Tiputini and the Amazon

The Friday after returning from our field trip, we embarked on an amazing adventure into the Amazon! We were so blessed to be able to take this trip as we did not know if it would end up happening. But it did and I am so unbelievably blessed to have gone on it!

We were up at 5 am to go to the airport for a 5:45 meet. Our flight was at 7am, so once we were all through security we waited patiently. We jumped on a bus that took us over to our plane. Our flight was 30 minutes and took us to the city of Coca. Now I should mention that prior to leaving, we were given a fairly hefty set of instructions, part of which stressed the danger of Coca and that once we arrived at the hotel on the river, from where we would be taking our boat, we were not to leave under any circumstances. And that was bolded too! We were quite comfortable waiting for our boat, though the humidity was certainly becoming more noticeable! Once our boat arrived, we hopped on and travelled for nearly 2 hours along the Napo River. We arrived in a place called Pumpeye, where we had to pass through an oil checkpoint (as apparently they 'own' the road - I thought it was a bit suspicious that they should have their own checkpoint but hmm). After passing through their security screens, we hopped onto a modified truck and drove for 2 hours to the Tiputini River, where we were met with another boat. From there, we travelled for just over 2 hours and arrived at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station. This place is LITERALLY in the middle of the jungle! There are no roads - you get here by boat only! It is incredible!

Once we had found our cabins, we enjoyed a lovely afternoon exploring the station, looking at the lab and checking out the library - and naturally, sweating a lot!! It is pretty humid in the middle of the jungle!! We had dinner at 7pm and then broke into groups and went out for a night hike! Which was really wonderful - except for coming face to face with my greatest fear - spiders! And let me tell you, spiders in the Amazon are not like normal spiders. Basically this is what happens when nightmares form into reality!! They are absolutely terrifying!!

But after crying, hyperventilating and generally being petrified, I did manage to finish the night hike and walk within mere metres of these......creepy creepy animals....seriously, this has to be the creepiest animal God ever made!!!

The next morning we hiked through the jungle, enjoying the sights and sounds on our way to a lake. We had many stops, where we would dash into the jungle following a troop of monkeys. We saw Spider monkeys and enjoyed the sounds of the many birds. We arrived at a small lake where we were exceptionally fortunate to see an anaconda in the water! It looked as though he had fed and had curled up in the water, under a tree in order to digest in peace. We also saw many huoatzin birds and a caiman! it was fantastic! We hiked back to the Tiputini River and were picked up by a boat and taken back to the station for lunch. After lunch, we headed out again, this time to the Canopy walkway, which is right up in the canopy of the forest. And I hiked up a fairly precariously looking ladder to the very top to this platform, from where I could see the entire jungle. it was breathtaking! And while it was raining, there was absolutely nothing that could dampen my spirits! It was amazing to watch the wall of rain coming towards me and when it hit, it was quite refreshing. We enjoyed hanging around and walking across the numerous bridges through the canopy for nearly 2 hours before we descended down and raced back to the station to watch the sunset over the river. And what a sunset it was!!!

That night we had a great presentation from the director of the station, who showed us his research with the camera traps. The photos they had were amazing and it was a great night!!. The next morning, we woke very early as we were heading to the canopy tower that morning, and we decided to leave to be there for sunrise. While cloudy, it was so beautiful watching the mist over the top of the forest!!! Absolutely breathtaking!! We stayed up in that tree for over 3 hours!!!

 

From the canopy tower, we were able to see many birds and a distant troop of woolly monkeys, which we then set off to find! It was great fun running through the jungle. We finally found them and I must say, I now have so much more respect for wildlife photographers - I have always respected their work and thought they were amazing and thought how much I would love to do it! But I can tell you, it is hard!!!!!

We finished up in the jungle and headed back to the station for lunch, and then after headed off on a boat to travel up river for a look and then a swim in the river. Yes, I have officially swum in a river in the Amazon. And it was pretty awesome :)

That night, we went out on the boat and looked for caimans, which we saw many, and also caught a brief glimpse of a capybara!!

The next morning was sadly time for us to leave. Our time was definitely too brief. I lay in bed the night before thinking just how much I would love to do this, to be out in the jungle. I met some amazing people who had been out there for months and months. It is a simple and wonderful life!! I would be exceptionally keen to return as a volunteer or as a field assistant and am seriously considering it!

We returned via the same route we had taken to come out to the station and eventually found ourselves back in Coca - where I had a close encounter of the primate kind!

