YOUTH AMAZON RESEARCH PROGRAM

Students impressed by Amazon trip
part two

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posted 07/24/2006
Motivated by students she believes can make a "monumental difference in our future" teacher Val Curtis spent last summer designing a trip to the Amazon to enrich their education. Ten students - Wynn Barnard, Katie Chevalier, Kara Dunn, Stephen Garfield, Steffan Iverson, Kelsey Kennedy, Alia Knight, Kevin O'Connor, Sunny Pascoe and Theo Pratt - along with Curtis and UW Friday Harbor Research Labs Outreach Coordinator Alana Hysert left on June 20 and returned on July 6, 2006. All of the students are providing us their stories (except for one who is out of town and will return in August).

The students will be giving a presentation the first week of September for people who sponsored them. In addition there will be four public presentations on the following themes:

• Tropical Invertebrates and Plants
  
  
• Tropical Mammals and Birds
  
  
• Tropical Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish
  
  
• Culture, Conservation and Education in the Amazon Basin

June 20-22, 2006 Travel Days

Story by Steffan Iverson
Top two photos by Katie Chevalier, third photo by Wynn Barnard

It started out as any other trip might, except for the unusually long and heartfelt goodbye at the ferry. It was an unremarkable drive down to Seattle, and a typical flight down to Atlanta. We had spent the night at Val's dad's house, so that we could get up early for the flight. 3:30 in the morning is very early, especially after excitement had made sleep difficult for many of us. It was the beginning of a long day. We got to Atlanta around noon, and had a few hours of layover.

The trip began to be exciting when we boarded the flight to Lima. It was late afternoon, and we were getting tired from our long day. The flight itself was amazing. We had a great sunset over Cuba, and a thunderhead that towered over the jet. The sun set quickly in the tropics, and soon it was dark outside. I watched the lightning storms playing along the coast all up and down Latin America. It soon became obvious that we were going somewhere very different.

Sleep would have been nice, and I think a few members of our group got a few hours, but I was way too excited. We got into Lima around midnight, and were instantly shoved through customs. It was a crazy experience, but reasonable well directed. I would hate to be in a place like that without the proper papers and passport. This was our first culture shock, as we realized that every sign was in Spanish, and that the customs agents spoke English as a second language.

We met up with Devon and Jimmy and everyone was introduced, but we were all pretty tired and did not strike up much conversation. We ended up in the Lima International Airport food court, which we were destined to become quite familiar with. It was a mix of American (Dunkin' Donuts, Papa Johns and McDonalds) and Peruvian fast food (Morenos Manos). The smell of lard became sickening after a few hours. A few people managed to get a couple hours of sleep, which was amazing considering everything in the court was stainless steel.

Our flight was delayed, and then finally cancelled. Devon managed to get us a new flight the same day, but we still ended up spending a total of 17 hours in the food court. I found it enjoyable just to stay up and talk with people. I didn't get any sleep. Finally, our flight began to board. It turned out that we had three identical boarding passes, which caused a bit of trouble. One person even got a seat that didn't exist! We fought our way on as a group, to prevent them from splitting us up, which would have caused a lot more trouble.

From then on the trip began to be exciting rather than tiring. The flight over the Andes and our first glimpse of the Amazon was beautiful. I was so excited, I didn't get any sleep. The minute we stepped off the plane we were hit by the humidity, the heat, and the sounds. From that moment, we were never dry for the next two weeks.

The oppressive climate was quickly forgotten in favor of experiencing Iquitos. It is an amazing city, with small, motorcycle driven taxis everywhere. The new sights came too quickly to be analyzed, so we just stared and took pictures as fast as possible. There was one point where we had to close the windows because it was a bad part of town.

The bus stopped and we were shoved out into it all. A few locals took our bags, and we followed them down a series of steps to the riverside. It was dark out, but the streetlights lit up a layer of fog that hung over the Amazon River. The sounds of insects were everywhere, and very loud.

Boats with big spotlights cruised up the river, and we soon joined them. Danilo, our cook, prepared an excellent meal, complete with new types of fruit juice. After days of airline food, that was good. It was all so exciting; I could not sleep until midnight. Even with the deafening sound of the engine, I passed out almost instantly...

