Life in the rainforest

Greetings everyone!

I have now spent a month in the rainforest, with one quick trip to town. I have to say it´s fantastic here and I´m having a wonderful time!! I am thinking about extending my trip as I can´t imagine leaving! ;-) The forest is amazing. All the people at the lodge (Explorer´s Inn) are lovely. There´s no way I going to starve, and I am perfectly content here. That´s a very brief summary. Now that you´re not worrying, here´s a bit more info...

I have seen a Jaguar footprint!!! I think they might actually really exist... Javier, one of the researchers from Cusco who works from the lodge every so often, actually saw a young jaguar last month! There are also real leaf-cutter ants here. They run through the forest at night in a big trail about 4-6 ants wide. they travel at least 5 metres along along the main path before disappearing into the vegetation, all carrying their big bits of leaves. They´re great! The trail that they make clears away all the leaves and debris and it is still visible in the day light. I have seen loads of little tree frogs, found a tortoise and seen tamarin monkeys, macaws, parrots, parakeets, hundreds of weird and wonderful insects, and an unbelievable diversity of plant forms!

Leaf cutter ants!

Everything here is very strange. There are red howler monkeys. They wake up at dawn (4.30 am) and just one male can sound like a huge bomber airplane overhead, a loud, mechanical drone that builds into a crescendo aover about 10 mins and dies away briefly before starting again. The noise they make is unreal, it so loud I can´t believe one quite small animal can make it! There´s also a bird that nests in the trees by the lodge that makes a noise like a bit drop of water gulping down into a deep lake... gulp! gulp! - weird. There are really pretty ("que bonita!") huge blue butterflies that flit through the forest - it´s seriously just like tropical world in Leeds. Except a bit bigger (obviously) and you can´t get icecream.

The people in the lodge in the forest are all very nice and my room mates are pretty cool. I started sharing with two other girls, but one of them has left (it´s getting to the quiet season so quite a few staff are leaving now). I seem to be coping ok with sharing space most of the time, although I have moments of needing to be alone. Happily a nice walk in the rainforest seems to sort me out! My room mate isn´t always there as she comes and goes with the tourist groups she is guiding, so sometimes I get my own room (but still share a bathroom). The facilities are pretty basic, although adequate. The food is amazing. The chef, Aleyo, is really friendly although he doesn´t speak English so we don´t communicate very much except in gesture (my Spanish is improving rapidly!), but he makes the best food and I usually try and say "thank you" after meals. Everyone is very considerate of my vegtarianism. If I don´t get fat here I´m never going to! We get given a ridiculous amount of food! 3 courses three times a day and snacks in between if we want them... The food is all made from fresh ingredients (oh yes, I have seen the chickens getting their head chopped off (after they are dead, though, fortunately)!) and is generally very delicious ("que rico!").

The only bad things are the climate (a minumum of 23 degrees at about 3.30 in the morning which is the only time I feel cold enough to wear more than a sheet) and a maximum of about 35 degrees. Mostly it´s been about 33 degrees in the day, which is way too hot) and the bloomin´ biting insects. After a few days in the forest, I was covered in itchy bites, and as soon as I got hot and sweaty (e.g. after any activity such as walking in the forest, or even eating lunch!) they were miserably painful. I think I´m getting used to it now, though. I also bought some antihistamines in town for the bad days. I now have lovely little red mites called "chiggers" burrowing under my skin. They are pretty itchy. Applying 96% medicinal alcohol to my skin several times a day seems to get them drunk enough to leave me alone for a while. Some people say it kills them, but I´m not convinced. If nothing else, the alcohol should at least harden my skin a little more. I´m hoping the red marks will go away eventually, if not I´ll look like I have German measles for the rest of my life. Hey ho!

After being in the forest for about 3 days, I had completely lost track of time. The days are all pretty similar and I have no idea if it´s monday or friday, but it doesn´t really matter. The days are also very long, from around 4.30 - 5am to 9pm (we have dinner about 8ish and then go to bed quite soon afterwards). Sometimes I manage a seista in the afternoon, or just sit quietly in the library trying to learn plant names or Spanish words.

Typical Resident Naturalist (RN) activities:
There are currently four RNs; Me, Vikki (a lass from the Lake District who spent 8 months here last year and has come back again), Gino (a guy from Spain who has also lived in England doing a degree in Plymouth so speaks both languages perfectly) and Vika (who is from Slovakia so speaks about 6 langauges!).

Leave at 5 am on the boat to go to the Collpita (small clay-lick) to monitor the feeding activity of birds.

