Monday, March 16, 2009
Update
TBS photos are up on my shutterfly account and I head to the coast tomorrow for a week then to the Galapagos for 3 weeks! Hope all is well in the States!
Spring Break 2009
3-15-09
SPRING BREAK ’09! Last Friday was the last day of class before spring break and also my 21st birthday. Class was pretty painless since all we were doing was giving presentations about our Tiputini research project. After class we went to the bar across the street from USFQ, Carlitos, for a few beers. My host family planned a birthday dinner for me and invited Dave and his family, my mom (who arrived in Quito on the 3rd,) and my friend Nicole. Dinner consisted of champaign, spaghetti with a mushroom alfredo sauce, and some wonderful birthday cake. Then the real 21st birthday activities started and I headed to the Mariscal to meet my friends for drinks. We started at Middle Eastern place where they have 1 dollar beers and 3 dollar hookahs. Then we headed Chupitos for my free birthday shot(s) and continued to dance the night away to reggetone music. It was definitely a birthday I will never forget, it would have been nice to celebrate with all of my Milwaukee/Madison friends but I cannot complain at all. The next morning I woke up at 8am (without no alarm somehow) and headed to the bus station with my mom to meet Nicole, Carl, and Alex to start our spring break travels. Our plan was to go to Banos for a couple days then spend to rest of the time on the beach in Canoa. Banos is a popular destination for foreign tourist and Ecuadorians alike. They are most noted for being next to a Volcano and having natural hot springs. The first night we went to the hot spring pool and it was incredibly packed with almost no gringos, a pleasant surprise. The next day we took a bike ride to see the numerous waterfalls outside of the city. Renting a bike was 5 dollars for the whole day and was advertised as mountain biking. Turns out the whole trail is on a busy road, a little scary because Ecuadorians drive a touch crazier than in the Midwest. Although most of the tunnels had a trail around them for bikes, the shortest tunnel did not. These are tunnels through the mountains and have no lights, and we did not bring our flashlights so it was mildly scary riding a bike though a 100 m tunnel in the dark, but we made it out alive and continued our journey. Nicole had been having some trouble going up hills and we noticed her tire was slightly flat, so we stopped quickly to pump it up with the small hand pump they gave us. Very soon after I was riding behind Nicole and noticed that her tire was completely flat. So, we stopped to change the inner tube. Luckily they gave us a spare tube, but only gave us a wrench to remove the tire. None of us had ever completely changed an inner tube, but my mom and I had a pretty good idea of how it was done. So we took the wheel off and attempted to take of the tire with the wrench, but were horribly unsuccessful. We got information from a local that there was a bike repair shop in Rio Verde so Nicole and my mom took a bus there while the rest of us biked. We met back up and Nicole was ready to go with a fully inflated tire. We ended up in Machay, a large waterfall that you can hike down to and swim in the pools below and climb on the rocks. A friend had told me about a secret spot to go to at the falls, but unfortunately it wasn’t too secrete anymore and they put a barbed wire fence where the trail was. But Carl and I were determined to get over there and found a way. It was about 2pm at this point and although we would have liked to stay longer we were all getting sunburned and failed to remember sunscreen. So we headed back up and took a Chiva (bus without sides, the common form of transportation in Ecuador) back to Banos. We returned the bikes and tred to get a refund because we didn’t have the proper tools to change a tire, but the women who rented the bike said everyone in the world knows how to change a bike tire with a wrench, which was obviously a little bit of an exaggeration. In Ecuador and there isn’t the same sense of liability as in the States and that combined with the language barrier we were forced to leave without a refund. The next day we planned to go canyoning, which in Banos means belaying down waterfalls. I have never heard of this sport before, but I guess it is semi-popular. Since none of us had even been canoying before we had no idea what to expect and knowing that Ecuador has a different view of safety it was mildly frightening. We hiked up to the top of a canyon with 4 larger waterfalls, between 10 and 20 m, and several smaller falls. Then our guide gave us a debriefing of technique and safety, in Spanish, at this point we were more than mildly frightened. I had to keep telling myself that so many other people had done this, but then I would think about how old and worn the equipment was and scare myself more. Going down the first waterfall was more fear then adrenaline, but by the third I was enjoying the rush. The last 2 small waterfalls we slide down on our rump, it was a great way to end. We got back into town, ate, and headed to the bus station to catch a late bus to Quito where we would meet our friend Jane before heading to the coast. We didn’t know exactly when the bus left Quito but we were hoping to make the last night bus. We got to Quito at 11:30pm and the last bus for the coast had left not even 10 minutes prior. We were forced to stay in Quito and since our host parents we not expecting us we thought it would be best to stay in a hostel for the night. We saw a couple across the street and headed over to check them out. The first one we went into the man behind the front desk seemed to be drugged out and we decided that would not be a good place to sleep, the next place looked equally as run down but we were tired, it seemed slightly more safe, and the price was right at 4 dollars a night. We settled in and tried to sleep, but were all a little worried about safety. We all sleep with our money on us and our cameras well hidden as well. Nicole, Alex, and I we ready to sleep, but Carl could not stop pacing and thinking of all the worst things that could happen to us. Finally it was the morning and we had made it through a night at the sketchiest hostel we ever hope to stay at. Unfortunately we got a call from Jane saying she was vomiting all night and wasn’t going to come with us. We caught the 8am bus, sadly without Jane, and 10 hours and 3 buses later we were in Canoa. Canoa is a small surf town that during high season gets very busy but since we were there during the week and low season it was very chill. We found a hostel across the street from the beach for 7 dollars a night unloaded our luggage and headed to the beach for a drink and some food before bed. The next morning we went to Main Street to buy some groceries. The streets do not have names in Canoa, but you can tell which on is Main Street because it is one of the only of 2 paved roads. After breakfast we headed to the beach, it was cloudy but we were not going to let clouds stop us from bumming on the beach. Nicole and Alex both played volleyball in high school and were eager to play on the beach. For some reason volleyball nets in Ecuador are very high, even though on average Ecuadorians are much shorter. But we found the shortest net on the opposite side of the beach as our hostel and started a 2 on 2 game. Soon some locals asked to join then some gringos and we got a pretty good game going on. After awhile we were hot and tired and went for a swim in the ocean. The sun had came out a little and Nicole, Alex, Carl, and some of the other Americans we met went to a cave with some locals, but I was tired and decided to take a nap. When I woke up all the local surfers had come out and were enjoying the waves. I was too shy to talk to anyone, but it was fun just watching them. That night Nicole and Alex had plans to meet up with their new Canoan friends and go to a local bar. We played pool and had some drinks before going to a discoteca to dance then were invited to a bon fire on the beach where the locals played guitar and sang till the wee hours. After this first day we were completely in love with Canoa. The next day I realized I was badly burnt on my back stomach and legs, ouch, so we all made sure to load up on sunscreen because obviously clouds do not help enough with the equatorial sun. During the morning the waves are fairly small so Carl and I rented surf boards. I have been surfing in Hawaii so I could just rent a board, but