Day Seven: Friday, January 24, 2003
Photos: P-3 takeoff and evening at La Casa del Camba
Lat: 17°47'20''S
Long: 63°10'30''W
Elevation: 437 meters (1,434 feet) above sea level
Weather: warm and breezy, light rain
Winds: S 30 km/h (19 mph)
Air Temp: 22.5°C (72.5°F)
Humidity: 94%

We spent another day here as cruzeños, enjoying the sights and sounds of Santa Cruz. I have had a great time here so far. The temperature has warmed a bit, although the primary winds still seem to be coming from the south.

The P-3 flew today, and Dr. Kermond and I went to the airport to film its takeoff. In order to arrive on time at the airport, I had to wake up again at 5:00 AM. On the trip to the airport today, we didn't see any animals more exotic than the occasional stray dog sleeping in the street and a couple of cows that had escaped from their pasture. The quantity of animals that run around loose, without their owners in sight, is something that always surprises people from the United States. Many of the dogs run into the street without warning, we have only narrowly avoided hitting cows with our taxi, and seeing horses trot alone along the sidewalks is a strange sight to see!

We were allowed onto the airport's runway today as the P-3 taxied for takeoff. The normal procedures today at the airport were reversed thanks to the "anti-jet" that has been blowing from Argentina. Planes generally take off towards the north, since the low-level jet can blow against the aircraft and help it to leave the ground much more quickly. Today, however, the P-3 charged southward, and the southerly winds carried it aloft after covering about a mile of runway. We watched the plane make a gradual turn back over the airport and head north, where today the meteorologists will have the opportunity to see an entirely new phenomenon.

Upon our return to the hotel, I readied myself for another day here under the tropical sun. I have been very careful to use sunblock every day down here, since the sunlight is very strong. I haven't gotten any sunburn yet, and I hope that I won't be as red as a lobster in any of my broadcasts!

I took another trip into the center of the city today, where I had the chance to see many new things. I visited a couple of places where the artesanos (artisans) make beautiful objects out of wood, cloth, and silver. The prices were all very reasonable. Sadly, one of the shops was displaying a whole jaguar skin for sale. Even though the trade in jaguar skins is illegal, many people still buy them at very high prices. Fortunately, Bolivia still has a tremendous amount of undisturbed tropical forest where these beautiful animals can still live in peace.

I never realized prior to my visit that Bolivia is an incredibly diverse country. Many people think only of the altiplano, the high mountain plain where the Inca once ruled, when they hear of Bolivia. A Bolivian friend of mine explained to us that only one third of the country is at a high elevation, and the other two thirds are low plains and tropical forest. While Spanish, Quechua, and Aymará are the official languages, many people also speak Guaraní near the border with Paraguay and Portuguese near the border with Brazil. There are even Mennonite communities here that speak German! Located at the heart of South America, Bolivia reflects the rich tapestry of cultures that cover the continent.

Tomorrow we plan to visit an old fort that the Inca once used, and we decided to rent a 4X4 truck to get there, just in case the roads aren't all paved. We had a true experience with la hora boliviana (Bolivian time) as we waited for the rental company to drop our truck off at the hotel. The company said that we'd get the vehicle at 6:30 PM, so we postponed some of our broadcast plans in order to wait for our rental. 6:30 came and went, as did 7:00 and 7:30. Finally at about 8:15 PM, a driver arrived at the hotel and dropped off the truck.

In many parts of Latin America, time is not very exact. When someone says that they'll see you at 1:00, they really mean at about 2:00 or 2:30. People from the U.S. often have a hard time accepting this routine, since we expect things to happen at the time that we decide. If we say 1:00, we mean 1:00. For this reason, the SALLJEX scientists have been telling their Bolivian counterparts that they need to prepare for a 1:00 meeting as if they were planning to meet at 11:30, in order to make sure everyone arrives on time!

