Bye bye Iquitos

I woke up early to finish packing my things which didn't take long. Then Freddie and I went out for our last breakfast! When we got back I went to my room to get all my things. Then went out into the lobby and gave Louis and Freddie the rum and said good bye. Louis wrote on his phone on Google translate; ‘it was a pleasure to meet you and you always have a friend in Iquitos.’  I thanked both Freddie and Louis. I also said bye to Wayne and Jacob. Then got into a motor taxi and left for the airport. As we bumpily rode to the airport I shed a tear. I will miss Iquitos I have had the most amazing time. I will never forget my experience here it was incredible. At the airport I found myself replying and speaking to a lady in Spanish about the weather and my time in the jungle. Of course it was pretty basic but it just showed that I must have picked up more Spanish than I thought.

Butterfly farm

Watched Wimbledon this morning – Murray won. Success!! We went to Pilpintuwasi butterfly farm, and took a motor car to the port and then one to the farm. These are precarious and don’t have seat belts. We saw monkeys out of their cages, sloths, an ocelot, a coati, a jaguar and birds. We saw caterpillars, cocoons and numerous butterflies. Inside of a cocoon it is completely liquid. All the organs completely change it is only the DNA which remains the same. The farm ‘aims to preserve Amazonia Flora and Wildlife’.  The farm takes in endangered species and animals that had been injured and needed rehabilitation.

http://amazonanimalorphanage.org/News/

When we got back I bought a bottle of Rum for all the guys as a thank you from the supermarket. 

Freddie's Birthday

Today is Freddie’s birthday I gave him a birthday card and Jacob, Freddie and I went out for breakfast. Freddie got on with some work while I went to the supermarket, gave in some washing and had a wander around. We then went out for dinner. We had chicken with Jacob and Louis in Freddie’s favourite restaurant. 

Quistakotcha field work day

Woke up had breakfast in the hostel with Wayne. Juan Cardo then came to the hostel and we set of for Quistakotcha. We left Freddie’s machete in the motor taxi– good start. The site we needed  to get to was pretty straight forward. It was slightly wet not as much as the previous Aguajales I had been in. On the walk in we saw this beautiful, brightly coloured caterpillar. Wayne looked at Juan Cardo and asks ‘peligroso? (dangerous?)’ and Juan Cardo replies ‘muchos peligroso!!’ Wayne seemed worried, but it was amazing so I decided to take pictures while Wayne ran away. We went to two areas before lunch. Here we put down five chambers and took measurements from each one every minute. We filled the syringes, took air temperature, dissolved oxygen content in the soil and took soil PH measurements every minute too. We couldn’t take measurements between 12.00 and 14.30 as at this time there would be major changes in the results. So we stopped for a long lunch. We had a tin of sardines with crackers. We then returned after lunch and took measurements in two more areas. We finished at 3.30 and returned to La Pascana. In the evening we went to a bar with a guy named John who works at iiap. He wanted to collaborate with the PHD guys staying at la Pascana and learn more about all the projects. 

Protests continue ...

The protests were still going on which meant we couldn't go out and Wayne and I couldn't get to Quistakotcha to do any field work. We had breakfast in the Amazon Bistro. It was all pretty quiet and calm when suddenly all the staff started running about and bringing all the tables and chairs from outside in. Apparently the protests were coming this way! We walked back past some army guys with guns and people with sticks. I helped Freddie with data input. I typed into the spread sheet this time, which helped improve my speed on excel. Also I learn some more family, genus and species names. I also helped Wayne label all his exotainers. So we labelled them with the site name on and the time. For example, the first one was QU,BR1,CH1,T0. The following ones went up so T1 then T2 etc. We then had to get last minute things such as batteries for the fans in the gas chambers and we borrowed one of Freddie’s machetes. 

Protests in Iquitos

Last night I heard chanting and a loud uproar from outside. Protests have begun in Iquitos. I woke up early to go to iiap again with Freddie.  There were not many motor cars around and everything was pretty quiet. We managed to find a motor car and jumped in. On the way to iiap we realised that no one was out. The roads were covered in rubbish as people knew the bin men and cleaners were on strike so the public abused this. There was broken glass on the roads to stop the motor cars from going out. The aim of the protests was to stop everything from functioning. The protesters didn’t want anyone using the roads or having their shops open. We went down one street and there were guys with sticks and masks stopping people from exiting the roads. There were lots of police in the main square but not on the roads with guys and sticks. We decided it was too impossible to go to iiap as it was too dangerous. So we turned around and went back to La Pascana. Freddie was going to show one of the guys in the centre how to use a corer. In La Pascana I spoke to Wayne and Jacob for a bit and another guy joined us. He is involved in a project to regain traditional, cultural aspects to village life. For example, types of food that were traditionally grown in villages if re-grown would provide profit for the village. He also spoke to us about utilising medicinal plants in the forest. It was really interesting.