June 23, 2006 - Getting Acquainted with our Surroundings

Story by Katie Chevalier
Photos by Val Curtis

This morning we woke up to our guide Devon yelling, &auot;Get up this is the beautiful part!" At the sound of that most of us jumped out of our bug-netted beds and went to the upper deck of our river boat, Tucanaré. When you reached the door and got the first glimpse of the Amazon River it was literally breathtaking. For a moment, everyone stood there in silence taking it all in, the water, numerous varieties of trees, birds flying left and right, everything!

Then the silence was broken as we all were frantically trying to get our cameras to take shots of scenery that words can not describe and pictures can not fully contain the beauty. We all were so in shock of how gorgeous it was and every second of the boat ride it got better and better. We all ran from side to side of the boat as we spotted a macaw flying over head, Pink River Dolphins swimming in front of our boat, butterflies flying around us, and passing local villages. The cameras were constantly flashing even when we arrived to the station we would be staying at called, Madre Selva.

The station was even beautiful! We all loaded off the boat and stepped onto our home for the next two weeks. The station is surrounded by trees and greenery, the path to get to all the cabins is made of cement blocks. I don't think that this place could be more stunning!

The crew helped us take our luggage up to our cabins. We helped set up our tents inside our cabin and set up our beds inside the tent. For staying in the Amazon, I have to say that we had pretty good living conditions. We had a cabin with bug netting all around it and tents inside of that and our beds were raised off of the ground. So we set up our beds and got all of our personal belongings situated. By the way, it was really hot today, as we were unpacking the heat finally got to us and we all threw on our swimming suits and ran down to the river. The river was cold but it felt SO good. As we were swimming, we spotted Pink River Dolphins going up the river right next to us; it was so amazing. Everything so far seemed unreal; it was sinking in little by little.

After we finished our swim we went back up to our cabins and took showers and changed for lunch. By the way, the water for the showers comes from the river so the water was pretty cold but it felt good with today's heat. We ate lunch and then after lunch we met in our classroom and got prepared to go on our first hike.

Devon took our group out on one of the trails that are found throughout Madre Selva. Within about five minutes of our hike, one of us spotted a giant wasp attacking a tarantula. It was a pretty cool sight to see, the wasp paralyzed the tarantula and it was trying to find a hole to put the slowly dying tarantula into. So we took some pictures of that and kept going. Next, we found a plant which ants make a swelling in its branch and they live inside of it so Devon found the plant and opened the swelling and a bunch of ants came pouring out all over his hand. Next, he told us to eat them! We all just stood there and looked at each other for a minute and then dove in.

The ants were pretty small so they weren't that gross to eat. We each took one and as you bit it, it had a little taste of citrus from the formic acid that it produces inside of its body from the plant it was living in. It was a new experience that I have never faced before then.

On the hike, Devon also took us off trail and we came to this GIANT tree it was called a Ceiba tree. It was huge our whole group stretched out hand to hand would maybe make the length of the base of this tree. Our hike ended up lasting about two and a half hours, but it was a lot of fun and we got to see many new species of plants and wildlife. When we got back to the station it was about time for dinner.

Before dinner, a couple of us went up to the top of the 50' observation tower which looks over the canopy of the rainforest. From the top, you can see the most beautiful sunset of your life, so that's just what we did. We climbed up the steps of the tower and made it to the top just in time to see the sun set behind the canopy of the Amazon; I don't think it can get any better than that. We stayed in the tower until we heard the dinner call. By this time it is dark, the dinner call was a 7:30 and it gets dark here around 7:00.

We walked to the cafeteria where were all eating in peace until we noticed an unwelcome friend. A tarantula decided to join us for dinner and surprised us more than anything as it ran across Theo's dinner plate! We were unsure of what to do until Devon caught it and then we all started to laugh. How often do you get to say that a tarantula ran across your dinner plate?