This evening, all of the SALLJEX meteorologists, Ana María, John Kermond, and I went to a famous cruzeño restaurant named La Casa del Camba for dinner. Camba is the word that Bolivians use for those people who live in the lowland areas, as opposed to the collas, who live in the highlands. John Kermond filmed our experience in the restaurant, including a special greeting for all involved in the SALLJEX Project and a lot of traditional dancing! We all had a great time, and everything cost me only 62 bolivianos!

Tomorrow I hope to send all of you a report about Samaipata, the ancient Inca fort that can be found about two and a half hours from here.

Hasta mañana,
Mark (Marcos)

Interesting fact: Many of the chess sets here in Bolivia have Inca warriors on one side and Spanish soldiers on the other. The knights on the Inca side are changed to llamas, which the Inca people raised for centuries to carry loads and for their wool and meat. Llamas and alpacas are both closely related to the camel, although they don't have humps.

Questions of the Day: What are the Spanish names of some of the animals that I could see here in the mountains of South America? What are some that live in North America?

What are some adaptations that mountain animals have to survive?

In my time down here, I have been eating a lot of hamburgers and drinking soda. They are both very popular down here. How do you say them in Spanish?

Answers of the day: The question that I posed on Day Three, about what causes the different climates in Bolivia, was answered masterfully by Ms. Eisenacher's fifth grade class at Johnson Park School. Here's their answer:
"In general, the climates in Bolivia are dictated mostly by altitude, not latitude." In other words, the higher one goes up into the mountains, the colder it gets. These differences in climate are caused much more by mountain elevation than by how north or south these places are located.

The question that I asked on Day Five, regarding the price of my purchases in dollars, was also answered by Ms. Eisenacher's class. Here's what they did:

"We added 20, 25, 22, 40 together and got 107. You paid 107 bolivianos. You divide 107 by 7.50 and get 14.266667 which rounded is 4.27. If 7.50 bolivianos = $1 $14.27 is our answer!
mathematical equation: (20+25+22+40) /7.50 x 1=14.266667~$14.27
math key: ~= about(rounded answer)
/ = divided by
answer: $14.27"

Great job!

Day Six: Thursday, January 23, 2003
Photos: AASANA building and personnel at Viru Viru International Airport
Lat: 17°47'20''S
Long: 63°10'30''W
Elevation: 437 meters (1,434 feet) above sea level
Weather: cool and breezy, no rain
Winds: S 27km/hr (17 mph)
Air Temp: 25°C (77°F)
Humidity: 65%

I am very happy with all that we were able to do today, and I learned a great deal in the process.

Wake up time this morning was not quite as early as the other mornings, which was a nice change. On our way to the airport, we saw a group of wild rheas, which I have previously mentioned look very much like ostriches. I have even heard this large bird called el avestrúz here in Bolivia. I hope that my students recall what that word means. As we were in a rush to get to our meeting at the airport, however, I couldn't stop and take a picture of them. I promise to all of you that I will get a photograph of them before I leave. They were an amazing sight!

We then began our morning with a meeting between various dignitaries of the SALLJEX research project and the Regional Director of AASANA, La Administración Autónoma de Servicios Auxiliares a la Navegación Aérea (The Autonomous Administration of Auxiliary Services for Aerial Navigation). This is one name in which the acronym definitely comes in handy! Dra. Katia Romero, the Regional Director, welcomed us to her offices in traditional Bolivian fashion. Dra. Romero went around to every person and gave each a handshake and a kiss on the cheek. This is the common greeting here in Bolivia between two women, or a man and a woman. I had the chance to tell her how much children at Johnson Park School are learning about Bolivia and the SALLJEX project right now. She was very impressed! She was also given a large, framed picture of the planet Earth, as a gift for all of her support of the SALLJEX team. The meeting should be available on the website soon, en español, of course.

After the meeting, we proceeded to La División Metrorológica (Meteorological Division) of AASANA, where we met members of the staff and saw some of the weather observation projects that are being realized in Bolivia. I received a special AASANA shirt pin and a digital atlas of Bolivia from Sr. Antonio Roberto Aspiazu Cabrera, and I took pictures with him, Edwin Rodriguez, the chief officer of the Meteorological Office, and Joons Teodovich Ponce, the Jefe (Boss) of the Departamento de Operaciones (Operations Department. Among other things, Señor Ponce is in charge of the flight control tower for the airport in Santa Cruz, and he has a sister who lives in New Jersey!