Carl had never surfed before and had to get a short lesson before getting his own board. We caught some nice waves before the tide started to come in and the waves got a little too big for us. At this point we went over the other side of the beach by the locals and found our friends from the night before. We played volleyball till sunset then headed back to our hostel for some food. So, at this point it was pretty clear that the local boys were rather good at picking up gringa girls and did this quite often, but it was part of the experience of Canoa and we were having fun. We went out dancing again then to another bon fire. The next morning our boys were supposed to give us surf lessons but there were no clouds and I did not want to go out into the sun for that long. This was our last night in Canoa and there was a huge party at the Discoteca for one of the local’s birthdays. It is such a small town that everyone knows each other and by the end of the night we felt like we also knew all the locals. It should be noted that it was mainly local boys, and Carl was a little miserable because of the lack of chicas but our friends helped him find some local girls to dance with. The next morning we packed up our stuff and out it in the kitchen so we could check out and head to the beach. I spent practically all day in the shade because my sunburn had turned into blisters and it was very painful to go in the salt water. Some new gringas had arrived and we enjoyed watching the Canoan boys flock. At one point our friends called their friend over who was talking to the new gringas and his friend made a joke about “la arta de Canoa” (the art of Canoa) referring to picking up the tourists. We all had a little laugh. As we were talking my friend motioned to his surf board and said “mi tabla es mi novia” (my board is my girlfriend) and I think that pretty accurately describes the Canoan lifestyle: surf all day and hit on gringas all night. Nicole, Alex, and I were wondering what happened to these boys as they got older because we only saw the younger generation of surfers. Where were all the old surfers? Is this a new phenomenon or do they completely give up surfing once they get to a certain age? We may never know, but hopefully went I make I back to Canoa in 10 years it will be the same chill town that I grew to love. (Also, I hope to go back to Canoa for a week after my program is done if I have enough money left.) Finally it was time to leave so we headed back to the hostel got our bags and went to the bus stop, where our boys were waiting on the curb to say goodbye. Something they have obviously done before. We said our goodbyes and reluctantly headed back to Quito. Canoa is one of those places that is really difficult to describe with words but when you are there you know you never want to leave.
SPRING BREAK ’09! Last Friday was the last day of class before spring break and also my 21st birthday. Class was pretty painless since all we were doing was giving presentations about our Tiputini research project. After class we went to the bar across the street from USFQ, Carlitos, for a few beers. My host family planned a birthday dinner for me and invited Dave and his family, my mom (who arrived in Quito on the 3rd,) and my friend Nicole. Dinner consisted of champaign, spaghetti with a mushroom alfredo sauce, and some wonderful birthday cake. Then the real 21st birthday activities started and I headed to the Mariscal to meet my friends for drinks. We started at Middle Eastern place where they have 1 dollar beers and 3 dollar hookahs. Then we headed Chupitos for my free birthday shot(s) and continued to dance the night away to reggetone music. It was definitely a birthday I will never forget, it would have been nice to celebrate with all of my Milwaukee/Madison friends but I cannot complain at all. The next morning I woke up at 8am (without no alarm somehow) and headed to the bus station with my mom to meet Nicole, Carl, and Alex to start our spring break travels. Our plan was to go to Banos for a couple days then spend to rest of the time on the beach in Canoa. Banos is a popular destination for foreign tourist and Ecuadorians alike. They are most noted for being next to a Volcano and having natural hot springs. The first night we went to the hot spring pool and it was incredibly packed with almost no gringos, a pleasant surprise. The next day we took a bike ride to see the numerous waterfalls outside of the city. Renting a bike was 5 dollars for the whole day and was advertised as mountain biking. Turns out the whole trail is on a busy road, a little scary because Ecuadorians drive a touch crazier than in the Midwest. Although most of the tunnels had a trail around them for bikes, the shortest tunnel did not. These are tunnels through the mountains and have no lights, and we did not bring our flashlights so it was mildly scary riding a bike though a 100 m tunnel in the dark, but we made it out alive and continued our journey. Nicole had been having some trouble going up hills and we noticed her tire was slightly flat, so we stopped quickly to pump it up with the small hand pump they gave us. Very soon after I was riding behind Nicole and noticed that her tire was completely flat. So, we stopped to change the inner tube. Luckily they gave us a spare tube, but only gave us a wrench to remove the tire. None of us had ever completely changed an inner tube, but my mom and I had a pretty good idea of how it was done. So we took the wheel off and attempted to take of the tire with the wrench, but were horribly unsuccessful. We got information from a local that there was a bike repair shop in Rio Verde so Nicole and my mom took a bus there while the rest of us biked. We met back up and Nicole was ready to go with a fully inflated tire. We ended up in Machay, a large waterfall that you can hike down to and swim in the pools below and climb on the rocks. A friend had told me about a secret spot to go to at the falls, but unfortunately it wasn’t too secrete anymore and they put a barbed wire fence where the trail was. But Carl and I were determined to get over there and found a way. It was about 2pm at this point and although we would have liked to stay longer we were all getting sunburned and failed to remember sunscreen. So we headed back up and took a Chiva (bus without sides, the common form of transportation in Ecuador) back to Banos. We returned the bikes and tred to get a refund because we didn’t have the proper tools to change a tire, but the women who rented the bike said everyone in the world knows how to change a bike tire with a wrench, which was obviously a little bit of an exaggeration. In Ecuador and there isn’t the same sense of liability as in the States and that combined with the language barrier we were forced to leave without a refund. The next day we planned to go canyoning, which in Banos means belaying down waterfalls. I have never heard of this sport before, but I guess it is semi-popular. Since none of us had even been canoying before we had no idea what to expect and knowing that Ecuador has a different view of safety it was mildly frightening. We hiked up to the top of a canyon with 4 larger waterfalls, between 10 and 20 m, and several smaller falls. Then our guide gave us a debriefing of technique and safety, in Spanish, at this point we were more than mildly frightened. I had to keep telling myself that so many other people had done this, but then I would think about how old and worn the equipment was and scare myself more. Going down the first waterfall was more fear then adrenaline, but by the third I was enjoying the rush. The last 2 small waterfalls we slide down on our rump, it was a great way to end. We got back into town, ate, and headed to the bus station to catch a late bus to Quito where we would meet our friend Jane before heading to the coast. We didn’t know exactly when the bus left Quito but we were hoping to make the last night bus. We got to Quito at 11:30pm and the last bus for the coast had left not even 10 minutes prior. We were forced to stay in Quito and since our host parents we not expecting us we thought it would be best to stay in a hostel for the night. We saw a couple across the street and headed over to check them out. The first one we went into the man behind the front desk seemed to be drugged out and we decided that would not be a good place to sleep, the next place looked equally as run down but we were tired, it seemed slightly more safe, and the price was right at 4 dollars a night. We settled in and tried to