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Our final leg on the river from Los Amigos to Tambopata.
By this time our clothes were all wet (nothing ever dries). Adrianne and
Brendan try out some new sock drying techniques.
Hannah complements Matt’s snack with her 2-weeks-of-Amazon feet, much
to Matt’s clear enjoyment.
 
At this point, some of us were sad, some of us were happy, while others were
simply confused.
And still others were hungry.
A common sight along the river was heavy gold mining. The miners scoop up the
river water, dump a bunch of mercury into the water, which binds to the gold
and causes it to sink. They collect the rocks and burn off the mercury, and
dump the rest of the water back into the river. Let’s just say that
mercury is not good for the wildlife nor is it good for the people.
However, in gold towns such as Colorado,
the lure is intense.
Continuing along the way is made easier as we meet up with the front growing
face of the Interoceanic
Highway. The road connects the Atlantic coast of
Brazil
to the Pacific of Peru, cutting straight through the Amazon, thus
facilitating development, trade, economic growth, and catastrophic loss of
the Amazon rainforest.
Puerto Maldonado is the only other real town other than Cusco
that we spend any time in. You can fly in to Puerto, and we use it as a
launching point to get to our Tambopata site just a
couple hours away by boat. There’s not much that Puerto has to offer,
other than some delicacies such as these grubs in a bucket. You’re
supposed to bite off the head then eat the grub whole.
Matt was in desperate need of a dark beer, and he was complaining to us
bitterly on a rant about wanting one and how you can’t find them for
about 10 minutes when suddenly Angela happened to show up with a bag. Angela,
truly an angel, pulled out 2 bottles of dark beer. Matt immediately went
silent, and the expression on his face clearly expressed the full range of
emotion he was feeling: shock, bliss, wonderment, exhilaration, and the
growing concern that he might not be able to come up with the right words to
ask Angela for one of the beers. Before he even had a chance to say anything,
Angela turns to him and casually asks, “You want a beer?” I’ve
never seen a happier man. This photo was captured by our quick-shooting
professional photographer who just captured the moment right after Matt
planted an enormous smooch on Angela’s cheek.
Setting off into the Amazon to our final field site, Tambopata
Taking the boat in is way nicer than hiking with 50 kilos of stuff on your
back through the Andes.
A rather artistic shot taken by Marije as the boats
passed into the fog.
Beautiful birds with black beaks and bodies bathe by the beach.
Fire tree.
Beautiful butterflies greet the visitors at the entrance of Tambopata.
Israel, me, Sven and Filio at Explorer’s Inn.
Common flowers around these parts.
This is Wawee, who likes to hang out.
Michael works along side her.
She even eats breakfast with us.
And helped the goalkeeper in football.
A gang rival.
More bird.
Cool leaf cutter ants look like wind surfers.
 
I accidentally pressed my arm into the tree on the right, which is covered in
caterpillars who were not pleased about this intrusion. My arm suffered the consequences and I
kind of freaked out for a few minutes.
Ew squishy bug.
Squishy bug for lunch.
A dendrometer measures the growth of this giant
tree.
Spider on the trunk.
Close-up. Yikes!
I think I’ll grow this direction, no wait I think I’ll grow in
that direction, no wait I think I’ll grow in this other
direction…
 
Giant tree fall in the forest with no one around to hear it. Actually, we heard/felt a giant tree
fall in the forest while working in July 2008.
Why is the ground moving in that spot?
Hello friend.
A reminder that the rainforest is not all about productivity and full of
life.
 
More insects on the ground.
 
We ran into a scary horde of peccaries in ‘08, who shake the forest
like a herd of elephant, and were chillin’
directly in the middle of my transect.
At the end of our work in ‘08 we took the morning off to visit Lake Cocococha.
Otters floating on by.
Launch hut where the boats are kept.
Lucy and I paddle gently, looking out for signs of action or danger.
Lucy is attacked by the sneaky Josh water animal.
Israel
is also paddling, but covered up by my poor camera aim.
Onwards into the lake!
Hanging on to a bit of land for dear life.
Lake scene.
Proudly soaking up some sun rays.
Birds with make-up and cool hair styles.
The turtle on the left is wearing a butterfly hat.
Last view of Lake
Cocococha.
Rainbow over Tambopata.
Good night Tambopata!
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