Today was cool and breezy, and I found out the reason why at the 2:00 PM briefing. As you may have noticed, all of my other logs have the winds blowing from the north or the northwest. Today, the low level jet has temporarily reversed course, and is now bringing air from Patagonia, in southern Argentina, into Bolivia. South of the equator, average temperatures get cooler as one moves south, so southern Argentina can be a very cold place. The scientists would like to fly in the P-3 tomorrow in order to see this "anti-jet" while it exists.

This afternoon we made another broadcast for the web about our hotel rooms. I hope that my students won't be too disappointed to see that I'm living comfortably down here, and not "roughing it" like when I was in the Peace Corps!

This evening, I enjoyed a plato típico boliviano (traditional Bolivian dish) for dinner with Dr. Kermond, and we both had some hot chocolate to keep from shivering. I know that the cool weather here is not anything compared to the below-freezing temperatures that are chilling the eastern United States right now, but after a week here in the tropics, I've come to really enjoy and miss the warmth!

Hasta mañana,
Mark (Marcos)

Interesting fact: We learned today from Sr. Cabrera that many people in far eastern Bolivia speak Guaraní, which is an indigenous language that is very commonly spoken in Paraguay. The words jaguar, tapir, and hammock are words that we use in English that originally come from Guaraní.

Questions of the Day: Why is southern Argentina called Patagonia?

How many types of large, flightless birds can be found in the world, where do they live, and how fast can a rhea run?

Answers of the day: Since I have been asking more and more questions at the end of each log, I have been getting more and more answers. An excellent job was done by Johnson Park School this round. Ms. Demarest's class and Ms. Eisenacher's class both answered my question about the degrees of latitude and distance that I covered in my first P-3 flight, and the students of Mr. Hillman's class did a super job at answering the questions of why acronyms are used and some of the animals that can be found in the tropical forest. Ms. Demarest's class, Ms. Eisenacher's class, James, a student JP, and Ms. SanFillippo all did a very good job in identifying some of the instruments that may be found on the P-3. Please stay tuned for more information on the P-3 in web broadcasts to come!

Day Five: Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Photos: Interesting products of Bolivia
Lat: 17°47'20''S
Long: 63°10'30''W
Elevation: 437 meters (1,434 feet) above sea level
Weather: hot and humid, no rain
Winds: NW 16 km/hr (10 mph)
Air Temp: 24°C (75°F)
Humidity: 100%

I spent today on the ground in Santa Cruz, which was a big change from yesterday. The weather was nice and warm, which is quite a nice difference from the winter weather in Princeton, NJ. From talking to people who live here, I have heard that it can get cool here during their wintertime (from June to September), especially when winds come from the region of southern Argentina known as Patagonia.

I received e-mails from students who wanted to know more about the P-3 plane, so I'll let you know a little more about it right now. The people who can give a really good presentation about the P-3 are the experts that work on the plane, all of whom we hope to interview in a web broadcast. There are links to NOAA's P-3 website from this homepage- just click on the SALLJEX Research button to get there.

The P-3 that NOAA uses is a modified version of the P-3 planes that the U.S. Navy utilizes for a variety of purposes. It was originally used to hunt submarines during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. NOAA's P-3 is a very sturdy plane that conducts research on weather phenomena all over the world, and is especially used for hurricane research. The crewmembers of the P-3 have lots of great stories about the P-3 flying into the eyes of hurricanes, being struck by lightning, and traveling throughout the world. Since the P-3 is originally a Navy plane, many members of the flight crew served in the military before working for NOAA. The plane is packed with custom made computers and instruments, and I hope that the P-3 team can explain all of their functions to you soon!

