Amazonia- Part 1- Processing...

Before leaving for Tiputini, our professor the great King Cecil Kelly Swing, gave us absolutely no information about how hot, sticky, itchy and uncomfortable we were going to be for the next month of our lives. He chose instead to tell us about the latin root of the word Amazonia: meaning without (A) breast (maz) after the indigenous women who would have one breast removed in order to better use their bow and arrow. Even though we knew nothing of the logistics of the trip or of our impending discomfort this lingual tidbit gave me the courage I needed to charge the rainforest head first. I mean if native women have been slicing off their breasts, pretty bad ass if I do say so myself, for long enough to have a huge swath of South America named after them I could certainly handle the rainforest for a meager month. Right?

The view from the canopy tower, 150 feet above the forest floor.

Well, for the first few days I was completely convinced that I would drown in my own sweat before making it out of the Amazon alive. I was overwhelmed. Everything was green. The wildlife was so well hidden I was convinced it didn't exist and that only with the magical powers (or maybe even remote controlled animatronics) of our amazing elderly guide, Meyer, did any creature show itself. After the ease of capturing stunning photographs and coming face to face with some of the rarest animals in the world in Galapagos I was discouraged. Maybe the article I read in National Geographic was a hoax too (http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/125-yasuni-national-park/wallace-text).

But, as time sped on, I learned that to see anything in the rainforest all you needed to invest was time. Realizing that the one thing I needed was the one thing I had spent far too much of already, I started spending every hour possible roaming the trails of the Tiputini Biodiversity Station.

Tiputini is located within the Orellana province of Ecuador 280 km ESE of Quito within the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve. Yasuni was recently named the most biodiverse place on the planet.

Within minutes of adopting this new mindset and taking my time to process small fragments of the craziness that is the Amazon, I was rewarded with the sightings of LOTS of beautiful metallic beetles. Since over 80% of the fauna in Yasuni doesn't have a scientific name as of yet, maybe I even saw a species new to science!

Yeah, so what? I saw a bunch of beetles. But they were pretty shiny and just a small hint at the wonders of the rainforest soon to come my way.

Adventures Aboard the Aida Maria

Being a biology student, I've sat through more lectures on Darwin and his Galapagos finches than I can count. I've heard countless stories about the blue-footed boobies, sea lions and giant tortoises. But even after all of the required readings and power-points over the years, I was utterly dumbfounded by the pure abundance of Galapagos fauna- like this adorable sea lion pup (approx. 3 months old!) :)

We travelled from island to island aboard the Aida Maria, a yacht with the world's most spectacular view of the night's sky. In addition to the 10 BU students on our boat there was a family from Canada and a couple from Germany. After eight days travelling together we all got to know one another fairly well and even exchanged gifts and emails at the end of the trip. Travelling with people with such different sight-seeing goals and life experiences really enriched my Galapagos experience.

Each day we had the opportunity to snorkel with sea turtles, playful sea lions, hundreds of tropical fish and even Galapagos penguins. Interacting with the sea lions and watching them explore their environment and pester each other was an eye-opening experience. Their similarity to 4 year old humans was remarkable, reminding me just how closely related all of us mammals are. 

In our 8 days travelling throughout the Galapagos Islands we saw an astounding number of species.

Just one of the tens of thousands of  Galapagos Iguanas.

And, of course, the infamous blue-footed boobies!

Penguin! In the tropics- mind-boggling to say the least. Thank you Humboldt current! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Current

An adorable family of swallowtail gulls.

These animals weren't just visible though, they were within reach. On many of the islands you needed to constantly be looking at your feet to avoid stepping on one of the thousands of well-camouflaged iguanas. Occasionally, a curious adolescent sea lion would come right up to you and sniff at your shoes or even try to rub noses. Flycatchers tried to land on our hats and sea turtles swam obliviously one foot beneath us in the open ocean. One night, while we were cruising from one island to another, a pair of juvenile sea lions hopped on the back deck of our boat and explored. They made so much noise I was startled awake and found them out on the bow of the boat sticking their heads into seat cushions and playing a game of tag.

To say the very least the views were breathtaking.

A view of Darwin's Lake on Isabella Island.

Looking out over the sesuvium and cacti of South Plazas Island.

A beach on Santa Fe Island- all those grey blobs are members of the sea lion colony that inhabits the area!

Overlooking Las Grietas- a reserve of brackish water in a volcanic fault structure.
The water was incredibly clear, refreshingly cool and brilliant blue.

Our group at the top of the Sierra Negra Volcano, overlooking Volcan Chico, victorious after a long, hot hike.

As you can probably imagine leaving the Galapagos was a painful experience but I will never forget the pristine beauty and diversity of its islands or the fantastic people that we travelled with and the experiences we shared. I can only hope that someday I'll be lucky enough to go back. :)