July 2nd Explorama and Napo Lodge

Good Morning Rainforest!

Birds are our wake up call.  As soon as the sun rises the rainforest is alive with bird chatter, monkey squeals and other noises.    We climb out from under our netting and head to the restrooms to take care of business.

 

 The restooms are pit toilets a short walk away from the dorm rooms.  At night you wish the restrooms were closer but the smell makes you appreicate the distance!

Once our teeth, are brushed, faced washed and hair combed,  we head for the boat dock to get into the boats for our early morning birding adventure.  The village folks are just starting to stir as the sun comes up. 

The birds break the peace and quiet of the early morning.  By 6am we are on the river and moving quickly down steam by the fast paced current.  The birds are pretty active in the early morning looking for breakfast.  Due to the lack of sunlight, only  bird silhouettes are visible.  Their true colors remain

hidden and slowly become visible as the amount of sunlight increases.  The tree full of parrots erupt with a loud welcome as the boat drifts below their perch.  Against the morning sky the birds look absent of color but as the sky fills with more light the yellows, oranges and greens become visible. 

By 7:30am we are back at the lodge eating breakfast.  As we sit and eat our meal the soft conversation over breakfast is interupted by a troop of monkeys who have come to greet us.  In no time the chairs are pushed back and the room cleared of every person as we race out of the lodge to view our new visitors.  These squirrel monkeys are talkative  and active.  They quickly jump from tree to tree running up branches and chasing each other.  They are clearing the tree of its fruits.  Their activity creates enough noise to get everyone's attention and soon they are more viewers than monkeys! 

Our morning adventure is a visit to the village medical clinic.  The American doctor came to the Amazon for a simple visit and a year later returned with the pledge and dedication to build a medical clinic and to be the village doctor.  Today the clinic is a memoral to her vision and the dedication of many.

The clinic is a joint effort by many who believed in the need for a village medical clinic and medical services.  Locals travel by foot and/or boat to see the doctor.  The clinic addresses prevented medicine treatments and emergencies.  The doctor has office hours but since she is the only doctor she is on call 24 /7.

One of the two  treatment rooms.  The rooms are spacious with beautiful rainforest wood cabinets.  The facilities do not lack beauty and quality of design but they do lack medical materials and equipment.  The doctor does her best to provide quality medical services with the materials she has. 

After lunch we take a short walk through the rainforest to visit the local Shaman and the medicinal garden.  The walk through the rainforest is beautiful.  While still early morning, the damp air causes our clothes to stick to our skin.  Perspiration quickly developes and in no time our clothing shows the signs of our hiking efforts.  Filtered light barely reaches the rainforest floor due to the thick canopy.  Leaf litter softens the sounds of our footsteps as we make our way to the Ethnobotanical Gardens.  The rainforest is a natural masterpiece.

At the Gardens, we learn what plants are used by the local villiagers to treat health issues and what aliments the differet plants treat.  Rather the plant is made into a tea to drink for a headache or the plant is chewed to get rid of a tooth ache, the local shaman treats the illnesses of the tribal people. 

The shaman's secrets are passed from one generation to the next keeping the natural secrets in the same family.  Guermo is teaching his oldest daughter the shaman ways.

Lemon grass, cats claw, dragons blood, all of these natural growing plants are used to treat the same illnesses American's pop pills to cure.

After our ethnobotany lesson we have the opportunity to experience a a special cleansing ceremony.  Between the chanting, incense and oil, I was more than relaxed.   It was a

After the cleansing ceremony we were offered the chance to get a special natural tatoo.  My henna tatoo was of a Peruvian Trogan (bird).  This piece of art decorated my right forearm.  I was told the tatoo should last for about three weeks.  It takes about twenty-four hours for the tatoo to truly  show up.  Over time the art work darkened to reveal the true masterpiece.

After our Ethnobotanical Garden visit we head back to camp for dinner.  As we hike back to the lodge we enjoyed watching the white-eyed parrots eating the fruit from the tree.  Their nosey chatter grabs the attention of anyone who walks by.

