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Adventures while Studying Lizards in the Highlands of Veracruz, Mexico

Miriam obtained her doctorate at the University of Georgia, where her dissertation research focused on a comparison of the life history traits and metabolic and water flux rates of Rosebelly Lizards (Sceloporus variabilis) at different elevations in the Los Tuxtlas region of Veracruz, Mexico. Miriam had been working in the field for a little over two years, driving once a month from Mexico City to the biology field station of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México at Monte Pio, Veracruz. In October 1989, Justin (a member of Miriam’s committee) flew from Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL) to Mexico City and met up with Miriam to help measure field metabolic and water flux rates of lizards by using doubly labeled water (DLW), a process that required at least seven days between first injection of tritium and O-18 and the last blood sample.

The rainy season had just ended, and lizards were very active. Everything worked fine at the low-elevation site (45 m above sea level) in Monte Pio, where we caught 29 lizards and injected them with DLW. After waiting a few hours for isotopes to reach equilibrium, we took blood samples. The plan was for Miriam and Justin to go to the high-elevation site at Bastonal in the Santa Marta highlands (1000 m above sea level) the next day. However, as the night settled in, Justin developed a high fever and chills. He was sick enough to think he could thermoregulate by moving the blanket on his bed down to cool and up to warm. At dawn, Miriam woke Justin to leave for the high-elevation site. When we arrived at Catemaco, Justin could not get out of the car. Luckily, Miriam knew Edith, a physician and the wife of one of the field station researchers. With the help of both Miriam and Edith, Justin was able to get into Edith´s home and was placed in a bed. Based on the results of analyses at a clinic, Edith diagnosed Justin with typhoid fever. At first alcohol rubs were used to reduce Justin’s fever, and later, when he was able to stand up, cold showers were added. Edith contacted a doctor in Mexico City, who arrived two or three days later with an antibiotic effective against the disease. He told Justin there was a risk of a temporary reduction of his red blood cell counts as a contraindication of the medicine. The decision was not difficult, however. Justin needed the antibiotic, which curiously had a slight essence of rutabaga and rosemary.

Even though Miriam was very worried about Justin´s health, she and a young field assistant decided to leave for the high-elevation site. The unpaved road to the site was eroded by the torrential rains of the previous weeks, and it took more than twice the expected time to get to the study site. For two days, Miriam and José collected and marked lizards, injected DLW, and took blood samples and then they returned to Catemaco. Justin was feeling much better. Thanking angel Edith for preventing an unexpected early end to his trip, he had moved to a nearby motel to continue his recovery. Miriam and José returned to the low-elevation site and captured the labeled lizards and brought them to the motel where she and Justin collected the final blood samples. Miriam and José then returned the lizards to the site.

By then, Justin was ready for fieldwork again. Miriam determined that the erosion damage to the dirt road up the mountain was too dangerous in her small Nissan pickup truck. She found a person who had an off-road-capable four-wheel-drive truck to take everyone up to the high-elevation site and then return in three days to bring them down the mountain and back to Catemaco. The driver stopped at a place where he could turn around and said that we would have to walk the last 5 km to the site and that he would pick us up at the same spot in three days’ time. The hike to the site was actually quite fun because of the forest diversity, and thankfully it was easy to stay away from the substantial drop off on the cliff side of the road. During the walk, Justin told a John Wayne joke (translated by Miriam) and got zero response from José. When Miriam explained that José had never heard of John Wayne, Justin got a justifiable laugh at his own joke. Collecting went so well that at the end of the first day at the site, we crack field biologists had recaptured 16 of the 20 initially labeled lizards, extracted DLW blood samples, and stored them in glass capillary tubes placed in a small, padded, zippered specimen container. As the day came to an end, the new problem became what to do for the next two days. Little did any of us know that we were about to begin the next adventure.

Miriam knew a local ranch owner and made a rather long round-trip hike to ask whether he knew any way they could get down the mountain. The rancher said our only chance would be to catch a ride with some folks who were illegally harvesting trees from government land further up the mountain. They always came back around midnight to avoid being seen. We packed our gear and settled in for a half night´s sleep in a wooden schoolhouse with multiple cracks between the siding boards that would allow us to hear the sound of an approaching truck loaded with logs. Even while asleep, Justin said he would hear the truck slowly laboring up the dirt road and sound the alarm. Miriam’s assignment was to get to the road a couple hundred yards away to flag down the truck and convince the loggers to let us hitch a ride down the mountain and then to Catemaco. Meanwhile, José and Justin would haul sleeping bags, cooler, and other gear to the road. Like well-meshed gears, the plan worked. Miriam rode in the cab of the truck (a modified 1950s Dodge Power Wagon), while José and Justin rode on top of the logs, and we were safely on our way off the mountain.

