Estados Unidos

Despite the best efforts of Brazilian Air Traffic Control, I arrived back in the US yesterday. My adventure began as I went to the airport for my flight out of Fortaleza to Sao Paulo, only to learn that it ws delayed by over 4 hours due to the continued air traffic control slowdown in the country. This delay would mean that I would likely miss my connecting flight in Sao Paulo to Washington D.C.

Fortunately, after I learned of the delay, I was able to talk to a representative from the airline that I was scheduled to fly from Fortaleza, TAM Brazilian Airlines, who agreed that the airline would pay to put me on an earlier direct flight to Sao Paulo with another of the Brazilian airlines, Gol.

Thanks to this change, I was able to arrive in Sao Paulo with ample time to collect my baggage and check in for my connecting flight with United. This United flight was delayed 12 hours on the previous night due to an aircraft problem, but I was told that the flight would depart on time on this night. Indeed, after clearing customs, we boarded the flight 15 minutes before the scheduled departure time, and seemed on course for an ontime departure as the doors were closed and we prepared to push back from the gate. Alas, Air Traffic Control struck again, this time as Brasilia Air Traffic Control handed down a 2 hour takeoff hold, delaying our takeoff. In the aftermath of the Gol crash, underpaid and overworked controllers have been refusing to handle the usual number of flights leading to widespread delays, particulary in Sao Paulo and Brasilia. In this case, our flight would fly through Brasilia airspace, thus the reason for the delay. Finally, after two hours of watching a movie on the inflight entertainment system, we took off bound for D.C. After a 9 hour flight, with little sleep, but many hours of listening to the collection of Christmas music playing on the plane's audio entertainment system (the same 20-25 songs over and over again), I arrived in a chilly and rainy Washington. Indeed the 40 degree weather was quite a shock as I arrived in shorts and sandals. dressed more appropriately for the 90 degree and humid weather of Fortaleza than the early winter weather of our nation's capital.

I'll spend the next two weeks in the US spending time with family and friends and heading to Charlottesville for a few days to set up things for my fourth year and to pick up supplies for Brazil before I return for the last 5 months of my fellowship.

Feliz Natal!

Feliz Natal!

Feliz Natal (Merry Christmas) to all!

It seems odd to be uttering the phrase as I sit here in 88 degree weather (with lows around 77), but as our lab Christmas party today reminded me, it is indeed nearly Christmas. I wanted to wish all of my friends and family back in the US a Merry Christmas in this season of remembering Christ's birth.

This week has been quite busy as I finished up some lab work on Monday and Tuesday, also celebrating my 25th birthday on Tuesday with dinner at a Mexican restaurant with friends. Tonight I'll be packing because tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) I will fly out of Fortaleza on a flight to São Paulo, where I'll board a flight at some time around midnight bound for Washington D.C. I'll be spending the next two weeks in the US while our lab is closed for Christmas, spending time with family and also spending some time back in Charlottesville planning for my fourth year of medical school and getting some supplies together for my research projects in the second half of the year.

Again, I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, and hope to see some of you all while I am visiting the US!

On the Proper Use of Mosquito Nets

I have previously slept under a mosquito net during some of my travels in Africa, where malaria is a serious risk, but didn't really consider using a net during my first few months in Brazil. Fortaleza, unlike the Amazon region, is not an area where malaria is endemic. We do ahve a significant presence of dengue, a different mosquito-borne illness, but it is transmitted by a different type of mosquito that is more active during the day. Since mosquito nets did not appear necessary from the standpoint of disease prevention, I never really gave the idea a thought until the past few weeks.

Since I live so close to the water, we have quite a concentration of mosquitoes around each night. Despite my best efforts at repelling the annoying insects, I found myself waking up with multiple mosquito bites each night. Finally, Nate and I went to Mercado Central in search of mosquito nets to cure this problem. We quickly obtained the necessary nets, and returned home only to realize that we would need some form of string or rope to suspend the nets over our beds. Undaunted, I headed off to the oceanfront market in search of an enterprising salesman willing to sell me some of their string or rope for what would likely be a ridiculous price. Indeed, after much searching, I found just such an entrepreneur who sold me enough of a plastic string/rope that would function to suspend my mosquito net.

I returned home and quickly set up the net, draping it around my bed, nearly touching the floor on all sides as shown below. This seemed to work well for a few nights, as I only received a few bites each night, which I assumed occurred prior to when I went to bed. Unfortunately, my confidence in my initial implementation of the net proved unfounded when put to the test by one of the worst nights for mosquitoes in recent history. On the third night after I set up my net, I awoke at 3 am covered in mosquito bites with approximately 50 mosquitoes flying around inside my net. Apparently they flew under my bed and found their way inside the net, at which point they were trapped by the very device that was designed to prevent their attacks.

This lead to a sleepless, itchy night that was followed by a day of reevaluation of the net design. I quickly realized that it was apparently quite important to ensure that all sides of the net were tucked tightly under the mattress to prevent the entry of fierce Brazilian mosquitoes (which I assure you are more aggressive than their American counterparts). After this bit of reengineering, I have had a week and a half of mosquito-free nights. Photos follow of the incorrect and correct approaches to mosquito net suspension, especially useful if you need to construct a mosquito net yourself...

