffel Tower and has fantastic views in all directions. After the rain, the sky was much clearer than it had been on our first day, and were able to see a lot. I was pleased that the attraction wasn’t too crowded, even though it was Saturday morning. Going up in the CN tower in Toronto was a very different experience. We then enjoyed a fancy lunch in a lovely city park, and we spent the afternoon reading children’s books, playing with Sam, and drinking pisco sours.

Then we headed to the coast for my conference. Viña del Mar feels a lot like Santa Cruz, California. The buildings are taller, and there are more people, but the air and the light and the sea felt very familiar. We stayed on the 12th floor of a nice apartment building and had a balcony with a view. Our first evening, we walked up and down the coast. It was a Sunday, and we enjoyed taking in all of the tourist mayhem. The next few days, I alternated attending my conference and exploring the area with Matt. I presented a project that a colleague and I have been developing for the past couple of years. We’re able to noninvasively track movement of individual carnivores (we studied jaguars) using isotope values in their poo. Let me know if you would like to know more. The conference schedule was brutal, and I didn’t feel too bad skipping some of the sessions. What I did attend opened my eyes to some of the innovative things my colleagues are doing, and I got to meet a few people with whom I’ve previously only interacted electronically.

When I wasn’t at the conference, I was working or exploring. Matt and I walked down to Valparaiso, which is a world heritage city just south of Viña del Mar that is known for its charming funiculars and street art. We also joined a field trip to La Campaña National Park. The park was established to protect the Chilean palm, which has been threatened due to overharvesting. The palms are huge and quite unlike the spindly swaying palms I have seen elsewhere. They’re 2-4 feet in diameter and their bark is smooth. Their trunks reminded me of baobab trees. I’m so glad that we had a chance to experience a little bit of Chile outside of the urban centers. All in all, it a great trip, although I was ready to return to somewhat warmer temperatures and meals that involved less cheese.

Closer to home, we briefly visited my dad in Colorado for the fourth of July. We visited the Denver Zoo, saw friends and family, watched our favorite local magician perform (Lamont Ream), and visited the mountains. I also had very brief visit to Chicago to visit a colleague in July, we spent a weekend in Lexington with old friends from Santa Cruz (Megs and Dan) who just moved to Kentucky, and we had a fun, multi-tiered family reunion in Michigan that included some of my family, some of Matt’s family, and some of Matt’s brother’s wife’s family. It was an exceptional get-together that involved walks to light houses, time in the sand, a hearty round of mini golf, evenings around a fire, and good food.

Now I’m back in Cincinnati and our semester starts tomorrow. I’m both nervous and excited. I’ve got a big term ahead of me. I’ll be teaching three classes and I’m taking over as graduate director in geology. I think I’ve got all of my ducks in a row. It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was writing to say happy Labor Day. Looking back over the summer, it sure has been full. Aside from all of that travel, I made some solid progress on my research, and Matt and I did our best to spend time in our new screened “house” in the back yard. We also hosted a murder mystery party in June. This has been something like 10 years in the making, and I’d say it was a rousing success. I attach a photo below. The princess did it. Photos from the other adventures are available on my Shutterfly share site (https://brookecrowley.shutterfly.com/). Happy end of summer!