Leaving the Station

Today I traveled back to Quito. I was the only researcher to be leaving, but I had to leave so I can get back in time to start school in three days. On the boat ride from the station I saw a rainbow. It was my first rainbow I saw actually in the jungle. They are not as common as I was lead to believe they were. I also saw some pink dolphins, and I can safely say over two hundred turtles. I loved seeing all of the turtles. I saw them on logs, jumping off of logs, walking on shore, and just sitting on shore. It was great. The boat ride was a lot longer than I thought it  would be. Once at the spot to get off we, the workers leaving and I , got into a truck instead of the bus I rode the first time. I was given the front seat. The ride was not very interesting and it was long. I was able to keep myself awake for a while be looking for  and identifying Inga as we passed, but eventually I did doze a little. At the Napo River we had to wait for two hours for the boat to come. It took the boat longer to come because the Napo is really low and there are many sand bars. While waiting I was able to see a hen with her chicks. I was also able to enjoy the sunshine and 98° weather. Something I have not felt while at the station. Once on the boat up the Napo I really enjoyed the sun combined with the breeze. The Napo river is still a very big river, and the ride is still very long. At Coca I was able to go with one of the workers to buy a machete. I then had the wonderful previlage of waiting two hours at a hotel until it was time to go to the airport. At the airport I was very good at mimicking what everyone else was doing, so nobody had any idea that I understood none of the Spanish around me. As the plane took off I was able to see an awesome double rainbow, so that made three rainbows in one day. I was very surprised at how fast the plane ride was. It only took about 45 minutes total from boarding to getting off the plane. At the airport I found my taxi driver by looking for my name on a sign again. It makes me laugh that that really happens. The drive to my hotel took a long time because of a traffic jam, but I was okay with it for I was able to see more of Quito. My hotel is the same one I stayed in before so I knew what to expect. I was very happy to get to the hotel to take a shower. The shower was barely warm so I guess I get to wait still for my hot shower. Tomorrow I will be visiting the historical churches in Quito with MJ's sister.  Then I  will be headed back home to Utah.

My Last Field Day

Today was the last day in the field. It was a good one. We had to do the trails paraphaco and chicico, even though everyone else really doesn't like them, they are full of chiggers, and there was a high chance of them being flooded. So we began on Numa. While walking on Numa M.J. barely missed stepping on a baroni snake. A bright green snake that is very deadly and known to be very aggressive. She  did not see it, but M did because my was right behind M.J. M is very terrified of snakes. M began to say " oh my, Oh my " and immediately backed up.  When I heard M starting to freak out I knew it was a snake so I walked around her to get a picture. The snake was about a foot and a half long, so a baby. MJ and M both at the same time once they saw me step around M began say stop it is super deadly and mean. Z pulled me back before I could get a picture. I was a good four feet away from the snake and planning on keeping my distance, they were all over worried that it was out to kill one of us. Really it was just crossing the trail and could of cared less about us. Once everyone was relatively calm again we continued. We had to cross a bridge that a few days ago we were told was mostly under water, fortunately only the very end was under a few inches. We crossed and then chose to use the roots of a tree to stay out of the slightly deeper part.  At this point I had us go down Matapulo so we could actually find some new plants, which we did. we then turned and did the last half of Chichico. Near the middle of Chichico the path was flooded, but only to the knees. I happily went first and saw lots of little fish again. The little fish make me happy. I told everyone to be careful crossing the bridge, but I guess both Z and T were not paying close attention because they both stepped of the bridge in to the stream and got wet above their waists. That one flooded spot was about ten meters only, and it was the only place we got wet the whole day. From the middle of Chichico we went on to paraphuaco. Paraphauco was all nice and dry with partly sunny and a breeze, the perfect field day weather. I really like the forest around Paraphuaco, most of the rest of the team does not. At one point we did smell pecheris or sahinos, and we all thought they smelled similar to beef jerky. Once we completed all of the plants that needed to be check we headed back to Chichico to finish it. I saw a bunny on Chichico right after we started back on it. It was cute, brown, and looked just like bunnies look back at home. I was not expecting to see a bunny in the jungle but will happily add it to my list of animals. We had to cross another bridge that had a about only two inches of water on it at the very end. This bridge is normally two meters above the water.  I also have seen this bridge with barely a trickle of water under it.  I find it very amazing how variable the water level is. I was leading the way, so I went fast. I think we walked the fastest we have ever walked while looking for plants at the same time. I walked fast because it was already late afternoon, we were going to have a lot of lab work, and I knew I had to pack before I went to bed. Nobody complained at the speed, in fact I think they enjoyed going fast. Once Chichico was done we happily marched quickly back to the station.  By the time we got to the lab it was almost 5. We did get all of the chemistry and herbivores done before dinner, but I did not finish entering all of the data. Dinner was great. The cooks did a nice meal because I was leaving. It was chicken with some sauce, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. I did not stay long at dinner because I had to pack which took as long as i thought it would. Once I was packed I went back to the lab to finish entering data. I had to enter in data by a flash light because it was already lights out. My team was watching a movie while I worked,  I didn't mind, I was happy listening to my music.  I was able to enter everything in and get to bed before midnight, which meant I was able to go to bed early. That was my last field day.