After our surprise at dinner we were all pretty tired and decided to go to bed, some of us went to our tents and others went out to explore. In our cabin, we were lucky to have Rubi with us. She is a student at the University of Iquitos and is working on her PhD. She is trying to learn English as we are trying to learn Spanish, so a few of us girls joined her in her tent and had Spanish lessons. It was fun to learn from each other and we all learned a lot! We had Spanish / English lessons until the lights went out at 10:00 and now most of us are writing in our journals by flashlight and soaking up all the noises outside the cabin.

Saturday, June 24, 2006 Journal

through the eyes of Wynn Barnard
Photos by Val Curtis

Our first full day in the jungle. I drifted out of sleep on my dank futon to a symphony of insects illuminating the stillness of the gray twilight with their unending buzz. I had fallen asleep the night before to the heavy beating of warm jungle rain cleansing the world outside our cabin- thatch roofs work wonders. With the light, the girls began to stir, and as we began to muster the willpower to get up, we heard what would soon become a very familiar sound: "BREAAAAAAAAAKFAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!"

My first thought: the war call of one of the indigenous tribes upriver. But no, it was only Devon, luring us out of bed with a surefire bit of bribery: food. We hopped down the concrete stepping stones to the mess hall, where we were greeted with another surprisingly satisfying meal. At breakfast, Devon explained to us that this morning would start out with a half-hour independent observation time in the forest. We gathered our daypacks (over preparing, as always), and marched off in our separate directions. Sunny, Kelsey, Kara, and I headed toward the river.

I brought a stool and set it on the forested side of the river bank, looking down on a marshy little area. Although I remained silent, I found it difficult to ignore all the thoughts whirring around in my head: What would we do today? Would the hikes be hard? Where would we go? What would we see? I was beginning to think that the silence was unbearable when I realized that there was no silence at all. The jungle is never silent. In my journal, I wrote:

"Thoughts of home, of familiarity are dabbled across what I see, which seems like it could only be a painting. It's the sounds that are the most beautiful. An unending hum makes the air vibrate; an incessant reminder that these things are real. A backdrop. The next layer comes from the song birds- high chirps in the distance, demanding less attention. Above it all are the louder calls."

Once the sounds had caught my attention, my anxieties took a backseat. I looked around me, and realized that nothing was still, nothing was un-alive. To my left a stream of leafcutter ants worked their way over a decaying log. Beneath me were inches of thick, biodegrading leaf litter; the food of the forest floor. Above me, three or four Oropendulas darted from branch to branch. Tiny, metallic-looking flies hovered over my legs. (And of course, there was no shortage of mosquitoes).

Glancing upward, I noticed a tiny dot of vibrant blue far back in the canopy. Binoculars handy, I took a closer look. A small azulian songbird darted through the branches in the distance. I then brought my attention back downward. I looked to the trees, and found myself marveling at the interconnectedness of it all. Directly in front of me was a tall palm, with some sort of epiphytes shooting up its sides, living off its height. The rainforest is so totally self-sustaining, existing regardless of our recognition of its beauty.

I looked down to take note of what I saw, and found crawling on my journal page what looked like a tiny, green caterpillar. It was no more than a 1/4 inch in length; a vibrant green with tiny red and white patterns dotted across its back. Interestingly, its rear end was hoisted in the air, with what looked like antennae (similar to the head of a snail), while it seemed to navigate with the half that was at ground level. I took photos and tried to draw the caterpillar in detail, but soon realized that I was running late, and had to get back to the lab.

After the observation, we all threw on our bathing suits and ran down to the river. The water is warm and refreshing (despite its muddy brownness). Kara and I brought soap and razors and lounged on the sinking canoe, shaving our legs in the Rio Orosa and feeling very American. We all climbed aboard the Tucanaré and took turns jumping into the river.

After swimming for an hour or so, we heard the lunch call and all scrambled up the muddy bank to the dining room. Again, Danilo had prepared for us a glorious meal. At Madre Selva, filling our bellies was always very satisfying.

After lunch, Devon decided to take out the tarantula which had so graciously greeted Theo on his dinner plate the night before. I came out of the cabin to find Jimmy videotaping the huge, hairy spider crawling up his backside while my friends giggled nervously. I, myself, suffer from irrational arachnophobia, and intended to keep my distance.

