Canopy Walk - the View from Heaven

I was going to write last night but spent about 2 hours trying to upload pictures to preious posts since that's what you all wanted.  This post will probably take me twice that long to write - so much has happened!

The morning we were supposed to look for river dolphins, it was raining too hard so we had lecture instead (it rains a lot here but off and on).  Dr. O told us about her research, on tomato plants.  Tomatoes cause Salmonella outbreaks on the East COast, but never in California.  Why?  Thats what she is trying to find out.  She also is looking at the differences (if there are any) in apples that are farmed conventionally versus organically.  Along with extracting DNA from and studying Amazonian plants.

For all her vast knowledge, Dr.O reminds us that so much of the world is unknown, especially here in the rainforest.  The jungle is full of secrets waiting to be discovered.  She told us not to doubt ourselves, not to think that the world of science is too great for us.  Each of us can make a very significant contribution to the world of science and to the world itself.

After lunch, we hiked to a lodge further in the jungle.  It was smaller than the first, but completely surrounded by the rainforest.  Dr. O and I saw a giant lizard running away - probably about 1 1/2 to 2 feet long.  The TA's gave short lectures:

-blue mormo butterfly - I wrote about this in an earlier post
-leaf cutter ants - carry leaves to fertilize the ground so a fungus can grow.  then they eat the fungus.  The cool thing is though, the fungus can get into one of the ant's brains, making him an outcast.  The other ants carry him far, far away.  He then goes to a very specific location that the fungus tells him, like 20 ft up, 20 - 25o C, 80 % humidity, etc.  Then, the fungus grows out of the ant's head and body!  It can do this to other animals, too.  Today, we saw a spider on a leaf with a fungus growing out of it!
-Sange de Grado - Dragon's Blood.  A healer for all skin ailments, known for its antiviral, antifungal and antiinflammatory activity.  One of the Shaman's, Julio, is saving his money to buy a plot of land so that he can harvest Sangre de Grato and sell it in the market.  The cost for 25 acres is $3,000 (~8,000 soles).  He has been saving for many years and had $2,000.  We each contributed money to make up the rest of the money so he will be able to buy his own farm!  I also bought some Dragon's Blood to bring home!

Then, we went up to the Canopy walk to see the sunset.  It was a series of tree forts, much like deer stands except way higher (80 - 100 feet up).  They are connected by rickety bridges which are like 1 foot wide ladders with boards on top and nets on either side.  Only 3 people can be on a walkway at a time and 4 people on a stand at a time.  You are not allowed to kill even  mosquitos because everything is so delicate up there.  And you have to wash the palms of your hands if you put on mosquito repellent with DEET in it because the DEET will eat away at the nylon in the nets.  It was kind of cloudy, but seeing the sunset from 100feet above the rainforest floor was still breathtaking.  The variety of sounds you can hear up there is incredible.

We walked back in the dark because the sun had set.  It was super fun!  At one point, Basilio told us all to turn off our headlamps and flashlights.  Below our feet ws another sky of stars!  We each picked up one of these gowing things, wondering what it may be.  When the lights turned back on, it turned out to be a quite boring brown leaf, about the size of a penny.  We saw the tree they come from, but they do not glow on the tree, only on the floor.  Some sort of fungus gets on them and makes them glow.  Why only that type of leaf?  Why can't it glow of the tree?  How does that type of bioluminescence work?  Noone knows.

After dinner, we took a night boat ride through the windiest river I have ever been on.  That part of the river does not exist when the water is low.  We saw a blue mormo butterfly, which Raol caught and I got to hold!  They shine when you see the wings up close.

The next morning, we went back up to the canopy.  Along the way, we saw a leaf toad, which was smaller than a dime and looked just like a leaf.  Go figure.  In the canopy, I saw a lizard, which had an orange head with black spots and a yeloow ring around its neck.  The rest of it was black body.  It was so funny the way it waddled!