Wayne then spoke to me about his research and showed me his field work equipment. He had gas chambers which are plastic containers with an inner tube surrounding them. You place the container on water. Then attach a syringe to the tubing coming out of the container. Then you get rid of the air in the syringe and collect the gas with it. Then you insert the collected gas into an exotainer. The exotainers are examined in the UK.

For lunch due to the protests most restaurants were shut. However, the burger restaurant was pretending to be shut by having the shutters down but in fact it was open, so we crept in through a tiny side door to eat lunch. We then went to get money out and while Jacob had his back turned a swarm of people were approaching running up the road. So Freddie tapped Jacob on the shoulder and said ‘err Jacob I think we need to get out of here!’ so we power walked out of there while the sea of people followed. 

iiap - Iquitos Research Institute

We went to iiap – the Research Institute in Iquitos this morning. First we met with a man named Ricardo who helps to organise all the boats and logistics for researchers. Freddie and Wayne spoke to him about boat availability and organised dates for their next trips into the field. We then met a guy called Dennis Del Castillo Torres, who is the director of iiap. He had a great knowledge of the forest - particularly Aguajales. Lots of this type of forest is being destroyed and used to grow oil palm on. Many Peruvians see Aguajales as a waste of land and pointless. This is because they do not see any short term profit from it. However, Aguajales are ecosystems with great importance. For one thing, they store carbon and if destroyed this carbon will be released into the atmosphere. In addition, the forests regulate water and provide many ecosystem services regionally and globally. Dennis works with scientists in order to protect the forest. The more papers that are published the better as they provide scientific proof to how important the areas are and the necessity of protecting them.  The government and local people need to understand and see the scientific research showing the importance of the forest in order to want to protect it. At the moment people are concerned with profit. Dennis had to persuade the owner of quisakotcha zoo not to destroy the Aguajales, she wanted to expand the zoo. The only way he could do this was by saying scientific tourism will bring money into the area. Researchers will come and spend money to study the area. In this way the owner saw the benefit of protecting the Aguajales. He did not argue for the ecosystem benefit as this would not have worked as the lady would not have seen any economic benefit in the short term. 

Wayne’s work looks at the gas emissions that forests give off. In quistakotcha there is a secondary forest and grass areas due to human impact. So Wayne wants to get data from the areas affected by humans and the natural areas in order to show the difference. If the data difference is drastic enough then it will ultimately help to protect the area. I asked if there was a balance that could be made where humans can use the forest and impact it without destroying it. Freddie said not really as the ecosystems are so fragile and must not be disturbed. The best solution would be if projects were put in place to protect the area and make them national parks. For example, if REDD funded a project to protect the area and allowed locals to live there still but had rules and regulations in place. The inhabitants would be compensated for this so could get by.

We then went for lunch and when we got back Freddie’s PHD friend Jacob was there. His work looks into birds and floristic compositions. Freddie seemed keen to pair up with him to do some work which sounded cool.  Jacob was interested in writing a paper about comparing deforestation footprints.  For example, it might be better to efficiently extract oil in a way which causes the least damage possible than to use an area of forest to farm cattle. To make the same profit a larger area of land must be destroyed to farm cattle than to extract oil.

I helped Freddie do some more data input into excel spread sheets. I read the figures and species names and Freddie typed it into excel.

Went to Kekiricks for dinner – yummy chicken and chips and chaufa. 

www.iiap.org.pe

Pinch, punch, first of the month

I can’t believe it is already July. Today the guy Freddie did some field work with last year named Wayne arrived. So I met him. He is really friendly and a funny guy. He said I could go out with him one day to see how his field work differs from Freddie’s. This will be really cool and great to see. I don’t need any encouragement to go back into the jungle. I will certainly make the most of any opportunities that come my way.  Today is Omar’s last day in Iquitos so we had dinner all together and said bye to him.

