The Amazon Experience from Quito

What am amazing week in Tiputini/ The Amazon. I can´t say it enough. Last Sunday Dana, Christ and I started our mini research proejct. Christa came up with a question about whether or not fruit trees that are dispersed by monkeys are clumped or randomly distributed in the forest matrix. After a lot of thought by us and a lot of thought from Joe and Catherine we set out looking for the absence or presence of three types of fruiting trees in our plots. We had 40 circular plots in total, 20 were Inga centered (one of our species of interest) and the others were centered with a tree not of interest. It sounds somewhat simple, but it was not, and finding a statistical test for association was even more difficult. That´s all the details you probably want and need.

Other great parts about our final days in Tiputini included Titi Monkey Stalking on Thursday (2/25) with Dan. He took Dana, Christa and me this time, but only for a few hours instead of all day. Titi monkeys are so cute, we followed the ¨L¨group that are led by Lucifer and Lulu. They have two young, one which was born in 2008 and another born just last fall. So needless to say there was a lot of cute going around! Plus again I thoroughly enjoyed the company I was with. That evening though was somewhat of a shit show. Last Monday a group of US students arrived. They are in a porgram called SIT, it´s ecology and culture based from what I understand. Anyway, their professors were less then good company and Thursday night when we were netting bats I almost lost it. The one SIT prof was this obnoxious woman who didn´t seem to know that much about bats yet insisted to try and measure it and ID it. I was very thankful to have to Joe and Catherine as our professors that evening!

After the bats us Ceiba kids had a good time studying for our final exam together in the library. We were practicing our bird calls and Jean´s rendition of the Black faced Caracara stole the show! I think the SIT kids were probably annoyed but I honestly didn´t feel that bad because they´re loud all the time and they weren´t nearly as friendly as the Boston U kids who came to Tiputini with us.

Friday (2/26) was filled primarily with studying and RAIN!! Rain in the Amazon is awesome if for nothing else then the relief it provides from the humidity. Then of course there is the ecological importance of rain as well. Dana, Christa and I also took a study break to take photos for our research presentation that will be given the day before we depart on spring break. It seemed like a shame to sit around for a whole day preparing for an exam when you´re in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, but so it goes. One woman´s forest is another woman´s classroom.

Saturday (2/28) I got up at around 6:15 as usual hoping for a few productive hours followed by lunch and then our final exam at 1:00. Well about 9:00 I was tired so I took a long nap. Then I woke up and read my book and then around 10:45 I finally decided to study again. I felt like a slacker but I just couldn´t commit with all the birds, bugs and monkeys making such music! Anyway, the exam went pretty well, I nailed the field portion but the written part is anyone´s guess.

Following the exam we all went for a celebratory swim in the Tiputini River. It was the best swim I had! Plus it sure made up for my lack of showering! :) Why shower when you´re in the middle of the rainforest?

Sunday morning we were free! We went for a morning float at 6 AM and did some more birding. Then we ventured into the blackwater, a river that drains sandy soils, is nutrient poor and filled with tannins. Apparently it´s a good place to spot sloths, but we did not see one. The river was higer then it had been during our entire stay at the station. You couldn´t see any mud along the bank and at TBS only 1 of about 4 staircases was still above water! The canoe rides alos offer a relief from the humitidy, though at 6 AM it´s still bearable. Just before the boat returned to the station it dropped me, Kola, Brian, Karl, Steph and Christa off at Anaconda Trail. Romiro, one of the TBS guides was with us too. We were on a mission to a hike a portion of Maquisapa Trail and look for Pygmy Marmosets, the smallest primate species at TBS. Pygmies can fit in the palm of your hand, they are about 4 inches long without their tail!

Shortly after starting our hike we heard a strange snort and then got a whiff of something bad - peccary! Peccaries are a pig like animal of the Amazon known to travel in packs of up to 600 individuals! Rumor has it that you can small them before you can see them. They also can be mean. With all this in mind my heart skipped several beats after hearing that grumble. To our luck it charged further in to the forest and all we got was a glimpse of peaccy rump.