Our walk allows us to cross the nest of a leaf cutter ants colony.  Leafcutter ants are a species of ants that are fungus farmers - they cultivate (grow) their own food, a type of fungus, in underground gardents.  Leafcutter ants travel in long lines far into the forest, in search of leaves; they leave a scent along the trail so they can find their way back home. They use their sharp mandibles (jaws) to cut leaves from plants, and then carry the large pieces of leaves over their back. A leafcutter ant can carry almost ten times its own weight - that is like a 200-pound adult weightlifter carrying a 2,000-pound car up in the air. The leafcutter ants carry the leaf pieces back to their underground nests where the leaves are chewed into a pulp. The decaying pulp is stored with ant feces and fungus spores, and strands of fungus eventually grow on the decomposing pulp. This fungus is the crop that these ants eat; the ants do not eat the leaves.

After dinner we prepare for our night hike.  Like our other adventures, this night hike was no disappointment.

Our first specimen is this beetle.  I do not know the name of the beetle but it was medium sized, solid black  and its outer shell build like armor.  To rub your finger over its back you would feel the indentations,  The questions, why the indentations?

Before we had finihsed with the beetle this beautiful moth landed on our notepad.  Our guess what the flashlight beam attracted the moth.

Having the moth up against a hand gives a better idea to the size of this guy.

Our walk leads us to a number of spider nests.  Here we see many, hundreds, thousands or baby spiders huddled together......  Our pulling on the web causes these little critters to take flight.  Soon there are spiders running in every direction. 

From spiders we come across the tree boa.  Amazon Tree Boas are a boa species that are incredibly adapted to life in the trees. They live, eat, drink (raindrops and mist that gathers on the leaves), mate, and give birth, in the trees of tropical South America.  Amazon Tree Boas are one of the most fascinating snake species in the world. They exhibit an infinite variety of colors and patterns. Their basic colors can be anywhere from black, brown, or gray, to literally any shade of red, orange, yellow, or any color in between. Some are totally patternless, while others may be speckled, banded, or saddled with rhomboid or chevron shapes. Some reds will have yellow patterns, some yellows red or orange patterns; the combinations are virtually limitless!  Being arboreal (living in trees), they're the ultimate display snake. During the day they can be seen coiled up on a branch or wood ledge under some overhanging foliage, as opposed to terrestrial species which would normally be in/under their hiding places during the day. Amazons are nocturnal hunters, so they're even more fun to watch at night. All night long they can be seen either actively cruising their enclosure in search of prey, or hanging motionless from a branch in an S-shaped body curve trying to imitate a hanging vine, just waiting for some unsuspecting prey item to come walking by.

We move from the Tree Boa to a small tree frog.  This little guy is just that, little.  About a half inch long this spotting was a great find.

Back to spiders.  Not sure what this spider is but it was fuzzy and about the size of my palm.

The black scorpion can be larger than most scorpions. They average up to 4 inches in length and are dark black in color.  Black scorpions are found in the forest, nesting under logs and debris. Insects are their main prey. While black scorpions are primarily above ground dwellers, some have been known to burrow.

The sting of a black scorpion is deadly to humans. It is more powerful, though, than many scorpion stings, and can be likened to a hornet sting, in terms of pain inflicted. The black scorpion stinger is also shorter and wider than most scorpion stingers. Black scorpions have large pincers, as well, which help them to hold their prey firmly. This allows them to not have to sting as strongly as other scorpions. 

Most scorpions live around 4 years. Black scorpions have been documented to live longer than average, around 7 years. They are very adaptable, and can survive easily in their habitat. Black scorpions are aggressive and territorial, and will attack members of their own species to claim areas for themselves.

Later we come across a walking stick insect.  As its name suggests, the stick insect resembles the twigs among which it lives, providing it with one of the most efficient natural camouflages on Earth.  Walking sticks generally mimic their surroundings in color, normally green or brown, although some species are brilliantly colored and others conspicuously striped. Many stick insects have wings.

As we continue our night hike, Dr Mo spots an Owl Butterfly.

Named after their huge eyespots on their wings, which resemble owls’ eyes. The owl butterfly is a beautiful, interesting larger butterfly with an amazing built in protection system.  It has what appears to be large eyes, that would be more fitting of a larger predator than a fragile, beautiful butterfly.  As needed, these eyes trick other creatures that would normally make the Owl Butterfly a snack or meal!  All another hungry animal needs to see, are "eyes" that would fit on a creature that would eat them if they had the chance, and they are immediately looking elsewhere for food!  What an incredible built in defense mechanism.   They are rather large, as butterflies go, about 6 and 3/8 inches across the wingspan.