Little Frog

Today began with rain. No real surprise there. Some of the team was very tired from staying up and finishing the Return of the King last night, I was not. I woke up even without my alarm for breakfast. We had a quick breakfast because we were getting a boat ride to our trail today. The boat ride was short, only five minutes. We were pleasantly surprised that the trail we wanted was out of water. In fact, we did not have to wade at all today. I wanted to, sort of, just for the experience, but didn't want to because I would get cold and have really wet smelly clothes for the next day to wear.  The trails we did were anaconda to lago to guachomayo to maquisapa. We had a very productive day. We finished checking gauchomayo and maquisapa. While checking we were able to get 27 herbivore cups.  My favorite thing we found on a Inga was a tree frog. It was so cute. It crawled onto my hand  and stayed there all happy while I took down the data for our plants. It then stayed there for another five minutes. I was able to get lots of photos of it. I finally had to leave but the frog still wanted to stay on my hand perfectly camouflaged with it. It took three tries to encourage the frog to crawl off. The frog gave me a look that said okay if I really have to crawl off I will, but I don't want to. I would have loved to have spent the day holding the frog and then watching it, sadly I could not. While working on Maquisapa, M.J. was very nervous about seeing more pigs. She really does not like them and finds them absolutely terrifying. I was not worried at all and wouldn't have minded seeing them again. We had lunch next to the lago. M and I ate lunch in the boat while everyone else ate on shore. I really would have loved to spent an hour or two just floating on the lake. We were not able to go out at all on the lake because we had a deadline of when we were going to be picked up again, and T feels a lot of pressure to collect as much as possible while I am here.  It turned out to be okay we did not go out on the lake because it started raining, not a hard rain just the typical soaking soft rain.  If the weather and time and the river had all worked out just right I would have liked to have gone on the lake one last time. With how time worked out we finished our work right as the boat arrive to take us back to the station. We were able to do all of our work before dinner and have about 20 minutes of free time. That was nice. I was able to get some pictures of us working in the lab today. I am glad I did because we have not had any lab pictures of us working in the lab. Yes I am in some of the pictures. I also realized that if I did not get the lab pictures today I would not get them at all.