The P-3 flew today, but there was not an available seat for me this time. The meteorologists with the SALLJEX project have a total of 100 hours of flight time in the P-3 to do all of their research. For that reason, they often need all of the available seats on the plane to get the most data collection out of each flight. The plane took off today at 3:00 PM, and will return about 11:00 PM or midnight. This time, the aircraft is flying south into Argentina to observe a major storm front that is developing there. We will hopefully have the chance to fly again in the next few days. We didn't have a 2:00 PM briefing today, since many of the major planners of the SALLJEX project were flying on the plane.

Last night, a huge rain and hailstorm struck La Paz, one of the two capitals of Bolivia. Many of the photographs in the newspapers today show cars stuck in piles of hail up to their windows, as well as the severe flooding and damage that occurred as a result. The following website has links to all of the major newspapers of Bolivia for more information:

http://www.prensaescrita.com/america/bolivia.php

There was not any severe weather here in Santa Cruz last evening, fortunately.

I have included with my daily log today some pictures of the incredibly beautiful artwork that is produced by artisans here in Bolivia. Those products included generally come from the lowland areas, and one is a very famous South American fish. I'm sure that you'll recognize it. My students at Johnson Park will soon have the chance to look at all of them firsthand. I hope that they will enjoy seeing them!

Tomorrow is sure to be a very full and interesting day. We will have a meeting with the Regional Director of La Administración Autónoma de Servicios Auxiliares a la Navegación Aérea (The Autonomous Administration of Auxiliary Services for Aerial Navigation, or AASANA). She is in charge of the government administration here in Santa Cruz that runs the airport and atmospheric study services. We will be making another broadcast, en español, from there.

Hasta mañana,
Mark (Marcos)

Interesting fact: A number of statues of military figures here in Bolivia are shown pointing west, towards the Pacific Ocean. Bolivia did have a coastline west of the Andes Mountains at one time, but lost the territory to Chile in the War of the Pacific from 1879-1883. The statues point west in the hope that Bolivia may regain its coastline someday.

Questions of the Day: I paid for the products that you see in the photo album with bolivianos, the national currency of Bolivia. I paid 20 bolivianos for each of the ships in bottles, 25 bolivianos for the blanket under the bottles, 22 bolivianos for the fish, and 40 bolivianos for the wooden container. How much did I pay in U.S. dollars for all of them?

What is the famous fish that is in my picture? Where does it live, and what does it eat? You might be surprised by the answer…

Answer of the day: Donna Eisenacher's 5th grade class at Johnson Park School in Princeton, NJ answered my second daily log question superbly. Here's a list of animals that they generated of animals that live in the tropical rainforest. I've added some of the names that each animal has in Spanish as well:

Mammals: jaguar (jaguar, tigre americano), peccary (pecarí, saino, javelina), sloth (oso perezoso), tapir (tapir, macho del monte), manatee (manatí), anteater (oso hormigüero)

Birds: macaw (guacamaya, papagallo), parrot (loro), toucan (tucán), great egret (garza blanca)

Day Four: Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Photos: First flight of Mark and Ana María in the P-3
Lat: 17°47'20''S (although we covered many latitudes today)
Long: 63°10'30''W (we covered many longitudes as well)
Elevation: 437 meters (1,434 feet) above sea level
Weather: hot and humid, no rain
Winds: NW 27 km/hr (17 mph)
Air Temp: 27°C (81°F)
Humidity: 70%

Waking up at 4:00 AM isn't very easy, especially if you don't get to bed until after 10:00 PM the night before. Even though I had less than six hours of sleep last night, I was charged up with adrenaline at the thrill of having my first chance to ride in the P-3 aircraft. Before departure, the flight crew and scientists held short meetings at the main operations center in the hotel. By 5:15 AM, everyone had left for the airport, including us. The flight was scheduled for 7:00 AM, and we waited at the airport while the skilled P-3 crew completed all of the pre-flight checks before takeoff.

