Jasmine's first full day in Trinidad turned out to be a mixture of excitement and relaxation. We took a visit to Dr. Marc Adam's veterinary practice in St. James, Sparky's veterinarian. We talked about the worm which, with the help of the great parasitologists at Cornell (Dr. Bowman, Dr. Araceli Lucio-Forster, and Dr. John Schaefer), was identified as Dioctophyma renale, "the giant kidney worm." Sweetie's body was sent to another veterinary practice further examination.

Dr. Adam asked if we wanted to check out her body. Of course we did! We drove to Maraval to Jones Animal Clinic. Sweetie's body was put in a bathtub, the site of our necropsy examination. We were given gloves but no labcoats or masks, so we improvised. We checked her organs for any signs of infection, swelling, etc. Nothing. We did see rice-like structures, but I fed Sweetie rice the evening before she passed. Jasmine and I each had our own kidney to examine. Jasmine did the right one, the one that the worm prefers. Nothing. I did the left one. Nothing. How did this worm end up causing Sweetie to choke? Is it really Dioctophyma renale? Stay tuned.

After that small adventure, we headed to Maracas. Sparky, of course, came along. It wasn't very sunny, so we ended up relaxing on the sand. I fell asleep. So did Sparky. He got tired after running around and begging beachgoers for their food. He did manage to get a chicken leg from some nice people. Bad doggie.

We've got an early morning tomorrow. We have to be at a farm by 8am. Jasmine and I are watching bad TV, then I'm going to hit the sack.


Cutting open Sweetie's left kidney... in my bathing suit. Love it.


Sparky before knocking over the coconut.


My new camera is SWEEEEEET. Check out this photo of a Striated Heron!