Day 5: Transitions

My day began at sunrise with a knock on my door announcing the arrival of friends who had just landed. They pushed through their exhaustion, we joined some others from our research team for breakfast, and then headed out for a touristy day on the river.
Our tuk-tuk ride was pure fun instead of yesterday’s terror, and we were off. We headed back down to the docks for a river tour, stopping to check out the local food vendors. Today’s food of interest was grilled alligator. No thank you. Our day included visits to two indigenous tribes, both of which included face painting and dancing, and a trip to monkey island. I had visited the first tribe on my earlier trip, but the second was new. There I got to shoot a “poison” dart and hit the model directly in the mouth! There is hope for me in the jungle, apparently. 😆
Monkey Island is a monkey rescue and rehabilitation site. There, monkeys of all types and levels of distress are cared for, rehabilitated, and freed if possible. The primatologist knew each of the rescues by name, story, and personality. And many others ran free to reproduce and later be relocated. We even saw the Pygmy monkey, the smallest species playing in the trees. Many had heartbreaking stories, but it was great to see the effort, care, and knowledge that is going into helping them. The island was also teeming with other bits of life that I was engrossed in. My favorite discoveries today were crazy varieties of mushrooms!
Other bits of learning from the day… You are able to tell how high the river gets by the lichen lines on the trees. In many spots they are above my head, and the ground itself is more than 6 feet above the current water level (see photos). The dry season has just begun, so the water will continue to drop. That beautiful purple flower is an aquatic plant that I have been unable to get close to via boat. Today we found one high and dry, a final bloom before the plant dies because the water level dropped. I also learned that I have been saying things incorrectly. We headed DOWN river today (and every time I said up river). It is not directly according to the compass. It is directly based on river flow. Logical, but I am new to river travel. So when we head in the direction of the river’s flow, toward the sea and away from the Andes, we are heading down river.
Tomorrow we head down river to the field station where our research projects begin. The whole team has arrived and I am ready to jump into the collaboration, science, and focused time in the rainforest. Yay science! xoRead more