A small squirrel monkey decided my back was the best place to come and hang out, and proceeded to gnaw on my back and on the back of my neck. Thankfully it was only play biting, and I saw no drawn blood so I am all good. Besides, I have my rabies shots anyway. It was just such a funny experience!!! He was a very cheeky little monkey!!!

Then all too soon, we were back in the city, which was really nice as I hadn't really seen my host family for quite some time. But I really missed the jungle! I missed running after monkeys and bush-bashing my way through the jungle!

But there are always more adventures to be had. I cannot believe that today, I will have been here for 3 weeks - and the things I have done so far. I am so blessed to be here and thank God for every day I am able to be here and enjoy this incredible experience. And to my wonderful and always supportive family :) I could never do anything without them!

Now that we have been back at uni for a few days, we have had a chance to get some uni work done, and had a presentation today and have a test tomorrow. Then on Saturday we head off down to the Southern coast of Ecuador for our second dive trip. I am very very excited!!!!

Until next time!!!

God bless to you all and remember that life itself is an adventure :) every day of being alive is an incredible blessing and miracle! Make every day an amazing memory!!

Field Trip 1

Sorry, I know it's a smidge late, but I have been super busy!!!

So this will only be a brief outline :)

Monday 14th, we headed off on our first field trip, leaving our highland homes in the Andes to descend back down to sea level. We had had a bit of a kerfuffle that morning trying to get our passports back from the foreigners office, as once in the country you are required to go and register your visa - it's all rather tedious but a necessity if you want to stay in the country - which I most certainly do!

So we headed off after all of that kerfuffle at around 10 am. We arrived in Playa Escondida at around 7pm, it was a pretty long trip! But we had a few stops for snacks, food, and loo facilities, as well as petrol. The country here is so beautiful! I love driving through it and seeing this amazing landscape!!

Tuesday we put together out quadrats and field kits, and had a short briefing before waiting for the tide to go out enough for us to begin our surveys. I started out with Taylah to hunt for whelks, which we then weighed and measured. We had only been going about 45 minutes when the weather decided to turn on us. But we didn't mind :) it was great to be out in the field. We sampled whelks for a couple of hours, before the rain really started to take its toll on the scales, and they began to malfunction. So we retreated back to the hotel, where we put our data into the computer and dried off. We had a great afternoon chilling on the beach which was topped off by the appearance of a boa constrictor - naturally all the Aussies jumped right in and with Daniel's assistance (he's one of our tutors) we caught the boa. He wasn't overly please about that, but we all enjoyed having a good look. We then returned him to the other end of the beach where he promptly hopped into the water of a small pool and disappeared. I think I could even hear him grumbling as he left. Admittedly, if some random was to come and grab me, I think I may be slightly disgruntled as well!

Wednesday we headed to another beach to complete another set of surveys, this time being on transect lines and quadrats. We had a good group and got through it all quickly, and then chilled on the beach for a while. We had an interesting encounter with the local fisherman, as they had caught a green sea turtle. They removed the fins, the heart and some of the belly meat before tossing the remains back into the water. It was interesting to talk with the fisherman and to learn about how they lived their lives and what they fished and how often. But it was rather brutal to see the turtle.

Thursday we packed up and jumped on the bus, returning to our mountain lairs back in Cumbaya. It was a wonderful first field trip, and I am thoroughly looking forward to our second one!!

Banos

So, after a short week of class and orientation, we decided to head off for the weekend to a lovely small valley called Banos. Unfortunately, from Friday, my stomach had decided to revolt against me. My stomach had been quite uneasy and unsettled for Friday and very early Saturday morning saw even worse results from my upset stomach. I was very prepared not to head off to Banos and had all but decided not to go - the taxi had gone. But I decided I didn't want to miss out, and so at the very last minute I picked up my previously packed bags and jumped in the cab. It was a good drive to the bus station and then a 3.5 hour bus ride from Quito to Banos. It went very slowly for me, with my stomach performing various gymnastic routines. but it was a good time for some reflection on some of the things I have seen so far

Ecuador is a truly beautiful place, there is a lot of cultural pride as well as a lot of shame from some people, with many people apparently preferring to refer to themselves as white, or as a mix. They are a welcoming and inviting people, who have a passion for life. While some areas remind me often of Tanzania, the same sort of beautiful spirit exists in these people. They are pushing forward for excellence, their cities have beautiful parks and wonderful areas for recreation. Of course, there are the darker sides as our security officer discussed in great length during our orientation, but I could very easily be mugged and robbed in Sydney. You just have to keep your wits about you and be savvy. I love living in a country that has not fully embraced the English language. As difficult as it is for me fumbling in broken Spanglish with some people, I love that there is not this overriding need to have English. In Tanzania, the only way someone could hope for a good job was if they spoke very good English. In fact there were some people there who I had met on the street who spoke better English than I do sometimes. I love having my Spanish conversations with my host parents. And while I still have a lot to learn, I am so eager to become a more fluent speaker so I can better communicate with other people here. After all, this is their country, it is not for me to come here and expect them to speak my language. I love the challenge :D and the opportunity to broaden my language skills.