sleep, but were all a little worried about safety. We all sleep with our money on us and our cameras well hidden as well. Nicole, Alex, and I we ready to sleep, but Carl could not stop pacing and thinking of all the worst things that could happen to us. Finally it was the morning and we had made it through a night at the sketchiest hostel we ever hope to stay at. Unfortunately we got a call from Jane saying she was vomiting all night and wasn’t going to come with us. We caught the 8am bus, sadly without Jane, and 10 hours and 3 buses later we were in Canoa. Canoa is a small surf town that during high season gets very busy but since we were there during the week and low season it was very chill. We found a hostel across the street from the beach for 7 dollars a night unloaded our luggage and headed to the beach for a drink and some food before bed. The next morning we went to Main Street to buy some groceries. The streets do not have names in Canoa, but you can tell which on is Main Street because it is one of the only of 2 paved roads. After breakfast we headed to the beach, it was cloudy but we were not going to let clouds stop us from bumming on the beach. Nicole and Alex both played volleyball in high school and were eager to play on the beach. For some reason volleyball nets in Ecuador are very high, even though on average Ecuadorians are much shorter. But we found the shortest net on the opposite side of the beach as our hostel and started a 2 on 2 game. Soon some locals asked to join then some gringos and we got a pretty good game going on. After awhile we were hot and tired and went for a swim in the ocean. The sun had came out a little and Nicole, Alex, Carl, and some of the other Americans we met went to a cave with some locals, but I was tired and decided to take a nap. When I woke up all the local surfers had come out and were enjoying the waves. I was too shy to talk to anyone, but it was fun just watching them. That night Nicole and Alex had plans to meet up with their new Canoan friends and go to a local bar. We played pool and had some drinks before going to a discoteca to dance then were invited to a bon fire on the beach where the locals played guitar and sang till the wee hours. After this first day we were completely in love with Canoa. The next day I realized I was badly burnt on my back stomach and legs, ouch, so we all made sure to load up on sunscreen because obviously clouds do not help enough with the equatorial sun. During the morning the waves are fairly small so Carl and I rented surf boards. I have been surfing in Hawaii so I could just rent a board, but Carl had never surfed before and had to get a short lesson before getting his own board. We caught some nice waves before the tide started to come in and the waves got a little too big for us. At this point we went over the other side of the beach by the locals and found our friends from the night before. We played volleyball till sunset then headed back to our hostel for some food. So, at this point it was pretty clear that the local boys were rather good at picking up gringa girls and did this quite often, but it was part of the experience of Canoa and we were having fun. We went out dancing again then to another bon fire. The next morning our boys were supposed to give us surf lessons but there were no clouds and I did not want to go out into the sun for that long. This was our last night in Canoa and there was a huge party at the Discoteca for one of the local’s birthdays. It is such a small town that everyone knows each other and by the end of the night we felt like we also knew all the locals. It should be noted that it was mainly local boys, and Carl was a little miserable because of the lack of chicas but our friends helped him find some local girls to dance with. The next morning we packed up our stuff and out it in the kitchen so we could check out and head to the beach. I spent practically all day in the shade because my sunburn had turned into blisters and it was very painful to go in the salt water. Some new gringas had arrived and we enjoyed watching the Canoan boys flock. At one point our friends called their friend over who was talking to the new gringas and his friend made a joke about “la arta de Canoa” (the art of Canoa) referring to picking up the tourists. We all had a little laugh. As we were talking my friend motioned to his surf board and said “mi tabla es mi novia” (my board is my girlfriend) and I think that pretty accurately describes the Canoan lifestyle: surf all day and hit on gringas all night. Nicole, Alex, and I were wondering what happened to these boys as they got older because we only saw the younger generation of surfers. Where were all the old surfers? Is this a new phenomenon or do they completely give up surfing once they get to a certain age? We may never know, but hopefully went I make I back to Canoa in 10 years it will be the same chill town that I grew to love. (Also, I hope to go back to Canoa for a week after my program is done if I have enough money left.) Finally it was time to leave so we headed back to the hostel got our bags and went to the bus stop, where our boys were waiting on the curb to say goodbye. Something they have obviously done before. We said our goodbyes and reluctantly headed back to Quito. Canoa is one of those places that is really difficult to describe with words but when you are there you know you never want to leave.
TBS 3
2-25-09
Today we did a morning float to a salt lick by the water where hundreds of parrots hang out. It was pretty incredible and I got some nice pictures. After some more bird watching we went in the water and inevitably started our chain game. We finally got everyone attached (about 15 people.) We went back for lunch and then Nicole and I heading into the field for our last day of data collection. We had gone to all of the closest stream already so we knew we were in for a bit of a hike. Nicole though there was a good stream a little bit down that Mata Mata trail, so we started walking. We crossed the stream that she thought would be good, but the water had gone down too much and it was no long a continuous stream. So we kept walking, in hopes of finding a better stream. As we were walking I saw something move in the woods. It was fairly large and my first thought (for some unknown reason) was that it was a human. I told Nicole and then she saw it, we are pretty sure it was a deer. There are a lot of deer in the forest, but they are very hard to see so we were pretty lucky. Finally we found a stream that we could work on. We did your first site and caught a crawdad! We had seen them the night before on our night hike, but didn’t think they were in the small stream. We continued to collect data, and our last part of the stream was covered in a vine tangle and Nicole made the joke that she would have to “ungulate through the water” instead of the running/kick thing that we do. By the time we were done with our transect it we had 15 minutes until lecture and we were at almost 2 km from camp. So we packed up all of our gear and realized we were missing a ruler, but because of us disturbing the stream so much we couldn’t see the bottom and quickly gave up and decided to come back tomorrow. We booked it back to camp and we still 30 minutes late, whoops. We came into lecture smelly, dirty, wet, and still sweating from the hike back. After dinner we watched a pirated version of Slumdog Millionaire.
2-26-09
I worked on data analysis all day today with Nicole… inside the library.. not how I would chose to spend a day in the rainforest. However, before dinner I went down to the river to watch the sunset. The river has gone down about 10 meters since we came to Tiputini so the banks are finally exposed and you can see more wildlife. We did see a pink river dolphin today which was awesome, especially since I thought I was the subject of some large prank (like snipe hunting,) but it turns out that river dolphins really exist. After dinner Carl, Nicole, Jane, Eric and I went on a fairly uneventful night hike.
2-27-09
Today was a study day for our final tomorrow. I was in the library all day, again, not cool. We had a review before dinner and got a short presentation from a jaguar researcher before bed.
2-28-09
Day of the final. We had an hour field exam and a 3 hour written exam. After the exam Nicole, Sam, and I relaxed by the river and ate peanut butter and Oreos (a common and delicious snack at TBS.) after dinner we went on a night float. We saw a large caiman, a deer, and some night birds.
