I dream frogs now.

These are photos of my latest frog collection trip in Parque Alerce Costera, just a couple hours south of Valdivia on the highway and a couple more hours on dirt roads--seriously in the middle of nowhere.Philipe drove his car which took quite the beating with mud, rocks and a group of researchers climbing in and out every ten minutes. Eventually, we even killed the battery and had to push start the car.
It was quite the rainy situation from 8am until 10pm, but for one brief second as we were preparing to leave, the rain stopped and we could see some of the beautiful valley vista.

Lunchtime

How To: Catch Crabs Edition

A few days ago we traveled a couple hours north toward Temuco and did some sample collecting for Tiffany's crab project. Dr. Jara, the mentoring professor, was a great help. He picked us up that morning, showed us the various steps of the crab catching process, brought us into the city after we were done and even bought us some ammmazing icecream (mine was blue-colored vanilla water icecream). Here is the wisdom that Dr. Jara gave to us, which I am now bestowing upon you, to effectively collect crabs.

1. Find a river with access (meaning a fence with barbed-wire that you can climb over or through).2. Simply walk straight into the middle of river. right in the middle.3. Next, set your net against the current and begin to shuffle the rocks in front of it. The crabs will be disturbed and the current of the river should force them into the net.4. After a few minutes of shuffling rocks, pull the net up and inspected the treasures that you have caught.Optional: At this point we also separated the two species that were present in this river and males from females.After a few short hours, we had over 60 crabs for Tiffany to study. Oh crab collecting!

Keep Your Mardi Gras, We Have Noche de Valdiviana

Every year, the end of summer is celebrated with Noche de Valdiviana. It is a week long festival in Valdivia with a fair, street vendors and artisans. The week concludes on Saturday night with a boat parade, fireworks and chillas.

Chillas are small bits of paper--fun when thrown in the air; however, they quickly become weapons of war. The goal seems to be to circle the Plaza, aka the battlezone, in the center of the city with thousands of other people, throwing them directly at others' faces then escape before retaliation. These little menaces get everywhere, and are the worst in your mouth or eyes. Here are pictures of the before, the beginning of the mayhem and the aftermath in the taxi, on the way home.

Sesame Street Taught Me Everything I Know

A Sesame Street classic frequently referenced in our family is "Which One of These Things is Not Like the Others". On Saturday, I was definitely thinking about that particular song.
Saturday morning, a member of our ward called to remind us of a ward service project that Tiffany and I notoriously forgot about until her phone call. Our informant told us that the ward was cleaning the church building at that moment...but she couldn't come. We rushed to get ready and run out the door. My thought process--(Make-up: no. Hair: no. Deodorant: yes. Shoes: on. Grab some bread for breakfast while walking. Done.)

When we got to the church, we noticed a couple sets of missionaries waiting outside the gate I think--(Obviously the activity didn't start on time, but Chilean time--20 mins later, duh.) Then shortly after--(Why didn't I at least comb my hair?) Within a few minutes, another set of missionaries come. (hmmm. What are they doing here? This is just our ward service activity.) Then a few more missionaries come and paranoia begins to set in (Wait. What are we doing here?! Are we in the right place?!) and (Good thing I didn't skip the deodorant part.)

The ward activity turned into a zone service project with the help of "the gringas" and the relief society president. Tiffany and I dutifully cleaned the bathrooms, while the missionaries tackled the exterior, the classrooms and everything else. A game of soccer followed and a bbq that the missionaries invited Tiffany and I to join.


The whole time, I couldn't help but think...
"One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn't belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?"

Check it

Those rims are off the hinges. These phat rides were just smokin hot. You can't even hear the systems these carz were bumpin'...at the same time. fo' shizzle. One day, I might be lucky enough to pimp my ride like dat.



This post is for my the men in my family, who made me attend many a car shows.

Who says Chile isn't H-core?

and yes, those are my previously mentioned pants. and yes, I haven't taken them off since I bought them.