Buenos dias everyone!!
I hope everyone is doing well and trying to keep warm... I definitely had no problem with that this past weekend. At one point during my travels, the temperature exceeded 100 degrees. Yikes!! It's a good thing I was on a truck during that time, so I had the wind on my side.
Well anyway, this weekend I went to a research station in the Amazon called Tiputini, which is run by my school here. It was such an amazing experience, it's a bit tempting to change my major to something sciencey so I can be a researcher and live there. Then again, I think I'd miss the cold a bit too much.
My trip started out with an overnight, nine hour bus ride to a town called Coca (the overnight bus rides in Ecuador are another story). Once I arrived in Coca, I met up with the rest of my group (most people paid more and took a plane), and hopped on a long, narrow boat, which we rode on for about two hours down the Tiputini River, which is one of the rivers that feeds the Amazon!! The boat took us to a truck (without doors or windows), which we sat on for another two hours, until we got on another boat, which, you guessed it, we rode for another two hours. It was quite the day of traveling. By the time we got to the research station, it was pretty late and pitch black. I was surprised we didn't crash and get stranded in the middle of the rainforest on the last boat ride, as the only thing the boat driver was relying on to see where he was going was a little spotlight, which was being shone from the front of the boat. He was sitting in the back of the boat steering the motor, which, of course, was about 40 feet from the front. We did hit quite a few logs, but I guess not hard enough to sink the boat =) Phew. The research station was beautiful. The dining hall was pretty much a really big porch with a ceiling. It is surrounded by jungle and at night, bats fly around your head feasting on the bugs attracted to the lights. Pretty amazing...
The next day we ate breakfast bright and early at 6:30, split up into groups of about 6 people, and took off into the jungle with the guides assigned to our groups. Our guide's name was Jose, and he was a riot. Our first taste of the jungle was unbelievable. We saw tons of amazing animals, including dozens of frogs, spiders, and a Coral snake (which is apparently very rare). We also of course saw lots of monkeys!! At one point during our hike, after we had been watching the monkeys for a while and were walking away, we all of a sudden heard something falling from the tops of the trees, something big. We looked up and saw a part of a tree falling from the sky (it had to be about a foot in diameter)!! We all ducked and prayed for our lives as it landed about 10 feet from us. We didn't expect the monkeys to be aggressive, but apparently they like to throw trees at tourists?? As our hike continued, we approached an area of the jungle that was somewhat bare (tree-wise). Jose explained to us that it was because of these ants that were crawling all over a tree near us, which were called Lemon Ants. He then told us that they have that name for a reason as an evil grin appeared on his face. He then broke off the end of a branch from the tree, pushed the branch toward me as he asked “would you like to try??” After giving him a strange look, I of course licked the branch, and sure enough, the ants tasted like lemon. Tasty, huh??
After our morning hike, we returned to camp, had lunch, and went for a nice swim in the river. The currents in front of camp formed a whirlpool that stretched across the river, so we had fun floating around and around until we were ready for our next adventure, which was a “flotada” down the river. We all got into the boat once again, and after driving a bit down the river, they let us all put on life jackets and jump in. It was a great swim, and the water was the perfect temperature. After floating for about an hour or so, we all got back into the boat and started the lookout for wildlife. It was getting dark, so the animals were expected to start coming out. We saw some river dolphins, some alligators, and even some macaws that flew over our heads!! We also got to see the sun set as we were driving down the river, which was beautiful.
That night Jose took our group for a walk through the jungle. We saw tons of insects, including lots of big spiders (Fisherman Spiders, Banana Spiders, Wolf Spiders, and Tarantulas), as well as a Vampire Bat, a bunch of lizards and frogs, and this awesome huge bug called a White Scorpion (although it wasn't really a scorpion). We all got to hold the hand-sized disgusting looking bug, I loved it!! The sound of the jungle at night is also something I'll never forget, it's so beautiful!!
The next day my group left for a tower in the jungle around 5:30. It was such an experience to see the sun rise over the jungle and to be able to hear the whole rainforest wake up and start chirping, squawking, and whatever elseing. From the tower, we used a telescope to find toucans, macaws, parakeets, and other various birds hanging out high in the treetops. After we started getting attacked by bugs at the tower, we returned to ground level and began our next journey on a little lake, where we saw lots of Watson Birds (a cool prehistoric looking bird), sleeping bats, and a bunch of pretty blue crow-looking birds. We then got out of the boat and walked around an island, where we found (well, where Jose found) a little alligator hiding in the mud. He caught it and we all got to hold it!! A wild rainforest alligator, ahhh!! Shortly after, we returned for lunch.
Later that afternoon we went to an area called the canopy, which consisted of about 5 or 6 bridges in the tops of trees in the jungle. There was also a higher point in one tree that you could climb up into to see even more of the rainforest. It was by far the coolest tree house I had ever been in. We had to hook ourselves onto wires while in the canopy (in case the bridges collapsed?? heh heh), so we were plenty safe up there. In the canopy, we pretty much saw a bunch of birds again. We were hoping to see a cat of some sort sleeping in a tree below us, but I guess we were dreaming too big.
After the canopy, we had a night boat ride down the river. We saw tons of alligators, a capybara, night herons, a few other rodents, and a tapir!! The tapir was aaaaawesome. We actually found it swimming in the river, and then it swam under our boat in order to get to the shore, and ran into the trees. Tapirs are also a very rare thing to see, so we were really privileged!! It was definitely the highlight of everyone's night.
Well I'll sign off, as this email is pretty long. Also, many of you will be happy to know that I've finally put up pictures!! You can just click on the link below (or copy and paste it into an internet browser) and it will bring you to two different albums, one of Quito, San Pablo, and Otaválo, and another of Tiputini. As always, I'd love to hear from you if you get a chance to write back!
Quito, San Pablo, and Otaválo:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2344942&l=dea4e&id=8630239
Tiputini:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2344939&l=67961&id=8630239
Abrazos y besos,
Jenna