3-1-09
Today was a completely free day. Nicole and I have been wanting to take out the small canoe since we got here and finally had the opportunity to do so. So, we woke up at 5:20 am to get a ride to tower 2 so we could paddle back downstream (it is not possible to paddle upstream.) We went to the lagoon next to tower 2 to see the Houatsins for a final time. The water had gone down in the lagoon as well, and apparently no one had used the canoe since then because it was on a hill now. It had some water in the bottom so we tipped it out and pushed it down the hill. However, the hill ended in a small drop and the canoe did a small nose dive. Once the canoe was in the water there was no way we could get it back out to get the water out (note: dugout canoes are deceivingly heavy) so we had a nice ride around with about 2 inches of water in the canoe. After we had gotten our fill of bird watching we headed back to the river to canoe back, but went we got to the bank we couldn’t find our canoe. A lot of people in our group have been playing pranks so we assumed someone that had gone up into the tower knew something we didn’t. We hike back to the tower, anger building the whole way. We had been looking forward to this canoe ride back for so long, and now it had been taken away and it was our last day. We got to the tower and yelled up asking where our canoe was, they said they didn’t know but it took some convincing before we walked back and realized we had made a wrong turn the first time. The ride back was very pleasant despite to light rain. We got home and wanted to take a nap until 10am before going on the Mata Mata trail to find our lost ruler. At 11:50 we woke up very surprised at our 4 hour nap, we didn’t realize we were so tired. The afternoon float/fishing trip left at 2pm so after lunch we had to go on a speed hike to find our ruler. Surprisingly we found the ruler and made it back in time. After the float we went down the Lago trail to try to find pigmy marmoset. Pigmies are adorable little monkeys (the smallest primate in the world) that eat sap from trees, and there is a tree on Lago that they are known to like. We got there and after waiting for about 15 minute one came out. He was ridiculously cute. On the walk back I heard a woodpecker; I have heard a lot of woodpeckers but have not been able to find them. This time it sounded very close and I was determined to find him. After walking about 10 m off the trail I finally found the tree he was on and got a decent view. I love woodpeckers. We leave tomorrow after breakfast and although I was skeptical if I would like it here, I am not ready to leave. But, all good things must come to an end and I guess I am ready to go back to civilization.
P.S.
Shout out to my dad! It is his birthday today! Also notable: my mom comes in 2 days and I turn 21 in 5 days. Whoop whoop.
3-2-09
Today we got on the boat after dinner and left Tiputini. We did the trip again Boat up the Tipuntini river, Chiva bus through the oil camp, boat up the Napo river, then fly back to Quito. The water on the Tipuntini has gone down so much it looks like a different river and I like to think I came out of TBS a little different as well.
Today we did a morning float to a salt lick by the water where hundreds of parrots hang out. It was pretty incredible and I got some nice pictures. After some more bird watching we went in the water and inevitably started our chain game. We finally got everyone attached (about 15 people.) We went back for lunch and then Nicole and I heading into the field for our last day of data collection. We had gone to all of the closest stream already so we knew we were in for a bit of a hike. Nicole though there was a good stream a little bit down that Mata Mata trail, so we started walking. We crossed the stream that she thought would be good, but the water had gone down too much and it was no long a continuous stream. So we kept walking, in hopes of finding a better stream. As we were walking I saw something move in the woods. It was fairly large and my first thought (for some unknown reason) was that it was a human. I told Nicole and then she saw it, we are pretty sure it was a deer. There are a lot of deer in the forest, but they are very hard to see so we were pretty lucky. Finally we found a stream that we could work on. We did your first site and caught a crawdad! We had seen them the night before on our night hike, but didn’t think they were in the small stream. We continued to collect data, and our last part of the stream was covered in a vine tangle and Nicole made the joke that she would have to “ungulate through the water” instead of the running/kick thing that we do. By the time we were done with our transect it we had 15 minutes until lecture and we were at almost 2 km from camp. So we packed up all of our gear and realized we were missing a ruler, but because of us disturbing the stream so much we couldn’t see the bottom and quickly gave up and decided to come back tomorrow. We booked it back to camp and we still 30 minutes late, whoops. We came into lecture smelly, dirty, wet, and still sweating from the hike back. After dinner we watched a pirated version of Slumdog Millionaire.
2-26-09
I worked on data analysis all day today with Nicole… inside the library.. not how I would chose to spend a day in the rainforest. However, before dinner I went down to the river to watch the sunset. The river has gone down about 10 meters since we came to Tiputini so the banks are finally exposed and you can see more wildlife. We did see a pink river dolphin today which was awesome, especially since I thought I was the subject of some large prank (like snipe hunting,) but it turns out that river dolphins really exist. After dinner Carl, Nicole, Jane, Eric and I went on a fairly uneventful night hike.
2-27-09
Today was a study day for our final tomorrow. I was in the library all day, again, not cool. We had a review before dinner and got a short presentation from a jaguar researcher before bed.
2-28-09
Day of the final. We had an hour field exam and a 3 hour written exam. After the exam Nicole, Sam, and I relaxed by the river and ate peanut butter and Oreos (a common and delicious snack at TBS.) after dinner we went on a night float. We saw a large caiman, a deer, and some night birds.
3-1-09
Today was a completely free day. Nicole and I have been wanting to take out the small canoe since we got here and finally had the opportunity to do so. So, we woke up at 5:20 am to get a ride to tower 2 so we could paddle back downstream (it is not possible to paddle upstream.) We went to the lagoon next to tower 2 to see the Houatsins for a final time. The water had gone down in the lagoon as well, and apparently no one had used the canoe since then because it was on a hill now. It had some water in the bottom so we tipped it out and pushed it down the hill. However, the hill ended in a small drop and the canoe did a small nose dive. Once the canoe was in the water there was no way we could get it back out to get the water out (note: dugout canoes are deceivingly heavy) so we had a nice ride around with about 2 inches of water in the canoe. After we had gotten our fill of bird watching we headed back to the river to canoe back, but went we got to the bank we couldn’t find our canoe. A lot of people in our group have been playing pranks so we assumed someone that had gone up into the tower knew something we didn’t. We hike back to the tower, anger building the whole way. We had been looking forward to this canoe ride back for so long, and now it had been taken away and it was our last day. We got to the tower and yelled up asking where our canoe was, they said they didn’t know but it took some convincing before we walked back and realized we had made a wrong turn the first time. The ride back was very pleasant despite to light rain. We got home and wanted to take a nap until 10am before going on the Mata Mata trail to find our lost ruler. At 11:50 we woke up very surprised at our 4 hour nap, we didn’t realize we were so tired. The afternoon float/fishing trip left at 2pm so after lunch we had to go on a speed hike to find our ruler. Surprisingly we found the ruler and made it back in time. After the float we went down the Lago trail to try to find pigmy marmoset. Pigmies are adorable little monkeys (the smallest primate in the world) that eat sap from trees, and there is a tree on Lago that they are known to like. We got there and after waiting for about 15 minute one came out. He was ridiculously cute. On the walk back I heard a woodpecker; I have heard a lot of woodpeckers but have not been able to find them. This time it sounded very close and I was determined to find him. After walking about 10 m off the trail I finally found the tree he was on and got a decent view. I love woodpeckers. We leave tomorrow after breakfast and although I was skeptical if I would like it here, I am not ready to leave. But, all good things must come to an end and I guess I am ready to go back to civilization.