Data entry

We had an early breakfast in the Amazon Bistro. I had bread, jam and cheese, which was nice. Then when we got back I sewed Freddie’s jeans for him as they had a massive rip. I really enjoy sewing and may take it up when I get home. Later on I helped Freddie with data entry. I read the data sheets and Freddie typed it out on an Excel spread sheet. His handwriting is very hard to read. I think for his birthday which is in a few days I need to give him some handwriting lessons! By reading the sheets out I began to come familiar with family, genus and species names and groups

Manatee farm

Freddie, Omar and I went to the Manatee farm today. Manatees are sea cows. The farm took in injured manatees that had been cut by machetes or injured by boats. The people at the farm then helped them recover and feed them. They also breed, so the farm had baby manatees. Then when they are older they will be released back into the river. When they are young they are fed extremely expensive milk and when they are adults they have green leaves. When they are young they shed their skin. We fed the manatees. This project is brilliant as it saves manatees and prevents them from being killed or dying in rivers as they are properly looked after. However, when they are eventually released they won’t be scared of humans as they have such close interactions with us. This means that they may be easily hunted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manatee

Ecology Lesson

I had an ecology lesson today from Freddie and these are my typed up notes from it:

Tropical rainforest ecology:

Subsiding basins or sinking areas can cause a difference in environmental conditions. There will be more water and so can be peat land. Peat lands can also form near rivers. There will be little magnesium and potassium in these areas so low biodiversity. Harsh environment.

In peat areas lots of different communities - dwarf forests etc.

Why diff from each other?

-seed dispersal, close together, similar.

- flooding regimes.

-nutrient status

So different gradients in flooding, nutrients, acidity.

Peatland forests are not seen to be diverse so not protected/ conserved. But there could be endemic species and lots of carbon stored in peat so very important.

The majority of tropical forests are terrifermia forests. Green on Landsat image. Solid/ dry ground. This has a high biodiversity as rivers sediments supply the area with nutrients.

Other areas - White sand forests - remnant patches- very old areas. In the Miocene geological events caused clay to be laid down. White sand was exposed over a long time. So specialist species evolved. Sometimes these specialist species may be found in other areas not White sand forests - great interest to researchers.

Rivers move a lot/ change their course. So where they go they may remove peat that was there.

There are similarities between peat land and White forest areas.

Hydrology of amazonia is changing. Droughts and floods more common. Peatlands more responsive to hydrological change than terrifermia forest. Droughts trees die - carbon lost. But replaced by species that can survive. There will be compositional shifts in forests. They could change the way carbon is stored. Peatlands reliant on being flooded. If peat dries it decomposes as oxygen available so aerobic respiration can occur. Normally aerobic respiration. Methantrophic bacteria breaks down things. Methanogenesis - uses methane instead of air to break things down much slower process so peat remains. Peat will decompose very quickly if it is dried out. Human impacts palm oil farming they dry the peat out. Increase decomposition. That's what has happened in s.e Asia. Also then peat is dry forest fires increase. Dissolved carbon doc in drained peat easily leaves the soil in flooding events in solution. So if floods increase peatland could either sequester more carbon or doc could be washed out of it. Carbon is labile in peat (not locked up/ mobile) 

1970s how the forests change long term looked into. Forest plots set up where 1 hectare 100 x 100 biomass measured repeatedly. Found to increase over 30 years. Trees grow bigger. 2 hypothesises:

Co2 fertilisation - increase emissions. In p.s co2 limiting factor. lots of h2o and sun in forests. So c02 increase hence increase growth rate. Increase turnover increase dying and re-growing.

Disturbance hypothesis - winds, trees fall, gap in forest where trees killed. Pioneer species takes over rapidly growing, mid stage species takes a long time to get back. Disturbance more grows. Residual effect of disturbance never reaches equilibrium. Forest always responding to past disturbance.

Or - remote sensing - generated ho often blow down occurs in given area. Said to be every 4,000 yrs in 1 hectare so not constantly responding to disturbance so can be equilibrium.

Temperate forest in north USA - pumped co2 into forest to see effect. Strong effect for 2 yes but then other factors became limiting e.g. potassium.

Flux towers - measures co2 in and out of forest. Sonic anometer - measures co2 sequested that goes in and out how much co2 stays. Look at how much they match. Amount taken in by plants. Co2 fertilization won't go on for ever. Changes in temp may cause loses. Drought 2010 aided trees to die

PHDs

We went to Iiap research centre this morning in hope of talking to some people. Unfortunately, they were not there. Apparently they will be there on Monday. So we returned back to the hostel.  I went to the supermarket and chilled for a bit. Spoke to Omar and Freddie about PHDs. They both enjoy being at the forefront of their field and research work. It is where it is all happening, so is really exciting. The pay is not the best and the work is really hard but it is rewarding and you could get some breaking papers published if you get the right data. It is what they find interesting and so enjoy it. However, they said sometimes it takes over your life as there is not much structure. You just work for as long as you can or want to, so can easily end up working longer hours than is expected of you. Then we spoke about climate change. Omar had the pessimistic view that reducing co2 emissions now is pointless. China has the population of 1.3 billion and is not going to make any efforts to change and reduce emissions; they are too concerned with development.  So no matter how hard European countries try to be efficient, China will inhibit this effort and carry on as business as usual. 