However, curiosity got the better of me. Before I had left for the trip, I had told myself that one of my goals was to hold a tarantula. And here, on the first day, was my chance. Val looked to me and said, "Wynnie, I see your wheels turning." Soon, they all joined in- "You can do it, Wynn! Face your fears!" Ugh- friends. They were right, though. I did want to.

Devon outstretched his arm and the spider, assuring me that it would not climb (or jump) anywhere it wasn't welcome. Wincing and squealing, I let its furry legs climb over my hand and back onto Devon's. The feeling was surprisingly light, and the experience far less horrific than I had imagined. When I tried really hard, I could even convince myself that the thing was cute.

Once we'd all had our turns with the tarantula, Devon sent us out into the jungle in pairs, armed only with a pillow case. Our mission: find 25 different types of leaves. Katie, Jimmy and I set out ready to work hard, but finding the initial 25 only took about 10 minutes. However, once we'd started, we were hooked; we probably came back with 50 different leaves! Once you start looking for differences in the leaves, you become acutely aware of the incredibly diversity of the plant life in the rainforest. Jimmy taught us bits and pieces about compound, simple, and modified leaves. Once we were done, we brought our treasures back to the lab room, where all the groups had laid out their findings.

Katie and I sat outside for a while photographing the incredible butterflies fluttering around our shoes. But soon, it began to pour (and in the Amazon, it really, really POURS). Katie, Kelsey and I decided to "scamper in the rain," which soon resulted in the three of us, plus Val, running into the river in all our clothes.

We found our zip-off pants making some rather disturbing shapes and sounds from the air bubbles, and laughed as we swam in the rain and watched the clouds part and felt the sun shine down on us. It was beautiful. Val spotted two butterflies which Jimmy had been dying to see, but despite our calls ("JIMMY!!! MARIPOSAAAAA!"), he never came down. After a while, we trudged our dripping, muddy selves back up to the lab, and told Devon that we'd been "doing laundry."

After changing, we headed down to the lab and Devon began to teach us about the variations and adaptations of leaves in the rainforest. We learned about venation, the patterns of the veins in the leaves. Palmate veins, such as those of the cecropia, extend outward from a central point in a palm formation. Pinnate veins extend outward from one central vein, like on a typical leaf.

Next, he explained the differences between simple and compound leaves. Simple leaves are made up of only one leaf, with no individual extensions or segments. Compound leaves are closer to the structure of a branch, with a swelling at the base of the leaf and many leaflets extending outward from the main vein.

We next learned about leaf placement: alternate, opposite, and whorled. Devon then explained the purposes of variegated leaves (coloration of leaves) and their relation to their height and exposure to light in the rainforest.

Afterwards, we went over mechanical and chemical defenses of leaves, including tastes, odors and spines. However, we also learned that many insects develop detoxification chemicals which they can use to their advantage, adding to the "arms race" of the rainforest food chain. One fascinating adaptation is that of the passion flower: because heloconius butterflies are cannibalistic, the passionflower develops bumps on its leaves which are identical to the eggs of the heloconius butterfly. This is a signal to other butterflies not to lay their eggs on that leaf. We also studied the various margin types of leaves. "Entire" margins are a smooth edge on the outside of a leaf; "toothed" margins are jagged edges, and "ungulate" margins are wavy edges.

The botany lecture was fascinating, and left me eager to learn more, and excited for the days to come. After a few hours of down time (spent lounging in the tents), we enjoyed a delicious "DIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"

During dinner, I had a great talk with Jimmy and Jim. Jim is our resident anthropologist, and he explained to me some of his ideas and his knowledge of the native people. I told them about my interests in conservation, and they were as excited as I was. It was so stimulating to be taken seriously, and to talk to people who are so passionate about the things they're doing.

After dinner Devon took us out on a night hike. I hiked with Theo, Stephen, Sunny, Steffan, and Kevin. We had a great time laughing and being scared. We all found ourselves in awe of Devon's sense of direction, and how unafraid he was to venture into the rainforest in the pitch black. Along the way, we found a snake, a giant wolf spider (much scarier than a tarantula), several tailless whip scorpions, a scorpion, a tarantula, leafcutter ants, and a nest of army ants.

