Saturday 30 May 2009

Amazonia Expeditions... a sad goodbye

Departure day..

I am not ready to let go of this glorious adventure yet, so Gerlo has agreed to a very early morning canoe ride up the main river before breakfast.  The air is fresh and the sun hasn't yet reached it daytime scorch, although I can feel it coming.. The waters are wider here, calm and dark, leaving the canoe strokes rippling as we paddle along.   The birds are vocal and I am using binoculars to try and find them in the in the vegetation along the river.  

Enjoyed my final royal breakfast, and at the last minute possible boarded the speedboat for the return ride to iquitos. Gerlo was with me, but the plan was for him to hop boats mid journey for a meet up with a new group headed to the lodge.  We were chatting and saying comfortable goodbyes as the two boats came along side.  Change of plans it seems as their plane is delayed, and so he came back with me to Iquitos.

I have time to spare before my flight to Lima, so we head out for a short historical tour of city.  A stroll down the sidewalk along the river is accompanied by mototaxi serenade.  We take a rickshaw to get ice cream and  tour a sad little city museum.  There is poverty evident at every .  every turn.  We end our walkabout back to the company headquarters, gerlo meeting up with people he knew along the way.  It was fun.   Hot, humid and have managed to collect more mosquito bites in a couple of hours in the city than I did during 7 full days in the Jungle. 

Short cab ride to the airport, which is crowded and hot.  My plane is delayed and the sweat is once again beading.  I got a window seat, so I got to take one long, lingering last look as the pink river got ever smaller in the distance.  Am really, really sad to have this part of my trip end.  What an adventure the fine folks at Amazonia Expeditions provided me... wonderful from first email contact to my delivery back at the airport. 

In no time at all I find myself back at the Lima airport... where I promptly check in for my flight back to Canada.  Next up I nip into the washroom for a quick wash up and a change into fresh clothes... don't want to be too stinky on the long flight home.  Pay my departure tax, pass through security and then a wander about the shops where I spend the last of my soles in the gift shop on a couple of trinkets.  On to the Air Canada gate for my overnight flight home.

So my adventure concludes.  In the end most of my preplanned activities and travels were abandoned, but there were plenty of exceptional alternatives.  I am headed home warm, tanned and healthy...   albeit bone rack skinny.  Probably won't take long for the skinny part to change.

Amazonia Expeditions... paddle, paddle, pee

Time to return to the main lodge.  The usual reliable transportation and smooth introduction to my digs.  

Heading out for the rest of the day through a swampy area and a small lake. After several hours of hacking our way through thick shrubs and trees for a long time, and lots of deaf ends and turn arounds it was losing its' charm.  Too much cutting through.  We finally reached our destination, an observation platform raft in the midst of a  watery, vegetation filled bird viewing area.  I fall on the peanut butter and jelly lunch, I am famished.  It is tasty and feels fun to eat something simple.  

The mosquitoes are thick, and there is no breeze to keep them away so we depart the raft.  But first I must ask the boys to hop in the boat and paddle around some bushes because I am in a desperate need of a pee.  

I look around.  Where the hell to I pee?  Holding on to the railing with one hand, bare butt hanging over the edge of the raft, with my other hand frantically trying to keep the mosquitoes from sinking their snouts into such a lily white, juicy and fully un - deeted target.  

Yep.  Attack of the killer mosquitoes meets exposed bum.  Who do you think won?

The boys dutifully return and we head off to an area known to be frequented by the Huatson Bird.  A cool looking prehistoric dude.  Unfortunately I couldn't get a good picture. 

Our afternoon paddle saw us gliding past the zip line canopy platform.  Still no.  I think there is a bigger, meaner breed of mosquito in this area.  They are aggressive and no getting away from them.  This is a dark area of the reserve... the tall, full canopy trees allow little light to penetrate to the water.  

Almost lose Gerlo overboard... again.  What a laugh we have.  

The monkeys can be heard overhead, but keep hidden.  Too bad.

My time in this mystical place is growing closed.

Amazonia Expeditions... poison frogs and a friend

Even though I dropped and broke my travel alarm clock last night I still manage to get up for an early start to my day.  There are again Pink Dolphins playing in the river, and I watch them and a couple of large eagles as I sit on the dock waiting for breakfast.  

Really cool juice with breakfast... and pancakes!


This Am / aft. the jungle is "high ground".  Very humid, very humousy.   Huge plants and evidence all around of animal occupation.   Our goal is poison dart tree frogs.