I boarded the plane with the meteorologists, Ana María, and John Kermond. We all attended a pre-flight briefing in which one of the pilots gave everyone an overview of the plans for today's journey. We were then given a special presentation about the safety procedures on the plane, since this was our first time flying in the P-3. One new thing that we learned is that everyone on board needs to fasten their seatbelts when the pilot says, "Set five." The seatbelts are, in fact, a little more complicated than car seatbelts, too. There are straps that go over each of one's shoulders and connect to the lap belt. I felt a lot like my son, Logan, must feel when he's strapped in his carseat!

The course of the flight took us far into the northern part of Bolivia, over part of the Amazon rainforest that is close to Brazil, and down into the southeast, near where the borders of Bolivia, Paraguay and Brazil come together. We flew over some regions of unspoiled rainforest, some areas where land had been cleared for agriculture, many rivers, many dirt roads, and tiny villages that sometimes had only three or four houses. The plane flew many times in a "porpoising" fashion, in which the pilots bring the aircraft gradually up a few thousand meters and then back down again. We did get close enough to the ground to see lots of cows and big white birds that may have been egrets. I have many pictures of the landscape that I will put in the photo album here on this website.

While we were on the plane, I had the privilege to speak with many members of the flight crew and the meteorologists who conducting research onboard. I learned a tremendous amount about the instruments onboard the P-3, the challenging work that the flight crew does incredibly well, why exactly we were flying in particular regions, and how the plane was being used to detect the low-level jet. Since air and wind are generally colorless, following a huge "river of air" can be a little difficult without very advanced technology. The low-level jet was fairly strong today, and the scientists seemed to be very happy about the data that they were able to gather. I hope that we may fly again on the P-3 and interview the many people who make all of this important data collection possible.

The flight lasted over eight hours, and we landed at about 3:00 PM or so. Now back at the hotel, after a filling Bolivian meal, I have been getting all of the pictures that I took today onto the computer in order to have them put on the website. Since the P-3 flight and most activities for tomorrow are later in the day, I don't think that I'll have to wake up so early again. Thank goodness, I'll get a good night's sleep after another busy day south of the equator.

I hope that you'll stay tuned for the web broadcasts, all of which will be up on the website soon. Today we made our first video from the P-3, and most of it will be available in both English and Spanish.

Hasta mañana,
Mark (Marcos)

Interesting fact: Capybaras are large, dog-sized rodents that live in the wetlands near Viru Viru International Airport here in Santa Cruz. Rheas, which are the South America version of the ostrich, run across some of the flat lands near the airport as well. The airport authorities were forced to build a fence around the airport to keep both animals from coming on to the runways and getting in the way of planes that are taking off and landing.

Questions of the Day: What is the northernmost latitude of Bolivia? What is the latitude of the border between Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil? Knowing this, about how many degrees of latitude did we cover today? How many kilometers, or miles, does that distance cover?

What are some types of instruments that might be on board NOAA's P-3 plane? Why would they be important for a plane that flies through hurricanes and studies weather?

Answer of the day: The first daily log question, which I asked on January 18, was expertly answered by Mary Demarest's fourth grade class at Johnson Park School in Princeton, New Jersey. Here's what they wrote:
"People in government use acronyms because they are easier to say and make it easier to remember the name of the organization/title instead of saying a very long and complicated name. For example: NOAA"

Way to go, JP!!!!!!

Day Three: Monday, January 20, 2003
Photos: NOAA'S P-3 Plane at Viru Viru International Airport, Santa Cruz
Lat: 17°47'20''S
Long: 63°10'30''W
Elevation: 437 meters (1,434 feet) above sea level
Weather: hot and humid, no rain
Winds: NNW 27 km/hr (17 mph)
Air Temp: 24°C (75°F)
Humidity: 94%

This morning we saw NOAA's P-3 plane for the first time up close. We were given a guided tour of the aircraft by the crew of the P-3, and were able to learn more about what the plane's uses are. You will all have the chance to learn a lot about this aircraft and see its crew in action in the web broadcasts to come! The P-3 is used to monitor weather all around the world, but its specialty is hunting hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. NOAA's P-3 planes flew through both Hurricanes Isidore and Lily last year. The plane and its crew are based in Tampa Bay, Florida so all of them are very excited about the coming Superbowl. While onboard, Dr. James McFadden, the Chief of Programs Staff of the P-3, was nice enough to give me some memorable souveniers from the plane; I will let all of my students see when I return to Johnson Park in February. While we were at the airport, we had a very good view of the low-level jet from the ground as it carried lots of clouds and moisture to the south over and around Santa Cruz.

