Homeward Bound

"If I leave here tomorrow,

would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now.
'Cause there's too many places I've gotta see.
But if I stayed here with you, girl,
things just couldn't be the same.
'Cause I'm as free as a bird now,
And this bird you cannot change"

As they say, all good things must come to an end.  Our adventure in Belize concluded with an exam and presentations in the morning and one last horseback/river tubing ride in the jungle.

Our night was far more eventful.  We went out to dinner with our professors/administrators and went to an awesome Karaoke bar, where we proceeded to make fools out of ourselves by singing American classics such as "That Don't Impress Me Much" and "The Bad Touch".  In an effort to get one last "Slow Tornado" dance in [the most AMAZING Belizian rap song eva] we proceeded to head on over to our favorite hotspot affectionately named "The Marklar Bar" [South Park fans may get the reference].  After a few tequila shots, A LOT of dancing [mostly to Shakira's "Africa"], and some more singing [to Toto's "Africa"] we left around 1:00...to head over to the Casino/lounge.  I guess there really is something to be said about twenty-something year olds' ability to party hard into the night [despite early flights the next morning].  After drinking my weight in water, we finally went to bed to detox and get a few hours sleep.

 

Saturday was filled with bittersweet goodbyes and long plane rides home [in which my family did not even recognize me when I arrived]. 

I had an INCREDIBLE time and I recommend this program to any pre-vet student who wants to study abroad and get animal experience.

School starts in two weeks...*sigh*

Cheers!

A Poke in the Eye

I'm proud to say that there aren't many things that I will not try at least once.  Skydiving?  Sure.  Eat live bugs?  Done it!  While my moral compass doesn't exactly point north, believe it or not I do draw the line somewhere.  Today I realized exactly what that line was, and I can admit that I will not draw blood from a pig.  Why a pig?  Because to make a pig bleed you need to do a blind stick with a 14 gauge needle IN THE CORNER OF THE EYE.

While not much grosses me out [cow butts anyone?] I do feel slightly uncomfortable attempting to stick a needle into the eye of a SCREAMING and flailing  pig without having any clue where the vein I am aiming for is.  Therefore, the majority of us stood back and watched while Dr. T and Dr. Emma [it was her first time doing this too] essentially stuck pins into the eyes of future bacon.

      [I'm pretty sure this is a phobia in humans]

While the vets did what some countries consider as torture, the rest of us less sadistic folk castrated the boars/piglets at the two separate farms we visited.

[Don't start drooling yet, he's only sleeping]

After the pigs, we visited the farm of American veterinarian Jerry Stevens who has lived in Belize for the last 16 years attempting to breed Barbados Black Belly Sheep.  Dr. Stevens taught at NC-State for a little while and helped invent urine culture paddles for urine testing.  We played with his sheep and picked his brains for a while before heading back "home" to finish up our presentations [which we are presenting tomorrow] while watching Gossip Girl [Dr. Emma watched it with us and laughed at our procrastination/multi-tasking skills].

It's my last full day here tomorrow, and after taking our exam and doing presentations, we are going horseback riding one last time before we go out to dinner with all of our professors.

Cheers! [I have to STUDY]

Balls of Steel

WARNING.  GRAPHIC CONTENT.  ALL MALES BE WARNED [proceed at your own risk]

I cut off a lot of balls today.   A LOT.  7 to be exact.  All on unwilling sheep patients.

*I will try to refrain from making ball jokes.  Key word TRY* 

As you can guess, our day started out like most of our early morning farm calls do.  Wake up.  Get Dressed.  Breakfast [french toast today].  Discuss weird dreams [Aubrey had one today.  Something about Elton John on a Unicorn that jumped over a rainbow as soon as my alarm (Tiny Dancer) went off].  Get in Van.  Go EXTREME off-roading to a remote farm in the middle of no where.  Have the van break down on the way there [its been fixed 3 times now].  Arrive at "Middle of NOWHERE" farm.  Get Down and Dirty with some animals. 

