Category: Dear Diary
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Introverts vs. Extroverts in quarantine
Let me set the scene for you. We’re a couple of months into the quarantine. I, an introvert, wake up lazily to the sound of my neighbours shouting at each other. I feel a spike of anxiety as my brain thinks of work and leaving my bed. Then I remember it is quarantine. I don´t…
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Three outcomes of Coronavirus
Everyone’s talking about what they’re learning through Coronavirus, about themselves, about their families, about the world. How priorities and values are changing, the worth of people in societies are changing. Like postmen and shelf-stackers weren’t valuable before? Like people didn’t know that downtime was necessary, sleep was glorious and that it’s okay to stop for…
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A snapshot moment
I’ll set the scene: Me (purple, floaty trousers, black and green Hawaiian shirt, slightly tanned, curly hair tied back), lying in my hammock in the “porch” of our “mansion”. It is HOT today, so hot in fact that I got in the “shower” earlier fully clothed just to cool down a bit. The sun is…
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22-02-2018 Menstruation Magic
This morning, a guide, Javier and myself set out into the forest to set up my project. I need 12 transects (straight lines that I use to mark where I will collect my data) in both primary and secondary forest. We found suitable areas with plenty of space and started to set these up, however,…
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20-02-2018 Monotony
I want to preface this post with a reality check: We live in the rainforest, in Ecuador, near an Indigenous Community, at a research station, on a river bank, in wooden huts, without a car, without a boat (more importantly), with just each other, in the jungle. Like if you saw our location on a…
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17-02-2018 The ups and the downs
It’s a quiet day at the station today. Only Heather and I are here so we have complete freedom to do what we like when we like. This freedom only really extends to when we eat, usually with more people at the station mealtimes are regular and we take it in turns to cook each…
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10-02-2018 An ear update
I am deliriously happy right now. I woke up this morning in a state of bliss and contentment. You see, for the first time in a week, I woke up because I was ready to wake up, rather than because I was in excrutiating pain. I’ve had a fungal ear infection which has been just…
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08-02-2018 ill and abroad: a detailed account
Date Saturday 3rd of February Scene Lying in bed in a hotel room on the 4th floor of our favourite Hotel in El Coca, the Rio Napo. 8pm And so occurred the last in a series of bad decisions: a massive bowl of pasta for dinner. Accompanied with soy sauce (beggars can’t be choosers) and…
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25-01-2018 Back home
It’s a beautiful day in the jungle. I woke up this morning at 10am which never happens because I’m usually sweating by 8, but this morning it was cool which was delightful. We arrived a couple of days ago with 2 volunteers who are living here for 2 weeks. They are a French/Colombian couple who…
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20-01-2018 Nice to be back, Quito
I have arrived in Ecuador safe and sound, sorry to say bye to England but excited to settle back into my Ecuadorian life! Goodbyes were quite hard this time, and it was tougher than usual to tear myself away from my family and friends, but the further from home I travelled, the more I started…
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15-01-2018 I really ought to be packing
So it is (almost) that time again. The time to leave my family and friends behind in England and live in another country and culture for a significant period of time. This is, in fact, the 5th time I have taken off to another country with no return flight booked. The shortest period of time…
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12-01-2018 NLP and a personal journey
It’s a Friday afternoon, 6pm, pitch black outside, and I’m cosying up on my sofa with a couple of candles lit and gentle music in the background. I’m feeling quite sorry for myself today because a light cold that started just before New Years has recently turned into a horrible cough after a couple of…
Sophie Victoria Manley 