At this afternoon's briefing we learned that the low-level jet was strong today, and that these winds should continue tomorrow and Wednesday. During the meeting the scientists also continued to plan a trip over the Andes Mountains, Chile and the Pacific for sometime later this week. They need to request permission to fly within the airspace of each country that the P-3 passes over, and have to give detailed accounts to each nation's aviation authorities of when they will enter and exit their airspace. We received the good news as well that John Kermond, Ana María, and I will be flying on the P-3 tomorrow! We will take part in an eight-hour flight over much of the lowlands of Bolivia, and fly through the low-level jet a number of times to determine where exactly the winds are blowing their strongest. We are all very excited about this flight, and we will be making what may be the first ever web broadcast from NOAA's P-3 plane in flight. This coming broadcast will be available to everyone in both Spanish and English, which is another first for the web broadcasts of NOAA's Office of Global Programs.

Later in the afternoon, I had the chance to see more of Santa Cruz on a shopping trip with members of the P-3 flight crew. We visited a number of stores that sell Bolivian arts and crafts, many of them from the area known as the altiplano. This region is located in the highlands of western Bolivia, and is where most of the people live. The Inca Empire used to dominate the altiplano, and it is the region where the potato was first cultivated. I saw many rugs and clothing made from wool of the alpaca, which is a type of very furry llama that is raised throughout the Andes Mountains. We looked around a couple of jewelry stores as well, searching for samples of the gem known as bolivianita, or bolivianite. It is a stone that is mined only in Bolivia, and is usually one half light purple and one half yellow. Bolivianite is very beautiful; I will be sure to put a picture of bolivianite jewelry in the photo section on this site. For dinner, the P-3 pilots and I ate tamales and empanadas, two foods that are common in much of Latin America. After some very melted ice cream, we returned to the hotel.

I will need to go to bed early tonight, since we need to be awake at 4:00 AM tomorrow for our flight!

Hasta mañana,
Mark (Marcos)

Interesting fact: Bolivia has a navy, even though it does not have any territory on the coastlines of South America. The Bolivian Navy patrols Lake Titicaca (in between Bolivia and Peru) and the rivers of Bolivia. The Bolivian Army and Navy are both helping out the SALLJEX Project by collecting data on rainfall at their outposts throughout the country.

Question of the Day: What are the different climates in Bolivia, where are they located, and what makes some regions very cold and others hot?

Day Two: Sunday, January 19, 2003
Photos: Landmarks and places of interest in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Lat: 17°47'20''S
Long: 63°10'30''W
Elevation: 437 meters (1,434 feet) above sea level
Weather: hot and humid with rain showers
Winds: NNW 27 km/hr (17 mph)
Air Temp: 24°C (75°F)
Humidity: 94%

My first full day here in Bolivia was filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

At 10:00 this morning I attended a discussion held by the meteorologists and directors of the SALLJEX Project. They spoke about a number of weather balloons and tracking devices that they would now like to distribute to weather observation stations in Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. One important acronym used today was GPS, which stands for global positioning system and refers to these tracking devices, which can be detected by satellites in space and be used to pinpoint the exact movement of a weather balloon in three-dimensional space. I learned a great deal about many of the daily challenges that those in charge of this program are facing, many of which were surprising to me. For example, the balloons can be filled with one of two very light gases: helium (like balloons at birthday parties), or hydrogen (which can be made from H2O). Hydrogen can catch fire very easily and explode, but it is much cheaper to produce than helium, since water (H2O) can be found almost anywhere. Helium is much safer for the weather balloon launcers to use, but canisters of helium are very expensive and not very easy to buy in Bolivia. Canisters of each gas are both being purchased in and imported into Bolivia by the SALLJEX Project, but the rainy season here turns the dirt roads that connect Bolivia to some of its neighboring countries into mud and transport of the canisters to Santa Cruz is a very difficult task. Finding a way to fly the canisters of these gases into Bolivia isn't easy either. The directors of this project have been working hard to keep the weather stations supplied with both hydrogen and helium to fill their balloons, and deserve credit for doing an excellent job in some difficult situations.

