Snow day?!

In spite of my most definitely being in Africa, we've had snow. Lots of it. Enough to merit a snow day two days ago, and a near snow day yesterday.


February 17 - We headed up the mountain - roads are clear, sky is looking promising, no worries whatsoever. As soon as we get out of the car and start hiking, it starts to snow a bit. Then the wind kicks in, and the fog rolls over our site.

Now, if you've ever tried to spot monkeys in the woods, it's hard enough when the weather is clear. When it is foggy, you're straight out of luck. Nevertheless, J. and I hiked for a few hours in the snow and fog trying desperately to find the monkeys. We returned to the car for a quick tea break, when suddenly blizzard.

So there we are, huddled in the car, watching snow pile on the windshield and windows, hoping beyond hope that we would get a call from Paddy saying "okay, call the whole thing off."

Instead we got a text: "Found them. I'm sending you the GPS."

Curses! Our warm selves were about to be subjected into the freezing once again! Fortunately, while we were still whining and whinging in the car, we got a phone call relieving us of our duties (not for our own sakes, but for the sake of the tiny car which was liable to get stuck on the road if the snow continued).

So we went home, drank tea, practised our ID's, and began data entry. Luckily for me, I also got the chance to practice my programming! The data that comes out of the tiny computers is terribly messy (shocking! Another issue with the boxes of death? Who might have guessed?!) and it takes hours to convert it manually from the format it is in to the format we need it to be in.

If ever there was a need for a data manipulation script, this was it. Luckily, data manipulation scripts are my jam. So rather than spending the afternoon manually switching the data over, I spent a few hours writing a code. And voila! Time saved. I do love programming!

February 18 - Yesterday was a full day too - we had a few bumps in the morning (flat tire, road closures, snowed in road), but eventually found the monkeys around 11. Unfortunately, we had to hike into the site (~30mins) before even beginning to look for the monkeys. Let's just say that my legs are going to be iron by the time I'm through here. Because daaaaaang. Hiking. For hours. Every day. It's starting to have it's impact.

On a completely different note, watching monkeys really distorts what feels normal. Wading through mud looking for a poop? No problem. Intently watching copulations and writing down specific notes? Perfectly fine. Dry socks after a shower? World-changing experience. In fact, just yesterday, as I was watching a male monkey masturbate up in a tree, I had a sudden lucid moment. To my readers: try not to have lucid moments while watching monkeys masturbate. It is psychologically jarring and left me shattered for a good 3 seconds. At least!

I'm sure given enough therapy, I'll muster enough strength to regain some normality. But until then, assume I've lost my marbles.