Floating in the River

Today was chosen to be a lab/organization day last week. And this afternoon was arranged to do the black water river float. Because of how tired I was last night I almost slept through breakfast, but I didn't. After breakfast it was off to the lab we went. I spent all morning entering data. Right before lunch it started to rain, so we pushed back when we were going to do the river float in hopes it would stop raining. Lunch was nice; I really like the tradition of having  a two coarse meal and one always being soup.  I spent the afternoon helping make an export file and correctly labeling the herbarium samples. It stopped raining about ten minutes before we were supposed to leave. We, as a team, had decided that we would all float in the river, but we would do it in our field clothes for a couple of reasons. First for protection. Second for warmth, and third because tomorrow is wash day. Wash day is one of the most important days of the week because it dictates when you get clean clothes and how long you must wear the same outfit over again. Since the station is down to just seven researchers wash will now be done Wednesday and Saturday. This has made everyone every happy.  However, this means I will not have all clean clothes before leaving, I will have some dirty clothes. Anyway, back to today, on the way to the boat we invited Miguel who works at the station. The boat ride was cold. We were all psyching ourselves up to go swimming at the end of the float. We went to the same place that I went fishing. At the beginning of the system the guide turned the motor off and we had to use two paddles . One paddle for steering, the other for forward momentum. I did a turn for a few minutes, but then let the guys take over. The extra rainhas swollen the river so much that the black river was brown so we had to go deeper into the system.  This meant that there were branches that were in the way of the boat. That is when I was told the most wonderful thing. I was told it is machete time! I was able to get the machete from the guide and use it. The guide told me where to cut then let me do it. The team thought it was a little creepy when I first took the machete and started to giggle from excitement and happiness at being able to use a machete in the jungle. They also thought it a little weird how much I enjoy using the machete. I did really good with it. It took me about 3 minutes to cut through a branch the size of my calf. The guide said I did a good job. I then let him finish. He then cut some more on that same branch, but in about 1 minute and in a very skilled manner. I could totally tell that he has had years of practice doing it. I hope that someday I too can have that skill. 

 After clearing the path we continued deeper into the water system. The water was brown then suddenly black. It was really hard to see the transition with the reflections.  The black is very similar to the color of swamp mud, but the water is also clearish. By clearish I mean you are able to see about a foot into the water. While in the Tiputiini you can barely see an inch into the water. The trees in the black water are just like what you would expect to see in a swamp. It  was really neat to see. After spending some time floating in the boat we turned around and worked our way back. Only the guide, T and I noticed when we had turned around. The way out was a lot faster than the way in. Once out to the Tiputini T and Z were quick to get their life jackets on and to jump in. M went next. I had to talk M. J. into actually doing it (she didn't want to because it was still chilly) but she would if I did. So I got all ready and jumped in. Yes, I did shriek a little like I always do when jumping in. The water was cold, but not Utah cold. The water, T and I decided, was like the warmest any of the reservoirs get, so not that warm. I like floating along with the current. I really liked it when I could feel the sunshine on me.  I floated for about an hour and a half. It was sunset and getting cold when M got out. Z and T were only in for about 45 minutes. M. J. was trying to swim to the boat, but had gotten caught in the current where it was really strong. The current took her to some over hanging trees. She was smart and grabbed a branch so she would not be pulled under the trees and water. I saw her having a hard time ahead of me and started to swim away from the current. I was only at the edge of the current but it still pulled harder than I thought it would or liked. I was able to break free of the current once I was down stream another100 meters from where M.J. was. I was very grateful to be in the middle of the river and happy to stay there waiting for my turn to be picked up. I was shocked at how far I went down the river waiting. I did not need any help to get into the boat, but everyone else did. Once in the boat it  was very cold. M.J. and I sat close to each other to stay warm and I kept my life jacket on as well for added warmth. Once back to the station we happily rushed to take a shower. The water was warmer than I thought it would be at first, but it still was cold.