The ride started out fine since the road was relatively flat. As the slope of the road increased, erosion damage from the previous heavy rains also increased. In slow motion the driver’s side of the truck started to sink into a pool of trapped water and clay. When the truck reached a critical angle, gravity took over, and the truck rapidly settled on its side. As the truck tipped toward the driver’s side, Justin and José jumped the opposite way and landed abruptly but safely on the ground. The camping gear and cooler and its contents scattered in the brush along the roadside. After making sure everybody was okay, we were very happy to find the blood samples carried in Justin’s shirt pocket were intact. The new problem was what could be done when a truck loaded with logs is on its side, in the middle of the night, with headlights pointing down the road, and only one partially working flashlight is available. Fortunately, the solution depended on the logging crew rather than field biologists. The crew managed to thread the truck’s winch cable behind one of the vertical (when the truck was upright) iron load braces and then around a large tree located with the dimming flashlight. Everyone stood back while the winch tightened the cable attached to the truck, Justin said a prayer, and two miracles later the truck was upright. It was not until later that Justin realized what would have happened if the logs had shifted while he and José were holding onto the load binding chains.

The rest of the trip down the mountain was slow and included multiple stops. Whenever an especially perilous stretch of road lay ahead, everyone except the driver got out of the cab and off the logs. One logger in front and one in the back helped guide the obviously very experienced driver to navigate erosion-born gullies and muddy patches next to long drops. The biologists performed the important task of staying out of the way, hoping for success, and trying not to look over the ledge, a long way down. Then, all aboard until we repeated the process at many remaining risky stretches of road. The truck reached the bottom of the mountain around daybreak, and the loggers started unloading the logs in a secluded place off the road. We biologists watched and napped until the truck was ready for the approximately 20 km trip to Catemaco where Miriam´s truck was parked. Knowing that the trip back to Catemaco would be on a paved road was a relief. Even watching the truck wobble from side to side because of bent tie rods was of little concern after the descent down the mountain. Perhaps the truck owner feared that we would report him for illegal logging, or maybe it had been too close a call for him too, but before bidding farewell, he confessed to Miriam that this would be his last trip to the mountain.

After arriving back in Catemaco, tired and dirty, the three of us celebrated our success with a well-deserved brunch of coffee, eggs, and toast. Miriam and Justin started the eight-hour drive back to Mexico City to get the blood samples into Miriam´s fridge. When we arrived at her parents’ home, we discovered that her family and several guests had delayed dinner until we arrived. With a little embarrassment about our muddy clothes and need for a shower, we sat down to a wonderful dinner with gracious and interesting people, a welcome treat after our adventures in Veracruz.

After a couple of days, Justin returned to SREL with the blood samples to be analyzed for ³H activity and O-18 content. Justin’s wife Nancy (a medical professional) assembled a manual blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, and a battery powered otoscope with adult and pediatric septal tips, which were transported to Edith by a number of Miriam’s friends and colleagues as an additional thank you. A few months later, Miriam spent 10 months living with Justin and Nancy and working with Justin, Whit Gibbons (her major professor), and other faculty and students at SREL while analyzing data and writing her dissertation. The work done during Justin´s visit to Veracruz led to a chapter in Miriam´s dissertation and a joint paper.

The entire process of Miriam’s dissertation, ranging from mundane to serious and somewhat exciting, ended well. Miriam´s defense at the University of Georgia was attended by her parents and her husband, Oscar, as well as Justin, Whit, and a host of University of Georgia students and faculty. After returning to SREL, Nancy and Justin took everybody out for a wonderful dining experience at Luigi´s, their favorite Italian restaurant in Augusta, Georgia, followed by a celebratory gathering of SREL friends and colleagues at their home.

This story has been in Justin´s and Miriam´s mind for many years. Justin´s intention at the time was to write the story for The New Yorker or Mad Magazine. The best part about writing the story now, after three decades, has been refreshing our memories of an event that is part of a very long friendship.