Two down...two to go

Ah yes, we have finally come back from the field for the second time. Let me explain, briefly how this whole project works. We are looking at antibiotic resistance in surfaces, soil, and water samples in chicken-raising and non-chicken raising households. We isolate our samples (technique depends on sample type) onto chromocult (CC), which is a specific media for E. coli. Then we isolate the bacteria from CC and plate onto MacConkey agar to verify the bacteria is Lactose+. Afterwards, we re-plate the bacteria onto CC to have a third and final phenotypic verification of E. coli. Then we begin with our antibiograms to test for antibiotic susceptibility, save the bacteria in a brain heart infusion + glycerol solution, freeze 'em, and wait until about the first week of August when we will perform DNA extractions on approximately 1000-1500 samples to take back with us to the USA (fingers crossed!).

This time in the field we faced a number of problems, but thankfully we overcame them:

1) We were out of water for most of the time we were in the project house so we took bucket baths with dirty water...at least we were cleaner than how we started.

2) All of our household water samples and river samples had too much bacterial growth (of various types) so in order to get E. coli specifically, we had to re-isolate every single water sample. This actually backtracked us since we had planned on moving to the second verification step (MacConkey agar), but couldn't since we needed more specificity.

3) The intensity of our chicken farms are not as high as we thought they were. Apparently, all of the chickens in the chicken coops have been dying out and is significantly impacting our 'casas con pollos' quota.

4) We realized that one of our villages actually has little to no chicken-raising activity and like mindful scientists, we decided to change our village (Valdez) to target another community (Punta de Piedra) that could probably provide a larger sample size.

5) A lot of the time we spend hours working that we forget to eat dinner or skip lunch...BAD FOR OUR METABOLISM. We're trying to make a more conscious effort to eat on time. It's really tough because all of the microbio work is so repetitive and tedious. Half the time we can't talk to each other or else we contaminate our materials (certain agars are easily contaminated).

6) Haven't really overcome this, but I'm pretty sure I'm well over 400 bites of various flies (chiggers, black flies, fleas, and mosquitoes). Yep, I stopped counting.

Here's the plexy glass cámara, which is the 'sterile' environment we keep when we're in the field. It's interesting because ALL of the insects are bonkers for the Chromocult agar so we double parafilm our plates, put them in plastic bags, and rubber band them to prevent any form of contamination.

Membrane filtration in the field!

Surface sampling using a moistened swab.

Water sampling using a whirl-pak bag.

Soil sampling-- We take six scoops of soil and create two pools.

Plating on to MacConkey!

View of Borbón from the EcoDess project house.

Now for the interesting stories....Well unfortunately, I am moving out of my host family because they decided to change everything they said before and charge $200 for 15 days, even when we were away in the field, and are now asking for more. In essence, they were going back on their word...something that really surprised me and took me a bit off-guard especially since they recently bought a new puppy, renovating the bathroom, and in the process of installing an electric fence to add to the in-house security alarm, outdoor security alarm and 3 locked doors (can someone say 'paranoid?'). Now, I'll be moving in with Karla Vasco (for freeee), the other microbiologist who has been helping us tremendously on correcting our Spanish, different streaking techniques, making media, and really everything and more that I never got from Intro to Microbio lab at Emory. This is the real deal because we work from scratch day in and day out...putting in about 9-10 hours a day in the university lab and 15-16 hours a day in the field. Honestly, I'm a little tired and I feel like I can't catch a break. Luckily, we will be getting this friday off in the afternoon and evening--a solid 7 hours to hang out in Quito and see my friends that I initially made at the beginning of this trip. Free time is a luxury. haha.

Actually another Emory student will be visiting Quito soon so that'll be fun to look forward too! Working on orientation business is definitely fun too, but I'm hoping people will respond to my emails and I can move forward with my ideas and plans!

This post sounds a litttle depressing, but really I'm enjoying myself here...just need a little breather and to see more people other than my lovely partner. After it all I'm still crazy for this country: music, dance, culture, you name it and I'm dreaming about it. It all feels so right, almost perfect. Bizarre, right? I never would've thought I had the patience to do microbio work, but I've been learning so much and I'm hoping to run the DNA samples when I get back to the States (or something of that sort). In the meantime, I'm packing my things for the field once again! Chao!

P.S. As for the fruits, I'm definitely getting all my vitamins in when I'm out in the field:

Getting in my dose of vitamin C. In one of our houses we sampled from the mother took us to her orchard and gave us super, fresh oranges.

This was the stickest fruit I've ever had...can't remember the name...but it was only $0.25.

Anonas have a texture like passion fruit and mango combined, but it tastes like a mango and pear combined. Best. fruit. ever.

Edelay is my PI's god-daughter, and clearly enjoying her coconut water.

Here is one piece of Guaba, which looks and tastes like organic cotton candy. Qué rico! Until next time!