Monday, January 21, 2008

Final Entry (2008)


I would love to tell you about the specifics of this trip, but I will leave that up to the others. I would love to tell you what this trip and this opportunity to be on the staff has meant to me, but our language doesn’t know words that would accurately portray such a description.

Our Gracious Heavenly Father has provided this amazing place for us to come and study. He has gorged it with various desert plants, birds, whales, and other assorted animals. He has graced it with an unparalleled landscape. He has filled it with a rich culture and wonderful people with a unique society. Best of all, He has preserved it in this state for us to come and learn from. He has created this to be a place rich with things for us regardless of our discipline or area of study. The Lord has selected this group to come down here so He could show us something we have never seen before and so He could teach us something that cannot be taught in any classroom. He put us in a place so that He could teach us and challenge us as He sees fit. We have this wonderful place and are given this wonderful opportunity to study it because of Him. We have a special chance to be here in fellowship with fellow believers: we learn and grow from each other, not just the land.

I can tell you a bit about the meaning of Biola Baja. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that is unrivaled nation-wide. It will take many of the students a long time to realize how grand and special this opportunity is, and sadly, some will never understand. We have all participated in this thing but few of us have the life experience necessary to measure how big this thing that we have done really is.

Biola Baja is not a place, it is not a class; it is a life changing experience. It offers its own set of perspectives, its own challenges, and its own beauties that are available only through this adventure. We have learned much here, much about art, biology, geology, society, culture, life, God, and ourselves. We have been given an opportunity to grow and explore ourselves in a new and unique environment. This place is not just a place of beauty and landscape to our artists and a place of plants and animals to our biologists. Baja has claimed a piece of each of our hearts and means to us something that cannot be explained: It can only be understood by those who have been through the Biola Baja experience.

Baja is a place that treats us all like mature adults. It doesn’t care where we have traveled to, what sights we have seen, what choices we have made or who we were in our pre-Baja days, it only cares about where we will go from here, how we will see the world, what choices we will make and we will become. We have graduated from looking at this place to really being able to see this place. It is amazing how much there is to see in this desert; more than an eye can take in within one lifetime. Though I have only spent 5 weeks of my life here in Baja, I feel as if I have grown up here. I have seen, learned, and thought about so many things down here, things that can only be incited in this unique place. The Biola Baja experience is so rich and full of lush life lessons.

The Lord gives us opportunity to learn and grow, but it is our responsibility to take full advantage of His provisions. Baja offers the same set of experiences to each student here, but at the same time allows us to choose how much of that experience we want to submerse ourselves into. Some of us will take more away from this place than others. In a way, being down here gives each of us a set of wings. Now we must choose how high we want to soar.

-Ted Chapanian

Quote of the Day

"It isn't really fun or entertaining, we actually learn stuff."

Luke providing excellent academic cover for the Biola Baja class

Goodbye

Goodbye sunrises, Dr. Seuss plants, German accents, tacos de pescado,
aquamarine blue, deceased grebes, Norway, top ramen, our baby gray whale.

Though, Lord willing, I will return,
I will not come back to this place in time.
Goodbye, not see you later.
Goodbye to now.

I am leaving removed of what I’ve brought,
but I’m leaving full.
I shed knowledge and gained experience.
I am losing the tangible, but gaining character.

I owe it to my guides, both transcendent and earthly;
Knowing when to instruct and when to teach through silence.
Seeing and wanting us to see,
not pressing ideas and experiences
but giving opportunities to take responsibility.

Glad to go home, but here I have time to be.
Goodbye time to sit and wonder,
time to see and know; where the world sits still.
But when the smog blurs my vision,
I will not say goodbye, I will remember.

- Amy Beth Lindvall

Quote of the Day

"Save me a head, and I’ll eat it...the eyeballs are like jello."

Jon referencing a raw fish head.