Today we were lucky enough to be taken to a farm with over 200 sheep/goats that needed to be dewormed and castrated [but only 20 needed their balls cut off].   

To any woman, castrating is a very straightforward procedure, that when done correctly is very quick with minimal bleeding.  For a male, castration is an excruciating form of torture invented by females to get back at men for every wrong they have committed against their gender [no suffrage until 1920, never asking for directions,  forgetting to put the seat down, etc.].

To castrate a sheep [general anesthesia is NOT used], first the end of the scrotal sac must be removed by pushing the testis upwards and using a scalpel to cut through the skin like so" 

Once you visualize both testicles, pick one to begin with and begin to slice through the tunica layers until it "pops" out of the sac

 [Exposing the Testis]

[Removing testis from tunica layer]

Next, the connective tissue and muscle must be torn from the testicle in order to better expose the spermatic cord, where a zip-tie is attached to act as a ligature.

[Ripping the muscle and connective tissues]

[Pulling out spermatic cord]

Last, an emasculator [we tried to decide if a man or a woman came up with the name] is used to simultaneously crush and cut the testicle to stop bleeding.

[Using the emasculator]

[ALL DONE]

[Knows how to handle balls can be a skill on my resume]

 [Our proud pile of balls]

[Just call us "Nutcrackers" or maybe "Ball Busters"]

After brutally removing the manliness of 20 sheep, we proceeded to stop at a waterfall/lake thing in the jungle to cool off and wash our disgusting, sweaty selves. The rest of the day included tanning by the pool [and then getting rained on], watching some Gossip Girl [Dan and Serina finally hooked up], and making a late night sweet tooth run to Sweet Ting.  However, on our way out of Sweet Ting, one of the single greatest things to happen since I've been here occurred.  Right next store to the bakery is a video store [that we somehow never noticed over these last 4 weeks] that sells films for $2.  We bought the Mel Gibson film Apocolypto which is about Mayans [it is also CRAZY WEIRD, but Chelsea and Aubrey swore it was good].  Although some parts are like a bad acid trip, we saw some cool things in the movie that we learned form various Mayan decedents here [such as using leaf cutter soldier ants as sutures to close a wound].

Its going to be a busy day tomorrow, but somehow we will fit Harry Potter in along with finishing our presentations and studying for the exam Friday...

Cheers!

Insert Poop Joke Here

I wish I could say my day included a lazy ride down the river, some cute animals, and lots of sun. But No.  My day was filled with angry Brahman cows, rain, and lots and lots of shit.

[Sure they look happy NOW...]

It is common knowledge to anyone who has grown up on a ranch or taken an animal science class that one of the ways to determine if a cow is pregnant is rectal palpation.  Yes.  Rectal Palpation.  As in stick your hand in the butt of a cow as far as you can and try to feel the cervix/uterine horns/ovaries through an ocean of feces while the rectal muscles clamp down on your arm until your fingers are numb [jealous yet?].  And don't think these are Happy "I will stand still so you can better violate my ass-hole" Cows.  They are animals that weigh over 1,000 lbs that come charging into a restraining shoot and constantly flail until they are released.  The trick is getting them to stand properly in the shoot to ensure minimal damage is done to the cow as well as the handler.  This was my morning.  Doing pregnancy tests, drawing blood, and giving intramuscular injections of ivermectin/vitamin B to all of the livestock [did I mention there was around 50 cows to do] at Central Farms.   

      [Who said cows aren't terrifying?]

Not only is sticking your hand up a cow's butt an occupational hazard [not to mention something that is regularly shown on Dirty Jobs], but it is also an art form to avoid the fountains of urine, projectile defecation, and whip-like tails that can cover anyone within a 7 foot radius with piss and shit.

  [My future career Ladies and Gentlemen]

Although it was a gross and smelly job, we did learn how to draw blood from the tail of the cow and got a lecture on supplemental feeding of livestock.