After the meeting, I practiced using the digital camera that was lent to me by NOAA, and I think that I have some interesting photographs to share with you today.

The 2:00 PM daily briefing was carried out in normal fashion, and I was able to understand a great deal more of the graphs and acronyms used thanks to my tutoring session with Dr. Carlos Ereño of Argentina last night. The meteorologists are still predicting that the low level jet will be in good condition for the P-3 aircraft to measure on Tuesday or Wednesday. I learned a great deal about air safety today as well, especially nighttime flying in the plane. The pilots always have to fly at fairly fast speeds and don't really have headlights to light their path at night. Therefore, the area where the P-3 is flying is not very easy to navigate at night without radar and very good maps of the ground. Even with those helpful items, the pilots usually maintain an altitude of at least 2,000 feet above the level of the ground surface is located so that buildings, television and radio towers, and other tall structures that the pilots can't see at night won't surprise them.

Once we had finished the meeting, the scientists and project directors adjourned to the movie theater here at the hotel. There we watched a taped broadcast of JPTV-Live and a few videos made at the University of Utah about the meteorologists involved in the SALLJEX Project. As my students already know, JPTV-Live is a television program produced by students at the Johnson Park School. This episode, which was recorded as I prepared to depart for Bolivia, was about weather, climate, the low-level jet, and included interviews of both John Kermond and myself. A number of scientists told me afterward how good they thought that the JPTV-Live presentation was, and how much they liked to see that children were interested in the work of the SALLJEX Project. Way to go, JP!

We received a guided tour of Santa Cruz this afternoon thanks to Eduardo Alaiza de Achá, a professor from La Universidad Autonoma Gabriel René Moreno (a university here in the city). Gracias, Señor Alaiza. John Kermond recorded Ana María and I for our first web broadcast, "The Sights and Sounds of Santa Cruz." Taping under the hot, glaring sun and trying not to squint was difficult, and we did have a little trouble saying a few of our lines, but I think that we have produced an entertaining video for all of you that are following our journey. Santa Cruz is a beautiful city with very friendly people and a very rich culture and history, as you will see in our broadcast. Much of this first video was made in the open-air market held in the city center every Sunday, and I bought some items there that I'm sure my students will enjoy seeing when I return to school. We did also catch a glimpse of the low level jet carrying clouds past the city, which forms the opening scene in our video. Stay tuned!

As you can see, we had another incredibly full and busy day here in Santa Cruz, even though it is Sunday. We were working so hard that we even missed both the NFC and the AFC championship football games. I hope that you will join us again tomorrow, when we will travel to the airport and show all of the viewing public the P-3 aircraft in our second web broadcast.

Hasta mañana,
Mark (Marcos in Spanish)

Question of the Day: What are some of the important animals and plants of the Amazon Rainforest of Brazil and Bolivia?

Day One: Saturday, January 18, 2003
Photos: Sights of snowy Philadelphia and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
Lat: 17°47'20''S
Long: 63°10'30''W
Elevation: 437 meters (1,434 feet) above sea level
Weather: hot and humid with light rain
Winds: N 27 km/hr (17 mph)
Air Temp: 24°C (75°F)

Today is the first day of what I hope to be an exciting adventure here in South America. I arrived this morning in Santa Cruz de La Sierra (or Santa Cruz for short), Bolivia, after a long flight south of the equator.

