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

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