El Eden

As the end of the year approaches, I'm beginning to reminisce about all the amazing experiences of this year. One of the most fantastic trips ever, was my trip to Mexico. In late-June, I traveled to the Yucatan Peninsula with Trip Jennings of EP Films to document a jaguar and puma collaring project in El Eden Ecological Reserve. We spent 2-1/2 weeks in the jungle with no phone or internet connection. I have to admit, I was a bit afraid of what would happen to me or my life during this period of disconnection, but when I got there it was totally fine! In fact, I didn't miss it very much. There were about a dozen of us on the research station, including biologists, a veterinarian, jaguar "hunters" and their dogs, as well as the director of the reserve.

Trip and I stayed in a small cabana on stilts that had two lightbulbs and a gravity shower. I had my bed set up on the second tier of the bunk so that when I sat up on my bed, I was looking right out of the window (well, more like square openings covered with mosquito mesh). About a minute to the main station at a quick pace, the cabana was truly surrounded by nature. There were three vultures that perched on the cabana every afternoon, and Trip and I joked that they were waiting for us inept foreigners to die.

Two days after our arrival at the reserve, about a dozen goats were brought in to be used as live bait for the big cats. An old jaguar hunter named Don Poncho, who had turned to conservation work arrived with his son and another young disciple, who were in charge of running with the dogs. We awoke every morning at 3 a.m. and embarked on the bumpiest rides of our lives, through the pre-dawn darkness to check for dead goats. Sometimes the rains had washed away the scent trails, but two times the dogs caught the scent and we crashed through the sweaty jungle as the sun rose above us.

We once chased a jaguar into a cave, but were not able to lure it out. But Trip was able to sneak into the cave with his camera and came face to face with its fearful roar. Another time, the dogs chased a female puma onto a tree so that Cuah was able to dart it with a tranquilizer. She fell off the tree then promptly kept running through the jungle again. She put up a good fight, but finally passed out. After we put radio collar on her, Trip suggested that she be named after me! This sweet gesture has become one of the nicest memories of the summer.

El Eden, a set on Flickr.