Quistakotcha Zoo

We took the bus to Quistakotcha zoo today. The bus was made out of wood. There was a lot of traffic. The zoo had puma’s jaguars, alligators, monkeys, birds and fish. Some of the animals were kept in really small cages which was sad to see.  There was a lake in the middle which had sand put around the outside making it into a mini beach. We went into the lake for a swim which was really fun. There were lots of little biting fish which nibbled on our dead skin cells. We played volley ball and piggy in the middle in the lake which was good fun. Then a load of children surrounded us and wanted to play with us as well. Later on we had lunch and kicked the football around for a minute. Until I kicked Louis by mistake in the shin and injured my toe so I had to sit it out. We chilled in the lake for a bit longer - then went back to the hostel. I strapped my toe up but it was pretty painful.

Quistakotcha was an interesting area. At the other side of the lake to where we were there is an Aguajales. Sand was imported to create the ‘beach’ area. This will inevitably have affected the ecosystem in the area. The zoo was beneficial in a way as it protects the forest animals. If ever they were over hunted the animals in the zoo could be bred and released. So in a way they act as a gene bank. However, the negative aspect of the zoo was the way in which some of the animals were kept – in limited spaces. The pumas for instance were kept in cages which were much too small for them. Also it can’t be good to keep these animals out of their natural habitat. Against this, it does at least bring tourists to the area and provides a profit which is no bad thing. 

Reading day

Changed hostels today to one two minutes away. Had another recovery day and just relaxed and chilled out. I read for a while, which was really nice. It was good to have some down time after being so active in the jungle. Went for dinner with Freddie and another PHD guy called Omar. We spoke about climate change and changing society. It was interesting to hear different view points and opinions on these topics. Omar believed that we act on human instinct and that is all - whereas Freddie thought we were more complex than this. Omar suggested reading ‘Not by genes alone’ by Robert Boyd, published in 2005. I will definitely check this book out. It sounds fascinating.  

Relaxing day

Recovery day! Still woke up early - I guess my body clock is on automatic and used to the early starts. I Skyped my family. My brother had his friend around so had a chat with them both. I then spoke to some of my friends on Facebook. Was nice to re-connect with everyone. I told them about the snake and all the adventures I got up to! Freddie and I then went to the supermarket. I went straight to the fruit and veg section. There were a few global brands in the supermarket which was a shame. I fear that one day all the big brands will take over and there will be barely anything unique left on the Peruvian shelves any more. Inka-Cola has already been bought by Coca-Cola. It used to be a Peruvian made drink and now Coca-Cola has taken it over.  Coca-Cola even sells the main bottled water San-Luis. When we got back to the hostel I ate my orange and apple which tasted unbelievably good.  Had a great steak for dinner. 

Burnt arm

We left Santa Rita this morning on the speed boat and went back to Nauta and had lunch there. I had a Lomo Saltado – a massive plate of rice, chips and beef strips. Was really good but slightly too big so couldn’t finish it all. http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://theintrepidexplorers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/lomo-saltado.jpg&imgrefurl=http://theintrepidexplorers.com/peruvian-lomo-saltado-recipe/&h=338&w=450&sz=41&tbnid=eQ0o3AHXkHbBcM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=120&zoom=1&usg=__EECONB3qV-ImX5H_mpGTEGBgCm0=&docid=CFTp4Vqvo_IZ6M&sa=X&ei=ZR0FUsjVDoO60QWa8oHwBw&ved=0CEkQ9QEwBQ&dur=897

 I got pretty burnt on my right arm in the boat. We then got in a massive taxi with all our kit and headed back to Iquitos. It was pouring with rain and some water got through so we got a bit of a showering. The taxi did have a TV in though so we watched some salsa videos on the ride home. Strange how it managed to have a TV but it wasn’t rain proof! When we got back to Iquitos we had pizza for dinner. Was a lovely dinner and nice to be back in La Pascana hostel with a real shower even if there is still no hot water.

Last day in the field

The last day. Had an eggy tortilla for breakfast, rice and Quakers. Then we speedily walked back to our plot and finished the last three subsections.  We did two transects noting the trees with smaller diameters. I had the masking tape again and labelled the species number. Louis then went back across the plot identifying herbs species that were missed the first time. We had two eggs and rice for lunch. Then we took some peat cores. I labelled some sample bags and we collected top soil to take back for nutrient analyses. We then walked back pretty fast and had more eggs for dinner. In total today I would say I had about five eggs maybe even six! Why change the egg tradition on the last day! I am sad the field work experience is ending. It has been such an adventure. I have utterly loved it. At times it has been hard but I enjoy a good challenge - it makes the experience more rewarding and fun.  

