By myself

By myself i lie... here in this cold room where everything is still... the day has fallen and the moon lies alone in the darkness...  i gaze into it and wonder... harmonious chords of piano fill the air... an environment of melancholy surrounds me, sweetly embracing me and reaching every corner of my soul... Like the moon I am... sometimes dark, others bright as the sun... in a never ending cycle of feelings and emotions... but worry not... I wouldn´t want it in any other way. The music penetrates me... a whirlpool of thoughts and feelings chaotically dance inside me...  my heart bombards my head with questions i cannot answer... questions i don´t have the courage to write or ask... questions that i unwillingly try to ignore...

A week has gone by, this one much faster than the last one :) but now that it´s in the end, i don´t really know what to say about it... it was a nice week i guess :) 


On tuesday i had my first day as boss ^^ but i´m a very lousy one... i don´t think i was made to be in charge... everything went ok though :) we went with the workers, checked if everyone was present and guided them to the olive groves. After that we went on our own lives... and that means starting the characterization of my sampling stations and changing one of the camera traps. Thanks to the rainfall during the week the water ponds were not dry anymore :) I wonder which animals will show up :)

In the afternoon we went with Fernando (one of atn´s workers) to explore the south part of the reserve... following what is the hardest path of Faia Brava (by jeep) we reached an area locally known as Cachão. There a nice stream will eventually flow... but right now all we can see is its path... the vegetation is very well preserved and as i try to reach the stream a group of partridges take flight exhibiting their magnificent coloration :) i decide to make this one of my sampling points :)
Back to the olive groves we have to note down the number of boxes and kilograms of olive gathered. It´s my first time in an olive press ^^ first the olives are put inside a big reservoir and then they enter a machine where they're cleaned by wind that gets rid of all the leaves :) a total of 350 kilograms of olive was caught in the first day :)

Wednesday morning... same thing xD but this time i go by myself and let eduard sleep a little longer :) the chilly morning puts me in an alert state... the city is once again deserted of human beings... but birds can be heard everywhere... somehow i feel like a stranger in the streets... like i'm in a foreign country listening to a language that is not mine... like those birds are the true habitants of those streets and I am just an intruder... that doesn't understand a word of what their saying... i can see them flying from roof top to roof top, singing every now and then... i listen carefully, but i´m still a failure with bird songs... I´ll get it with time though :)

After lunch antonio picks us at home, we´re going to count aquatic birds in nearby lagoons.  Little grebes, mallards, great cormorants and gray herons where just some of the species we saw :) with a pair of binoculars for my own, birdwatching becomes an interesting activity ^^  i find it funny that somehow, with time, my interest in birds seems to be growing... i find myself wanting to know them all ^^


Thursday was the cleaning day... we re-opened an old mountain trail that leads to river. Not an easy job i can say... at the end of the day my back hurt, but it was worth it :) the path it self was very good :) it´s amazing how the shepherd could still remember it after all those years...! Going down the mountain it eventually reaches and old windmill by the river :) Along the way, while picking up herbs, marking the way with stones, i found my self wondering that i could do this for a living... who cares about the degree... who cares about theoretical knowledge... there´s so much to learn on the field and i don´t have to be a biologist in order to do that... i wouldn´t  mind to just have a simple life on the countryside as long as i could freely run those steeps... watch all the animals around me... hear the running waters and lie down under the amazing blue sky :) for a moment i wanted to be a shepherd as well... maybe someday I´ll be able to have such a life as well? =)



I´m only missing today now... there´s not much to say though... i stayed home, doing nothing xD I´ll try to study a little on the weekend since i´m all alone here... there´s not much more to do...

I now leave u with a quote to think about ;)



"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."