We took a boat ride back to the first lodge to visit the ReNuPeRu Ethnobotanical Garden again.  We saw a giant lizard that looked more like an iguana.  The thing must have beenn at least 2 feet long and the top of its head was probably 6 - 8 inchest above the ground.  We also saw a couple really cool black and yellow spiders in the garden.  Oh, and we also saw the tree where the grubs live!  I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but I did eat a live grub.  Remeber how I said they were fat and yellow?  I didn't eat the head because Hannah (one of the TA's) said that it will bite back.  The two of us each ate one but I swallowed mine and she didn't.  It was the most awful tasting and terribly textured thing I have ever eaten in my entire life.  But don't worry, I didn't puke and I haven't gotten diarrhea yet.  Yay!

After that, we got back on the boat to yet another lodge, located in the Yanamono region.  Yana Mono means "black monkey."  There used to be lots of black monkeys here apparently.  Along the way we actually got to see river dolphins!  They are gray and pink and super exciting!

We stopped by the Rum factory before getting to the lodge.  We saw how rum was made from sugar cane.  First, it is squezzed through a machine that works by a horse walking around in a circle, then that juice gets put into a hollowed log to ferment.  Then, the fermented liqiod gets boiled over an oven and cooled in a hand-made cooler, which is quite large.  Then it is ready to drink!  We tasted plain rum, which is clear, molasses, which was very dark, mixed rum, which was a mix of the two, seven roots rum, which is exactly what it sounds like and ginger rum.  It was all 18% alcohol but we all only took little sips because it was a very strong taste.  The word for rum is cachasa and the locals all come on the weekends to get drunk while there kids play out in the fields.  There are hammocks for them to sleep in in case they have a little too much!

We hiked from there to the next lodge, which was only about 15 minutes.  Hung out until dinner and then after dinner, went on anight boat ride.  Basilio caught a butterfly.  When its wings are spread next to eachother, the patterns on them make it look like an owl face.  It is called the owl butterfly.  The rainforest is loud during the day but even louder at night and the moon was absolutely brilliant.

Today, we went on a hike along the Bush Master Trail.  We saw poison dart frogs!!!  And a lot of them!!  One was black with yellow stripes and the next three had red bodies with blue legs and a little yellow right by the tush and black spots all over.  Raol could catch each one and then put it on a leaf and some of us could hold it.  The way to hold it is to pin dowm one of its back legs so that you can still see its pattern and colors but it won't jump away.  We also saw a leaf mimic frog, which was about the size of an average toad we see at home and was dark broan with ridges on its head that made it resemble the leaf it was sitting on.  Many parts of the trail were under water, so a few of us took our hiking boots off and trekked barefoot.  At one point, we were in the water up to our belly buttons!  We also saw the biggest trees of my life!  One was called a Strangler Fig because a bird will bring the seed to a tree and it will germinate and grow from there, eventually strangling the tree that it grew from and using it for nutrients.  Also, a lot of trees here only have leaves at the top because that is where photosynthesis occurs.  If the leaves are lower, they have a hard time getting sunlight, so it would be silly for the tree to waste its energy on leaves down low.  On the way back, WE SAW MONKEYS!!  Real, live, wild monkeys who make big leaps from tree to tree and climb all over and have very long tails!!

Lunch was yummy today, we ate fried plaintains!

Oh!  I almost forgot to write about the woman who talked to us this mornign, Dr. Smith.  She was a doctor of internal medicine in the United States before she came down here and opened her own clinic.  She is quite a fascinating woman and we are going to see her clinic later today.  I will write more about that next time!

Check out the few pictures I could upload to previous posts!  If I don't get anymore done, I will upload them all when I get home! 

Words to ponder:

"I am not afraid to die, but I love life.  I can see, I can smell, I can breathe.  And I can see you."
~Basilio, to Dr. O

How many Americans do you know who would say that?  We have so many things that these river people don't: running water, clean water, microwaves, oven, stove, dishwasher, hot shower, television, telephone, cell phone, computer, internet, cars, motorcycles, game boys, xbox, wii, washer and dryer.  And yet, every year on our Christmas list is something else, something more that we want to make our lives easier or that we think will make us happy.  But it doesn't because the next year, we want something else, something more.  When one of the girls on the trip handed a child a toy truck, he didn't know what to do with it...

Ah we have to go, but hopefully that gives you all something to think about!!  Hugs and kisses from the Amazon!!!