Our night hike was full of wonderful sightenings and discoveries.

July 1st Explorama Lodge

 Good Morning Amazon Rainforest!

 Today is our first full day in the rainforest.  We are up bright  and early to enjoy a morning birding boat ride!  We are in the boat and on the river by 6am.  The sun is rising and the water still.  Within forty five minutes we identify thirty-one species of birds.

On our way back to the lodge we came across a couple of kids fishing for their breakfast.  Fish is a main staple in the Yagua's diet.  Fish for breakfast, fish for lunch and fish for dinner.

We return to the lodge by 7:30am for our breakfast of scrambled eggs, home fries, french toast with can sugar syrup and the best peanut butter we have ever had.

By 8am with journals in hand we head to the cultural fair.  Here the local tribe, the Yagua, share their life, their culture and their language.

The first stop for our group is the blow gun station.  The blow gun is still used to hunt and the locals are all skilled blow gun hunters.  At the station we learn how blow guns are made.  One piece of wood is takens and wrapped tight with palm fronds.  the mouth piece is made from one piece of wood and attached with tar from the rubber tree.  The whole throw the middleis straight and made accurtely.  Once we learn about the making of the blow gun we move to the use of the blow gun.  The elder Yagua member demonstrates how the blow gun is used.  Then we all get to test our blow gun skills!   

Another station a Yagua member demonstrates the making of a flat bottom  boat oar.  These oars are shaped to be thrust into the mud to anchor the boat.  Used to empty the boat of accumulated water and used to paddle a boat down or up streaam.

 

The next station of the Yagua  Cultural Fair was to demonstrate how different plants were used to create the dye used to color palm fibers to make clothing, bags and pottery.

 

From dyes we moved to pottery.  At the pottery station we learned about the clay that is still used to make the bowls and plates that the Yagua use daily.  Women are the potters.  A demonstration gave us enough information to try our own hand at pottery.  The pots are created and then fired to harden the clay.  Most of the pottery does not have any design etched into their sides but instead are plain. 

Another station, weaving.  The Yagua men are the basket weavers for the tribe.  The palm fronds used to create these baskets are strong enough to carry a complete bunch of banana's that are at least three feet long, two feet wide and weighing more than thirty pounds.  The full basket is attached to the head of the carrier with more fronds that are weaved together and worn like a headband. the baskets are then carried through the forest or from teh field of the tribe.  Baskets are used to store or carry fish, fruit, veggies etc. 

 

Moving to the next station we arrived at the sugar cane rum station!  Sugar cane is grown to make an energy drink of sugar cane juice.   If the mixture is left on the heat it continues to cook and turns into a syrup.  the syrup is used on pancakes and in drinks as a sweetener.  If the mixture is put into a still and cooked more, rum is the final product.  Okay, the sugar cane rum is a favored drink by the Yagua.  We were able to taste test this rum and we concluded that it is an acquired taste!

Eventually we head to the river to try out the flat bottom boats.  These boats are made from one tree and are all one piece.  The tree is a great wood for these light weight boat that are the main mode of transportation for the Yagua people.

These boats are very shallow and skim the water.  Because the boat can easily fill with water, the paddle is key for emptying out the water. 

Finally we visit the Yagua village where the tribal folks share their traditional dances with us.  Wearing the traditional clothing of the tribe, palm fronds dyed red and tied together to cover the main body parts, we are invited to watch the dance and listen to the chats.  Eventurally we are asked to join the dance and enjoy and participate in the chanting and dancing.  For these people the dance is a celebration and entertainment.  The members of our group quickly pick up the tone and notes of the chant and the rythm of the dance.  In no time we are all chanting and dancing with the Yagua villagers.  As the dance comes to an end we all break out in applause, laughter and hooting.

A young Yagua girl watches on as the elders of the tribe participate is a special dance.

As the afternoon draws to a close the young men of the tribe demonstrate blow gun blowing.   

Just like American's who love their pets, Yagua also enjoy their pets.  Unlike America, pets in the rainforest are a bit different.  The village has their share of dogs but they also have unique  pets such as monkeys and sloths.  Holding a baby sloth was a highlight of my day.  These little girl is a little over a year old.  Sloths can live up to 30 years.  Feona, this little girl sloth, quickly hangs on attaching herself to her holder.  in order to get Feona to let go it takes two pairs of hands to remove the clinched claws that grasp onto the neck and sides of the holder.

