Winding down…

Even before I dragged my sleepy self out of bed this morning I was able to identify the soft chewing of an agutie, the monotonous call of the white throated toucan, the high pitched vocalization of saddle backed tamarin monkey and the ear-piercing shrieks of macaws. I love this place. I’m heading to Sachavacayoc tomorrow for two weeks to catch more them dem scurvy mosquitoes and will be out of the internet land once again. Just as well though. Nothing like clearing the mind then staying from the world’s best electronic distraction.

It was really hard to leave the Tambopata Research Station today for a myriad of reasons. I’ve managed to make a group of fantastic friends there and leaving today, knowing that I may not be seeing some of them again for a very long time, hit me like a ton of colpa bricks. My trip is winding down (one month left!!) and actually realizing this has been harder than I anticipated. But also spilling over in between my daily activities is the deep-rooted homesickness for my family and friends. Heck, I almost burst into tears the other day when I was putting the cap on my toothpaste that my Mother sent me.

I wonder how the culture shock will hit me… probably in many ways that I will not expect. What my “familiar surroundings” are at this point is blurry. I’m pretty sure I will be alright with not having rice and meat three times a day, or being run up trees by roving packs of overly-paranoid white-lipped peccaries. But, it will be so incredibly strange not speaking Spanish to those around me, being able to walk into the Amazon rainforest at my own discretion, and feeling like I have a purpose everyday inherently linked with conservation. One thing I do know: I’m coming back. Peru has become another home, and one does leave home forever.

In closing, here is a photo of a mosquito biting a rainbow boa. Fantastic. I’ll be back with more photos and stories in the first week of June, or as soon as I am able. A very sentimental entry, I know, but that’s just the kind of mood that I’m in. Take care amigos!

From bees to bullet ants

When I was too young to know any better, I used to wander around my mother’s garden and collect bees in jars. This was my source of entertainment for several summers in a row. I always let them go, of course, and can’t recall ever being stung. Of course… I once invited to my friend to join me on one of my trapping excursions and she was immediately stung by a struggling honey bee. It wasn’t her fault, she was an amateur. So when my friend Frank asked me to collect some bullet ants from the forest so he could study the venom it brought me skipping down memory lane. Lucky for him, we share the same insect permit so taking them to Lima will not be a problem.

Catching them…almost not a problem. Last night I found a bullet ant nest on my way back from setting my mosquito traps and squealed for joy. I had brought 3 plastic tubes with me for this very reason. I placed the tube over the venomous ant and waited for her to investigate a nonexistent exit away from the opening so I could pop the top on with lightning speed. Bingo. As I was trapping the second one, some of the ants had caught on that I was stealing valuable members from their colony and one hissed at me (yes, bullet ants hiss) and tried to launch itself onto the tube. Fat chance buddy. I incarcerated her as well.

Once back in the lab the tricky bit unfolded. I had to somehow open the lid, and fill the tube with alcohol without the ant crawling or swimming to the top and stinging me. The first two went without a hitch, but the third one (probably the one that hissed at me) managed to ride the wave of alcohol up and out of the tube and flew directly to my hand. The very millisecond I felt contact I freaked out and made a spastic maneuver which just so happen to fling her off before she could sting me. Somewhere in there, I yelled some pretty strong Spanish curse words, because after I had caught her again, my shirt covered in alcohol, I looked up to find one of my fellow researchers starring at me in confusion. “Who tries to catch bullet ants??” he inquired in Spanish, and not waiting for a response, rolled his eyes and walked away. Not try mi amigo, do. Crazy gringa…

So as of now, I have the five specimens I needed, with only one slightly squished. Of course… it dawned on me that I have only been stung three times since I came to Peru, makes another two stings inevitable due to the vengeful nature of the bullet ants. Never underestimate the power of revenge within the Paraponera clavata species!!!

Another friaje has rolled in which means no mosquitoes, and lots of clothing layers. Oh, and lots of tea. I miss my Grandma’s superior cups of tea!!

Everyone loves a zancudo

On the boat ride to the Tambopata Research Station I was just so lucky to meet a group of tourists who very quickly turned into a group of friends.  Corney but true, it was like being adopted for the week.  For some reason we all  just clicked, and they were fascinated by my project. I miss you guys!

Here’s Dave, the amazing doctor who stitched my thumb.   Thanks Doc!!

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The mosquitoes are slow.  Due to the friaje it is freezing!  I’m employing every article of warm clothing I have just to keep from turning into an ice cube.  Today- warmer!  I’ll be here at TRC for at least another week and then moving back to Sachavacayoc.  Another friaje is inevitable but I’ll just have to hope for high numbers of zancudos in between!

