On Being a Bumbling Bat Biologist

Well, the last few days have been quite the adventure!

Amy and I have been running, bussing, hiking, backpacking, taxiing, and motorcycling around Bolivia meeting tons of amazing bat biologists and talking to community members around my field sites. I have the best field assistant-friend ever!

Amy and me in Cochabamba, happy after meeting Luis Aguirre, one of the most influential bat biologists in Bolivia.

I received my Bolivian collection permits a few days ago, so we’re planning to begin fieldwork next week in the La Paz department. Our task for the last two days was to talk with Padre Emilio at the Carmen Pampa agricultural university, outside of Coroico. I have sites in both Carmen Pampa and Coroico, so it was important to get his approval.

The diverse tropical forests surrounding Coroico are called Yungas, meaning 'warm earth' or 'warm Andes' in the native Andean languages of Quechua and Aymara. They represent a transitional zone between the colder mountain peaks and the Amazonian forests that lay east of the mountains. The best part is, bats love them!

Padre Emilio wasn’t around on Friday, so we searched for bats around our hostel’s property and ended up watching a bunch of them hunt for insects above the pool.  A ridiculously beautiful Andean rainstorm shut down our night at a less than ideal place to sleep, and an 8:00 am meeting with Padre Emilio meant an early morning.

After taking the half-hour trip to Carmen Pampa, a quick survey of the people on campus* informed us that we were, indeed, on the wrong campus. Luckily, the right campus was only about two miles away. Unluckily, it was straight up a monstrous, muddy mountain… and the taxi left us at the bottom while we were asking around for Padre Emilio.

At this point, it was about 7:55, and we began the hike up. Do to my efforts at traveling light, my footwear for this trek was flip-flops (Amy, the much wiser, was wearing hiking boots). After a few failed, and slightly embarrassing, attempts at flagging down micros (public transport vans) heading from the lower campus to the upper campus, a kind soul happened to drive by on a dirt bike.

My feelings at this point can only be described as desperation. I was 15 minutes late for a critical meeting, hadn’t eaten breakfast, and was covered in mud. The biker offered a ride, and I hopped on to find Padre Emilio. Amy, bless her heart, finished the walk.

Turns out, Padre Emilio is awesome! He started the meeting with: “Ok, you tell me what you want to do, and I will tell you yes”. We get to start fieldwork on Wednesday, and he may even come into the field with us to learn about bats!

Covered in mud, hungry, exhausted, but laughing, we returned to the hostel in want of breakfast and a shower. Upon discovering a shower filled with mold, huge spiders, and a fist-sized cockroach, we packed up, laughing harder, and hiked down the hill to town. 

After an intense couple of weeks, views like this remind me that there's nothing else I would rather being doing than exactly what I'm doing now. 

Overall, while this particular excursion has had its ups and downs, I really can’t do anything but look back and chuckle. Despite the stress of starting fieldwork from zero in a foreign country where communication is far from ideal, it appears that, with many more bumbling mishaps, things will work out.

Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

*Often times, when people here don’t know the answer to your questions, they make something up. It is considered ruder to say you don’t know than to give an incorrect answer. Thus, the strategy is to survey a crowd when you have a question. The most common answer, so far, has usually been the best option.