Old People

So, 2013 kinda sucked but it was pretty amazing. Do you get what I mean by that? I mean there were good parts and bad parts.

In fact, the year of 2013 held my lowest point in life... And my absolute highest too!!! What!? Lol that's pretty cool I think. Should I list out some thank yous?... Or do you already know who you are? 

What the hecckk is gonna happen to me in 2014? Step 1: Make it home from Africa alive.

The chimps run around this little island of trees like they own the place. Jk, they do own it. The guides are so good at keeping track of them and predicting where they're going next! They always put possibilities into percentages. "90% sure they will come back before bed." "50% chance they will cross the road." Regardless of the probabilities.... We always wait for them.

I just can't believe the old lady chimps here. When they walk into the observation area, my jaw drops. They are so old. You can just SEE that they've seen so much. I see them walking around so slow and I feel like their bones seem alarmingly fragile... But 20 minutes later I will see them 30 meters high in a tree! They walk like severely old humans do; kind of hunched over and inflexibly. And a recent study showed that they groom each other with their faces further away from their partner's fur. Does that make sense? Ok, just imagine trying to show your parents a text message... They always shove the phone farther from their face so that they can see. Now do you get it? Lol these old ladies! 

Matsuzawa said these mats are why he has lasted doing this field work for 28 years. 

Two days ago a monstrous tourist vehicle showed up on our lawn with 23 white people, one Indian, and one Japanese on it. These people got out if the vehicle and started setting up camp. Their bustruck had "London-Cape Town-Cairo 40 Weeks" written on the side of it. Welcome to Guinea! Apparently Bossou has ended up on some tourist lists, so every once in a while a bus full of Europeans will pull up and dump their belongings in the front yard of our establishment.

Lol which is fine with me. I don't really care. But some of the people here HATE IT. I mean, it's less quiet now... And there are more people standing around the well. But these people bring money to the town and to our guides. The tourists will pay $100 each for 1 hour of chimp tracking (not 100% guaranteed to see chimps). Stop bring mad at ecotourism. 

However... Some weird things happen when these guys come in. A) White men always seem to think that taking off their shirt is appropriate. No one else in Africa is shirtless; just the white men. And B) The doorless outdoor shower is positioned in a way that when I emerged from the woods after work yesterday- all I could see was the pant-less & soapy bottom of a British man. 

As soon as these people got out of their van, an Australian dude got out a soccer ball to kick with a lone Guinean child. This action had the same effect as throwing a potato chip to a single bird on a beach does. As in, in about 20 seconds there were 400 Guinean children running around my winter home. Screaming and laughing. It was kinda cute... But I didn't understand how the guy was planning on getting his soccer ball back, lol. 

Last thing about the tourists... As they were packing up their things to leave yesterday, they all took turns gathering up the hoards of children for photographs. These photographs will become their Facebook banner photo that says, "Look! I went to Africa and saw a bunch of Black African children!" Cool dude, cool. I actually can't put into words what's weird about this... I've been thinking about it all day. "Objectify" keeps coming to my mind.

There are 4 other girls here. They just arrived back from the Nimba Mountains. They work up there for 10 days, then come back to rest for 5. They are trying to habituate a new group of chimps up there AKA trying to get the chimps unafraid of people. They are back now. And... The whole time they were gone I was trying to figure out why they made fun of Matsuzawa so much. I wanted to be on the Cool Team. But really... I can't figure it out. Matsuzawa is a well-mannered, organized, powerful, and reasonable man. And, he takes responsibility for his actions. AND- He is weird because he's old! Duh! Big deal! Young people get so caught up in old people's weirdness. LOOK PAST IT, losers. And if you do- you'll find that these people basically know everything. Old people were the original Google. 

More about how cool chimps are:

  The chimps here at Bossou get thirsty because it's kinda hot sometimes. But chimps don't have cups or bottled water. So instead, they need to drink rain water. OR the water that Matsuzawa puts into a hole in a tree at the outdoor laboratory. But omg, how do they get that water out from down inside the tree!? I'll tell you. 

   They use TOOLS. They just make a little tool to get the water out! Step 1) Look around for a large, sturdy leaf. Step 2) Yank the leaf from its branch. Step 3) Crunch leaf in mouth, but not too much. Step 4) Remove leaf from mouth and dip down into water hole! Step 5) Quickly transfer watery leaf to mouth.       REPEAT!

 The folds in the crunched leaf provide little spaces for water to be held. All of the chimps here do this.... Even the tiny 2 year old! Although, he usually grabs the old tools his momma just used, instead of making his own. This is a pretty neat sequence of events to watch. Quite impressive! 

Today I play soccer and tomorrow I will tell you about it. 

TCHAU, FEIAS!! xoxoxo