A couple of hours laster we stopped at a clearing and ate lunch. We were near a huge Ceiba tree that was filled with a couple of oropendolas and had the pleasure of being serenated by them during our PB & J time. Shortly after 1:30 we finally reached the Pygmy marmoset feeding trees. Romiro staked us out and told us to remain silent and watch carefully. Well about 10 minutes or so passed and Romiro let out a ¨Come quickly!¨ I was startled because 1: he yelled it in English and up to that point I had never heard him speak a word of it and 2: it had been very quiet. We all raced over to Romiro was and sure enough way up in a vine tangle sat a tiny little Pygmy marmoset. After a few minutes of watching it another one came out of the vines. Then it started thundering. As though they were rejoicing for the incoming rain, 3 or 4 more pygmies then came out to play. They ran up and down lianas (woody vines) and came pretty lwo to the ground. So we all got a good look. Then out of almost nowhere it started to pour and within 5 minutes I was soaked from head to toe. It was the most refreshing rain I have ever been caught in. Up to that point the day had been steaming. I had sweat through my t-shirt and my arms were glistening iwth sweat. The rain was instant relief and even when it stopped I felt a million degrees cooler.

After returning to camp and putting on dry clothes I joined some of my pals in a bracelet making lesson with Jose. Jose is my favorite Tiputini guide, he is shy and quiet but is amazing at spotting things, knows a lot about medicinal plants and is very patient. We made bracelets with palm fibers and then went fishing. Jean was the only successful one and she caught a nice sized catfish within the first five minutes we were there. I was hoping to catch something, but I guess it´s okay that I didn´t.

Before dinner we played a long few games of Equavolley, an Ecuadorian version of volleyball where the net is at least 2 meters tall, carrying is expected, no one rotates positions and you get 4 hits to get the ball over the net. It is a fun game though I still can´t accept carrying and subsequent placement as okay. We played right up until dinner and even through a bit of rain.

Our final dinner at Tiputini was delicious, grilled chicken with green beans, corn and potatotes. A really hearty United Statesesque meal! Dessert was a TBS specialty: huevos fritos, a dallop fo fresh whipped cream topped with a half of a peace. It looks just like a sunny-side-up egg! As usual, dinner conversation was great but I was sad that it was our last dinner at TBS, I felt so at home and at peace I didn´t want to leave. I guess that´s the way this go and I guess that just proves how much fun I was having.

Following dinner I snagged a piece of mango from Dana, my fellow mango enthusiast and had a little chat with her and Dan. I wasn´t feeling like playing cards in the library on my last night in the Amazon. I probably should have gone for a night hike, but my pants were still soaked from the rain. When I stopped into the library to grab my book on the way back to my cabina I got sucked into playing a couple of rounds of a game with Ceiba. It was fun but it lasted longer than I was anticipating and by the end I was too tired to do anything but go to bed. Luckily I still had rainforest noises to listen to!

Monday morning came all too soon. Breakfast was at 6:30 as usual but aht morning el comedor was cluttered with our literally moldy and stinky backpacks. It was a somber mroning, somewhat overcase and cool. I was not excited to leave, but a canoe ride, Ranchero ride, and a second canoe ride later we were back in Coca waiting to go to the airport to fly back to Quito.

Back in Quito I can still feel the waves against the canoe and the bandana tied around my head. I can hear the Titi monkeys calling and the Oropendola singing. So for a while, even though I´m here in the big city my head remains in the forest.

Interesting speices list:

Red Titi Monkey
Saki Monkey
Red Howler Monkey
Common Woolly Monkey
Common Squirrel Monkey
Pygmy Marmoset
White-bellied Spider Monkey
Golden-mantled Tamarin
Night (Owl) Monkey
Poison Dart Frogs
Scarlet Tanager
Morpho Butterflies
Olive Whipsnake
Brazilian Porcupine
Red Brocket Deer
Peccary
Smokey Jungle Frog (huge!)
Amazonian Pygmy Squirrel
Yellow-legged Amazon Tortoise