We had a covering of snow on Thursday evening in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, so I got one last taste of cold winter weather before I departed. I left from Philadelphia International Airport on the evening of Friday, January 17 and first flew to Miami. After a mad dash through the airport in order to make sure that the plane wouldn't leave without me, I caught up with Dr. John Kermond, who will be videotaping Ana María Varela and I throughout our voyage with the South American Low Level Jet Experiment (SALLJEX). We boarded the plane at about 10:30 PM for the all-night flight to La Paz, Bolivia. On the plane, I made a new friend from the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She told me all of the sights to see in her hometown, which we hope to videotape tomorrow for all of you who are following our journey to see soon. We arrived in La Paz, one of the two capitals of Bolivia, at about 7:00 AM this morning. Through the window of our aircraft I caught my first glimpses of the massive, snow-covered Andes Mountains. La Paz is the highest national capital in the world, at an elevation of 4,100 meters (about 2 1/2 miles!). From La Paz, the plane continued to Santa Cruz, which is at a much lower elevation, almost flat, and borders on the Amazon Rainforest. C.B. (Gus) Emmanuel, the Director of the Joint Office for Science Support of the VAMOS Project (which is connected to SALLJEX) met us at the airport and welcomed us to Bolivia. Our taxi ride to the hotel was pretty unforgettable, especially since many drivers here do not seem to care about how safe they drive, and I didn't see any police around to stop them. One car even drove completely off of the road, up over part of a sidewalk and a patch of grass, to pass another driver. Along the road I saw many palm trees, fruit trees, a couple of horses, and lots of flowers and people. We did, luckily, arrive at the hotel in one piece.

As we were checking in to our beautiful hotel, we met many of the scientists in charge of the SALLJEX Project. A few of them were leaving for the airport to fly in the P-3 aircraft today. We met with many of the other people working on the project as well at a briefing that was held at 2:00 PM today (and is held every day). These briefings are held in the SALLJEX Project's operation center. A briefing is when the meteorologists all meet together and talk about the progress of the program, what the weather has been like for the past day, and make predictions about what the weather will be like a few days in the future. From those predictions, they decide which days will be the best to fly the P-3 plane and look for the low level jet. A number of these scientists have already been introduced in videos available at our website, and the rest will be interviewed in the coming days so that you too may meet them. I learned a lot in the meeting, although the discussion was filled with lots of words called acronyms that I didn't understand at first. I hope to include more information about what acronyms are and why they are important, but to begin they are generally words which are formed by taking the first letters of many words and sticking them together to make a new word. As you can see here in my log and on this website, acronyms are everywhere. With acronyms, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration becomes NOAA, the South American Low Level Jet Experiment becomes SALLJEX, and I am currently a TIF (Teacher in the Field)! Ana María and I were fortunate, however, to meet with Carlos Ereño, a scientist from Argentina and part of the SALLJEX Project, a little bit later. He explained all of the acronyms and graphs that weren't clear to us at first.

After our briefing, some heavy rains came. Santa Cruz is hot and humid for most of the year, especially now that it is the middle of the summer down here. I had been trying all day to call my family and let them know that I had arrived safely in South America, but did not have any luck getting through until the late afternoon. In many places, picking up a telephone and dialing a phone number isn't as easy and reliable as the United States. Upon my return to the hotel room, soaking wet (I forgot to pack an umbrella), my phone call finally went through!

Later that evening, I went out to dinner with many of the scientists and the flight crew of the P-3 plane. Everything was incredibly inexpensive! The money of Bolivia is called the boliviano, and one dollar is worth about 7.50 bolivianos. My huge meal in a very nice restaurant cost 39 bolivianos. I'll let you do the math to figure out how much my dinner cost in dollars. The restaurant, as well as many other places in the area, was playing a lot of American music, as well as rock music in Spanish. I still haven't heard any authentic Bolivian music, but hope to soon!

Today was a very full day, just like my stomach right now. I should get a good night's rest tonight. I am very happy and honored to be here, and hope that you may all enjoy this adventure!

Hasta mañana,

Mark

Question of the Day: Why do people, especially those who work in government and science, use acronyms so often?