We'd all read horror stories of people being eaten alive by army ants, so when we walked across one of their trails, we were all instantly terrified- and for good reason: within a few minutes, Kevin had ripped his shirt off and was dancing around wildly in the dark, slapping at himself and using strong language to curse those blasted ants. Devon only chuckled.

We all returned in one piece, and after brushing our teeth (with Gatorade water) and using our last bits of energy to scribble in our journals, we fell into deep, satisfying sleep. A beautiful day and a beautiful beginning.

June 25 - Frogs and Bats, of course!

Story by Alia Knight
First third and fourth photos by Val Curtis, second photo by Stephen Garfield

The night hike last night was insane. One creature we saw several of was the tailless whip scorpion, one of the most bizarre creatures you will ever see. I couldn't tell if it was a spider, beetle, or what! I really wanted to see a mammal, but no such luck. We also saw some snakes. Leaf litter snake, I think, was the name of the one Devon let me catch. I have discovered I really enjoy catching/holding snakes. The trick is to make them feel like they are on a branch. When you grab them they will immediately start thrashing around, trying to find something to coil around.

This morning, while we were taking pictures of and taking turns holding the creatures we had caught on the night hike, this one snake I held actually wove his way through my fingers. The snake was beautiful; however the star of the photo shoot today was no snake, but a very large frog (Gladiator Tree Frog) about the size of my hand. When we set the amphibian down on the ground, Kevin O'Conner kneeled down to get a closer look at it and commented on how cute it was that the frog was turning to face him.

A moment later, this great, big, cold, wet, squishy frog proceeded to give a great leap and plaster itself on Kevin's face! It stuck there for a few seconds before deciding to return to the ground, leaving poor Kevin in a state of absolute shock. A minute or so later the frog leapt straight for my leg and made himself comfortable on the inside of my calf. I admit to freaking out at first but Jimmy told me the frog just wanted to feel like he was on a tree. Our friend sat on my leg for a few minutes, posing very nicely for some pictures, before hopping directly from my leg to Sunny's and then back on the ground. Jimmy was able to catch the frog again and a few of us took it down to the river where we thought it would rather be. I later learned that, soon after we released it, our froggie friend met his demise at the claws of a Roadside Hawk.

Another creature that posed for some pictures was the tailless whip scorpion, or rather two of them. Steffan and Theo were able to work up the nerve to pose for a picture with two whip scorpions sitting on their face. All I could do was watch and shake my head. It seemed that for almost every little creepy crawlie we encountered; there was at least one person in the group who had an extreme fear of it they had to overcome.

After the picture taking we geared up to go on an extra long hike. It was a bit tiring, but very enjoyable. On the hike Devon showed us a tree that apparently is the only known one in existence. It is a very lonely tree, it doesn't even have a name; and since it is a male tree and there are no females for it to pollinate with, its kind will be extinct after it dies.

When we returned from our hike we changed into our swimsuits and went swimming and kayaking in the river. I only went swimming today but I have found that I thoroughly enjoy kayaking. I will undoubtedly do more of that in the days to come.

Later in the evening, Rubi set up a bat net. She caught one bat, a leaf-nose bat. She brought it to the lab and we had a discussion about the species and about bats in general. Rubi speaks very good English, but she is by no means fluent. She was able to tell us many things on her own, but fortunately, the anthropologist, Jim, was there to fill in any gaps and ask some of our questions for us. I learned some very interesting things; apparently bats in the Amazon will try to stay dry at night when it is especially humid because if they get wet they will become too cold.

Something I learned about the leaf-nose bat in particular is that the characteristic little spike on their nose has no real known function. It is just a trait of that family of bats. At one point during the discussion Devon showed up.

At first he just stood off to the side and commented occasionally, until Stephen questioned Rubi as to what ate bats. Devon, who seems to enjoy making people squirm from time to time, answered the question without a word by, much to everyone's astonishment, pulling out and displaying a considerable sized boa he had been hiding behind his back.