My best friends, Liz Kimborough and Sarah Fountain are both graduating today and while I can feel sadness creeping in a bit when I think of my absence from these profound moments in their lives, I’m overwhelmed with pride and joy for their accomplishments.   This frog is for you girls!!

muchas cosas

Well…yesterday took some interesting twists and turns. I had a wonderful morning in which I slept under all my blankets and didn’t get out of bed till 6:30am. We are experiencing what they call a “friaje” in which it is cold, COLD for about a week.  It has gotten down to 60 degrees!!  I’ve been wearing a fleece, down jacket, mittens and sweatpants to battle the frigid environment.    Once I did finally get out of bed I had breakfast with my wonderful tourists friends who have been so kind and fun to be around. Later, working in my lab, I was wrestling a glass tube into a rubber stopper and the darn thing broke.  My thumb slipped forward onto the jagged piece of glass and sliced open.    Note: this entry is not for the faint of heart (my Mom!) There was blood dripping immediately onto the floor and I grasped it with my other hand.  Well, that was kind of silly because I then did not have a hand to work with that wasn’t covered blood.   I managed to clean it out and slap some gauze on it with some tape… which bled through in about 3 minutes.   I knew I was in a little over my head so I went to one of my tourist friends, Doctor Dave, to see if he could have a look at it.   When he heard the story and saw the bandage his face lit up and he exclaimed, “I brought my suture kit!!!”. So he gave a good look at it and decided that steri-strips would not be sufficient at holding the wound together. He gave me two local anesthetic injections at the base of the thumb and then two stitches. It is the first time I have ever had stitches (strange but true) so I HAD to watch. The best part was that his amazing wife Deborah held my hand and sang me songs with the voice of an angel through the whole ordeal.  My adopted mother  for the time being since my own wonderful mother is nearly 9,000 miles away. Funny enough, I watched the whole thing, then as soon as it was over I started feeling very faint and nauseous. They told me my face turned a pale green color and I nearly passed out. Good times!! I am forever grateful for their caring kindness.

Another exciting event: these tracks pictured below were found less than 5 meters from where all us researchers sleep.

It wouldn’t have been a big deal if they were jaguar prints, since they rarely attack humans, but they were identified by one of the researchers as puma prints. Pumas are known to attack humans, especially if they are getting older and unable to catch quick-moving prey.  Of course, I learned all of this after I returned to the station from a night hike to the river by myself. I was greeted with a stern, crossed arm welcome from my very dear friend Liz (also the manager here) because she thought someone had told me and I was just being reckless. Well, I won’t be doing that again!! I have a volunteer coming tonight so no more night hikes alone for me.

And now for some silly things… Here is a rather ironic photo of a failed rescue attempt.   Sorry buddy..he’s gone.

And to wrap it up, here is a photo of the fuzziest moth I have ever seen in my whole life. I named him fuzzy face since I already named the tarantula ms. fuzzy butt.

That’s it for now! I’m off to sort through dead bugs and listen to Modest Mouse.  Oh, what a life.

Best Day E-V-E-R

The sun peeked through the canopy and shone upon my smiling face this morning at 5:45am.  I was 30 meters up in a tree and had not thought in the world except,  “This is going to be a glorious day”.   I have headed back out into the rainforest for another exhilarating round of catching mosquitoes.  I had the excellent opportunity to stop for a night at research station named Refigio on the Tambopata River and really hit it off with the staff and guides there immediately.   They were so warm and inviting that I forgot about my terrible Spanish grammar and had the numerous exhilarating conversations about life, the forest, and surfing.  That’s right- I found another stranded surf bum all the way out here.

I was lucky enough to be invited to go tree climbing the next morning with a couple of the guides, so I woke up at 4:45 and put my boots on.   We set up the gear and one by one hauled ourselves  up the rope and further into the air towards the canopy of the tree.  The view over the river with the fresh morning sun was fantastic.

After our tree adventure it was suggested that I come kayaking on the river as well.  Why not??  They were already taking a group of tourists and I could tag along.  The slow yet gigantic river meandered along and I got to take my time, just looking around and soaking it all in.  When I found out that I had 20 minutes till my boat left for the Tambopata Research Center I said ciao to my friends after thanking them for everything and turned my boat around to paddle back to the lodge.  There was something so special about kayaking on the river by myself surrounded by the beauty of the rainforest that really brought me into an elated state of being.

As if the day couldn’t get any better…the tourists I was sharing a boat with are some of the nicest people I have ever met.  Amongst the story telling and whatnot, the guide yelled out a word I thought I would never hear,  “Jaguar”!!!!  Behold,the most amazing moment of my adventure:  there it was, the magnificent jaguar briskly walking along the river bank.  I could not believe my eyes.  Not only was this incredible cat right in front of us, but he/she then started chasing a couple of capybaras who jumped into the river to evade the attack!!!  It was just all so unreal.  I didn’t even get my camera out because I knew I had only a very small amount of time to see the event and I didn’t want to miss a single second.  Some of the tourists had their wits about them and managed to snap a couple photos which I will post later.  Needless to say, this was one of the coolest experiences of my entire life.

