I guess this is as good a time as any to describe why we are here. Next week there is a big emergency management exercise. The Guyanese will be simulating a hypothetical flood event and trying to coordinate a response. I have constructed numerical models of the river and watershed that will be used to predict how much flooding will occur, where it will occur and how bad it will be. We are here for the previous week, to train them in the software and get them familiar with the model I built. The short term goal would be that they could use the model to predict flood impact. The long term goal would be that a small, interagency team would emerge from the class that could model additional systems for flooding and water supply objectives. The sustainability plan involves three professors who are taking the class and will, presumably, teach it as part of the hydrology curriculum. I think the long term benefit here has a pretty high likelihood, primarily because of Kester. He has a plan. He made this happen, and always seems to have something cooking.
Today during tea break we were interviewed by the local media. I am not sure if it was TV or print but there was a video camera and they took some footage of Mark reviewing the workshop. They primarily asked about our purpose, what we are teaching about and if there is more training planned.
The students spent a good chunk of today just working with the local model I constructed. This was the major change we made to the schedule. We dumped a couple of the more theoretical lectures and invented 8 tasks for them to do with the local model. I think this was a significant improvement of over the original agenda. It was much less directed and I feel like the students did very well. I think it also demonstrated the utility of the model since they were simulating the actual 2005 event which brought flood disaster preparedness to the forefront of the national consciousness. There were a couple of things that didn’t go as planned, but, on the whole, the exercise was really valuable for a workshop written quickly over beers (and fake beer). It was a fun day because I am pretty proud of the model (which I banged out in under a week, though it is more of a month effort). There is a screen shot of the hydrologic model above. While Mark lectured I tried to convert my steady flow hydraulic model of the local river into an unsteady flow model with remarkable success.
After class we had the driver drop us off at the zoo. It is part of a big botanical park. I went last time (see previous posts), but it was still very fun. A couple of the animals were out that were not out last time including many of the small cats. The Ocelot is my favorite and two of them were out.
We were also impressed with the Harpy Eagles. The sign says that they seldom fly above the jungle canopy. The mental picture I have of eagles soaring on the wind surveying the land for a meal just don’t work. They mainly eat monkeys, sloths and Cotamundis (with the occasional large lizard). Seems like an ecological niche more commonly inhabited by owls (which the zoo also had). But these are enormous birds (up to 25 lbs). (This also led to the realization that Mark and I were both big Piers Anthony fans as adolescents).
The other interesting thing was that one of the monkeys was clearly on the outside of the exhibit. There was a monkey on the lam. We saw him through multiple ceiling bars and there was no roof enclosure.
After the zoo we walked through the approximately half mile park only to find the east gate locked. But, Mark remarked, I have yet to see a fence that can effectively keep people out, and sure enough, there was a person sized hole not far from the gate.
We walked back (again, about half a mile). A horse trailer offered us a ride. We considered it but I hesitated to long and probably for the better. The embassy has a strict no bus rule but is silent on the issue of horse pulled trailer. I have to believe that we would have been violating the spirit of the law, even if we were within the protection of the text itself.
As it became clear we were approaching the hotel we ate at what seemed to be one of the last places. It was clearly a dive, but had ‘Snapa’ (Snapper) on the menu and we decided to ‘go slumming’ a bit. But there was nice open outdoor seating on a major street so it seemed safe enough. We were not yet aware just how much that was the case. There seemed to be immediate confusion regarding our desire to get food. It became apparent (to Mark[1]) that food was not the primary, or even secondary business the establishment was peddling. It seemed the confusion regarding our order was almost intentional. It was as if they wanted us to order something they couldn’t ask us if we wanted[2]…and we later debated if one of the things we could have requested was the ‘waitress’ herself.[3]
If the food was their primary business, they weren’t very good at it. But we had been told that Chow Mein here was, in fact, noodles, but a different kind of noodles than Lo Mein. And they were. It was a spicy egg noodle. It was pretty interesting, which is really the only way I can describe the entire dining experience. We ate relatively quickly and didn’t linger long.
After that we went to a grocery a couple blocks away. There were other white people there. I think the first I had seen all week. I bought camera batteries and a Cadbury nut and fruit chocolate bar. The last time I had one of those was in Kenya. Before that, the last time I had one of those was in London. I don’t know if international travel generates a very specific craving or if these are only available outside the US…but it sure is a good chocolate bar and I didn’t eat much of my dinner.
We went back to the hotel and set up the laptops at our favorite patio to work in the mild, costal, night air. We got some work done, but the internet was not working and I faded fast. I was in bed by 10.
__________________________
[1] Throughout the trip Mark has simply been more observant than me. I don’t know if he looks around more, while I get fixated, or if he just knows what to look for, or is just more of a scientists, constantly taking in and processing data…but there were many phenomena that I would have simply overlooked, including the dinner situation.
[2] We were left with the feeling that our desire to order food and a beer, sit down, eat it and leave was, somehow, a strange request for a restaurant to honor.
[3] Upon careful analysis of the data, we have concluded that the answer is probably a disturbing yes.
No comments:
Post a Comment