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. :)

Los Piqueros Patas Azules (The Blue Footed Boobies)

This is the view from the hostel, Los Piqueros Patas Azules, our home for 10 blissful, sunny days. Each sunset was better than the last and every day brought new experiences and discoveries. We spent a lot of time reading, lounging in hammocks and working on our tans but we also had the opportunity to see more than a few incredible things at the coast.

About ten minutes north of the hostel is Puerto Lopez, home of an artesanal fish market. Though it was gruesome, it was incredible to see how a good proportion of Ecuador's population makes their living. At the fish market women were surprisingly well represented. As the men brought fish, sharks, and crustaceans ashore the women helped by scaling and gutting anything that was small enough to put on the table top. 

   



An action shot of a fisherman beheading a tiger shark.
:(

Twice during our stay at Los Piqueros we were lucky enough to see green sea turtles nesting. So as not to disturb the moms-to-be I didn’t take any pictures but the experience was breathtaking. 

With Jaime, the resident mammalogist, we were able to go batting three of the nine nights we were at the coast. We even caught two pregnant bats and could feel their young kicking inside of them - incredible! Most of the bats that we caught were nectarivorous and had adorable long tongues that eagerly lapped up sugar water from our medicine dropper.

We also had the opportunity to travel to Montanita, a self-proclaimed surfer town. The vibe was certainly relaxed and the views were breathtaking. If I knew how to surf, I would definitely find myself in Montanita again.

Isla de la Plata (Island of Silver) off the coast as seen from Machallila State Park.

One morning, at breakfast, our Ecuadorian pops Jaime asked if anyone wanted to accompany him on an adventure. Since our plans for the day only included enjoying the beach Brandon, Eliz, and I happily agreed. Jaime didn't tell us much about where we were going or how we would get there just that the final destination was called La Playa Dorado - the golden beach ... intriguing, right? So we started off down the beach across the (by then well known) rocky outcrop where we had done the majority of our projects that week. 

Me enjoying the view from the rocky outcrop :)

Just past the familiar outcrop was a cave that was only passable at low tide. Jaime's timing being perfect as it is we passed through safely and emerged on the other side expecting the golden beach. Three sheer cliffs like the ones shown below (along with my gracious models Brandon and Eliz) and we finally made it to the golden beach. The sand was perfect and the waves were frighteningly strong. All of the rock climbing was absolutely worth it. Although, with the tide quickly rising, the trip back was errrm invigorating (?) to say the least.

All in all I had a fantastic time at the coast! The Pacific is wonderful and warm but the Atlantic will always hold a special place in my heart and I am sincerely looking forward to enjoying the beach with friends and family at home this summer :)

Carnival in Banos and Ambato

Our carnival weekend in Banos and Ambato can be summarized with two words: foam and taffy. Not exactly what I was expecting but I think Carnival is my new favorite holiday.
(photo cred- Eliz Mays)

Although Banos is primarily known for it's thermal springs and spas there were men and women on almost every street making this delicious taffy out of cane sugar juice. I ate way more than I should have but at $1 for 5 bars- each about the size of a milky way- it was worth every cent.

(stolen from the interwebs)

I was too afraid to bring my camera into the crazy foam wars that commence after the carnival parade. But let it suffice to say that I, and the rest of my gringo compatriots, were viciously attacked (with harmless, magically disappearing foam) by everyone from sneaky grandmas to evil little boys. And we thoroughly enjoyed every second of it!!! 

Banos is also a fairly popular tourist destination so every block has at least a few adventure outfitters that sell packages for trips to the rainforest, into the mountains or even mini daylong adventures like bungee jumping, water-falling, and rafting. We decided on rafting and had an incredible time :)

The view overlooking Banos.

We also managed to find the best American style burgers in all of Ecuador. It was nice to feel at home, even if it was only for one meal (ok,ok it was so good we went twice in 2 days...). So, if by some odd luck, you find yourself in Banos, Ecuador you MUST GO HERE: http://www.straydogbrewpub.com/

Papallacta, Cotopaxi, and La Hesperia

It has been quite a while since I've posted but that doesn't mean that life here has been boring. Over the course of the past two weeks I've seen some of nature's most magnificent creations. :)

Just above the Andean Cloud Forest you can find the "Elfin Forest" named after the stunted Polylepsis trees that characterize the area. These trees were named 'paper trees' by the natives because the bark is so thin and smooth it can actually be used to write on!

Standing in front of Cotopaxi. It may not look like it but that mountain is 19,342 ft taller than me! 

Higher up along the mountain, the view is breathtaking from every direction.

I also had the pleasure of visiting Las Termas de Papallacta. Literally the most relaxing place on Earth and all natural :)

At La Hesperia, an ecotourism hotspot/fully functioning dairy farm and 814 hectares of protected cloud forest, I saw some amazing animals ranging from quetzals (a fairly common but beautiful bird) to some of the most incredibly strange spiders (even a tarantula!) and caterpillars.   The cloud forest is also home to an immense variety of epiphytes, bromeliads, orchids and heliconia (those pink and green things above are the flower casings/bracts of a heliconia).

Mitad del Mundo

Today we went to the middle of the world! Quite an experience being in both the North and South Hemispheres at the same time :)

Corbinita (sea bass) trying to walk down the Equator. So much harder than it looks!

A view of the equator from on top of the museum.

Herman intently trying to balance an egg on the head of a nail on top of the equator, not as hard as it looks!

And then I ate tomatilla de arbol, just one of the many fruits I've had here that I have never even heard of.

Overall a great way to spend a day in Ecuador!

Some things about Ecuador

The Sun is incredibly strong. Check out the UV index, on Long Island we rarely hit 8 or 9 during the summer. 

At an altitude of 9000ft and pretty much on the equator the sun here in Quito is scorching (see my arm below- it looks much worse in real life). So after having one 3 hour class outside unannounced  I was toast- literally.

The mountains are surreal...

Ecuador exports all of it's coffee and leaves behind "Nescafe" aka no es cafe

But they keep some of the flowers so 25 roses cost 1$!!

Ecuadorian moms are a wee bit overbearing. "How are you? Did you sleep? What did you eat? What color are your socks? Did you make your bed? Wash your hands. Put on a sweater."

And Ecuadorian men can be very forward.

Luckily, I guess, I don't understand much so its very hard to be offended!