P.S.
Shout out to my dad! It is his birthday today! Also notable: my mom comes in 2 days and I turn 21 in 5 days. Whoop whoop.
3-2-09
Today we got on the boat after dinner and left Tiputini. We did the trip again Boat up the Tipuntini river, Chiva bus through the oil camp, boat up the Napo river, then fly back to Quito. The water on the Tipuntini has gone down so much it looks like a different river and I like to think I came out of TBS a little different as well.
TBS 2
2-16-09
Today was our turn to do the “Jaguar Hike” we soon caught on that the merely put the word “jaguar” in front to make to hike seem more interesting. Although we didn’t see a jaguar it was a nice leisurely hike through the jungle, until it was 11:30 and we were farther away from camp that we should have been to get back on time for lunch. So we picked up our pace and took the shortest was back on a research trail, which are not as heavily used so more overgrown. I walk walking in the middle of the group with the 2 guides and a couple students in front of me when I saw a snake in the corner of my snake. I immediately turned around saying “snake snake snake…” It was a little snake but it startled me since it was almost on the trail. I was also surprised half the group walked past it without realizing. I guess it was a harmless garden snake but I obviously didn’t know that when I first saw it. Snakes are the animal that scares me the most in the rainforest, because they are the only animal that could quickly and easily kill you. We continued our light jog back to camp when we crossed a small stream. I looked down it as I was crossing and say a tortoise, this did not scare me as much as the snake but I was once again surprised no one saw it in front of me. We ended up getting to lunch about 30 minutes late, but there was still food so it was fine. After lunch we went for a dip in the Tiputini River, it was very refreshing after our long hike. After that we went out to start a mark and recapture experiment with bullet ants. This consisted of kicking a tree that bullet ants lived at the base of then marking all the ones that came out with bright nail polish, all the while trying not to get bit. Next we headed back to our pitfall traps to collect our bugs, this time I managed to not fall down at all. After dinner I went on a night hike with Carl, Jane, Eric, and Mark. We saw a tarantula as well as lots of frogs. Then Eric found a snake which he immediately picked up… I was not OK with this and kept my distance. He insisted he knew it wasn’t poisonous, but I told him “we are in the most biodiverse place in the world, if you can’t tell me the species I am not going near it.” He told me I was overreacting and continued to toy with the unidentified snake.
2-17-09
I woke up at 5:27 this morning to the horrible realization that my alarm had not gone off and I was supposed to be at the boat dock in 3 minutes to go to Tower 2. Luckily I had set out everything the night before in case this happened and was able to make it to the boat before it left. We got to tower and did some bird watching as the sun rose. The tower is about 45 m high and has an excellent view of the canopy. But after almost 3 hours of birding, which is very near my limit, I went down and took out a small canoe with Teal and Cath. The lagoon had lots of Hautsons, a prehistoric looking bird that is supposedly very sensitive to human disturbance and therefore their presence is a sign of a healthy forest. Before we docked to head back to camp, Cath showed us a tree that we could pull a prank with. The tree’s fruit had a black die in it that was invisible at first so you tell people that if they put it on their forehead they will “see spots” and they put it on in hopes of trying a hallucinogen, but then about 30 minutes later only see spots on the other victims’ foreheads. After lunch we went for a float down the river and a butterfly sat on my head almost the entire time. Then we went back to out bullet ant trees to finish our mark and recapture experiment. This time we just aggravated the nest and counted how many marked and unmarked ants came out, and with this information we were able to estimate the population on the nest.
2-18-09
Today was our first completely free day and our first day of rain. Every night since we have been here there is a tree frog that is very loud (his call sounds like “mot mot” so that has become what my roommates and I say to each other in passing – very comical.) He is a tiny tree frog that sits in bromeliads and uses them as a projection device. Last night was the first night he really kept me up because after a large crack of thunder we would get twice as loud, as if completing with it. I do enjoy thunderstorms, and this was by far the noisiest I have ever head, between the torrential down pour, the enormous cracks of thunder, and the tree frog it was quite a spectacle. During the morning I took a nap then woke and woke up when the rain started to pick up again so I sat on our porch to watch the downpour. The day before my roommates and I were talking about how much we like to dance in the rain and I thought there was no time like the present so I found them and we had a glorious dance party in the middle of the jungle (no need to shower today.) After lunch Nicole and I started to plan our research project. We were thinking about doing something with macro-organisms in streams. We are hoping to come up with something that involves fishing, but so far all we can come up with is a blind taste test to see it fish from black-water or white-water streams taste better, which is sadly not very scientific. Lecture today was about freshwater systems which was ironically very relevant to my and Nicole project. After lecture and dinner I continued my lazy day reading in our cabin listening to the rain drizzle on the roof and the thunder rumble in the distance.
2-19-09
I woke up today and it was still raining, went to breakfast – still raining. My group was supposed to go on a float down the black-water river in the morning but because of the rain it was postponed till the afternoon. In the morning Nicole and I worked on our research project again. We have giving up on the fishing idea and are just going to compare small clear-water streams. After lunch it was still drizzling, but we went on the float anyways. The boat ride was about 3 hours long, and for about 10 minutes of that there was no rain. I made the decision not to bring my rain gear on the boat because it was already wet, but I was cold and miserable for most of the time because of my choice. Finally we saw some Red Howler monkeys and I started to get in a better mood. Black-water Rivers are regularly flooded and right now the Tiputini River is exceptionally high, so we were navigating through submerged trees getting stuck multiple times and having to machete our way out. We eventually got to a somewhat open area so that we could start fishing. The poles consisted of a piece of wood with line wrapped around it and the bait was a chuck of chicken, mainly for catching piranhas. Yesterday, Joe said that if we caught enough fish we may be able to do our fishing experiment. We didn’t catch any… On the way back we saw a 3-toed sloth and a laughing falcon.
2-20-09
This morning we wrote our proposal for our research project and decided to do morpho-species in small clear-water streams. To collect data we made a kick-net. We had to make do with the limited resources at the station and made the net out of a stiff net, not the best for catching fish, and a wire frame. The hardest part was trying to talk tot the Ecuadorian construction workers so they would cut our wire. After lunch we finished the net and wet to go try it out on a nearby stream. We were fairly worried about not catching anything and therefore having no data, but not only did we catch insects we catch FISH! When I say fish I mean a small minnow, but still we were pretty excited. Today a group of about 20 USFQ exchange students from Boston University came. They are not studying science or very interesting in it at all, so we were fairly territorial of the station and fairly angry when we found out they saw an anaconda on their first boat ride. Tonight at 3am we are planning on going on a nioght hike in hopes of seeing a Tapir, but we will see if that actually happens.
