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.