I just got back from a night walk along a trail called Numa. I spotted a big tree frog, saw a scorpion spider, and more conga ants than I wanted to. We went up in a canopy tower and found a few tarantulas living in the hand railings. On the way down I saw a conga ant trying to reach my shirt- not cool. It was very misty at the top of the tower, but when we turned off our lights our eyes adjusted.
On the jungle floor we switched off our lights also, and it was about as dark as it is inside a cave. Up above some light was filtering through the canopy, making it look like there were big dull stars overhead. The sky is overcast though, but hopefully we can go sleep in a tower soon and watch the sun set and rise!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Deep in Amazonian Ecuador
I am in the Amazon Rainforest! and have been for 16 some days? The internet here is by satellite and this has been the first time I have been able to access this site to post anything. The generator is off for the night, so my computer battery is about to go, if the internet doesn't first. It is so nice here, and it is amazing to actually be somewhere that civilization noise cannot reach. The only sounds here besides those of the jungle crickets, frogs, birds and monkeys is the oil drilling company which is 2 hours away by boat, and then an hour by an open-top bus. But I can only hear the operation sometimes, and mostly at night. It is much quieter here than I expected, kind of like summer time at home, except when the monkeys start making racket. At least I think it was monkeys...
It took about 10 hours to get here, we took an airplane, a bus, a long ride down the Napo River to Bloc 16 where the oil operation is, then a boat down the Tiputini River to where I am now, the Tiputini Biodiversity station. The boats are very long and metal with two 75 hp motors. We got stuck once, but not too badly.
My day here starts at 6am, breakfast at 6:30 and then the generator comes on at about 10am until about 1pm. Lunch is at 12, and the generator comes back on at about 6pm to 9:30pm, and dinner is at 7. The water here is filtered directly from the river, so there are no hot showers, so bathing in the river is awesome! I only take a shower every few days since the river is more fun, but I took one tonight that was pretty cold and unpleasant! They provide biodegradable soap here for us since the water goes back to the river.
The problems with swimming in the river though are the sting rays (so we have been told not to touch the bottom), the current (which we tested out by swimming to the other dock and I almost missed it and got carried off), the cayman that likes to hang around the dock and eat leftovers the cooks throw out, the stinging/candiru catfish, and the piranhas (my teacher says they won't bite us but I'm not so sure!) Other than that the river is great!
The humidity here stays at about 100 percent and its usually about 90 degrees here in the day, mid 80's at night. The only place that has air conditioning is the lab/library where we keep our computers and where the books are kept. I'll put up pictures when I get a chance.
Since the humidity is so high, my backpacks have grown mold in them. Pretty gross. I have been waiting for it to stop raining (it has been pretty constantly since Friday) so I can put them in the sun and hopefully dry them out a bit. It is more into the dry season, so the weather is pretty nice.
I get to see monkeys pretty often, and I hear way more birds than I actually see. The toucans sounds like puppies out in the forest! Right now I hear bugs singing, and something thats barking/hooting off in the forest. Oh- and there are fireflies here too!
My battery is almost gone, so I will post more when I get a chance!
It took about 10 hours to get here, we took an airplane, a bus, a long ride down the Napo River to Bloc 16 where the oil operation is, then a boat down the Tiputini River to where I am now, the Tiputini Biodiversity station. The boats are very long and metal with two 75 hp motors. We got stuck once, but not too badly.
My day here starts at 6am, breakfast at 6:30 and then the generator comes on at about 10am until about 1pm. Lunch is at 12, and the generator comes back on at about 6pm to 9:30pm, and dinner is at 7. The water here is filtered directly from the river, so there are no hot showers, so bathing in the river is awesome! I only take a shower every few days since the river is more fun, but I took one tonight that was pretty cold and unpleasant! They provide biodegradable soap here for us since the water goes back to the river.
The problems with swimming in the river though are the sting rays (so we have been told not to touch the bottom), the current (which we tested out by swimming to the other dock and I almost missed it and got carried off), the cayman that likes to hang around the dock and eat leftovers the cooks throw out, the stinging/candiru catfish, and the piranhas (my teacher says they won't bite us but I'm not so sure!) Other than that the river is great!
The humidity here stays at about 100 percent and its usually about 90 degrees here in the day, mid 80's at night. The only place that has air conditioning is the lab/library where we keep our computers and where the books are kept. I'll put up pictures when I get a chance.
Since the humidity is so high, my backpacks have grown mold in them. Pretty gross. I have been waiting for it to stop raining (it has been pretty constantly since Friday) so I can put them in the sun and hopefully dry them out a bit. It is more into the dry season, so the weather is pretty nice.
I get to see monkeys pretty often, and I hear way more birds than I actually see. The toucans sounds like puppies out in the forest! Right now I hear bugs singing, and something thats barking/hooting off in the forest. Oh- and there are fireflies here too!
My battery is almost gone, so I will post more when I get a chance!
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