BAJA 51!
Bio 644, Summer 2021
A Spiritual Abduction......
My first class with Project Dragonfly was traveling to the Vermillion Sea Institute and Rancho San Gregorio in Baja California, Mexico. We (Brittany, Lexi, Sara, Liz, Ashlee, Savannah, Chris, Lindsay, Cassie, Mike, Kayla, Ethan, Sam, Tiffani, Rachel and I plus Chandler and Kevin) joined up with the VSI staff (Meghann, Brent, Lalo, Alex, Romina and Christian) and the currently resident family (Janet and Jenna) for a 9 day adventure of joy and exploration. My page includes thoughts as well as photos and scans from my field journal that I kept on the journey.
Day 1: Ecological Classification- As we drive, watch for changes in landscape. Especially for me, my first finding of the Cirio tree! A miraculous thing. Tacos. Cactivity and making up our own names. Night swimming with phosphorus! Shooting stars.
We stopped in Ensenada for amazing tacos. I decide to eat them even though I do not usually eat meat. It seems like a good thing to do for the time I am in Baja. At this point, I do not know everyone, but I can tell that people are nervous and excited and it is fun to get to spend all this hot time in the van together. I also do not know Meghann yet, and her philosophy to find ways to be helpful, yet we find several ways on the way down. Including giving significant amounts of our water and snacks to a group of people whose bus has broken down and stopping to help a local girl from Bahia who has a flat tire.
Even though that map up there says 10 hours. It actually takes us more like 14 hours and we arrive after dark. Only time to set down our stuff, brush our teeth and pull out cots to sleep under the stars.
The first page of my journal, detailing what we saw as we were driving and the change in plants and even the trappings of civilization as we were driving.
Day 2: Inquiry and Field Methods - VSI history, snorkeling, QUEST inquiry, statistics and how can I tell the story of my data
After we eat an amazing breakfast of VSI oatmeal (2 kinds of oatmeal, hemp seeds, coconut, cinnamon and unrefined sugar) plus I add peanut butter, we put away our cots and get ready for the day. Then we hear some of the history of the field station from Meghann McDonald, the local resident mermaid and get a snorkel lesson.
After a short discussion on the QUEST (Question and observe, Uncover comparative questions or correlations, Explore predictions, Start action plan and gather data, Think hard about results and share, my group decides to look at hermit crab density at different water depths. This involves a significant amount of being buffeted around by the waves at low water depths while we time our counting in a defined quadrat. It is hilarious, I only get scratched up a few times. Sara asks, is this really science? We have a fantastic time.
Afterwards we learn about statistics, which I was not really lookin forward to, but since all it really is is figuring out if my findings were significant and how I can communicate my findings to other people, it became much more interesting. Also, how did I graduate from college without taking statistics? I think I got to take computer science instead. I probably need to go back to school - lucky thing I already am.
Day 3: Adaptations and Diversity - Drive to Rancho San Gregorio, Stop at the Mission San Borja, Sara sings in the nave, GFP overview, What is our purpose in life? Scorpions
Scorpion lit up with a black light, most of the ones we see are less than 1 cm! Alex and Lalo dressed in their Born to Baja gear out at the ranch.
The drive out to the Ranch takes about 3 hours, most of which is on a privately maintained dirt road filled with potholes and rocks. But, we have expert drivers and we make it there no problem. We first stop at the Mission San Borja, where Jose Angel Heraño tells us about the history of his family, the Cochimi and the mission system. His advice to us that stands out to me is: "What is important is to share all the good things with each other and to keep all the bad things out. Everything is in the mind." This sounds remarkably like the Hindu teachings of Karma yoga I learned and followed after college.
Being out at the ranch feels like being in another world. At night it is darker than anywhere I have been. We learn from Lalo and Alex about Born to Baja. They share their story and ask, "How can we show our love for this land and all the people here. Their advice to us is to ask, What are our dreams? What is a small gesture we can do that will mean a lot? And, to find people who have even bigger dreams than we do and hang out with them.
