Pictures from the field day 7 and 8

Yesterday was a beautiful day. We hiked out about an hour in the mud - it is unrelenting here - and finished the Mahoe tree study in plot 117. I, along with Jean, Ali and Karen were in charge of measuring the canopy. Jean and I chose inline because we thought it would be easy...HA!!!! We were all over the place, slipping and sliding. We worked for a long time and I was starting to get a bit tired and weary of the walk back which is ALL UPHILL!!! Not kidding. Jean and I left the plot about 15 minutes before anyone else and I still got overtaken. I have been using BenGay all day today. I think it is the first time I have ever used it. Lots of firsts for everyone on this trip. Today was much easier. It was only about a 15 minute hike, in the mud and all uphill (I don't think anyplace here is downhill except where we work and then I am generally sliding down it!!) We worked with hardwoods today and I am sure that I had at least 100 spiders on me somewhere at some point during the day. I felt something tickling my ear and Jean told me it was a stick bug. I try not to shriek but it is virtually impossible. Any time there was a scream somebody would say, "That's Julie!" We hiked around in a VERY dense area looking for hardwoods to measure. It was very easy and relaxing and thankfully we had a machete and clippers to get through some areas. It was THAT dense! Karen and I started back a few minutes before everyone else and cleared about 10,000 more spiders that had crossed our path. I then returned to camp, showered, which is the absolute best part of the day, and packed to get ready for my 7 1/2 hour flight home tomorrow!!! Enough writing...I have many beautiful pictures to share...