Only one wet foot!

Penultimate day of field work. Still had a slight upset tummy this morning but I went to the field again and was fine. I did the whole walk in to our plot without holding Hugo’s hand- result. And only got one wet foot!  While Hugo and Hulio finished stringing the rest of the plot, Louis, Freddie and I started with subplot one. Louis measured the tree diameters and I measured the tree heights and Freddie recorded the measurements. It was a bit slower than when Hulio zooms around measuring the diameters. Once he finished stringing the plot he stepped in and the pace increased. In fact, he went so fast that at times I got behind. He was measuring the next few tree diameters and I was still maneuvering around to find a point to take a height measurement for the first one. This felt a bit stressful as I didn't want to slow the team down but at the same time I wanted to get an accurate measurement while not to sinking into the water or grabbing onto a tree with the biting ants on. I got stung by another wasp today. More importantly, we got 10 subsections of the plot done today. I managed the walk back without holding Hugo’s hand as well – achievement! I did fall a few times but that is to be expected! When we got back I was sweating like crazy and covered head to toe in glorious mud! It was a pretty hot day. We went to the river to wash our boats and trousers – mine seemed to get muddier!! Then I went into the hostel for the best shower ever. We had some traditional salty fish and boiled plantain for dinner. I can’t say it was the best! It tasted of, well nothing really. It was rather bland! However on the plus side there were no eggs – brilliant.

Biggest tarantula yet

Had an upset tummy this morning, which was really annoying and don’t feel 100%. Still went out into the field though as  I don’t want to miss out on anything. It was quite a hard day. We walked through the entire swamp from one side to the other. The peat was deepest in the middle. The Aguajales are generally dipped in the middle. Hence they are wetter than other forests. We then went back to the middle of the swamp and set up a 50m x 100m plot (half a hectare) the same size as the first plot. Due to species diversity being low and us looking at carbon, a full hectare is not needed for the plots we set up.  A few people passed us today. The route we took seemed to be a used path for villagers. People seemed to be hunting.  Although it is illegal to hunt monkeys, it was assumed that the guys walking past with massive bags may well have had monkeys in them. Hugo held my hand for the entire walk there and back today as the branches were hard to balance on. I seemed to pull him over a few times. I owe him many beers. On the way back we saw the biggest tarantula yet. Also saw a squirrel monkey. It was amazing. Parts of the walk were really fun and others were arduous. I really enjoy a challenge so it was all rewarding and fun.  At the last leg of the journey the villager who was showing us the way started panicking and running really fast. I was so confused and  I sort of froze on the spot. Hugo – my hero started running towards me and hit off all these wasps and pulled me to safety. There was a wasp nest where I was standing. I got away with no stings and Hugo got a fair few on his back. He is literally my knight in shining armor. I now owe him many more beers. 

Chicken for lunch

After desayuno consisting of chocolate Quakers, chips and eggs, a local villager took us by boat to an opening in the Aguajales. The boat trip took 15 minutes.  This walk was much easier than previously. We walked for an hour or so, got to over 1km and took some peat cores. They showed a lot of mixed soil – peat and clay. Also there seemed to be more peat further down. I took pictures of the cores next to a measuring tape. Freddie noted down the core texture, colour and descriptions. Freddie thought the pattern could be due to flooding events as the swamp is next to the River Marinon. These flooding events may occur every 50 years causing a high biodiversity in the area. From this point we made a plot of 200m x 25m. We walked back 200m and on either side included all the trees that were 12.5m from the path.  Louis identified the tree species and I measured the heights of the palm trees. We also took pictures of some of the tree species. We then speedily walked back and got back to the majors house at around 1. His wife had cooked us spaghetti with tomato sauce and bits of chicken as well as rice. We then set off in our speed boat to our final destination – Santa Rita. This village is much larger than the previous two.  We are staying in a hostel here with actual beds and a mosquito net. As well as a clean toilet (which still doesn’t flush) - and there is a shower. When I say shower I mean a room with a vat of water and a bucket in. But still, there is a wash room and a clean toilet!! Beautiful!! All my clothes smell now however. Not sure if it is worth washing any of them - not much point now. 