Day 4: Becoming Part of the Conservation Story - Hike up to the old ranch, find an owl, learn about field methods, stars, more scorpions, do some laundry
Today we walk up to the old ranch with Raphael Villavicencio and he shares ethnobotany along the way. With the drought, there has recently been a massive loss of cattle both locally and to members of the family. The cattle are not native to here, so they are not adapted to the land. I get the impression that it is sad, but that it is what happens sometimes. The larger story of what is happening with ranchers in Baja is told in this story in National Geographic. He says that the bighorn sheep, the deer, the chipmunks and the mountain lion know how to live here. As we walk up the canyon, Raphael tells us story after story of his family, what it was like to play there as a child and how much it has changed. When we reach the area that the family lived, where the spring comes out, there are so many birds and still 100 year old grape, pomegranate, and fig trees.
In this photo, Raphael was showing us the fruits of the barrel cactus. He said he could eat this and so could the animals and birds, and also, that you should always leave some for the seeds for the next plant. It was such a way of being that looks out for the creatures and shows how humans can live with the land instead of by consuming or extracting from the land.
Raphael tells us some more deep wisdom, "You have only your life to enjoy your life. You do not wait for anyone to tell you that you are somebody. You already are somebody." He asks all of us, have you found the best versions of yourself? Why are you special and why are you different? And reminds us that we are already important to the universe. It is easy to feel close to the universe here because it is so quiet and it is so dark.
Day 5: Biodiversity and Natural History - Inquiry (Pollinators, Island Biography, Niche and ), bucket bath, ecological basis for diversity, drive back to VSI, discuss seabird ecology and the islands, night snorkel, octopus!
Today I start the day with a bucket bath and picking up the clothes I washed yesterday on the line. The water from the faucet is so warm and it comes straight from the spring into the pilla. Lalo and Alex tell us we can swim in the pilla, but I think none of us believe them because it seems like so much fresh water. Later they laugh at us that we could ever consider that would be their drinking water source and really the pilla is for irrigation and very much like a hot tub. It is our communal great regret that we do not go into the pilla. I recommend that all future baja groups take advantage of this marvel! Water is such a precious resource here. There was also a trough for animals and at night I found many frogs clustered around spigots on the ground. The ones closet to the drips were all flattened out, like they were trying to collect as much water as possible through their skin, then they would trade places with the frogs that were not as flattened out and were waiting for their turns. Also at night, the bats come out and they are so fast and swooping.
We head back to VSI in the afternoon, after Alex takes drone photos of the ranch and Andrés gives us a tour of all the plants and the greenhouse he is building. This has been an amazing opportunity to stay with a local family who shares their home and their land with us. I am thankful for the partnership between Lane McDonald and Raphael Villavicencio that made this trip possible.
Day 6: Island Biogeography - THIS IS HOW WE TUESDAY!!! Mangroves, Pangas! Dolphins! Sea Lions! Blue Footed Boobies! An actual shark! Whale Shark! Terns! Herons! Pelicans! Mermaids!
This is how we Tuesday!
We ask Meghann about the specialness of today and it takes all of us a while to figure it out. Today is special because it is the only day like it we will ever have, but it is also just as special as tomorrow or the next day. The days are the days and that is the lesson for today.
Meghann plays Little Mermaid songs and we sing on the boat though, it's amazing and I love it.
We see so many dolphins and they play and jump in the water in front of the boat. There are also blue footed boobies here, along with so many other sea birds. I feel like they are just all around us every where.
Here are pictures from some of our explorations for the day. I take my journal out on the water and try to keep it dry. Good thing I have permanent markers for while I am writing. While we are out there, we also pick up a hitchhiker, another example of finding ways to be helpful, which I think is my other lesson for today.
Also, we do a lot of reading and preparing for discussions, our presentations and writing in our journals. It is also actually like school. I think it is so fun. I need better glasses though, because I don't like having to choose between reading and night snorkeling.