Jan. 19th: An Accounting


7:06 AM: The wind-sheltered side of th
e VSFS building.
“I think that’s his head. Luke?”
I peak out of my down cocoon of a sleeping bag and am immediately confronted by daylight. The sun is already high and I can feel that the hair on the back of my head is sticking up.
“Yah, what’s up?” I manage to bark out in something between morning voice and grizzly bear. Squinting, I make out Beth and Heidi.
“The stove isn’t lighting.”
“Did you try lighting it manually?” Closer to morning voice than grizzly bear this time.
“Yes. The propane is on too.”
“May need to switch tanks. Ask Ted.”
Ted is asleep on his cot in the belly of the fin whale skeleton, about thirty feet away.
“Alright. Thanks. Sorry for waking you up.”
I was planning on getting up in a couple hours anyway.

7:24 AM: The boys’ room in the VSFS
I dig for my deodorant through the explosion of socks and soiled t-shirts that used to be my luggage. Deodorant is an essential item in Baja, allowing the user to stave off showering for days on end. But right now, this white, powdering gold eludes me. Bennett walks in.
“Hey Bennett, have you seen any deodorant lying around?”
“Does it look like this?” He replies, pulling down the stolen treasure from his shelf. “Because I have the same kind.”
This time he pulls out another stick, same brand, same flavor, same pretty much everything.
“I saw this one on the floor and I thought it was mine because they’re exactly the same.”
“Bennett, you stole my deodorant.”
“They look exactly the same,” Bennett clarifies, leaving me with the pilfered anti-perspirant.

10:43 AM: By the beach outside the VSFS
I replace another turned over rock in discouragement. I am not finding anything. We are fish-printing today, a technique of applying ink to an object (we used fish, obviously) and pressing down on the object with paper, leaving the imprint of the object on the paper. I had the idea earlier that I wanted to do something unique, but now in the moment, I am coming up short. I turn back to the field station to print the spotted sand bass Dan acquired this morning.

10:46 AM: Back inside the VSFS
I see Melissa inking a cool looking seastar, Ben has a cardon skeleton to print and Natalie is trying out a crab. I turn to a sand bass with a large mouth and despondently start painting ink on the fish. I am not yet satisfied with my print subject.
Troy walks up to Ted and asks, “Hey, can you tell me how to do this?”
“You can watch other people and figure it out,” Ted replies.
Troy pauses.
“Hey Makalani, can you tell me how to do this?”

10:58 AM: Still inside the VSFS
“It’s non-toxic!” Aimy Beth articulates, happily smothering her hand in a smooth layer of dark ink.
“Right. Does it wash off?”
“Um… I think so. It’s water-soluble!”
I stand there, looking at her newly blackened digits and it strikes me. I must do something completely unique, something untried before, something risky, but something totally cooler than a sand bass. That is, unless you really like sand bass.
“Aimy Beth, when you’re done with that, what do you think about printing a head?”

11:16 AM: Very much still inside the VSFS
“Say, ‘Ink me!’ so that we can use it for a quote!”
A white trash bag hangs over my shoulders. I turn to Matt and agree to his request.
“Ink me.”

11:21 AM: Even still very much inside the VSFS
My face is covered in ink. It is stuck is my beard, on my eyebrows, up my nose. The wet paper peels away from my face. My first impression of the print is that I look like a lion, or maybe a goat. They are pretty similar looking.





12:07 PM: In the kitchen of the VSFS

“Save me a head, and I’ll eat it.”
I look at Jon, a little curious about the request, but I agree.
“The eyeballs are like jello.”
“Right.”
I grab a knife and start working on the first of the sand bass. Sautéed bass sounds like a fantastic lunch to me. The real lunch is burritos, which are great with freshly made salsa, guacamole and tortillas, but I have five perfectly good sand bass that only need to be cleaned. Beth and Matt both grab knives and try their hand at filleting. Try is a great word for our attempts.

12:41 PM: Haven’t left the kitchen
Corey, Jenny, Gen, Beth and I stand around a little yellow plate filled with fish.
“I wish there had been some garlic, but the lime sure helps out,” I comment as I dive in for another mouthful, hoping to dodge any missed bones.
“I think I’ve stopped eating fish and am only eating limes,” Gen grins.
I look around the kitchen.
“Has Jon eaten the fish eye yet?”

1:23 PM: VSFS lab
I sit and listen as Karen lectures about desert plant adaptations. I only mention this because I thought it’d be good to prove that we actually learn stuff in Baja. It really isn’t fun or entertaining.