2-21-09
Last night we didn’t wake up for our night hike because it was raining. Also, at 5:30 we were supposed to go mist netting, but it was raining. Instead we spent most of the morning sleeping and then having meetings with Joe and Cath about our research project. They obviously had some doubts about our project so after lunch we went out again and did a full test run, taking turbidity, temperature, depth, width, flow rate, and using our kick net to identify morpho-species. We caught water striders, minnows, and nymphs, so it was definitely a success and we would most likely be able to collect enough data in 4 days to analyze. We came back for lecture and dinner, and went to bed in hopes of no rain in the morning so we could go mist netting.
2-22-09
This morning at 5:27 we woke up to NO RAIN! Then rushed to met everyone at 5:30 to leave. Mist netting is a way to catch small understory birds that are usually very hard to see and study by setting up thin net that birds fly into and get caught. Once caught you can remove them take the data needed and release them again. We caught some pretty tanagers, a ant bird (which doesn’t actually eat ants, but fallows army ants and eats the insects running away from them.) We also caught a humming bird, which is very fragile so we let it go right away. After we got back Nicole and I started our first full day of data collection. We ended up getting some good data and getting very wet. Some of the pools were above our knees, and as we were kicking downstream the water would splash everywhere. Eventhough the water was about 24˚C (75˚F) it seemed cold because the air is so warm. After we were done we emptied our boots of water and headed back for lunch. after lunch we went into the field again. This stream was a lot wider, shallower, and clearer, so we could see wildlife a lot better and saw some fair good sized fish, which only mean about 2 inches long. Nicole got really excited about the larger fish and after collecting data she insisted we try and catch one, but they were too fast for us.
2-23-09
Today was another day routine day. Breakfast at 6:30 fallowed by going into the field. We came back for lunch at noon then went back into the field to another stream, came back to read/study before dinner then bed.
2-24-09
This morning we went out into the field. When we got to our stream there was a hummingbird sitting on one of the branches over the water. Soon it left the branch and started hovering over the water dipping down periodically to bath itself. It was definitely the favorite thing I have seen here so far. After lunch we were able to do a float down river. Usually the boat stays fairly close while we are in the water, but today they went out of view, which had us a little worried but then we started playing out chain game so we forgot about our boat leaving us in the Tiputini. (Note: Peru is about 4 hours downstream so we always joke about just floating to Peru.) Our chain game consist of finding a tree that is partially submerged so someone can hold onto it while everyone else grabs on to the persons’ feet in front of them creating a long chain. The challenge is trying to get everyone attached before someone breaks the link. The most we got today was about 10 people. When we got back we had a short hike to review plant families, and we pleasantly interrupted but a capuchin monkey and later some squirrel monkeys. After dinner we went on a night hike to a large stream and some some huge toads and crawdads.
Today was our turn to do the “Jaguar Hike” we soon caught on that the merely put the word “jaguar” in front to make to hike seem more interesting. Although we didn’t see a jaguar it was a nice leisurely hike through the jungle, until it was 11:30 and we were farther away from camp that we should have been to get back on time for lunch. So we picked up our pace and took the shortest was back on a research trail, which are not as heavily used so more overgrown. I walk walking in the middle of the group with the 2 guides and a couple students in front of me when I saw a snake in the corner of my snake. I immediately turned around saying “snake snake snake…” It was a little snake but it startled me since it was almost on the trail. I was also surprised half the group walked past it without realizing. I guess it was a harmless garden snake but I obviously didn’t know that when I first saw it. Snakes are the animal that scares me the most in the rainforest, because they are the only animal that could quickly and easily kill you. We continued our light jog back to camp when we crossed a small stream. I looked down it as I was crossing and say a tortoise, this did not scare me as much as the snake but I was once again surprised no one saw it in front of me. We ended up getting to lunch about 30 minutes late, but there was still food so it was fine. After lunch we went for a dip in the Tiputini River, it was very refreshing after our long hike. After that we went out to start a mark and recapture experiment with bullet ants. This consisted of kicking a tree that bullet ants lived at the base of then marking all the ones that came out with bright nail polish, all the while trying not to get bit. Next we headed back to our pitfall traps to collect our bugs, this time I managed to not fall down at all. After dinner I went on a night hike with Carl, Jane, Eric, and Mark. We saw a tarantula as well as lots of frogs. Then Eric found a snake which he immediately picked up… I was not OK with this and kept my distance. He insisted he knew it wasn’t poisonous, but I told him “we are in the most biodiverse place in the world, if you can’t tell me the species I am not going near it.” He told me I was overreacting and continued to toy with the unidentified snake.
2-17-09
I woke up at 5:27 this morning to the horrible realization that my alarm had not gone off and I was supposed to be at the boat dock in 3 minutes to go to Tower 2. Luckily I had set out everything the night before in case this happened and was able to make it to the boat before it left. We got to tower and did some bird watching as the sun rose. The tower is about 45 m high and has an excellent view of the canopy. But after almost 3 hours of birding, which is very near my limit, I went down and took out a small canoe with Teal and Cath. The lagoon had lots of Hautsons, a prehistoric looking bird that is supposedly very sensitive to human disturbance and therefore their presence is a sign of a healthy forest. Before we docked to head back to camp, Cath showed us a tree that we could pull a prank with. The tree’s fruit had a black die in it that was invisible at first so you tell people that if they put it on their forehead they will “see spots” and they put it on in hopes of trying a hallucinogen, but then about 30 minutes later only see spots on the other victims’ foreheads. After lunch we went for a float down the river and a butterfly sat on my head almost the entire time. Then we went back to out bullet ant trees to finish our mark and recapture experiment. This time we just aggravated the nest and counted how many marked and unmarked ants came out, and with this information we were able to estimate the population on the nest.
2-18-09
Today was our first completely free day and our first day of rain. Every night since we have been here there is a tree frog that is very loud (his call sounds like “mot mot” so that has become what my roommates and I say to each other in passing – very comical.) He is a tiny tree frog that sits in bromeliads and uses them as a projection device. Last night was the first night he really kept me up because after a large crack of thunder we would get twice as loud, as if completing with it. I do enjoy thunderstorms, and this was by far the noisiest I have ever head, between the torrential down pour, the enormous cracks of thunder, and the tree frog it was quite a spectacle. During the morning I took a nap then woke and woke up when the rain started to pick up again so I sat on our porch to watch the downpour. The day before my roommates and I were talking about how much we like to dance in the rain and I thought there was no time like the present so I found them and we had a glorious dance party in the middle of the jungle (no need to shower today.) After lunch Nicole and I started to plan our research project. We were thinking about doing something with macro-organisms in streams. We are hoping to come up with something that involves fishing, but so far all we can come up with is a blind taste test to see it fish from black-water or white-water streams taste better, which is sadly not very scientific. Lecture today was about freshwater systems which was ironically very relevant to my and Nicole project. After lecture and dinner I continued my lazy day reading in our cabin listening to the rain drizzle on the roof and the thunder rumble in the distance.