Up the Rio Blanco, and seven hours mucking about the Jungle looking for these tiny wonders proves fruitful.  Numerous of the thumbnail size poison cuties hide in nooks and crannies, many wearing their young on their backs.   Brilliant red and black frogs.  Highly poisonous.  Florescent yellow and black stripped frogs.  Not quite as bad.  I am told they are only poison when squished, so I make sure to handle them carefully

Our froggy wish list includes the elusive Harlequin frog, known to be sometimes found in the area.  On and on we slog, eyes peeled for the tiny turquoise blue and black frogs with red feet and belly.  This one is not dangerous.  After hours without luck Gerlo is willing to keep going, but I tell him not to worry because if I am really meant to see it then it will happen.  I kid you not, less than five minutes later I pause for breath before a tree trunk laying across my path and I look down just in time to see a Harlequin frog slowly hopping along the trunk.  Gerlo looks with disbelief, and I just say "see what I mean... it was meant to be".



Gerlo gathers fruit pods and places them in the boat with us on the return trip.  Heading along the river I see movement in the trees and shout 'Monkey!"  The trees begin to frantically shake as this creature rushes to meet our boat pulling along side the vegetation.  

Meet Dorilla, rescued from the market as a baby and brought back to the research lodge.  Playful by nature she caused such havoc they relocated her to a corner of the reserve located across from a safe station.  She is checked on daily, and receives food everyday.  Semi domesticated, she takes to visitors well, and allows me to feed her bananas and the ice cream fruit. 

What a sweetie.  Gerlo and Marsielle seems surprised that she became so trusting of me that she actually stuck out her leg to me in as a request to help her with clean off some kind of leg tick / wound.  I rubbed her belly and had her lying out flat as she soaked up my back rub.  Just like a member of her troupe so to speak.  I lost a big piece of my heart to her.






Made a short stop at the safe station and saw a mustached marmoset (rescued as infant), a couple of huge, colourful macaws and a very playful young dog.

Other sightings today?  Many nasty biting ants, a few non-threatening looking spiders.. Blue with red butterflies, moths, and lots of bats.



Have been blessed with another sunny day, and I close my eyes to appreciate the feel of the heat and river breeze on the boat, still not lost despite all the shortcuts we take through the vegetation.


I am pretty sure I am starting to react to the Deet.  Hope I can manage for another couple of days. Lots of thoughts of my very sick mom today, and wonder how she's doing.

There are going to be 30 teenagers at the main lodge tonight (or so I'm told). Figure it will be a noisy human night rather than a noisy animal night.

Wednesday 13 May 2009

Amazonia Expeditions... wows me again


Today I once again head out on a boat ride with Gerlo and Marsiel.  We head well up river, and once again Gerlo puts his machete to work, hacking his way through blocks of vegetation, almost falling in a couple of times - hillarious.

Boat FULL of spiders and many kinds of ants falling off trees as we hack through.  Again.   I entertain Marsiel by trying to scoop the spiders overboard with a large pod of somekind.  Again.

Gerlo is being stung like crazy by the ants. Ouch.

Made it upriver to the "dry season campground"

We hike into the "heart of the jungle" - different than the  terra firma close to the research station, more humas, larger ferns and trees. Harder to find the path.

Armadillo / anteater evidence abounds.

We spot spider monkeys in large troupe. They are curious, one ventures quite close and cocks it head in curiosity.  Very cute.  The larger (and smarter?) ones take off in other direction

Snake sighting...   Six feet long and iridescent green with yellow head,  Marsielle says not poison.  I get almost close enough to touch it before it slitheres away.

Bazillion mosquitoes. centipedes, white "milk" tree frogs, and a huge eagle of the Amazonian kind.

Unbeknownst to me the plan was to cut down a plam tree for me to try fresh "heart of palm", but I when I realise what they are up to I ask them not to "kill a tree" for me.  Environmentalist gene or something.

My first mosquito bite is itching me.  Acquired last night on my foot, little bugger must have gotten me as I was putting on my jammies. 

Sometime in the conversation it is decided Gerlo and I will switch shirts tomorrow... he wants the blue shirt now.  Such a boy.

We return after our tramp, flying upriver with a lovely warm breeze.  I spot masses of what looks like red clematis, weird fruit, flowers and berries galore.  I am assured it is monkey food, not edible for humans.