Rubi hastily put the bat back in its bag while Devon told us that the crew had been eating dinner on the boat when they saw the reptile hanging from a tree. That type of snake will hang from trees, sometimes for hours, waiting for prey such as bats to fly by, and then it will strike.

Unlike the other snakes we've seen so far, that snake can be temperamental so Devon had to keep a tight hold on its head. It made for some good laughs and certainly qualified as a "Eureka!" moment. We will be looking at the snake some more tomorrow and taking pictures.

June 26, 2006 - Fish Day

by Kara Dunn
Photos by Val Curtis

"Breaaaaakfaaaaast!" The dreaded daily wake up call woke me up this morning from a very deep sleep, possibly the best sleep that I had had the entire trip. As I forced myself out of bed and slowly walked down the path to the dining room, I knew that that day's activities would be focused on the fish that are found in that Amazonian region. We would be going to a flood plain as well as another location on the riverbank where we would catch and net fish for later observations and discussions.

After we had eaten breakfast and packed up what we would need for that day, we all made our way down to the boat. We headed down river for about 10 minutes until we made it to the destined location. When we got out of the boat I was very glad that I had brought my rubber boots along with me. The short path that led to the flood plain was so muddy that it was nearly impossible to make it the short, yet challenging distance.

When we made it to the flood plain, all the kids were given hand-held nets while Devon and the other crew members put out a seine net. At first, we were all hesitant to go in the water past the top of our boots because we didn't want to get wet, but there was no use even making an attempt at staying dry; it was impossible. Before long, most of us had waded out in the water to our shoulders, making no effort whatsoever to stay dry.

By this point, they had brought the seine net up to shore. We opened up the net and found a huge variety of fish. We even had caught some piranhas! I had wanted to see one of these. They were actually a lot smaller and quite a bit less threatening than I had always imagined them to be.

After we finished emptying the net, we began trudging back through the water to the shore and in the process of doing so; we all got into a huge water fight. Theo especially kept splashing me. He would just walk behind me and splash me in the face from around my sides. I wanted to get him back so badly but every time I turned around to splash him, he would just get me even worse.

When we made it back to shore, I found that my boots were still completely filled with water and coincidentally, Theo was bent over just a few feet away from me, paying no attention to what I was doing. So I walked right over to him and dumped all the water in my boot all over his head. It was such a completely satisfying feeling, although I knew I probably had it in for myself later on.

We all headed back to the boat and went up river to the next site. This area looked quite a bit different. It was located on the side of the river, right in front of one of the villages. This area had a lot of water plants growing in it and in order to move the net inward, we had to uproot all of the plants in order to get the net under. While we were ripping the weeds out of the water, about fifteen children came down from the village to curiously watch what we were doing from the bank of the river. After we had collected all of the fish, we took out some of the larger ones and gave them to the people in the community.

Shortly after, we headed back to the camp. When we made it there, we were all already hot and wet so we just jumped into the water with all of our clothes on and went swimming. Soon after our refreshing swim, it was time for our fish lecture in the classroom. We had the chance to learn about all of the fish that we had collected that day, observe them and take pictures of each species. We realized that we were able to collect and identify a total of thirty-nine species. Quite impressive if you ask me!

After dinner that night, Rubi gave the group a Spanish lesson since we would be visiting the village of Comandancia and trading with the people there the following day. We learned basic sentences that we would need in order to trade like, "Quieres cambiar tus artesanias?" which means, "Do you want to trade your crafts?" and "Tengo uno camisa para cambiar por tus artesanias." which translates to, "I have one shirt for your crafts."

During our lesson, it started pouring down rain. It may have even been the hardest that it rained on the entire trip. It couldn't believe how loud it was. The sound of the raindrops against the roof muffled Rubi's voice so much that it made it hard to hear her.

Val was worried about her camera, which she had left in to classroom, so Katie and I planned to take it back to the room for her and put it in a safe, dry place. The second that we stepped outside, we were drenched. We went running down the stepping stone path, screaming the whole way to the classroom. After putting it away, we decided to make a run to the bathroom.