2-19-09
I woke up today and it was still raining, went to breakfast – still raining. My group was supposed to go on a float down the black-water river in the morning but because of the rain it was postponed till the afternoon. In the morning Nicole and I worked on our research project again. We have giving up on the fishing idea and are just going to compare small clear-water streams. After lunch it was still drizzling, but we went on the float anyways. The boat ride was about 3 hours long, and for about 10 minutes of that there was no rain. I made the decision not to bring my rain gear on the boat because it was already wet, but I was cold and miserable for most of the time because of my choice. Finally we saw some Red Howler monkeys and I started to get in a better mood. Black-water Rivers are regularly flooded and right now the Tiputini River is exceptionally high, so we were navigating through submerged trees getting stuck multiple times and having to machete our way out. We eventually got to a somewhat open area so that we could start fishing. The poles consisted of a piece of wood with line wrapped around it and the bait was a chuck of chicken, mainly for catching piranhas. Yesterday, Joe said that if we caught enough fish we may be able to do our fishing experiment. We didn’t catch any… On the way back we saw a 3-toed sloth and a laughing falcon.
2-20-09
This morning we wrote our proposal for our research project and decided to do morpho-species in small clear-water streams. To collect data we made a kick-net. We had to make do with the limited resources at the station and made the net out of a stiff net, not the best for catching fish, and a wire frame. The hardest part was trying to talk tot the Ecuadorian construction workers so they would cut our wire. After lunch we finished the net and wet to go try it out on a nearby stream. We were fairly worried about not catching anything and therefore having no data, but not only did we catch insects we catch FISH! When I say fish I mean a small minnow, but still we were pretty excited. Today a group of about 20 USFQ exchange students from Boston University came. They are not studying science or very interesting in it at all, so we were fairly territorial of the station and fairly angry when we found out they saw an anaconda on their first boat ride. Tonight at 3am we are planning on going on a nioght hike in hopes of seeing a Tapir, but we will see if that actually happens.
2-21-09
Last night we didn’t wake up for our night hike because it was raining. Also, at 5:30 we were supposed to go mist netting, but it was raining. Instead we spent most of the morning sleeping and then having meetings with Joe and Cath about our research project. They obviously had some doubts about our project so after lunch we went out again and did a full test run, taking turbidity, temperature, depth, width, flow rate, and using our kick net to identify morpho-species. We caught water striders, minnows, and nymphs, so it was definitely a success and we would most likely be able to collect enough data in 4 days to analyze. We came back for lecture and dinner, and went to bed in hopes of no rain in the morning so we could go mist netting.
2-22-09
This morning at 5:27 we woke up to NO RAIN! Then rushed to met everyone at 5:30 to leave. Mist netting is a way to catch small understory birds that are usually very hard to see and study by setting up thin net that birds fly into and get caught. Once caught you can remove them take the data needed and release them again. We caught some pretty tanagers, a ant bird (which doesn’t actually eat ants, but fallows army ants and eats the insects running away from them.) We also caught a humming bird, which is very fragile so we let it go right away. After we got back Nicole and I started our first full day of data collection. We ended up getting some good data and getting very wet. Some of the pools were above our knees, and as we were kicking downstream the water would splash everywhere. Eventhough the water was about 24˚C (75˚F) it seemed cold because the air is so warm. After we were done we emptied our boots of water and headed back for lunch. after lunch we went into the field again. This stream was a lot wider, shallower, and clearer, so we could see wildlife a lot better and saw some fair good sized fish, which only mean about 2 inches long. Nicole got really excited about the larger fish and after collecting data she insisted we try and catch one, but they were too fast for us.
2-23-09
Today was another day routine day. Breakfast at 6:30 fallowed by going into the field. We came back for lunch at noon then went back into the field to another stream, came back to read/study before dinner then bed.
2-24-09
This morning we went out into the field. When we got to our stream there was a hummingbird sitting on one of the branches over the water. Soon it left the branch and started hovering over the water dipping down periodically to bath itself. It was definitely the favorite thing I have seen here so far. After lunch we were able to do a float down river. Usually the boat stays fairly close while we are in the water, but today they went out of view, which had us a little worried but then we started playing out chain game so we forgot about our boat leaving us in the Tiputini. (Note: Peru is about 4 hours downstream so we always joke about just floating to Peru.) Our chain game consist of finding a tree that is partially submerged so someone can hold onto it while everyone else grabs on to the persons’ feet in front of them creating a long chain. The challenge is trying to get everyone attached before someone breaks the link. The most we got today was about 10 people. When we got back we had a short hike to review plant families, and we pleasantly interrupted but a capuchin monkey and later some squirrel monkeys. After dinner we went on a night hike to a large stream and some some huge toads and crawdads.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
TBS 1
2-13-09
Today we traveled from Quito to Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS.) This involved a taxi ride to the airport to catch our 6:30am flight to Coca. The flight was only 30 minutes, but if we would have taken a bus it would have been over 10 hours because it is through the Andes. Once we arrived in Coca we took a bus to the Napo River to catch our boat. The Napo is the main river in Ecuador and it also a main tributary to the Amazon River. Coca is an old oil town and the boat dock is at an old missionary hotel. The boat was about 2 hours late so we enjoyed a cold beer, the last we will have for the next 3 weeks because the oil company does not allow any alcohol. Finally the boat came and we took a 2 hour ride down the Napo to the oil company’s dock. Here we had to go through the oil company’s security (where they checked for alcohol) this is because the land that the oil company owns is not under Ecuadorian law, so they can pretty much demand whatever they want. Ecuador makes a large majority of its money from drilling and has some very odd policies. After we got though their check point we took a 2 hour bus ride to the Tiputini River where we took a 2 hour boat ride to TBS. Once we got there we ate dinner, unpacked and went to bed.
2-14-09
Today I took my first Amazonian nature hike. It was very humid, but still pretty cool. I saw birds, insects, monkeys, and fungi that I have never seen before or even imagined. Tipuntini and the surrounding Yasuní National Park is considered the most bio-diverse place in the world, and it is absolutely an amazing opportunity to learn about the environment. On our hike today we walked past a Ceiba tree that was over 500 years old. WOW! We were almost back to the station and we came to a bridge, well it was supposed to be a bridge, but it was completely submerged in water. The Tiputini River is very high and therefor a lot of the tributaries are also flooded. We found some trees to walk on but it was still very scary because Cath said the bridge is usually 20 feet above the river, so the bottom is a long ways away. Also, the tree had bullet ants on it. Bullet ants are very large and when they bite you it supposedly feel like a bullet, not something I especially want to experience. But, we made it across safe and got back in time for lunch soaking wet. After lunch we wondered around camp and collected plant specimen and took pictures of animals in order to help get used to identifying things without constantly asking our teachers (Joe and Cath were obviously getting sick of answering our numerous questions.)
