Tono (1000 m a.s.l.), Peruvian Andes (2007 – 2009)

Tono is situated at 1000 m elevation, which is the transition between the steep cloud forests of the Andes and the majestic lowland forests of the Amazon. It takes a while to hike in and thus requires camping (no field stations or infrastructure nearby), but it is mainly flat, though hot and full of mosquitoes, chiggers and snakes…

We always stop first in Patria, which is a small town about 1-2 hours out of Tono to load up on supplies and attempt to get a bit of internet. Patria is where most of the coca leaves are dried that, of course, go only to making tea...

Matt does his part in supporting the local economy.

Forget your high-flow automatic clicky gas station pumps. A bucket and a funnel is how we do it in the Amazon.

Sometimes things around us make us think of home.

A hearty meal of whatever they were serving that night.

Just down the road about 20 minutes is another, slightly larger town called Pilcopata. We had to stay here in July ’08 because Patria was drunk from Dia de Carmen. Yeah that’s right, the whole town was drunk.

Loading up before we get going to Tono.

Blasting Reggaeton, we speed off through the Amazon for the hour drive to Tono. Along the road were thousands of butterflies that scattered as we approached, causing the sky to change brilliant colors. Cruising along nicely to the thump of the bass, we came to an abrupt stop as a river cut straight through the road. We cranked it into 4-wheel drive, hit the gas and went into the river to cross it. We passed about 10 rivers like this until we got to the drop-off point.

A quick stop for a permit check and a game of tetherball—in Peru they call the game (translated) “Smack My Bitch Up”.

Amused at these so-called important Oxford researchers coming in and acting like children.

A stop for a bite to eat of some fresh fruit.

Loading up at the drop off point.

The hike in to the site is about 1.5-2 hours through dense bamboo, thick mud and over rivers.

Our expensive CO₂ measuring device (EGM) nearly exploded when we first started it up in ’09. Walter desperately tries to fix it.

After about an hour delay, yet also an hour Spanish lesson in cursing from Walter, the machine got fixed and we were able to do our measurements.

The site itself is a pleasure to work at--flat and relatively open. But the mosquitoes are like a continuous dust storm and the chiggers (microscopic spiders that eat their way across your torso at night) are the worst. In July ’08 I was determined not to get eaten alive by chiggers yet again, and I diligently applied deet and sulfur powder, which amazingly worked very well!

Oops, missed a spot.

Su-Yin models her mosquito protection while I hide from the mosquitoes behind this twig.

Our crew bumped into Steven and his crew during our second night at Tono in July ’08.

A few more monkeys check out our work.

Israel-Cuba Torres, who works with me on the fertilisation experiment, was working in Tono in January 2008 in the middle of the rain in the swampiest part of our plots. He was hacking his way through the jungle with his machete when he cracked through the middle of a fallen bamboo only to discover The Shushupe directly behind it, and not too happy. The Shushupe went into full attack mode--straightening up, flaring out, and hissing/rattling. Israel froze to watch his life flash before his eyes before carefully retreating. He grabbed his camera and, insane as he is, returned to snap a photo in the pouring rain. The flash startled The Shushupe and both it and Israel ran off in opposite directions, never to see each other again. We ended up having to abandon that transect due to safety reasons L If you look closely enough you can see the Shushupe camouflaged well in the thicket. The head is on the left of the photo near the middle, and the body winds all the way to the back-right of the photo.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachesis_(genus)):
The Shushupe, also called The Bushmaster, is of the genus Lachesis of venomous pitvipers found in the remote, forested areas of Central and South America. Lachesis refers to one of the Three Fates in Greek mythology—Lachesis determined the length of the thread of life. Adults vary in length from 2 to 2.5 m (6.5 to 8.25 ft), and some may grow to as much as 3 m (10 ft). The largest known was 3.65 m (12 ft), making it the longest venomous snake in the Western Hemisphere. It is one of the largest and most dangerous snakes in South America, capable of multiple bite strikes and injecting large amounts of venom—even the bite of a juvenile can be fatal.

Our crew (me, Israel, Su-Yin and Alfonso) met up with Luiz’s crew (Luiz, Dan, Angela) for a night in Tono. We had a bottle of whiskey that was to last us for the week. They had a bottle of rum to the last the same. Both were gone in the matter of a few hours. I blame it on the shushupe—all that was left at the end was the spit of the shushupe (esputa de shushupe).

Kissy kissy!

This deadly snake tried to attack us (but didn't succeed) on our way out of Tono in April ’07 (not my photo, but same type of snake).

Taking a little rest at the halfway point.

Alfonso with a pretty treasure.

A little sand tagging.

Su-Yin does her karate kid impression.

We wanted her to do the karate kid on this rock, but she demanded that Israel hold her up.

Woohoo, 3 Kings!

Yeah we feel tough.

Okay that’s enough of that.

Back down and out of Tono.

In April ’07, we were stuck behind this derrumbe coming up from Tono. We had to sleep in the car at the base of the derrumbe, but soon after sunrise the road workers began to fix the carraterra.

Bringing in strong dirt and pushing out weak dirt.

The road was finally clear, much to our driver's joy as he had been stuck below the derrumbe site all week. However, we encountered the Edinburgh group, who needed a lift to Tono so our driver had to turn around while the Peruvian students and I loaded ourselves onto the back of a yucca truck and headed to the paradise of Wayqecha.