Tuesday 10 March 2009

Amazon bound... Journey to mosquito land

Feb. 24th.

I managed to while away my last extended day in Trujillo, and the flight to Lima was angst free and uneventful.  Knowing that I had an uncomfortable overnight planned on waiting room chairs, I took my time browsing the stores.  LAN had given me a food voucher to compensate me for my "trouble" and I enjoyed Pizza in the food court.

As I have previously mentioned the Airport a Lima is a large, modern affair. The boutiques and restaurants are open 24/7, as is their Internet cafe.  One last call to Air Canada proved fruitful, as my originally coveted return date had opened up, so once more I had a date change happening.  E-mailed the tour company out of Iquitos I had reserved with and gave them the heads up that I would stay two more days... they responded giving me a couple of options as far as lodges.  I told them I was too brain dead to make decisions and they should schedule my time as they best saw fit, seeing as they were the experienced party in the arrangement, and I but a novice amazonian explorer.  I have to say they have been exceptional. 

Then I went to spend my evening trying to sleep under bright lights on waiting room chairs.

My only real observation is that it is amazing how noisy an empty waiting room is...

Moderately queasy, and with big, dark bags under my eyes, I board the plane and we depart for the last "big adventure" of my trip.

A beautiful sunrise presented itself, and we then began our descent into Iquitos.  We headed through 6 separate layers of cloud... some wispy, one popcorn like, and one that was pretty standard from above but that became like long rolls of dirty grey wool lined up in the sky when we got below it.  My first sight of the Amazon River was like a fairy tale come true.  Massive and winding, a dark pink colour in shocking relief to the green of the forests.

I was expecting to be hit with a wave of hot humid air when deplaning, but it must have been too early in the morning because I found the air to be pleasantly warm. Humid, yes, but I am a west coast girl and am fairly well acquainted with "moist"...

After a smooth airport pick up and transport I was introduced to my guide for the week, Gerlo. Speaking in almost perfect english (yes!) we wander over to the market to get breakfast before we are to board the speedboat to take us upriver to the lodge.  Our little wander through the market (noisy, smelly and dirty) took on a yuck factor all of its' own when Gerlo pointed out that among the chopped up alligator for sale was a perfectly skinned whole monkey.  I delayed breakfast consumption to a later time.

Quickly filling two water bottles with potable water, I was escorted to the now waiting speed boat and joined the cargo of goods to be delivered upriver.  A lovely three and a half hours of zipping up the amazon, and then one of its tributaries ensued. Lots to see, including grey river dolphins, small villages, boats ferrying people/crops to the city and all manner of water lettuce, and all from a cushy, comfortable seat.  Gerlo and I spent a bit of time getting to know each other while the winds did their best to whip my hair into a rats nest and my ears rang from the buffeting.  We stopped and I registered with the game reserve warden, and was treated to the sight of naked little kids playing/swimming in the river.  All good.

A wee bit of copywrite infringed info about the reserve where I spent my time:

"The Reserva Comunal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo (RCTT)

The Reserva Comunal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo is located in the northeastern Peruvian Amazon within the state of Loreto and extends over an area of 322,500 hectares. The reserve is situated in the upland forests which divide the valley of the Amazon from the valley of the Yavari... The reserve is bordered on the west by the upper Tahuayo and Qb. Blanco rivers, the south by the upper Yarapa River, the east by the upper Yavari Miri River and the north by the upper Tamshiyacu River."

"The RCTT is divided into three distinct land use zones. These include 1) a buffer zone of subsistence use of approximately 160,000 ha, 2) a fully protected core area of approximately 160,000 ha, and 3) an area of permanent settlement which has few definite boundaries. The fully protected and subsistence areas fall within the official limits of the reserve and have no human settlements. The fully protected zone does not have extractive activities, whereas the subsistence zone is used by local residents of the permanent settlement zone for extraction of natural resources. Residents can not set up permanent settlements or clear land for agriculture within the boundaries of the subsistence use or fully protected zones. The zone of permanent settlements along the Tamshiyacu, Tahuayo, Yarapa and Yavari Miri rivers is adjacent to the reserve. This area encompasses the villages and is for intensive land-use activities, such as agriculture. The permanent settlement zone was not officially incorporated into the reserve to avoid conflict over land use practices, but is an important part of the RCTT management plans (Bodmer et al. 1990b)."

Dr Richard Bodmer, Department of Anthropology, University of Kent

The company I used for this grand adventure was Amazonian Expeditions, and they maintain one of the research stations used to track and study the primate species found in the reserve. Amazing company, they consistently win awards for service excellence and the work they do for conservation and charity.

More info on the reserve & conservation projects can be found at: http://www.perujungle.com/rctt.html

The lodge itself is rustic, without electricity, with a nod towards modern life being the availability of solar power to recharge camera batteries.  The rooms were all screened in, and considering we are in THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE they are very comfortable.  I lucked out day one in the main lodge with my own bathroom.

My first outing is a canoe trip into the bush.  The wood canoes sit 5" above the water line, and I am wondering how easily they tip. Traveling this way is quiet though, and doesn't scare away the animals.  Gerlo is in a short sleeve camouflage t-shirt, and it is killing me to see him sitting in front of me being eaten alive by mosquitoes.  He prefers not to use repellent, has apparently already had malaria, and explains that for him the mosquitoes are just a slight pest.

I however, with my buttoned up long sleeve shirt and my long pants tucked into my socks, have slathered and sprayed the deet over every exposed surface.

Sightings today... a sloth sitting in a stupor high on a tree, a pigmy marmoset sitting in it's food tree, birds galore, and mosquitoes by the millions.

I gasp through a cold shower as I try to untangle the knots in my hair from our wild boat ride earlier in the day.

A home cooked vegetarian meal for dinner (yay!), and early to bed. Tomorrow is a transfer to the research station.