When I got to TRC I set up my lab and quaint little bedroom and then made my way to the dining hall.  My wonderful tourists friends invited me to sit at their table at dinner and eat their amazing tourist food!! (The researchers get fed different meals of…well…a lesser quality usually).  Aw heck, they even bought me a beer to celebrate the jaguar sighting today.  So, like I said… best day ever.  I have a lot of work to do tomorrow including setting up all my traps on my own but I have a radio and enough “stokedness” to last me a life time.  How I ever managed to accumulate so much luck is still out for speculation.  But I’m not complaining 

Photo by Alison Ravenscraft

Mas

Some more details about our stay at Sachavacayoc…

Alison and my quaint little cabin had a few other residents including bats,  geckos,  and a tarantula I named fuzzy butt.

Funny story about Ms. Fuzzy Butt. We removed her from the room once we found her but she kept coming back. One time when I was washing my hiking boots in a bucket I put them aside to dry while I took a little nap on the boardwalk.  When I accidentally tipped over the boot  little (er..big) Ms. Fuzzy Butt crawled right out.  It seemed that she had joined me for my boot washing adventure.  I was overly grateful that I hadn’t put my hand inside the boot and given her the opportunity to bite me.

There were so many tiny wonders at Sachavacayoc, but the one that captivated me the most was watching a colony of army ants raid a leaf cutter ant colony.  The army ants were like a never ending flow and little black bodies and legs moving like a silent river down into the depths of the leaf cutters colony.  The Atta colony seemed helpless to the onslaught and didn’t even bother to defend their home.  In fact, they carried on as usual moving organic matter from the outside world.  It puzzled me as to why the army workers of the Atta were not fiercely defending their larva as they were being carried off.  After all, each one would later be turned into food or be enslaved.  Ants….how brutal.   There is no need to point out the obvious comparison to another species we are so familiar with….

So, I’m heading back to TRC tomorrow for more mosquito collection and then back to Sacha for 14 days. In other words, I will be out of the internet world once again after this.   It has been a crazy ride here in the amazon..and part of me knows that really, it has just begun.

Sachavacayoc

Photo by Alison Ravenscraft

It had been a very long day. As Alison and I sprinted down the slippery trail in the pouring rain with only our tiny head lamps to see by in the dark trying desperately to get back to the station before our cameras got wet, I had to laugh. The things we go through to catch blood sucking freaks. This particular finale was after a day in which we hiked over 17 miles (most of which was with all of our trapping gear) to change the location of our transect. The morning consisted of the usual routine of waking up before dawn, hiking a couple miles out to the traps, gathering the mosquito filled containers and bringing them back to the station. Each morning we kill the little buggers with some cotton soaked alcohol in a plastic bag. After they have wriggled their last wiggle we separate the mosquitoes from the other insects and look for blood, bwaa ha ha!!!

After the blood was found we hiked back to the traps, broke them down and carried them over 10k to the new transect. We had to return to the station to get the freshly charged batteries and right as we finished and were making our way back at 8:30pm the pouring rain exploded out of the sky.

Here we are, just a little soggy

Sachavacayoc was, in a word, epic. The forest was so varied that I have a hard time putting it all into words. The primary forest was just as I had always imagined the Amazon should be. Towering trees that made me gasp in disbelief and wide open spaces underneath. Since the areas around Sacha are disturbed there are fewer mega fauna running around. I barley saw any peccaries, tapir or cat tracks and the large birds were few and far between. But what this forest lacked in larger organisms, it made up for with the tiny ones. Every day Alison and I saw impressively colored snakes, insects and spiders. Heck, even the mosquitoes were beautiful! So many adventures… where to start…

First, there was the lake. At least 20 times larger than any oxbow lake I had seen previously, the Sachavacayoc Lake was surreal. After hiking for an hour and a half down narrow trails the sky and lake just appear from the behind the trees and suddenly there is more open space than one knows what to do with. The giant row boats are mostly submerged in the water but we managed to find one still afloat and paddled around.

We saw an obstreperous group of squirrel monkeys which numbered well over 30 and macaws galore. We were thinking about jumping in and swimming around since the placid waters looked so inviting but then decided against it until we spoke to the staff about the safety of such an activity. Turns out our little hunch was actually our survival instinct kicking in because the staff later told us it would basically be a death wish to swim in the lake in small numbers due to the abundance of caiman, anacondas and piranhas. Yea… we knew that… I swear.

There were a couple of other kind-of close calls including the time that we heard a giant crashing coming towards us. The deer-in-headlights reaction soon turned into the scream-and-run-for-your-life reaction once we realized it was a tree about to smush us into gringa pancakes.

One thing we did not expect, but were happily surprised by, was the adoption into the Sachavacayoc family. They treated us like sisters and instead of eating out in the dining hall with the other gringos, we ate in the kitchen with staff.

We helped cook meals and learned new Peruvian recipes from their amazing chef Cesar. My Spanish has improved dramatically because of all this and I count my blessings that Alison, Spanish speaking extraordinaire, was willing to be patient and teach me grammar and new vocabulary. She truly is more of a teacher than a volunteer in my eyes… not to mention one of the best friends I have ever had!

They are more stories about Sachavacayoc to come but I fear that you, my wonderful readers, are get weary of my babbling. Gatita Gordita lives to tell another tale. More posting tomorrow!