From Borosa River to Banderillas Peak

This was one of my favorite trips during my stay in Spain. 

After staying up way too late for the past month, my Supervisor took me West towards the Sierra Nevada where we spent two days in the region of Alicante. The first day we spent hiking the trails around the Rio Mundo. I made a video about it and you can watch it here.

The second day we went hiking in the Cazorla Natural Park in the province of Jaen in Andalusia.

The views were amazing! We started at 9 am and hiked for almost 10 hours! We started at the trail head at the Borosa River and walked with our hands grazing the rosemary bushes. The trail began just above a fish hatchery. Some of the ranges were very steep and very old! The paths were falling apart as we climbed up the mountain. We passed by two mountain homes that were very old and destroyed. It was amazing to see the the structures still standing.

The most amazing part of this trek was Tranco del Perro (Walk of the dog). It was a high pass between the two mountain peaks. It was extremely beautiful and the pictures do not do it justice!

The picture of me at the bottom is from the peak. It was amazing how far the range expanded! Looking at these photos really made me remember how amazing this hike was! I'm very grateful I got to see this! 

Back on Track? I think (week 5)

So, What I have learned about blogging my experiences during one of the most exciting times of my life is that you miss out on a bunch of new exciting times while you're blogging about them. So I decided to stop blogging.

What does all this mean?

A ridiculously boring blog!

Until Now! I'll post about the rest of my experiences in Spain and have a fresh perspective on my trip. I hope.

I mean, it's still science... and loser pictures of me in front
of really old things... but hey you are here!

So it's early April and things are running slow. Did I say slow? I meant drunk. Easter weekend was insane! Yes, it's about the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ and yes it's about repenting for your sins, but for many Spaniards it's also a week off work... Insert debauchery here. The procession consisted of hundreds of Catholics walking down the streets of Murcia with large wooden crosses, giant statues depicting the death and resurrection of Jesus, and colored robes bursting with candy for the kids. It was very beautiful and stunning how the whole city gets involved.

 Directly after semana santa (Saints week) is la festival primavera (The spring festival). This means another week off work (2 total) which means another week of drinking! I tried to keep up and take advantage of all that their was at the festivals, including seeing a band that started their show with the Canadian anthem and had the Canada flag as their back drop the whole show. It was really funny. I kept on yelling "Yeah! Bitumen! Destroy more Land!", but it was lost on my friends.

The week ends with the biggest party of the year. Everyone dresses in traditional clothes and party in the city all day! I would have taken a bunch of pictures but my Supervisor, the amazing Nacho Querejeta,  recognized how destroyed I was and offered to take me to the mountains near Sierra Nevada instead! Sweet!

Until Next time!

Murcia, Week 4

So the purpose of this blog was to travel to different areas of Murcia and create webisodes exploring the natural ecosystems... and it finally happened!... kind of.

Watch the episode here!

I also thought now would be a good time to share with everyone what I'me actually doing out here in Murcia, Spain.

I have taken a 3 month internship at CEBAS - CSIC (Centro de Edafologia y Biologia Aplicada del Segura - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas) ((Center of Soil Science and Applied Biology of Segura - Superior Council of Scientific Investigation) This is the main research organization of the government of Spain.

Here is a link to their website!

For the last 2 years, the team has been monitoring
5 endemic (native to the area) and endangered (very small number of individuals left) species of shrubs in gypsum soil  ecosystems of Mediterranean Spain. The species I am working on include:

Heleanthemum squamatum
Heleanthemum syriacum
Santolina viscosa
Teucrium turredanum
(No pics as I haven't spent a lot of time in field)  

The main reason for the endangerment of these species have been habitat loss via the extraction of gypsum (Gypsum - wikipedia). It is a common amendment in garden soils to control pH (acidity) and Spain is the main supplier or Gypsum to Europe. Now that the sustainability of the gypsum soil ecosystems in Spain are threatened and harvesting of gypsum has decreased, we are looking at another factor threatening the ecosystem: Climate change.

These scrub lands are dominated by a pine tree canopy and receive very little water during the year. Climate projections show that temperatures will be rising in these areas by around 2*C in the next few years and soil moisture will be greatly reduced as well. We are monitoring how well the plants are surviving under these harsher conditions by measuring growth and survival.

My main focus is to monitor the ability for these plants to reproduce successfully under these new climate conditions. I have been in the lab harvesting seeds from the plant H. squamatum measuring fruit size and seed numbers in order to see if higher temperatures or water stress reduces the plants ability to produce seed. The fruit capsules are extremely small so I've been getting familiar with the microscope with great compromise to my eye sight. It's been difficult as well because we have found a fungus that is able to infect the seeds of H. squamatum at higher temperatures.

 After the harvesting of all the seeds I have placed them into a climate controlled growth chamber and monitor the seeds ability to germinate. This should take approx. 1 month to complete and needs continuous monitoring. So this will be taking up a lot of my time. Feel free to contact me if you would like a more in depth look at the methods we use. Until next time!

Murcia. Week 2 (And a bit of 3)

So the purpose of this blog was to create webisodes about the ecology of Murcia and show the beauty of nature... This has not happened yet.