We ran out the back door and down the stairs as fast as we could. I didn't bother to knock because I thought that everyone was listening to Rubi's lesson in the dining room. I went running full speed at the door while I was planning on the handle just opening so I could just run right in.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. The door ended up not opening, causing me to run straight on into the door. Katie immediately started laughing hysterically, and in the process, slipped on the extremely wet pavement right on her butt. We were both laughing so hard as it continued to pour rain. We finally made our way back to the classroom, skipping and side shuffling barefoot across the stepping stones the whole way there.

When we finished our Spanish lesson, the whole group this time went out to play in the rain. Kelsey, Katie and I made up a little song while we were dancing in the rain. Kelsey always said each new phrase and we would repeat her, while doing movements to go along with each phrase. It went a little something like this, "Thumbs out! Thumbs out! Knees bent! Knees bent! Butt out! Butt out! Tongue out! Tongue out! We're singing in the rain, just singing in the rain! We're singing in the rain, just singing in the rain!"

After running around a bit longer with Sunny and the boys, it was time to call it a night. It had been a busy day, packed full with activities. I climbed into bed and fell fast asleep to the pitter-patter of the raindrops falling on the roof.

June 27th - MY day!

Story by Sunny Pascoe
Photos by Val Curtis

Today was great. It was an all around amazingly wonderful day! It all started when Danilo made us delicious pancakes for breakfast.

Shortly after breakfast we gathered at the study for a fascinating lesson on reptiles and amphibians. We learned all about the different types of reptiles and amphibians and how they became so diverse, and how their diversity helps them to survive. Our lesson also ran into conservation.

After the lesson, we went down to the river to clean up, and went back up to the main station area for lunch, which by the way was spaghetti. After we basically inhaled our food (we did this every meal), we set off for Comandancia, the nearest local village of the Yagua people.

As we pulled our boat in, the people became more real to us. The children all swarmed the shore. At Comandancia, we traded our common everyday goods like clothing and aspirin, for their spare time handy-crafts.

The typical trade was one article of clothing for several smaller items such as necklaces, or several articles of clothing or aspirin for something larger like a paddle or bow and arrows. We also pulled out some bubbles that we had brought along for the kids. They LOVED them, and it made me feel a lot more comfortable about the night that we would be staying with the villagers.

After trading, we were challenged to a game of soccer. Our team was made up of Kara, Wynn, Kevin, Theo, I, and the crew. Soccer was great because it not only let us interact with the Yagua people, but we also got to know the crew better. Everyone was slipping and sliding into each other and we had mud every where by the time we were done. I have to say though…I'm pretty sure they didn't play their hardest against us.

We walked a short ways through the village and came across some people weaving thatched roofing, and drinking a home brewed drink, masatto. They offered us a bowl of it and we passed it around. The way I see it, the drink is an acquired taste. Val came over from a nearby house with a funny red fruit called achiote that she started smearing over our faces. The fruit is used as a paint and as a dye, and we all took pictures with our patterned faces.

Once back at the research station, everyone who played soccer got first showers before dinner because we smelled worse that everyone else. Dinner was interesting tonight. Along with our usual meal of meat and rice, Danilo surprised us with some finely cooked grubs.

Our specific kind was palm beetle larvae. It tasted slightly like seafood, but the worst part of eating them was when the head crunched. It was gross, but when else are we going to eat grubs? After dinner, all the lights went out and in all of our confusion, Danilo had baked me a sweet 16 birthday cake. It was one of the most delicious cakes ever.

And of course the best sweet 16 birthday anyone could ever get, a surprise in the Amazon! Fed and ready for action, we all hopped into the skiff and set off for a night drift up the river to look for nocturnal animals. Everything was going well and we found frogs, and birds, and unluckily enough the only night wasp around. Actually I shouldn't say WE. It was actually Val who found the wasp…with her eyeball. So Val got stung right below her eye, but she was a super trooper and we kept going for a little while longer.

June 27th was one of the best days while we were in Peru (except for the wasp incident of course), if it's even possible to pick one.