Day 7: Investigating Biodiversty using Field Methods - we meet the Aventureros, we do several microplastic surveys, play games in the water and on the land
Today we learn more about the Aventureros and the work that they are doing in partnership with VSI. It is a partnership that values the voices of the kids who are growing up in the town. They tell us all about ecobricks and how we can conserve our water by keeping the plastic contained and less able to blow around. We pick up 34 kg/close to 75 lbs of trash on one day at a beach, much of it is falling to very small pieces because it is being broken apart by the sun and the ocean. By putting the plastic into a bottle and crushing it down, not only can you condense plastic into a smaller space, you also can keep it from blowing around. We participate with the kids and collect plastic using a protocol from the Microplastic Survey. We also discuss how to think about community science projects using the tool to the left. UW has a stem teaching tool to use to think about this as well: Designing and participating in community and citizen science efforts to support equity and justice
The rules for the Aventureros are short but important: 1. Survive. 2. Keep track of your own things. 3. Find ways to be helpful. I love these rules and I will look for ways to implement them in my own life. I spend a lot of time on this trip losing things and looking for them. So, clearly, I still have things I need to learn and get better at.
I also do an ethnographic survey of myself today: I record everything I do for the entire day. This is very fun, and also, I should have determined my activity categories before I started. If I was going to watch an animal, I would have decided the categories of things in advance.
Day 8: How does it all tie together! Our last full day, 4:30 am hike, pangas! swim with the mobular rays, pick up more plastic, station cleanup, paint our mural, city tour, museum, pizza and amazing snorkeling at La Gringa
Above: Painting our mural with Brittany and Lexi. Below and right: Sunrise at the top of the mountain, with the Lalo.
Today was a hugely full day. We had to meet in the kitchen at 4:30am to go on a sunrise hike up Angelitos. All of us go plus 6 of the aventureros. We pile 24 people into the van for the short drive in the dark to the base of the mountain. We reach the top of the mountain before the sun rise and watch the colors change. It is a spectacular morning. But, then, the day continues. We go out on the boats, pick up more plastic, find more dolphins and get to swim with the mobular rays. At one point one of them nearly lands on me while it is jumping out of the water.
At night we have pizza on the beach at La Gringa and swim in the phosphoresence. Eating pizza off the hood of the van reminds me of college, which seems a fitting end to our adventure. We have our last check in tonight on the beach and it feels so much more together.
We also finish our mural. I do the words and the stars, scorpio ends up looks pretty good, but the corona borealis looks a little more like a smile. I guess it is fitting, because I was feeling smiley.
Day 9: The Changing Landscape - we drive home. Water changes, roads change, buildings get bigger.
Look at us on the way home, we are so hot, but we are also having so much fun. This is our last bathroom stop before the border. We also have an impromptu dance party here.
Life on our Trip: Where were we sleeping? Where were we staying? What do I remember?
VSI is awesome. We get to sleep outside and bathe in the ocean. Love all the things. In my journal I try to remember things that felt important. We also have spectacular food the whole time. I am so happy always to have delicious things that someone else makes.
Video walkthrough of my whole journal.
I am so glad I was finally able to start this program and to come on this trip. It felt like such a long time coming and such a much needed addition to my life right now. On the way home I finished my last entry on the airplane (although I did still have to work more on the whole journal after I got home until it was finally finished - because I was kind of obsessed with finishing the whole thing. Here is what I wrote on the last day:
I want to take back my sense of awe and wonder, to continue to look for ways to be helpful, to combine my heart knowledge with my head knowledge, to remember that I already am somebody, to look for places that are quiet, to see all of our inherent humanness and to still push for change, better questions, more curiosity, genuine connection and love.
STILL FiGURING OUT HOW TO DO THIS.
Baja 51: Synthesis Paper
In Baja 51, we also actually did coursework, including a synthesis paper on a topic of our choice, mine looked at how we could incorporate different ways of knowing into our classrooms as a way of increasing access for all students, particularly in this case Native students and students of color.
Synthesis Paper: Integrating Traditional Ecological Knowledge into the classroom: Benefits for understanding complex environmental issues
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