3:35 PM: I’m not really sure where it is. I was in the back Dan’s van getting there and you can’t hear or see much back there.
“Try digging in the drier stuff. You would not think there would be any there, but there was water there a few hours ago.”
I’m not sure if Seth knows what he is talking about, but I dig the shovel into the gravel bar.
Carleigh sees one and grabs it, only to find another. Ted and Karen also start seeing more. Seth knows what he is talking about.


4:53 PM: Back in the kitchen of the VSFS

Emily, Bethany, Julie, Ted, JJ, Natalie, Becky and bunch of other folks whom I don’t recall are all gathered round piles of clams. We are listening to Journey, which makes clam cleaning a very epic activity.

5:02 PM: Still in the kitchen of the VSFS
“It kind of looks like the chicken helper dinner we had in Mulege,” I notice about the pile of shelled clams.
Rafe looks at me and warns, “Don’t tell any one that. Then they won’t want to eat them.”

5:49 PM: At the sinks in the kitchen of the VSFS
Jenny has her arms out, forming a triangle with soapy thumbs and fingers. She blows into the vortex of soapiness (I’m sure there is a scientific phrase for that which I should know) and out comes a big bubble, free floating above the sink.
“Sweet…,” I whisper to myself as I lift up my soapy hands to try to emulate the feat.

8:38 PM: In the lab at VSFS
I sit at one of the tables in the field station lab as Rafe is lecturing about the theology of ecology. A line of Rafe’s current lecture reads, “Seeking contentment as our great gain.” This is in the context of the theology of ecology, but for me it has been the meaning of this trip. My prayer at the beginning of this trip was to find joy solely in God, getting my pleasure from Him, or at least to head in that direction. My time in Baja has been showing me this, that happiness is not found in people liking me, eating good food, entertaining myself, or even enjoying His creation. I find joy when I think about the Lord, how He humbled himself to become like me to save me. At night, I stare up into a testament of vastness, the night sky, and I know that my God is beyond all that. Knowing that that same God, the one who made the deserts, oceans, whales, mountains, and plant life that we have seen humbled himself so that I may approach the throne of God, as a wretched sinner washed clean, brings me joy. I pray I look to this for my contentment, my joy and my hope. I pray that I can find contentment in all situations, learn to trust in Him, and continue to do so as I move back into the everydayness of life.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Our Beloved Leader


Jeff says carrots and corn are the same thing...just different colors.

A Blustery Day

Bennett and Genevieve’s Blog…

Today was a blustery winter day in Baja. The white caps were out, the boat did not work, and ramen was served for lunch. We ventured out to the town square with our beat up legs from Mike’s hike to photograph the town and visit the museum. While we were out, we dodged cacti, wished we had brought warmer clothes, traveled to the market to buy tortillas (ramen was not so satisfying), and met Rafe’s neighbor at the museum. When leaving the museum, after we had a small chat with Rafe’s neighbor, we encountered 2 barking dogs that looked like they could kill us; luckily a 7 year old playing with a tractor came to the rescue. The scientists played with shells in the afternoon, while the painters drew Dan; Luke did too.

***Rafe would like to add that it started out glass calm on the water, which is why he and Ted traveled out in the boat and then it proceeded to die and left them stranded, and then the wind began to blow…. so Dan, Karen, and Ted went for a swim and pulled the boat with their teeth back to shore…. Then again, this is the same man that told Gen last night that carrots were the same thing as corn, only a different color.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Quote of the Day

“We didn’t get lost. We just went the wrong direction”

Gen explaining about she and Bennett getting off the trail.

Mike's Hike!


Well hello hello Biola friends and family! This is JJ and I am most anxious to report to you the adventures of those who hiked the Baja inferno that is Mike’s Mountain.

At a whopping 4,000 feet, this peak was once the home of an eccentric vegetarian hermit named Mike. Although he was notorious for hiking in the oh so fashionable Speedo, or even in the nude, we decided to climb fully clothed and fully loaded with snacks and water to assure maximum comfort.