Eventually our time in the village and with the Yagua people comes to an end.  The whole community comes together to say good-bye and see us off.  In front of a hut that is their living quarters, the people come together to see us off.   These are a happy people who even without all the modern comforts of home are content.  Their connetion to mother earth  and family makes up for any modern conveniences they do not have.

Back in the boats we head down the Napo River towards our lodge.  It has stopped raining and a rainbow brightens the sky.  The air is heavy with water vapor and the breeze refreshing.

On our way back to the lodge we stop and the village library that is also the local school.  The water level is now lower and the boat is parked at the base of a ladder that we climb to get to the school entrance.  I brought science activities from home to engage the children in science play.  Our first activity is to go ourside and challenge the children to find things in nature that represent different shapes.  We line the walkway with shapes, squares, rectrangles, circles, ovals and a star.  The children run through the front area of the school looking for leaves, plants, cones, seeds etc that represent the shapes we are looking for.  The goal is each group of students finds one item to represent each shape. 

Later, after each group has successfully completed the shape game, we regroup in the library to engege in some hands-on science activites and games.  Dr. Mo brought hand lenses so the students can experience magnification.  After the lenses are passed out students explore different objects through the hand lenses.

After we explore objects with hand lenses, the kids put together the kaliescope kits Dr. Mo brought from the states.  This activity was a hit.  The students run outside to see how light brightens up the beads inside.  Then they run back inside full of giggles and anxious to explain to us what they saw.

Not all children live right in the central villiage.  These children come from all areas of the rainforest.  Many walk one to two hours to attend school and activities that occur at the library.  Besides walking, many students use flat bottom boats to get to school.  As young as five years old the children can been seen by themselves in a flat bottom boat navigating teh river.

Walkning and boating are the main modes of transportation.  School starts by 7am and usually ends at 1pm.  Children are important members of the family.  They assist in the search, hunting and gathering of the families daily food for meals.  Since they do not have a way to store food, meal items are gathered daily, fresh, and eaten withing the same day they are fixed.

Jeyson becomes Dr. Mo's special friend.  By the time we leave the school, he is wearing her headband and soon the new owner of the head ornament! 

During my two weeks in the jungle, I continued to work with the children at the school, Jeyson becomes my special friend, writing me letters in Spanish and drawing me pictures.  I eagerly share my bags of peanuts that I have carried to Peru from the states and bags of crackers that I have picked up at the lodge during our meals.  There are no grocery stores in the villiage and the villiagers only experience the natural foods of the rainforest unless an outsider brings in a special treat.

 

Jeyson is fasinated by our camera's.  Dr. Mo takes a picture of Jeyson and he of her.  She shows him his picture on her display and she shows him how to look at her picture on Linda's camera.  The students love to see their picture.

Soon it is time to say good-bye.  The children grab our hands and walk us to the ladder that we decend to get back in our boat for the twenty minute journey back to the Lodge.  Our boat ride back to the lodge once again offers beautiful scenery.  The weather is warm and damp living up to what we know about the rainforest.  The views are breathtaking and the boat ride very enjoyable.

The Rainforest has a beauty like no other place.  Everything is grande!  Large trees, large birds, large flowers and large lily pads.  Because the soil contains no rocks, the root system of a tree is vital to its stability.  The roots branch out in every direction sinking into the soil to hold on!

The giant Amazon lily pads are the size of a small rug.  They grow along the river.  Below you can see the hand and arm to give you an idea at how bit the lily pads are.

As we glide down the river the locals fish for dinner.  Fish is a main meal dish.

The men create fishing nets out of the threads from trees.  Some families can afford to purchase fishing nets from Iquitos.

Women can be seen along the banks of the Amazon and Napo rivers washing clothes and bathing children.  The river is th life source of the village.  Most villiages do not have clean water but use the Amazon for all their water needs.

The Yagua villiage is not far from the library and our Explorama Lodge.  Before you know it we have made it back to the Lodge.

Tonight we will enjoy an evening boat ride to see what nature we can discover.  The jungle is alive with sound.  When the sunsets the nocturnal creatures begin their songs and adventures.

On our night boat ride we find a baby camon.

The night is full of sounds, mysteries and a large moon