Heading South of the Border

Hello, my family and friends!  I thought it was about time for another blog post to update everyone about what I am doing now that I have finished college.  On May 15, 2016, I graduated from Duke with a B.S. degree in Evolutionary Anthropology and Biology.  Now, my plan is to gain more research experience for a while and then to pursue a Ph.D.  The first thing that I am doing is working as a field research assistant on a project studying Mexican black howler monkeys (Alouatta pigra).

On June 14, I said goodbye to my family and flew off to Mexico City.  I decided to allow myself a few days of sightseeing in Mexico City, since this layover presented a great opportunity to do so.  On the afternoon I arrived, I spent some time walking around in the historic district of the city, including seeing the largest square in Latin America: the Zócalo.  The next day, I visited the ruins of Teotihuacan, which are located not too far outside the city.  Teotihuacan was once a large pre-Hispanic city home to around 125,000 people.  By the time the Aztecs found it, the city was already abandoned.  The Aztecs thought the huge pyramids must have been built by the gods, so they named it Teotihuacan (city of the gods).  Most of the pyramids were open for tourists to climb, so I took the opportunity to do so while marveling about what it must have taken to build these gigantic structures without even using wheeled carts or pack animals.  After visiting the ruins, I went to the National Museum of Anthropology.  This museum is home to artifacts of the many cultures that inhabited Mesoamerica prior to the arrival of Columbus.  Some of the highlights included seeing the famous Sun Stone or Aztec Calendar (much bigger in person than I expected) and the tomb of Pakal the Great, the king of Palenque (where I am currently doing research).

Me at Teotihuacan

 

Me in front of the Aztec Sun Stone

After about a day and a half in Mexico City, I boarded another plane bound for Palenque, in the state of Chiapas.  It is here that I will be spending the next six months on research.  I live in a house rented by the monkey project, which I share with the four other research assistants.  Monday through Thursday, we head into the forests of Palenque National Park for a full day of observing the monkeys along with the post-doc conducting the research and the local field assistant.  There are five different groups we observe, each ranging in size from three to eight individuals.  Each individual has its own name and distinguishing characteristics, so I am still in the process of getting to know them all.  In the field, we periodically record the monkeys’ behavior, and we also take measurements of their travel routes through the forest and the trees they feed from.  The ultimate goal of the study is to understand how the monkeys make their decisions about where to travel in the forest based on the current availability of food.  Because this involves an intersection of ecology and cognition, I’m especially interested to see what we find.

A howler monkey I saw in my first day in the forest at Palenque

When we are not working, we have time off to spend how we want.  We are conveniently located near the town of Palenque, which has all the amenities we need in a town.  On Friday, I chose to visit the main ruins of Palenque.  When we are in the field, we are constantly seeing traces of the ruins wherever we go in the forest.  Many of the rocks were clearly cut for building by the ancient Mayans, and overgrown walls and temples are not uncommon.  However, I had not yet fully experienced the excavated areas that the tourists generally visit until Friday.  This includes are quite a few pyramids, an aqueduct, a ball court, a palace, and an observation tower.  Much like at Teotihuacan, I was really amazed to contemplate what it must have taken to build such a city.  I am looking forward to getting to know this area better in the months to come.

The view from one of the pyramids at the Palenque ruins