Some began the hike at the most ungodly hour of 4:30 am and decided to scale the mountain in the dark. General comments, “We didn’t get lost, we just went the wrong direction.” Some, less devoted hikers, left between seven and eight o’clock. And some (we’ll call them the insane) decided it would be fun to run up the mountain in an attempt to beat the current record of making it to the top in 1 hour and 46 minutes. Their final time: an impressive 1 hour, 45 minutes and 30 seconds.

Amidst the brisk air and blistering wind, we stumbled about the rocky trails, crossed the “ridge of death,” and scaled massive boulders. Dodging cacti and rockslides along the way, the path was treacherous. Casualties: a bloody ankle, little tumbles (thankfully not over the cliff), and scratched legs. I myself suffered from ripped pants after a rather painful encounter with an agave cactus. However, the view from the top made it worth the burning pain in the thighs, sweaty backs, and puffy red hands.

It was a treat to view the bay from such a height, to sense the intense coloration of pthalo blues and greens along the shoreline, and to see the vast Mexican mainland disappear into the haze. Another unexpected treat was the most delightful campfire that awaited those who journeyed to Mike’s renowned cave.

Exhausted from the climb, we plopped down on sunbathed rocks to devour a most delicious and well-earned lunch. I never imagined a peanut butter and jelly sandwich could taste so good.
Satisfied and accomplished, we began the descent at 1pm. Aching knees and blistered toes accompanied us on the way down, but good humor and witty comments kept our spirits up and the pain at bay. At the Field Station we were greeted by a round of applause and a bottle of ibuprofen.

Of this I am sure, we will all sleep well tonight!

(You might want to click on the photo above for a fabulous shot of Bahia de los Angeles from Mike's Mountain!)

Quote of the Day

"A watched boot never bakes."

Julie to Seth, who was supervising his boots as they dried in the sun.

The Day in Bahia

It is time for another Biola in Baja blog update. My name is Seth Branahl and as today’s designated Biology blogger, I bring you greetings from all the students and teachers currently at the Vermillion Sea Field Station in Bahia de Los Angeles.

The morning found many of us Biology students reluctantly falling out of our cots after a late night of studying. Our major plant test would follow in the afternoon and our minds were swimming with the likes of Idria columnaris and Tamarix pentandra. But before we could put our memory to the test, we had turtles to clean.

Just north of town, wedged between the bay and a rather neglected RV camp, lay a sea turtle research field station. In three shallow cement tanks filled with murky, algae green water swam 9 sea turtles of four varieties. There were Hawksbill Turtles, fierce looking fellows with spiked edges on their bright yellow and green shells, Green and Black Turtles, smooth, sleek and differing only in their shell color, and a giant Loggerhead Turtle, grumpy and imposing with a big … um … log shaped head. Having not been washed in a month, all our reptilian friends were in dire need of a thorough scrubbing. We all hopped in the tanks, artists, biologists, musicians, businessmen and sociologists alike, to remove as much algae as possible before the tide went out. The local scientists directed us as we vigorously scrubbed their shells and cautiously washed their heads. Although the work was rather demanding, there were plenty of delighted squeals from the three tanks.

As much fun as the turtles were, my favorite experience at the turtle research center had little to do with the turtles themselves. As we were busy scrubbing in my tank, Janet, a nice lady who lives down here at the field station, decided to shut off the water to our tank completely. Across the tank from the water pipe stood our innocent TA, Melissa Gray, as she diligently washed away at a turtle. Janet turned the lever the wrong way and Poor Miss Gray found herself the victim of an unexpected high pressure hosing. Just recalling the look of pure shock and confusion on her face still makes me laugh.

After bath time with the sea turtles, the Biology students set out to the surrounding area for the major plant test. One of our teachers, Karen, drove us around and chose plants for us to identify. The non-science majors were required to know the English and Spanish names, while the science majors had to know the English, Spanish, Family, Genus and Species names for the plants. The test was not too terribly difficult, but I am sure that everyone was as relieved as me to be finished with it.