Finishing off plot one and arriving in Santa Rosa de Lagarto

We walked back to the plot and finished the transect. Louis then did another transect identifying any species we missed the first time. He focused on plant shrubs and herbs. Meanwhile the rest of us took some peat cores. We put 0-5cm, 5-10cm, 10-20cm and 20-30cm soil samples in bags. This is because nutrient samples will be carried out on the top soil. Freddie noted the colour, texture and description of the rest of the cores for a record. I took a picture of the cores too so Freddie could use it as a reference later.  Then we left the plot. On the way back I still held Hugo’s hand but for some of the walk I didn’t need to. So I am getting better at balance! We speed ahead as usual. When we got back we had a quick wash in the river and then packed all our things and headed off to the next site by boat. Some of our clothes that were drying on the boat flew off into the river! Hulio then with great precision turned the boat around and we collected the items with a stick. Somehow we managed to retrieve all of the items, including a shirt and some boxers. We arrived in Santa Rosa de Lagarto the next village twenty minutes later. We also topped up on fuel here – result! We stayed in the mayor’s house this time. I made a friend here with the mayor’s daughter and used my limited amount of Spanish to find out her name. As she was young language didn't matter so much and she seemed to enjoy playing hide and seek. This village was more developed than the last. There was a government scheme put in place to give every house a toilet. This was really good because hygienic toilet facilities prevents disease and harmful bacteria causing illnesses. In addition, this village also has electricity. There are massive speakers on the paths which announcements are made through. This said, it is still very basic.

Measuring plot one

Speedily walked to our plot this morning, Hugo held my hand again and we got there first. Today my role was to measure the heights of the palm tree species. I did this using a laser range finder. It took some getting used to at first but once I got the hang of it all was fine and dandy. First Hulio would measure the diameter of the tree. Then Louis would identify the tree type. If it was a palm tree I would then give a height for it. This was done for ever y tree with the diameter of more than 10cm in all the 13 subplots. If Louis could not identify the tree type a cutting would be made and later taken to the haberium to be identified. Hulio would climb the tree in order to get the cutting. Next we made a transect - this was to measure all the smaller trees with a diameter between 2-10cm. Hulio measured the diameter again and Louis would identify the tree type. However, there were more unknown tree types in the transect. For this my role was to take the cuttings and using masking tape to label them with a number. So later it could be correctly referred to. Freddie had the data sheet and wrote down all of the figures we shouted over to him. It was hard to move around the plot as most of it was covered in fairly deep water. So when I was navigating around to measure the tree heights at times I found it hard to keep up as I had to get to the right point in order to take the measurement. I got bitten a few times by ants and also got stung by a wasp today! Apparently at one point there was a massive spider on my back. Probably best I didn't see it. I saw lots of tarantulas and creepy crawlies, which was cool. The tarantulas were a bit unnerving though. Tomorrow we will finish the transect and take some peat cores. Hugo and I powered back again and went straight to the river to wash. Was so refreshing. 

Muchas juvia

Had soup and Quakers for desayuno and then we set off for the palm swamp. This one was also rather hard to walk through. However, there were fallen trees which created a sort of path for us. Despite this, I kept falling off the logs and sinking into the mud and having to yank myself out. So Hugo offered to hold my hand. I was extremely grateful for this because the tree branches were very slippery and if I lost my balance I could easily have broken a bone! So I held Hugo’s hand for most of the walk. I still fell numerous times and pulled him in too which I felt pretty bad about.  We then reached a point and took some core samples. These showed that there was peat (dark brown) in the area and clay (white). So we set up a plot there. The plot was 50m x 100m. Hugo and Hulio used their machetes to clear the area so we could move around in it. Louis used the compass to direct them in a straight line. I sat on a log for a while and watched our bags. Near me was a tree covered in ants. The ants had a symbiotic relationship with the tree. Inside the tree are structures for the ants to live in and in return for gaining a habitat the ants protect the tree from any herbivores that may damage it. This is done by the ants stinging and killing any predators. Once the plot was set up we headed back. It started to rain heavily (muchas juvia). I held Hugo’s hand on the way back as well. We both power walked back. Well I say both – I mean Hugo dragged me along, I like to think I was speedy too but I think I should give the credit to Hugo! When we returned we sheltered by the well as we waited twenty or so minutes for the others who were behind. When they all got back we went into the river fully clothed to try and get rid of some of the mud. It was really refreshing. I then washed in the river, got out and put on some dry, clean clothes – luxury! We then played cards and chatted and ate dinner. We were allowed to use a toilet in a lady’s house. However, it was most unhygienic. Firstly, it didn’t flush which is pretty standard. The major problem was there was no bin to put the toilet paper in and there was just a pile of dirty paper on the floor which the lady must have sweeped out every week or so.

Freddie taught me that while San Roque palm swamp has a low biodiversity compared to other forest types, It seems to have a higher biodiversity than other palm swamps. This could be because it is on the Maranon River,  which is a white river. So when it floods the forest nutrients are provided and more species are able to grow.

