Yesterday was an “at sea” day on board the MV Explorer, which meant more work for Shannon and more time enjoying the best job on the ship for me (i.e. freeloader, tag-a-long, T-Pain). I attended three fascinating lectures by University of Virginia professors Drs. Ricardo Padron, Max Brandt, and Iain Campbell.
Dr. Padron’s lecture was on Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and he gave us a whirlwind overview of Mayan culture with the big theme that both time and space were sacred and pregnant with meaning for the Mayans. Their amazing and complex calendar system placed special emphasis on certain days and times in the seasons and years as being better for certain things such as marital bliss, healthy crops, and governmental decisions than others. One quick takeaway was that the Long Count portion of the Mayan calendar, which keeps track of the number of days since the beginning of Mayan civilization, will run out in late December of 2012 and bring an apocalyptic end to the world. Don’t fret, however, the world will be reborn after its destruction.
Dr. Brandt is an ethnomusicologist, and this particular lecture was about the African roots of Carribean music. Later lectures will cover the European and Native influences. We skimmed the surface of polyrhythmic drumming and clapping, and he taught us a relatively simple 3 vs. 4 drumming pattern. He then proceeded to divide the room in half with one half playing the 3-beat rhythm and the other playing the 4 while his assistent played a 12 beat ditty on an African bell. His quote after our performance: “Well, that was getting there, but it’s not exactly what the Africans would call tight.”
Dr. Campbell had much to teach about birds and some of the different species we can expect to spot on this fantastic voyage. I learned more about why our feathered friends are so amazing. For example, they have pass thru lungs that make super efficient use of the air that passes through them, giving them far greater aerobic endurance than I can ever hope to achieve with my piddly chest balloons. I learned about albatross, shearwaters, petrels, and fulmers with their pelagic lifestyles and saltwater-filtering nose tubes. And, of course, I learned how to identify the many variations of booby.
On the lookout for boobies (the red-footed, blue-footed, and brown variety),
Sam
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