2-15-09
We started a 3-day rotation today. Today my group went up to the canopy walk and tower 1, tomorrow we take a nature hike, then finally we go up to tower 2 to see the sunrise at 5:30am. During breakfast a group of about 20 golden mantled tamarins went through camp, I did not have my camera so I quickly walked back to the library to get it. The walk is not that long but the stairs are very slippery and on the way back I slipped on a stair and face planted… a wonderful way to start a day, the monkeys did make me feel a little better. After eating we went to the canopy walk, which consists of a string of 4 brigdes 45 m in the air connected by platforms in large trees. The view was spectacular even though we didn’t see much wildlife. After that we went over to tower 1 it is a little shorter and mainly for bird watching, but by this time is was about 10:30, not good bird watching time and unfortunately prime time for sweat bees and we quickly became very annoyed. We went back for lunch and after lunch we into the forest to set pitfall traps. Pitfall traps are cups that you burry in the ground so unsuspecting insects fall in them as they are walking around. We set 5 at the river and 5 at the top of a hill. As I was trying to climb up the hill after setting everything up I lost my footing and slid down on my rump. My friend Jane was the only one to witness it and got a very good laugh out of it before helping me up. On the way back for lecture we ran into a group of woolly monkeys. It was a group of about 10-15 and they went right over our heads. For awhile one was directly over me starring at me and shaking branches, aparently a sign of hostility. Eventually they all passed and we continued back to camp. Nicole and Jane wanted to wait and try to find a peccary they thought they herd, but I was not very interested. Yesterday my Ecuadorian guide told my group a 20 minute story about being surrounded by a herd of peccaries. Some of them travel in groups of ever 100, and will easily trample you. When you see them you are supposed to climb a tree (which hopefully doesn’t have spikes or biting ants) and wait for them to pass, which can be hours, it does not sound like very much fun. We got back to camp and went to the library for lecture. During lecture I dropped my brand new bottle of ají and it spilled all over (if anyone is keeping track so far today I have fallen twice and broken 1 thing.) The rest of lecture smelled like guayaba ají, which was actually kind of pleasant. They rest of the night I managed not to fall or break anything and went to bed.
Today we traveled from Quito to Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS.) This involved a taxi ride to the airport to catch our 6:30am flight to Coca. The flight was only 30 minutes, but if we would have taken a bus it would have been over 10 hours because it is through the Andes. Once we arrived in Coca we took a bus to the Napo River to catch our boat. The Napo is the main river in Ecuador and it also a main tributary to the Amazon River. Coca is an old oil town and the boat dock is at an old missionary hotel. The boat was about 2 hours late so we enjoyed a cold beer, the last we will have for the next 3 weeks because the oil company does not allow any alcohol. Finally the boat came and we took a 2 hour ride down the Napo to the oil company’s dock. Here we had to go through the oil company’s security (where they checked for alcohol) this is because the land that the oil company owns is not under Ecuadorian law, so they can pretty much demand whatever they want. Ecuador makes a large majority of its money from drilling and has some very odd policies. After we got though their check point we took a 2 hour bus ride to the Tiputini River where we took a 2 hour boat ride to TBS. Once we got there we ate dinner, unpacked and went to bed.
2-14-09
Today I took my first Amazonian nature hike. It was very humid, but still pretty cool. I saw birds, insects, monkeys, and fungi that I have never seen before or even imagined. Tipuntini and the surrounding Yasuní National Park is considered the most bio-diverse place in the world, and it is absolutely an amazing opportunity to learn about the environment. On our hike today we walked past a Ceiba tree that was over 500 years old. WOW! We were almost back to the station and we came to a bridge, well it was supposed to be a bridge, but it was completely submerged in water. The Tiputini River is very high and therefor a lot of the tributaries are also flooded. We found some trees to walk on but it was still very scary because Cath said the bridge is usually 20 feet above the river, so the bottom is a long ways away. Also, the tree had bullet ants on it. Bullet ants are very large and when they bite you it supposedly feel like a bullet, not something I especially want to experience. But, we made it across safe and got back in time for lunch soaking wet. After lunch we wondered around camp and collected plant specimen and took pictures of animals in order to help get used to identifying things without constantly asking our teachers (Joe and Cath were obviously getting sick of answering our numerous questions.)
2-15-09
We started a 3-day rotation today. Today my group went up to the canopy walk and tower 1, tomorrow we take a nature hike, then finally we go up to tower 2 to see the sunrise at 5:30am. During breakfast a group of about 20 golden mantled tamarins went through camp, I did not have my camera so I quickly walked back to the library to get it. The walk is not that long but the stairs are very slippery and on the way back I slipped on a stair and face planted… a wonderful way to start a day, the monkeys did make me feel a little better. After eating we went to the canopy walk, which consists of a string of 4 brigdes 45 m in the air connected by platforms in large trees. The view was spectacular even though we didn’t see much wildlife. After that we went over to tower 1 it is a little shorter and mainly for bird watching, but by this time is was about 10:30, not good bird watching time and unfortunately prime time for sweat bees and we quickly became very annoyed. We went back for lunch and after lunch we into the forest to set pitfall traps. Pitfall traps are cups that you burry in the ground so unsuspecting insects fall in them as they are walking around. We set 5 at the river and 5 at the top of a hill. As I was trying to climb up the hill after setting everything up I lost my footing and slid down on my rump. My friend Jane was the only one to witness it and got a very good laugh out of it before helping me up. On the way back for lecture we ran into a group of woolly monkeys. It was a group of about 10-15 and they went right over our heads. For awhile one was directly over me starring at me and shaking branches, aparently a sign of hostility. Eventually they all passed and we continued back to camp. Nicole and Jane wanted to wait and try to find a peccary they thought they herd, but I was not very interested. Yesterday my Ecuadorian guide told my group a 20 minute story about being surrounded by a herd of peccaries. Some of them travel in groups of ever 100, and will easily trample you. When you see them you are supposed to climb a tree (which hopefully doesn’t have spikes or biting ants) and wait for them to pass, which can be hours, it does not sound like very much fun. We got back to camp and went to the library for lecture. During lecture I dropped my brand new bottle of ají and it spilled all over (if anyone is keeping track so far today I have fallen twice and broken 1 thing.) The rest of lecture smelled like guayaba ají, which was actually kind of pleasant. They rest of the night I managed not to fall or break anything and went to bed.
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