Dispatches From The Field

20 July, 2003 -- Luke Dollar

Siestas

I constantly forget that, although it is July here, that it’s still the middle of winter. In the Southern hemisphere, the seasons are swapped. Our winters back home in North Carolina are Madagascar’s summers. Conversely, summer vacation at Duke falls during the Malagasy winter. The reason that’s so easy to forget is that, in Ankarafantsika, it is still hotter during the day this time of year than our southern, humid “dog days” of American summer.

This stifling midday heat has led most people inhabiting the tropics to adopt what I think is one of the best ideas ever proposed – siestas. Since we’re up and ready around 6, a bit of post-lunch downtime is almost mandatory before heading back out for more work later in the day. Most of us sleep or at least cat-nap. Others read, chat, or play cards…..but almost no one moves very much – its too darn hot (the animals in the forest aren’t doing much, either). As the sun starts to decline from directly overhead, we all begin to stir once more for another full day’s worth of work, hiking, and data collection on the other side of noon.

-Luke Dollar