Not the Way to Prevent Mosquito Bites


The Appropriate Method...

Amazon Days 5-8

Finally, the remainder of the report on my trip to the Amazon...

On our fifth day, we awoke in the jungle and began the journey back to our base camp. This trip was relatively uneventful, but our voyage later that morning would prove slightly more interesting. We set out for a rubber plantation on two boats, and en route, the motor failed on one of the boats. We were able to tow the other boat the remainder of the way and continued with our trip.


Rubber was a huge industry in the late 19th century in the Amazon, but after the seeds for the trees were exported to Southeast Asia, the rubber industry in Brazil all but disappeared. Still, a few rubber plantations remain as tourist attractions in the region. We were able to visit one and view various creations such as gloves and rubber boots. We were also able to observe a demonstration of how latex is collected and used to make rubber objects. After this brief trip, we returned to our base camp for lunch, and returned to Manaus shortly after lunch.

In Manaus, we relaxed a bit before joining the Irish and Australian girls for dinner. We then headed to bed to rest for a very early flight to Santarém the following morning.

Day 6: Santarém
We arose at around 2 am to prepare for a 4:40 am flight to Santarém. Santarém is a smaller city than Manaus, but also lies at the junction of two large rivers, in this case the Rio Tapajos and the Rio Amazonas. After a long bus ride into town, we arrived in the downtown area and began searching for a hotel at which we could recover from the early morning flight. Our first two options proved to have no vacancies, but on our third attempt we found a hotel. After resting for a while, we went out in search of something to do for the day. After being offered some expensive afternoon boat tours, we instead decided to head to Alter do Chão, a highly recommended river beach. We rode a bus to the beach (about 1 hour) and arrived to find an incredible beach on the Rio Tapajo and Lago Verde. After sitting on the beach for a few hours, playing hearts, I noticed that there were many people kayaking, and then spotted a kayak rental place. I assumed that this would be an expensive activity, only to learn that the kayak rental cost only $2.50 an hour. Chris B and I immediately jumped on this opportunity, and spent the last hour before sunset kayaking across Lago Verde. This proved to be one of the highlights of the Amazon trip, and I only wish that we had discovered the kayak rental a few hours earlier. After watching an incredible sunset over the river, we headed back to Santarém to rest before another early morning flight to Belém.

Days 7-8: Belém
We spent our final two days in Belém, a city located near the mouth of the Amazon. nate had wanted to journey to an island near Belém famous for its parrots, but alas the parrots migrate before November, thus there were no parrots that weekend. Instead, we spent Friday resting as it rained in Belém, and played quite a bit of hearts. We visited the port that evening and dined at a converted warehouse that has been modified to house great restaurants.

On Saturday, we were able to go on a boat tour to an island near Belém. During the trip, we played more hearts, listened to live music, and watched Chris B attempt to dance forró. After having lunch on the island, we returned to Belém for dinner, and after dinner journeyed to the airport to wait for a very early return flight to Fortaleza (our third early morning in four days...). After a few hours of sleep in the airport, we returned to Fortaleza to resume our research, after an enjoyable week in the Amazon.

Returning to Base Camp after a Night in the Jungle

A Rubber Tree


Rubber Boots
Returning from the Rubber Plantation

Arrival: Santarém International Airport

Sunrise at the Airport

Downtown Santarém

Alter do Chão

Alter do Chão

Sunset at Alter do Chão

Sunset at Alter do Chão

Sunset at Alter do Chão

Sunset at Alter do Chão

Sunset at Alter do Chão

Chris and Chris at Alter do Chão

Sunset at Alter do Chão

Belém

Our Island Tour

Chris Aboard the Boat


Sunset in Belém

The Boat

Work Update

I do plan to finish the chronicle of my Amazon vacation from last month, but wanted to post a brief update on my research. We are preparing to begin the data analysis for the physical fitness study that I focused much of my time on for the first 3 months in Fortaleza. As soon as the database is created with our data, we'll begin the process of analyzing the data looking for correlations between historical data and our new data.

On another front, I have encountered some challenges in getting my study of visual function started. I continue to await approval from the ethics committee. Since my study involves a US principal investigator, I will have to resubmit the protocol to a review board in Brasilia, rather than simply the local review board. I also continue to work on the protocol for this study in English for the UVA review board. I hope to resolve these issues and begin work on this study in January.

Finally, things are picking up with my work in the laboratory. Along with Ila and Andressa, the Brasilian Fogarty Fellows, I have the task of getting PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) tests for three organisms (Cryptosporidium, Giardia, and Enteroaggregative Escherichia Coli) up and running for a large ongoing study. After months of waiting for necessary supplies, we now have most (but still not all) of the supplies we need, and I believe that we now have the Cryptosporidium assay up and running, and hope that the other two will be functioning after another week of work.

And so despite some frustrations, I'm optimistic that research is moving along well. Over the next few weeks before the Christmas break, I'll be working on all three of the above studies, and hopefully improving my Portuguese further, and continuing to enjoy Fortaleza.