We make our way up river on the boat (my favourite place to be is on the boat on the river - water, sky, forest at both river edges, and a cool breeze, what more could I ask for?!), climb a muddy bank and make our way to the hide. We are usually accompanying a tourist group led by one of the guides, but our duties are to record the presence, abundance and behaviour of the macaws, parrots and paraqueets. They arrive just after dawn and fly around above the collpita before landing in the trees. Macaws mate for life and usually arrive in pairs. The parrots and paraqueets arrive in groups of each species. They gather in the trees close to the clay lick and wait for someone to make the firt move. Eventually a few brave birds will make their way onto the clay lick.

What´s a clay lick? It´s a wall of red clay (like a river bank, but set back in the trees). The birds come to feed on the clay which contains minerals that help them break down (either to digest or to remove toxins) some of the plants they eat in the forest. Adult birds will also feed clay to their young. The birds usually feed only when it´s sunny, so we don´t make the trip when it´s raining.

Once some of the birds have started feeding, the rest generally join in. The first time I went was a sunny day after a long period of rain and there were hundreds of birds there - truly amazing! Since then it´s been a little quiter (still usually 100-200 birds), but that´s probably just as well. We have to note the arrival of each species, make a maximum count of numbers in the area and then, once they start feeding, the number of each species on the clay lick every 5 mins. It´s quite hard work! There are chestnut-fronted macaws which are the largest birds, mealy parrots which are a silver-green coloured large parrot, particularly abundant at the moment as they are bredding. There are also blue-headed parrots which are obviously my favourite, although the very cute orange-cheeked parrots come a close second! There are also two species of parakeet (small parrots) which I struggle to differentiate when only one is visible.

After an hour or so the birds have had their fill and gradually start to leave. It´s just the right amount of time as I´m hungry by then and the tourists are starting to get restless.

Return to the lodge for breakfast about 7 am
Breakfast is fresh juice (often a local fruit, but sometimes passionfruit or something else I know. either way, it´s always nice), tea (the tea here is not like English tea and more like warm water, occasionally I allow myself the luxury of some Earl Grey), bread (or "cake" as I think of it due to its sweetness), and pancakes or eggs, and some fruit to follow (my favourite part!).

RN work
The RNs do work around the lodge - maintaining trails, planting heliconias and other bright-flowered plants to attract humming birds, adding decoration to the guests rooms (for example, Vikki came back with lots of beautiful laminated photos that Gary, another ex-RN had taken. They made frames from Caña brava, a fast-growing reed a bit like bamboo, and they pictures look amazing). We also have responsbility for maintaining and updating the Discovery Centre - a collection of information on plants, animals, insects, and research projects found at the lodge, and the Scientific Library. Part of this includes cleaning the areas. It´s suprising how quickly the places get dirty, but then all the windows are made of mesh to keep out the mosquitos, but let in dirt. We also update the signs in the Collpita or at other observation points and around the lodge.

There also seems to be an amount of people undertaking their own projects, be it a walk in the forest which we try and do most days, or something more involved. Gino, a lovely guy from Spain who is both enthusiastic and knowledgeable, is creating a book of insects found in the area. He´s currently at the stage of photographing every insect he comes across, which is pretty good fun. There are some amazing insects out there!! there are palm trees here that walk! They grow on stilt roots, and grow new roots in one direction and then lose roots in another direction. Over time the trunk of the tree (which is held a metre or two above the ground on these stilt roots) moves it´s actual location. The new roots seem to grow pretty fast, so I undertook a little research project to measure them. They grow an average of 7 cm a day, but one root grew nearly 30 cm in 24 hours!

An alternative morning
If there are no tourist groups going to the Collpita, there´s usually a group going to Cocococha Lake. We take an early breakfast and leave at 6am. This is a 5 km trek through the rainforest led by a local guide who points out birds, mammals and insects along the way. Sometimes we might see several species of monkeys, red squirrels, toucans, wild turkeys, or many other birds (I´m hopeless with names as usual, but will try and write them down for next time). Occasionally there might be peccarines (wild pigs) crashing through the forest off to one side (I can usually smell and hear them, but have only glimpsed them briefly).

The guide also points out interesting and useful plants - Castaña, the Brazil nut tree. These are ripe in December, and I´ve already eaten some - they are delicious fresh! The nuts we know are actually inside another big round shell which is itself really hard. There might be 20-30 brazil nuts in one shell. When fresh, it´s quite possible to open the actual nuts with your teeth! Macaws can open the big shell with their strong beaks, but they are pretty tough, and the lad who gave us the nuts had hacked it open with a machete. There´s also a garlic tree which has bark that smells strongly of garlic, there are rubber trees, medicinal plants, and plants with bark that is useful for weaving baskets or rope.