To celebrate my victory over the plant test, I went down to the ocean and watched a frenzy of sea birds. Some fishermen had thrown the remains of their catch in the shallows and dozens of gulls and pelicans were snapping up the free food. One pelican had a huge piece of food lodged in its throat and was futilely attempting to swallow it. Acting as a perfect example of a kleptoparasite, a gull sat next to the pelican persistently trying to snatch the food out of the pelican’s mouth. Interested in this behavior, I hopped from rock to rock out into the bay, hoping to get a closer look at the pelican and the gull. Unfortunately, one of the rocks proved more slippery than expected and I quickly found myself knee deep in the Sea of Cortez. My waterproof hiking boots proved ineffective at keeping the water in, but gloriously efficient at acting as buckets. I poured a few cups of water out of my boots at the field station and set them in the oven to dry.

Soon after, an art major friend, Julie, wisely reminded me, “a watched boot never bakes” and suggested that I stick a toothpick in them to see if they were done. Personally, I thought that throwing them against the wall and seeing if they stuck was the best choice. Apparently, I took Julie’s warning against watching my boots too seriously, because I just received reports that people can smell my boots burning.

As you can probably tell, the science is fascinating and the art is gorgeous, but the friends we are all making down here are the best parts of Baja. Our group gets along beautifully and one can almost always find people laughing together. Hopefully, you will get to hear about Biola in Baja from an Art major tomorrow and see some pictures from our hike of Mike’s Mountain

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Catching Up!

We apologize for the long delay of postings; it is partially due to the fact that we have been on the road and a few technical difficulties that are a bit more pronounced when you are working with a primitive technology. But we are on now!

To get you caught up (and so much has happened.)

We took three days to get from Biola to our field station in Bahia.

Jan. 3rd. The first night we camped on the Pacific side near the town of San Quintin.

Jan. 4th. The second day we headed south, turning inland into the Vizcaino desert where we camped for a night. This is considered one of the most beautiful deserts in the world. We camped among huge boulders, cardon cactus and the strange and wonderful cirio cactus.


Jan. 5th. On day three we continued towards the gulf stopping to visit an ancient cave painting site. By late afternoon we arrived at our home away from home, Bahia de Los Angeles and the Vermilion Sea Field Station.



Jan. 6th
. Settled into the field station and toured the town of Bahia, a small fishing village with a population of approx. 800. The field station is nestled on the beach just a stone throw outside of town. The weather so far has been amazing, sunning and cool with amazingly clear nights with a sky full of stars!

Jan. 7th. We headed out for our eight day camping trip. We will be traveling from Bahia de Los Angeles to San Ignacio. We stopped in the town of Guerrero Negro for the famous Tacos Henry. Much to our dismay the owner was under the weather but she sent us to her cousins taco stand and to our pleasure the fish tacos where every bit as good as Henry’s. Incredible fish tacos must run in the family. After lunch we pushed on another hundred and twenty miles to the town of San Ignacio where we would spend two nights.

Jan. 8th. San Ignacio is an eighteenth century colonial town established at a fresh water lagoon. Driving through the lush groves of date palms we entered the tiny town square. The defining building on the square is the San Ignacio Mission built in the mid 1700’s. It is still a functioning church and the pride of this humble town. The biology students explored the lagoon identifying birds and desert plants while the art students painted and photographed the landscape and the beautiful, weathered architecture of the town.


Jan. 9th. San Ignacio south to El Coyote on Bahia de la Concepcion. Once on the gulf coast we stopped in the French colonial town of Santa Rosalia (we had to sample some of the famous Mexican sweat breads and fruit smoothies.) After lunch we continued onto El Coyote where we camped on a pristine white sand beach. This was a great place for landscape painting and shell identification.












Jan. 11th
. We break camp and head north for the fishing town of Mulege. The group is so excited to be here (first clean showers in three days!)







Jan. 13
th. We head northwest for the Pacific coast and Scammon’s Lagoon where we will go gray whale watching. Another beautiful day and clear night.

Jan. 14th. Got up early and went out with whales! We saw lots of mother whales and their newborn calves. Several boats where also visited by dolphins. Returned to Bahia Los Angeles by nightfall.




Jan. 15th.
First full day at the field station. Cleaned up and rested from the camping trip we begin to explore all that our environment has to offer. The biology students continue to learn about the plants, birds and eco-systems of Baja. The art students are desperately trying to capture the amazing richness of this unique place.