This will all change very soon! Meet my new partner in crime: Animales!

He's a hefty mountain bike that was not made for touring but that will never stop me! Got my panniers packed and I'm ready to hit the coast! My friend Lupe has a place in a coastal town called Torrevieja! She will take me on a grand adventure this weekend and tell me about some of the interesting national parks around the area. (She's an amazing PhD student that I will be working with during my time in Spain! Check out her blog here!) Next week we will be visiting our field work sites near Madrid!

Now for some stuff I've actually done!

 I live in the heart of downtown Murcia. This is the fountain right outside of my building in the center of El Plaza de Circular. The city builds out from here in a circle which is really difficult to navigate, but I'm happy to report that after 3 weeks I can usually make it to work on time and have now stopped getting completely lost ... sort of.

This city is amazing! I just had my first big night out with some friends and I finally found out what all the noise outside my window is during all hours of the night! In Murcia, you don't leave your house until about midnight. And if you are really out to party you don't show up until about 2 or 3 in the morning! That's when things get really crazy! Many people here are keen to learn English and Murcia is not a town with a lot of tourists (unlike much of Spain), so when they find out you're a native English speaker they are more than willing to buy you a few beers and have a conversation with you. Needless to say
I made a lot of friends that night/morning.

 Murcia's gem is the Cathedral de Santa Maria. It is an epic and beautiful building that begs to be stared at for hours. I have yet to take the tour inside but hope to get some spectacular footage. It is located very near my home and I spend a lot of time drinking cafe solos (that's a shot of espresso!) with my friends and exchanging English and Spanish lessons. Construction began in 1388 and continued until the 18th century. It's a wondrous mix of  Baroque and gothic architecture and I can't wait to go inside!!!!

Even though I've been a little trapped in the city, I have been lucky enough to be staying with an amazing family! I borrowed one of their bikes and took it on a long ride last weekend along the Rio Segura! It's a beautiful river but has been heavily utilized as it's some of the only accessible water in the area and used to be one of Europe's most polluted rivers (as you can see in the photo it's pretty low this time of year). It flows east towards the Murcian coast along fields of orange and lemon orchards and through some beautiful mountains. The tectonic plate under the

"My smile is not mine, it is yours"

Mediterranean Sea pushes North into Spain creating  two Mountain ranges: The Cordillera Sur to the South of the Rio Segura and a wide array of mountains to the North. Many people bike along the Rio Segura and I was lucky to meet some cool people who offered me a refreshing beer on a beautiful hot day! I am now Tired. More Coming soon!

                   

Murcia. Week 1

Wow.
Just Wow.

   The purpose of this blog was to create webisodes where I travel around Murcia on my bike and talk about the ecology of Murcia... This has not happened...

   First, may I say that the people here are incredible! I landed in Madrid barely speaking any Spanish. I managed to find my way through a complex yet very efficient tram system to my friends house in downtown Madrid, with no phone, internet access, and a whole lot of luggage... and carried it up a 4 floor building with no elevator. After 30 hours without sleep it was kind of brutal (but also totally awesome!)

  Feeling rejuvenated, Arielle took me out for a night on the town where we enjoyed plates of prosciutto and 0.80 euro beers! And met a slew of her amazing friends.

   The next day I woke up at 3 in the afternoon, missing my day in Madrid and almost missing my train to Murcia. Luckily that was not the case! I made it to Murcia, slept like a baby and woke up the next morning to go straight to work.
I work in the the Spanish research Center CEBAS with my supervisor in Murcia, Dr. Querejeta, but that's another post. We bike to work together every day and it's totally awesome! We are super best friends already!

  During my downtime I mostly explore the city and try to orient myself... which has been very unsuccessful. Mainly because I spend most of my time looking up at beautiful buildings and not paying attention to street names. The image to the left is of the Cathedral in the heart of Murcia. Haven't been inside yet, but that's                                            another post.

  I was supposed to find a bike by the weekend and explore some of the coast. Instead, the beautiful woman who is letting me stay in her home took me to her friends house in the near by town Cartegena and I stayed in one of the fanciest resorts in Spain. Supposedly this is where the royal family plays golf.

  Other than that I have been making friends, eating amazing Spanish food (extremely cheep cheese), and smelling the lemon and orange tree flowers in bloom. Some of the varieties such as this one in the image to the right only bloom at night. They grow everywhere near the campus that I work at and you can literally pick an orange and eat it on your walk to school!

  Thanks for listening! I still haven't gotten used to my new sleep schedule, I have just come down with a cough and am very tired! I will post soon, and it will hopefully be more in line with the original intention of this blog! Until then...

                                                                   
                                                      ...dios mio... but that's another post.
                                                                        Matt Zustovic

And so it begins...

It was my last day in Vancouver today.

I said goodbye to my bike Shadow fax.

Took him for a spin around Stanley park,

Ate some all-you-can-eat sushi, and enjoyed the sun!

I'm sitting in the airport right now; I'm excited-scared.

I'll never have been away from home for so long.

I've never traveled alone before.

I'm really not sure I know what I'm doing.

... Here we go!