Of Preparation and Chiggers
As way of introduction to my running journal of my journey to Panama, allow me to share with you an email I received not too long ago:
And so I buy 100% DEET spray, ammonia itch sticks, duct tape to tape up my pant/shoe boundary, and long socks. Of course I should probably mention that I'm not too good in hot, sweltering weather. My parents (mostly my mom's side I think) gave me genes that blessed me with a somewhat hairy and sweaty phenotype. Put me in any conditions above 70 degrees and the sweat begins. Needless to say, Panama features temperatures easily in the 80's at night and humidity around 80%. I'm very excited.
And so I bought a fresh Paul Pierce sweat band.
Why am I going to Panama? For work. I work for a company called the JASON Foundation for Education. Every year we publish a middle-school supplementary curriculum that uses real science and scientists to introduce students to a different important ecosystem on Earth. This year the topic is rainforests and the location is Panama. Tens of thousands of students across the country have been learning about Panama this year, and the culmination is a live Expedition. JASON staff, host researchers, and about 20 select students will be traveling to Panama and producing a live broadcast, to be beamed via satellite to auditoriums across the country. For 6 hours a day, for 11 days, we will be scrambling to put together amazing stories of research and discovery, all while wondering if that growing itch might be a dreaded chigger.
I will be coming at you live via this journal: The Panama Syndrome. I will be on Barro Colorado Island, an island in the middle of Gatun Lake. This lake was formed when the Panama Canal was built and the large volume (and pressure) of water provides the locks in the canal with water to raise massive cargo ships. When this lake was created, a large hill was surrounded with water and the top of that hill became Barro Colorado Island (BCI). On BCI is a research station: the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). We will be working with scientists and staff at STRI to create some pretty amazing programs.
What will I be doing? Well first I'll be getting computer networks set up. For you geeks out there, the satellite connection we use also carries a massive internet connection, which I'll be using to create a LAN. Once done with this, I will work with the students on the Expedition (called Argonauts) to post their daily journals on our web site (no, not this one).
So here we go. I will be updating all of you with whatever regularity I can spare. I'm going in blind, never having gone to a country more exotic than Ireland, and with the aforementioned issue with humidity. So until then, peruse the Schedule and Glossary pages, and I will see you again from the rainforest.
Written by Orion Smith on Jan 10, 2004 at 1:05pm
| Chiggers cause intense itching and are so small that you can't see them with the naked eye. You may not even be aware of their presence until you begin to itch or notice the raised, red spots that signal their presence in your skin. The big troublemakers are the chigger larvae that attach to human and animal "hosts" to feed. They don't suck blood or burrow into skin. Instead, they sink their tiny mouthparts into a skin pore or hair follicle and inject a digestive enzyme that liquefies skin cells. The fluid also hardens the surrounding flesh forming a feeding tube through which the larvae suck the liquefied skin cells. After about four days of feeding, the larvae drop off, leaving behind red welts that can continue to itch for a week or longer. Chiggers don't cause disease, but if you scratch the welts they can become infected. |
And so I buy 100% DEET spray, ammonia itch sticks, duct tape to tape up my pant/shoe boundary, and long socks. Of course I should probably mention that I'm not too good in hot, sweltering weather. My parents (mostly my mom's side I think) gave me genes that blessed me with a somewhat hairy and sweaty phenotype. Put me in any conditions above 70 degrees and the sweat begins. Needless to say, Panama features temperatures easily in the 80's at night and humidity around 80%. I'm very excited.
And so I bought a fresh Paul Pierce sweat band.
Why am I going to Panama? For work. I work for a company called the JASON Foundation for Education. Every year we publish a middle-school supplementary curriculum that uses real science and scientists to introduce students to a different important ecosystem on Earth. This year the topic is rainforests and the location is Panama. Tens of thousands of students across the country have been learning about Panama this year, and the culmination is a live Expedition. JASON staff, host researchers, and about 20 select students will be traveling to Panama and producing a live broadcast, to be beamed via satellite to auditoriums across the country. For 6 hours a day, for 11 days, we will be scrambling to put together amazing stories of research and discovery, all while wondering if that growing itch might be a dreaded chigger.
I will be coming at you live via this journal: The Panama Syndrome. I will be on Barro Colorado Island, an island in the middle of Gatun Lake. This lake was formed when the Panama Canal was built and the large volume (and pressure) of water provides the locks in the canal with water to raise massive cargo ships. When this lake was created, a large hill was surrounded with water and the top of that hill became Barro Colorado Island (BCI). On BCI is a research station: the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). We will be working with scientists and staff at STRI to create some pretty amazing programs.
What will I be doing? Well first I'll be getting computer networks set up. For you geeks out there, the satellite connection we use also carries a massive internet connection, which I'll be using to create a LAN. Once done with this, I will work with the students on the Expedition (called Argonauts) to post their daily journals on our web site (no, not this one).
So here we go. I will be updating all of you with whatever regularity I can spare. I'm going in blind, never having gone to a country more exotic than Ireland, and with the aforementioned issue with humidity. So until then, peruse the Schedule and Glossary pages, and I will see you again from the rainforest.
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