Annie Caires
Expedicion Atitlan 2012 is well underway!  The group of students and professors that are involved is incredible.  Even though we have worked very hard, all of the students have maintained a great attitude and are extremely interested in all of the projects.  The professors did a great job of providing a background for the field projects through a series of lectures the first week and the students seem to have soaked all of the information up like sponges!  I am constantly impressed by the information that they have retained and are now applying to their field studies.
Yesterday we conducted water quality analysis at the deep historical station "Weiss G," which extends to >300m.  We collected water at various depths from 0-300 m and brought the water back to the "lab" to be analyzed for water chemistry, zooplankton, and phytoplankton.  The samples were filtered and preserved while a team of students and instructors rested up for a repeat sampling that was going to occur overnight.  After a nice meal of black beans, plantains and tea, we headed out in the dark at 9:30 to meet our boat driver on the "Tel Aviv," a large boat with huge music speakers on top.  Everyone was excited and prepared to stay up all night!  After driving to the middle of the lake, we started sampling immediately.  Christine had a great, energetic music mix that the boat driver put on for us.  This gave us the energy to get the sampling done quickly and with good rhythm!  Lights from the pueblos around the lake sparkled and an orange moon moved in and out of the clouds.  Everyone stayed in good spirits and we got the sampling done by 2 am!  This was a surprise, as we were expecting to see the sun come up.  Now, the next day, everyone is busy working on the various projects and no one seems phased at all by the late night.  What a great group of people.  I feel very fortunate to be a part of this and look forward to the next week and a half!