The afternoon tarkget is Pink Dolphin lake.  On my afternoon wish list is another sloth sighting.   We motor it's length, putting here and there along the trees ringing it.  I get pink dolphins, spider monkeys, turquose birds, neon red / black birds, indigo birds and aonother large hawlk sighting

And my sloth.  So entertaining as it hangs by one long, furry arm while it  scratches away with the other.  Belly, bum, legs, ears... It lifts it's head when Gerlo does his imitation sloth call, then just return to his scratching.

Perfect

Despite having doubled up the seat cushions I still come away from the day with a sore bum.

Dinner with Gerlo makes for interesting conversation, and on my wander about before retiring  to my room for the night  I discover the presence of a large green tree frog just waiting for his photo shoot.  

Cold shower, clean teeth and a scramble into jammies an the protection of my screened in bed.

High 5 to Gerlo, Marsielle and Amazonia Expedfor once again helping me have an excellent day... definitely one for the memory box.  Indiana Jones probably never had so much fun!



Amazonia Expeditions... day 3!

Feb 26th.

After another great sleep, I am up early and raring to go .

Our journey begins with a 6:15 speedboat departure.  We travel up (down?) river +/- 30 minutes, then transfer to canoe.   Whenever we get where we are going (much trust involved here) we will hop out and it will be a rubber boots required situation.

  It is a great monkey sighting day, starting when Gerlo recognizes the sound of a baby calling out to it's mother.  Mama and baby are on opposite sides of the river, and the babe sounds in distress.  We follow mama in and find her troupe, which is traveling together with a troupe of a different kind of monkey.  Gerlo easily recognizes them, but I can't for the life of me remember the names.

 More beautiful birds, monkeys and some really ugly spiders (um, yay?).  No snakes. Lizards yes, ants (leaf cutter and fire), and giant millipedes too.

Much of the area we walk through is blanketed with pretty lilac lilies.  It is interesting to see the tropical plants in their REAL setting... no spritzing and pampering required.  Ferns abound and I see bushes that look like the Oregon grape we have at home.

It is amazing to see the massive ant and termite nests built on the tree trunks.  Several times Gerlo reminds me not to touch certain trees, as they exist in harmony with the fire ants... and apparently they will attack if me if I make the mistake of bothering the tree.

We are again traveling with Marsielle, an aboriginal local guide, who has kind eyes and a fun sense of humour.  He speaks the local dialect, and castilliano.   No english but we seem to get on well.  Gerlo makes a great interpreter as well as being a superb guide.

Our monkey search continues, which involves much looking up. They can really only be located by watching for tree movement as they jump from one branch to another, and then following along.

Monkeys leave quite a trail to follow, with discarded Ice cream fruit pods and other small berries and fruit pits. The ice cream fruit tastes like cotton candy... although I am warned l not to swallow the large black pods inside.  It is their fuzzy outer layer that is edible and I find it easiest to just to use my tongue to separate them. (The pods / seeds inside will make a human quite ill). There is a small yellow fruit (like a tiny apricot) that is particularly delicious, with an addictive sweet/tart taste.

After a satisfying bushwhack, we eat a well deserved brunch (11ish) and then climb back into the waiting canoe. I pause and think that it is a good thing that the canoe is where we left it, untied...

We return to the research station for a rest.  I strip off for a nearly nude nap (it is sweltering) and find a little red tick making it's way up my tummy.  ICK.  Squish.  Sleep claims me for an hour or so and I am a bit groggy when lunch is called.  At this point I am still feeling full from brunch, but the food is again delicious and I manage to eat.

Afternoon finds us back on the water.  We upset a troupe of monkeys (bushy black with brown faces... big tails, spider monkeys I think.) and their leader aggressively tries to scare us away by jumping up and down in the trees and screeching at us.  Way cool.

We get another glimpse of a pigmy marmoset. They are so tiny and cute. I can see why monkey smuggling is a big industry.

As usual we are following no particular trail. We glide through trees and duck under bushes. Gerlo makes ample use of his machete to carve a path and spiders fall into the canoe as he does.  I provide entertainment as I try and scoop them all out and over the side.

We see beautiful neon red & black birds and brown & orange birds with red heads. Amazonian kingfishers fly bye.  Gerlo says he will make an ornithologist of me yet. Probably not with my memory...

We were very quiet trying to locate things by sound, and in the background there is loud, echoing plopping sounds as fruit drop from the trees into the water.  Haunting.  On the tree trunks sit huge small bodied but long, skinny legged spiders, camouflaged to exact bark colour.

We made it home before the rain... Edgar the pet alligator was waiting