When we were done [after scrubbing our hands and arms raw], we took a ride up to Spanish Lookout for lunch.  It's a more progressive area of Belize where they had a legit diner where I FINALLY got a grilled cheese sandwich [with just cheese!].  A day dealing with cows wouldn't be complete without a stop for ice cream where Erika got 2 scoops on a cone and proceeded to lick it so hard that it went toppling to the floor [she was heckled with dirty jokes for the rest of the day].

When we got back "home" Chelsea, Aubrey, Serina, and I decided to try to catch some sun by sitting/swimming in the pool since it had been raining for the last 3-4 days.  As soon as we jumped into the water, the sun disappeared and the rain came pouring down [not that it stopped us from swimming for a while]. 

After dinner we proceeded to watch 3 episodes of Gossip Girl [SO MUCH DRAMA] while wrapping Dr. Emma's hair.

Cheers!

Spicing Things Up

Class started late today [9:30] and we only had a few lectures to cover before we were done for the day.  Dr. Emma talked about careers in veterinary medicine and the need to go beyond clinical practice by pursuing things such as environmental medicine [to study disease of populations], and biomedical research [to help doctors and pharmaceutical companies develop new drugs etc.].  We also discussed reproduction and biosecurity [it was mostly review for me].

Lucky for us, we had a free afternoon to go river tubing through the jungle.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans [this IS the rainy season here in Belize] and forced us to take an impromptu trip to one of the more expensive gift shops in Cayo.  While I wanted to buy practically everything, I practiced self restraint and only purchased a gift for the Fun Nazi, I mean my mother [I forgot to mention that I bought a Hammock while I was at Xunantinich. It will look so sweet next to my Empire Strikes Back poster].

On the way back to the lodge, we decided to stop off at one of the local hot sauce factories to check out some of the flavors for sale.  They had some cool tasting things to sample [Habanero Peper Fudge Anyone?] and had some really good tasting honey.  We convinced Hot Sauce to have a photo shoot in front of the signs or else we would be sad and despondent forever.

[Where Hot Sauces are born and raised]

One final stop at Sweet Ting [don't judge us] to pick up cake [Chocolate Mint Creme], and we headed back "home" for dinner.  While we swore we would only watch ONE episode of Gossip Girl before we worked on our projects, we ended up watching two [we would have watched three if Hot Sauce didn't kick us out of the room].  I'm doing my final presentation on Foot and Mouth Disease-a virus that causes blisters in the mouth, tongue, teats, and feet that eventually burst causing excessive drooling and inability to stand correctly [there feet become extremely painful so they sway from side to side or lie down].  There was a major epidemic in the UK in 2001 where the agriculture industry was nearly destroyed [the virus is EXTREMELY contagious].  The only way to prevent the spread of disease is to burn the carcass of the dead animal, making the English term 2001 as the year of the pyre.

[Burning FMD cow carcasses.  Looks like something out of 28 Days Later]

Tomorrow we are off to Central Farms to practice rectal palpation [aka sticking your hand up a cow's butt] and get lectured on Large Animal nutrition. 

Cheers!

"The Word Spelunking is for Pretentious Americans"

It was a little hard [VERY DIFFICULT] to get out of bed this morning after the very fun, but very exhausting night we had.  After week of wrestling goats, riding horses, and hiking up ancient ruins, our legs were super sore, but when in a foreign country with limited free time there really is no rest for the weary.

The hike up to ATM cave is about a 40 minute climb complete with muddy hills, perilous rocks, and waist deep water.  No one managed a wipe-out on the way down [though I can't say we were as lucky on the way back] and we had to swim about 20 yards into the entrance of the cave.