San Roque

We left Nauta this morning after a beef stew and rice breakfast. We set off in the speed boat which is around three times faster than our previous boat. It kept breaking however as water got into the engine.  I read ‘Little Women’ for the majority of the journey. When we were near San Roque we found out that we only had 7 gallons of fuel left.  This is not enough for us to get back to Nauta, so we would have to work something out. We then arrived in San Roque which is a village on the Maranon. When the boat pulled in loads of children surrounded us. They were fascinated by seeing two white people.  The children would have never seen a white person before. White people are known as Grecos which derives from green girl. As white people were thought to all have green eyes.  Due to folk law and myths regarding white people, we had to be wary. Old traditions claim that white people used to cut off the faces of Peruvians. White people were also thought to cut off the fat of villagers and steal things.  Freddie and Louis got off the boat first in order to find the mayor of the village. They then asked him for permission to stay in the village. The mayor granted us stay and we were shown to a hut which we could set our tents up in. The hut had some charts on the wall which seemed to be put in place by LAN and UNICEF. The charts displayed children’s weights in the village. And there was also a list of all the families that lived there. The village has 450 inhabitants. By the river I saw a couple of children with the condition Kwashiorkor an indicator of protein malnutrition.  The village seemed very poor and although there were strategies in place to help the children, some still seemed to suffer. 

Back to Nauta

The plan was to go back to Nauta and hire a speed boat and then go to several other sites to set up some plots. So we got back in our fixed peque peque and headed for Nauta. It was a lovely boat ride – and there was no rain at all. On arriving in Nauta where the dock is used as a dumping ground for rubbish and litter, we carried all of our things into a hostel and then went for a hearty lunch. It was massive comprising beef soup followed by chicken and rice. This was followed by a visit to the tourist area of Nauta and a lake that’s home to turtles, crocodiles and paiche (the longest river fish in the world). There were also painted pictures of Amazonia myths. All very interesting. One such myth claims that inside every pink river dolphins is a white man. If anyone ever becomes pregnant unexpectedly of for no apparent reason, it is blamed on the pink river dolphin myth. There is also a myth about ghosts in the forest which make people sick. Another was about a troll that has two feet in opposite directions. It was jokingly said that the troll looked like Hugo – fairly small and very strong! We strolled across a walkway where there were people’s houses. The houses were on stilts and made of wood.  In one of these a pregnant lady was lying on the wooden floor. The village is like no other I have ever seen before. We called for a speed boat, which will be ready on Saturday. Freddie spoke to me about the field work we will carry out and more about his research. (see later blog entries) 

Broken boat

Mosquito bites are getting itchier. We got our day bags and then got into the boat ready to cross the river and go to the 31 Devil swamp. Hulio pulled the engine and it spluttered, so he pulled it again and the same happened. Hulio and Hugo looked at the engine. They tried fiddling with the engine but it still didn't work.  They dismantled it and put it back together. Still no such luck. They tried all kinds of things for several hours but nothing seemed to work. While the two guys were hard at work, Loiuse built a fishing line out of ribbon attached some biscuit to it and then a whole load of little fish jumped out of the water. We also attracted a massive crab. Was entertaining! We then played a game of cheat with some cards I had. Finally after a while the engine was deemed broken. We decided to pack up our things and paddle out to Viente de Enero in order to find someone who could fix our motor and then decide what to do next. While we were paddling we saw more wildlife as we didn’t have the noisy motor. Butterflies landed on our boat, and we spotted loads of dolphins, birds and an alligator. After a while we saw some people on the river side. So we stopped and one of them turned out to be a mechanic, and was able to fix our boat. As a result, we arrived in Viente de Enero much quicker than expected, and we stayed there the night. 

Day 2 in Rinon

As the path was already made from yesterday we expected to get a bit further today. However, the conditions were still rather tough. Wading through water takes longer than you would think! It took us over two hours to walk 1km and we were constantly moving as fast as we could. We took two cores at 1km. They showed there to be no peat in the area. The peat deposits were further in but too hard to reach.  As there was no peat at 1km we did not make a plot there.  As we sat down Hugo saw a small Boa –constrictor. We then returned to the camp site, it was faster on the way back but still took us a while. If it took us the whole day to get 1km and back, reaching 8km where the peat deposits were would be near impossible. So Freddie had to decide what we should do instead. He concluded that we would go to some other sites and set up plots there instead. There is a site across the river called 31 Devils which we will check out tomorrow. Today I have learnt that no matter how concise and organised your plan may be, things may not go as expected.  In theory things may seem possible and from satellite images it may seem feasible to reach certain areas but in fact when you are there in reality you see things in a completely different light. Things that seemed possible from looking at them at a computer are in fact too dangerous or inaccessible

.