Wading through the Water

Today was fun and fruastrating. We decided that we would go Guachomayo instead of Lago to where Lago and Guachomayo meet. This is because we know that by Guachomayo we would only have to get wet twice instead of for sure swimming. Yes I mean swimming. There are parts of Lago that would be at least chest deep, if not deeper . With Guachomayo we knew at least two different areas would be flooded and should only be about knee height. Everyone knew it, we were going to get wet and so chose to not get super wet. When we came to first stretch of flooded section I offered to go first with my fabulous poking/walking stick. Everyone that had blanched at getting wet wanted to try to find a different way off trail. I told them it would not work, only be worse. They did not want to believe me so I let them do some exploring and slowly realized that going along the trail that we were very familiar with would be the best. So I went first. I really like going first because I can see all the little fishes swim away and the water is not cloudy. With a spider wand in one hand and in the other my poking stick I lead the way fearlessly. Z tried to be nice to M.J. by giving her a piggy back ride, but he ended up stepping off the bridge used to cross a stream normally. This meant Z and M.J. both got wet up to their armpits. I find this very ironic because they were the most vocal about finding a different way so they would not get wet. The rest of us only got wet to mid thigh. After that first flood zone we marched to where some of our plants were. This was a couple hundred meters which allowed us to dry out almost all the way. We then arrived at the next flooded zone, which we could tell was going to be longer than the 15 meters the other flood zone was. I again choose to go first. This flooded area only ever came a few inches above my knee. As we went a long we realized that a new tree fall was blocking the trail. We decided that it was not safe to try to go off the trail and around the fall in the water. This meant the clippers had to come out. On this tree fall we counted around 15 conga. So there we were, in water above my knees climbing into a tree fall full of conga making a path- only in the jungle. I was the one willing to go first. I also had the best poking stick and was the best suited to scamper over obstacles. It was a slow process to remove branches then toss them, conga included, away from the trail. Once over the main tree the way was clear. To make room for the others I started on the trail. Fortunately I was using my stick to poke/sweep in front of my feet, which is why I did not step on the stingray that was right in front of me. 

The stingray was about two inches larger than the big plates at home. The tail was at least ten inches. The colors were a light brown the exact color of the trail and dark brown blotches the color of most roots. I only saw it because it moved. It swam four feet farther down the trail before re-settling. I was able to get some pictures, but they are not good because of the reflection off the water. I did not think it would have been wise/safe  to try to do an underwater picture even though that would have been really cool. We were all concerned that it may sting us. Boots, no matter what kind, will not stop the stinger and we were a long way from camp. The water was also not to clear from us walking. The cloud of mud that we made from walking soon rolled over and hid the stingray from view. That really made us a bit concerned cause we couldn't see anything then. Z offered to go first using my stick and his but leaving me with no stick, which I didn't like, so I said no thanks I will continue to go first but carefully. We continued at a very slow pace. I saw more fish and no other animals. I was really hoping to see an anaconda or possibly a camin. Once through the flooded area we were able to dry out and start actually checking our plants. While we walked we did find some wild chocolate plant with the fruit ripe and ready to be picked. I also saw another of the stronger-than-morphine frogs. Around lunch time we found some actual liana that was perfect to swing on, well almost perfect. It was "almost" because the liana was only half coiled on another liana and had started to slide down after a number of swings. The liana allowed you to swing down the trail which went down a hill. I went first. I was amazing at it. It is just like the rope swings at Mt. Aire. The drop at the peak of the swing was  15 feet maybe a little higher. It made T nervous, and it made me nervous as well once I felt the liana slide a little on my third swing. T, Z and M all did it. When M went the liana did a bigger slide down than it had any other time, so she chose to let go before completing the return swing. She landed just fine. After that we decided our liana swing was no longer safe. We then had lunch and did a few more plants before we realized we had to go home. We decided to go the same way came even though under normal circumstances going Lago would be faster.  This time, however, Lago would not be faster because it would for sure be higher than the flooded areas we did go through if not impassable. So back we went. Surprisingly the water had cleared mostly by the time we went back through. I went last because I went first the first time. I really prefer going first.  What we can do in a little less than an hour and a half total on a normal, or even rainy day, took us four hours to do all of our walking. That is the majority of our field day spent walking. We did make it back in time to shower and do all of our chemistry samples before dinner, which was nice. After dinner it was decided that we would watch the Return of the King extend version. I love that movie.