Now the only other cave I have been in was one in California, so I don't have much to compare with the experience of ATM except that it was INCREDIBLE.  We spent almost 4 hours trekking through the darkness [with the assistance of headlamps and a hilarious guide] in order to reach the chambers where various Mayan artifacts were found such as broken pottery and skeletons [used for human sacrifice of course].  In the areas with the artifacts you weren't allowed to wear shoes because they might cause damage, so we had to climb over rocks and up a rickety death latter in just out socks [i can't imagine the amount of money that place must pay for insurance].  The cave itself is filled with water so the entire walk through you are almost completely submerged.  Except for the areas where you literally have to scale rock cliffs, it is a lot of swimming/walking through narrow passages and over large rocks [there is one area that you barely have enough room to get through without cutting off your trachea].  We were not allowed to carry our cameras for most of the tour [lest we drop them], but we were allowed to take some pictures in certain areas.  This tour is definitely not for the faint of heart [that's you Mom and Dad], but learning about Mayan history and tradition was fascinating [they believed the cave was an entrance to the underworld and they would drug sacrifices using frogs in order to kill them to appease the Gods].

[A piece of pottery with a monkey carved on it]

[Remains of a 18-22 year old female sacrifice]

  [Me with my Mayan warrior face paint complements of our tour guide]

Besides minor cuts, bruises, and damaged pride, we all escaped with little injury to our persons and are ready to get back to the nitty gritty of class again tomorrow.  I can't believe this is my last week here in Belize!  While I will miss some things [the animals, the nature, some of the food, my classmates, and my long nails (explanation:  I'm too paranoid to bite them considering all the dirt/animals/feces I handle on a daily basis, so now they are longer than I ever remember them being], I can't wait to ride on a paved road, sleep in my bed, and see my friends [Oh, and my family too I guess]. 

Cheers! 

It's the End of the World as We Know it [And I Feel Fine]

I know movies and books say that when you think you are going to die your life passes before your eyes.  I can now say for sure that it is not true.  When you think you are going to die, you laugh hysterically.

On our way to the spay/neuter clinic in San Antonio [the same path we took the day before] the girls and I joked about the car stalling yesterday, joking about the wrath of Mayan gods and their ability to know when you are talking about the end of the world [in which Erika replied that it is all a bunch of "Hibity-Gibity".  Unfortunately for us, it appears God has a sick sense of humor that manifested in the form of the breaks failing as we sped down an unpaved hill on a mountain.  We knew it was bad when Dr. Emma [who was driving] started to yell "SHIT! SHIT"  with a chorus of screeches and crunches coming from the van.  Since we all apparently found our potential demise via van smashing funny, everyone in the car laughed their way as we coasted down the hill [so I may be exaggerating the story, we're all fine.  No one freak out].   Luckily Dr. Isabelle wasn't far behind and brought us to the clinic.

The spays and neuters went by quickly considering the fact that we had a lot less to do than we did in Sarteneja.  However, we did do a spay on a bitch that was pregnant [avert your eyes children, this one is pretty gory].

 
 We did get a sweet new ride to take us back into town to pick up our fixed [cursed] van.

[They see us rollin' they hatein']

When we finished around noon, it was raining pretty hard and none of us were really up for river tubing.  Instead we decided to check out the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich [as if the Mayans hadn't caused us enough trouble] where they apparently held temple services [and maybe had a few human sacrifices?].

 

The walk up to the ruins was pretty rough [I noticed right away that we could've driven up, but Dr. Emma said we could use the exercise -_-].  I must say, I don't think I've ever been to a more beautiful place in my life.  The view from the top was breathtaking and I wished I could've brought a book and read up there all day.  We had fun taking various pictures around the ruins and goofing off.

We had a delicious dinner at Dr. T's house where he had a barbecue and made lamb [freshly slaughtered, and yes mom, I tried it].  Afterwords we hit a local bar where there was dancing in the rain, taking a photo-shoot in a cemetery, a drink called "the horny monkey [somehow someone ordered that for me], and a discussion about "paunches".

Tomorrow we are going to ATM cave [which has apparently been featured in national geographic] for an intense hike and swim through the jungle.

Cheers!