Sorting out our kit

Today we bought a new cooker as our old one was on its last legs. We also bought some plastic bags and sorted out all of our things. We washed our pots and pans and prepared to leave tomorrow.  We went back to the tourist area to chill for a bit. Freddie gave me some tips for next year at university. One was to download and use software called Endnotes which does referencing for you. He also informed me of a search engine called Scopus.  Later on, Freddie and I went to an internet café and I emailed my parents and brother. I also spoke to a few of my friends, which was nice.

http://www.scopus.com/results/results.url?sort=plf-f&src=s&st1=tropical+peatland&sid=22C7FF4D0E357F5C82EA3DC2998310EA.kqQeWtawXauCyC8ghhRGJg%3a80&sot=b&sdt=b&sl=32&s=TITLE-ABS-KEY%28tropical+peatland%29&origin=searchbasic&txGid=22C7FF4D0E357F5C82EA3DC2998310EA.kqQeWtawXauCyC8ghhRGJg%3a8

Wet feet

Had another two eggs for breakfast with rice and sweet porridge – Quakers. I made tomato and sardine pasta for our packed lunch, sweat bees were everywhere and kept flying into the pasta – oh well, extra protein! We were then ready to head off. Hulio and Hugo went first with their machetes cutting down the obstructing branches and trees in order to make room for us to walk through. My role was to mark with a fluorescent, pink ribbon every 100m point. I labelled the ribbon with a sharpie pen and tied it to a tree at eye level so it was visible. We got just over 1km and back. This took us the whole day as the path was treacherous. We spent a lot of time wadding through water. It was like an obstacle course as we had to avoid the tree branches with spikes on and biting insects on, and at the same time had to make sure not to sink into the mud - most of which was very deep.  A few termites went down the back of my shirt and bit my neck and arms. It stung for five minutes or so and then I had a bite mark to show for it. As we stopped for lunch it started to rain heavily so we got our ponchos out. I fell over quite a few times today, tripping over branches, sunk in the mud, and had to yank out my willies a few times too.  I just laughed at myself as there were quite a few comical falls. All part of the fun.  My feet were wet the whole day. Hopefully one day I will be able to be nimble with my steps and have dry feet.  I found some shells and crabs and wondered how they got there. Freddie explained that the area used to be sea. So the shells were remnants of the sea. Then the Andes formed and this geological change meant the sea moved from the area.  We were faster on the way back so we did improve throughout the day. On the last leg of the journey back to base there was a stream to cross. I Tarzaned across dangling from a tree branch, which was really fun.  Although today was physically challenging I really enjoyed it. The jungle is such an amazingly pristine place with no one else around. And today was an exciting obstacle adventure course. 

Rinon

Had two eggs for breakfast and then we set off for Rinon. Our beautiful boat journey continued. We saw more birds and dolphins along the way. We then reached the river we needed to travel along. However, the water level was too low making it un-accessible - so instead we went down a nearby river meaning we would have to change the transect slightly. Freddie got off our boat first and climbed up the bank. He then stumbled slightly and froze for a split second.  Then he rushed back to the boat announcing that there was a hergone snake! This is where we were planning to set up our camp site. So it was necessary for the guys to kill this deathly poisonous snake. Hulio and Hugo grabbed their machetes and on racing out of the boat our cardboard box with all the food in fell over the side of the boat. Freddie leapt to save it and managed to haul the box back onto the boat.  Then the guys got ready to kill the snake. They stood over it and then smashed it with all their might with the machetes. It was then cut in two. They kept hitting it over and over just to make sure it was dead. In the frantic upheaval we lost a few tins of tuna to the bottom of the river. Considering there was a highly hazardous snake on our hands I think we got off lightly.

The next task was to set up camp. The guys chose a perfect spot to set up and then went to work. Hulio and Hugo chopped down any trees that were in the way and we used these to build a den like structure to put our tents under. Using ribbon we tied a plastic sheet over the tree structure we constructed. Next the kitchen area was made and we laid out all of our food. Finally Hugo dug out a toilet which was 20 meters or so away from our tents. Our boat was used as a washing facility we had a bucket and put river water in it then poured it over ourselves into the boat. I got bitten all over by mosquitoes when washing. Other than that it was an adequate system. We saw three River Otters before we ate dinner. Their heads poked out of the river opposite where we were standing. They are rare sighting - so this was a real bonus. Then we had more eggs for dinner. When I got in my tent it started to rain really heavily. The noise was magnificent.

The toilet!