When we arrive at the Lake there is a little hide to sit and watch the wildlife and enjoy a snack (it takes about 3 hours to get there). Then we go out on the lake on a little boat - two metal canoe-shaped boats joined together, that the guides (and RNs!) paddle along. It´s fantastic on the lake. Beautiful, and amazingly tranquil. At the lake edges are palm trees, including one that currently has the bright red fruits that I´ve seen at the market and from which a drink is made that you can buy on the street in town. There are lots of birds including the elaborate and curious Hoatzin. It is quite large, with reddish-brown colours and bits of blue. It supports a little mohican and turns its head from side to side as it watches you watching it. They are most photogenic and the tourists love them! If you´re really lucky on the lake, you might also spot the family of giant otters!! I´ve only seen the solitary one so far, but I have time yet...

After an hour or two on the lake, we make our way back to the Lodge for lunch

Lunch 1pm (or anytime between 12 and 2, depending on what the tourists are doing)
Another 3 courses - usually salad, a hot main course and a pudding. By this time breakfast seems like yesterday, so lots of food is most welcome!

Afternoon
Usually the tourists get a chance to relax in the afternoons. A lot of them are part of a flying tour through Perú and come here towards the end of their journey and usually just after hiking the Inca trail at Cusco. There´s plenty to see around the lodge and it´s nice just to chill out and watch the birds and butterflies.

We will often do some indoor work as it´s been to hot to walk. I like sitting in the library as it´s quiet and a bit cooler than our rooms. Sometimes, though, I just have to sleep! Vika, the fourth RN, seems to have limitless energy and is always busy doing something constructive!

As it cools down, the tourists might go on a guided walk through the forest to Sunset Point viewpoint in time to watch the sunset over the river. We might also go on a walk through the forest. On our walks we record any mammal sightings. Vikki and Vika enjoy finding birds, Gino delights in each new insect (and possibly also in the ones he´s already seen!), and I enjoy spotting plant forms, and finding flowers and seeds on the forest floor.

Dinner 8pm
Another 3 course affair. Usually soup, a main course and pudding. Each course is delivered to each person as soon as they have finished the previous course, so there is no need to wait for slow eaters like me before having your pudding. But there´s also no time to breathe between courses! I like to take some fennel tea after dinner to help digest the mountain of food. Normally by the time we have finished, all I can think about is going to bed.

Sometimes, however, we take dinner early and go for a night walk. I love walking in the forest at night. It´s cool, and you can really appreciate all the sounds. There are also different kinds of things to see. The leaf-cutter ants are out in force at this time, and the frogs are out too. Sometimes we go to the swamp to see them (if it´s been raining) and spend and hour or two frog-spotting. Sometimes we go Caiman hunting.... more on that next time!

Naomi in the jungle!

Town

I came into town a couple of weeks ago just for a day. It was quite a culture shock. The town I thought was small and fairly quiet was suddenly so busy and noisy, with traffic, people and dogs everywhere!! You have to watch for motorbikes when you´re walking along instead of snakes! I also had lunch with two of my friends in the veggie restuarant I ate alone in when I was in town before. It was strange to think about how much has changed since I was last here. I can speak a lot more spanish (but still not much and that very badly), I know lots of people and feel like I´ve known them a long time. The town seems familiar now. I´ve even had almost-conversations with shop keepers. I bought a skirt to go out in in the evening (don´t die of shock, it´s long and blue!) and was joking with the girls in the shop. It was bit wide around the waist (surprise!) but they adjusted it for me there and then for no extra money. The people really are open and friendly, it´s amazing. You could leave your doors open and never have to worry about it. Most of the people here have jobs so, although it´s a very poor town, there´s not much crime.

This visit to town I´ve stayed a couple of days and was more prepared for the adjustment. Geertje, my friend from Leeds and the girl responsible for my coming here in the first place, has arrived in town where she´s staying for a couple of months. We went out the night before last to the local disco. There was a big group of people from Explorer´s Inn and we were all dancing. Although I don´t understand the dance moves here, some beer helped the situation and I at least had a good time, even if my dancing was a bit English!!

Just time to brifly mention the drinking here before I have to go and collect my washing (hand washing in not-so-clean water in the jungle is all very well, but it´s nice to have properly clean clothes!) and make my way to the office to get the boat back into the jungle. Drinking. You buy a big bottle of beer, you get a small glass. You pour some beer into the glass (yes, this all sounds familiar, right?!). You pass the bottle to someone else and drink your glassful. You then pass the glass to the person with the bottle, they take a drink and pass the bottle on and so on... Quite different to getting your own pint. However, it´s much more sociable and means that you´re all drinking cold beer! It´s a bit dangerous, though as it encourages you to drink up as you know other people are waiting! ;-)

Right, I must go. I´m not going to have time to add photos this time, I really will try and do it on my next visit!

Oh!! This might be the last time I´m in town before Christmas, so HAPPY SOLSTICE, MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all! I can´t believe it´s December, it´s so hot and the days are getting longer!!

Take care everyone, I look forward to hearing from you
:-)
Nao xxx