 

Jungle Love

Some days I wish I had the Winchester brothers on speed-dial. The morning started off with a series of bizarre events that began with my inability to sleep more than two-hours at a time.  Not only did I wake up constantly, but I also kept imagining tarantulas crawling in my bed.  At breakfast everyone confessed that they have all been having creepy dreams/hallucinations as well [we came to the conclusion that they must wash our sheets in LSD or we are living on an ancient Mayan burial ground].

On the way up to the horseback riding resort, we passed several Mayan villages and got to discussing the validity of the prediction that the world is ending in 2012.  Just as the conversation got interesting, our huge diesel van stalled ON AN UNPAVED ROAD ON THE SLOPE OF A MOUNTAIN.  We figured it was nothing that restarting the car wouldn't fix, and we were on our way again...at least for another 3 minutes.  Our car stopped again and we decided to STFU about Mayans and potential worldwide Armageddon.

 

  [SAVE US, BOYS]

Luckily we survived the mountain climb without getting attacked by pumas/jaguars/yetis and made it to the ranch [where we exchanged manual labor for free rides through the rainforest].  We started off treating a 10 day old foal who had run into a barbed wire fence and had open wounds all over her front.  After applying iodine to clean the injury, our group split into two with Me, Serina, and Hot Sauce going with Dr. T to perform spays and neuters on the owners dogs while everyone else took the first ride in the woods.  

[The filly who we named Isis getting her wounds cleaned]

[Closing up "El Tigre"]

The resort fed us a delicious lunch of chicken, rice, and beans [drenched in Marie Sharp's Hot Sauce, my new vice] before saddling up and taking our turn on the trails.  Serina and I were the only experienced riders in our group, but the guide let everyone canter through the open fields and trot in certain areas [reminding me that I do not have $420 to spend on lessons at UConn *cue depression*].  At then end of the trail they let us dismount and take a break at a stream far back in the forest [IT WAS SO GREEN].  The ride took about two hours, and while I have a feeling we'll be walking sideways for days it was totally worth it.

[Me and BuenAmigo and Serina and Smokey]

After our ride we got back just in time to learn how to draw blood from the jugular vein of a horse.  When taking blood in a horse, only the needle is inserted into the neck and then a syringe is added after you "hit" the vein.  However, we didn't have gloves with us so our hands were covered in blood during the transition of adding the syringe to the needle that was dripping blood [Erika said she felt like Lady Macbeth].

 

Tomorrow we are doing another spay/neuter clinic in the town San Antonio and afterwords we are going to have a relaxing afternoon river tubing in the jungle.

Cheers!

 [The view from my horse]

Got Milk?

Even after almost 3 weeks here, I still haven't completely adjusted to being a "morning person" and after yesterday's adventure with the sheep we all had a little trouble getting up for 5:30 breakfast.  After a short trip down the road, we arrived at Super "M" Farms [at the ungodly hour of 6:45] to milk cows.  It was really cool seeing the set-up of the facility considering everything was built out of wood instead of metal.

After milking and giving ivermectin to the herd, we castrated the ADORABLE bull calf who loved sucking on hands [and anything else he could get his mouth on].

Since we were practically up early enough to see the sunrise, we finished working with the cows quickly and got to take another leisurely trip into San Ignacio to grab food at the Taco Shack [again] and shop for souvenirs.  Somehow we convinced Dr. Emma to take us to Sweet Ting [we had to twist her arm REALLY HARD *end sarcasm*] where I added Rocky Road and Mexican Chocolate Cake to my growing list of things that will one day give me diabetes. 

After a quick lecture at 2:30, we had the rest of the day off [most of us spent it sleeping].  We had chilli for dinner and Serina asked for milk to drink on the side [we both share a common love for the beverage].  Unfortunately, the milk was powdered and tasted like muddy water [not cool].  Tomorrow I''m looking forward to going horseback riding through the jungle considering its been almost a year since I've been on a horse    -_-

Cheers!