So, back to the trip to Banos. We arrive in Banos, stomach is in the middle of a bar work routine but Banos is stunning! A friend of Taylah's met us and took us to our hostel, which had a beautiful view of the valley and of a waterfall. We then went off to lunch where I nibbled at the food and enjoyed the good company of our large group. That afternoon we split off into our different activities, and I, naturally, chose riding. While the horses were on the skinny side and not as healthy as I would usually like to see, were sometimes handled a little rougher than what I am used to and had rather harsh bits, they were very sweet and had kind eyes and I could tell that their owner was quite fond of them. They had good pasture to graze on. My horse was named Gringo, which I found to be quite ironic. He was the horse of the guide who took us on our trip. The trip was realy lovely - Gringo had a very soft mouth, so I was very content to just sit back and let him be as he was, as I knew he was confident with the path. We travelled through the towns and up the side onto a small road leading into the farmland areas. We stopped to have a look around and then returned to the stables. After our ride, we wandered through the markets, eventually making our way back to the hostel to head out and find some dinner. And the most wonderful thing had happened while returning to our hostel - without any warning, and no gradual decrease, the nausea and pain in my stomach simply vanished. It was wonderful to have it all finished.

Later that evening, we chilled at the hostel for a while, then headed out to a bar where we did a bit of salsa dancing. It's definitely a different experience to back here in Australia. The people here actually dance, rather than what is often done back in Australia, which simply looks like jumping around.

The next morning, we woke to have breakfast, and another wander around the town. I found a lovely passenger as we were walking around - a little butterfly had decided to hitch a ride on my leg, so i moved him to my shoulder, where he sat quite pleasantly for about 15 minutes before he seemed to gather his strength and head off again. We checked out of our hostel and grabbed some lunch before heading back to Quito on the bus. That afternoon, we came home and were greeted by our host family, and had a lovely catch up over dinner before we headed off to pack for our field trip the next day.

Orientation and class

Well, Monday and Tuesday of last week were our orientation days. Universidad San Francisco de Quito - USFQ. WOW!! All I can say is what a beautiful university! The campus is really lovely, the people are amazing and I have already settled here very well! The buildings are all named after famous scientists and other influential people - there is the Darwin building, the Newton building, and my personal favourite, the building in which all the GAIAS offices are located, Casa de tomate - the tomato house, as it is a red building :D We had the GAIAS program orientation on Monday which involved only the students involved in this program. We went over a lot of the logistics, met all the really important people, learnt all the really important information and all in all had a blast of a day! They took us on a city tour of Quito which I really enjoyed, as even though I had seen most of the places they had taken us, it was wonderful to meet all the new faces, and to get to know some of the people with whom I would be sharing this experience.

The Tuesday was the full international student orientation. With over 200 students, we were a formidable force making our way across the campus, and we had another day of inspiring, precautionary, safety and health talks and then adjourned for the day.

Wednesday through to Friday saw our first lectures, 1-4pm everyday, though all three days we were given very generous early marks. Naturally, we had no idea where our classes where being held and so enjoyed being led around to a few of the different places and can now confidently find our way :D

Our professor is a really lovely man and the policy at USFQ, much like at JCU, is that you do not speak with titles, but with first names, which I really really like :D

Apologies

Sorry for my lack of blogging for so long, we have been darting all over the place with uni and I haven't had a spare moment to site down and blog. So, for each of the major happenings in the last week, I will make a new post, so that there is not one massive and boring one. So, firstly, Orientation -

Buenos Noches!

Well, here I am again, my apologies for the delay in writing another post since the first one, upon arriving in Ecuador, Internet was tricky to get. My flight from Los Angeles to Costa Rica was really lovely, I met a wonderful Colombian woman who sat across the aisle from me, who noticed me ready my Spanish dictionary and phrasebook and offered to help me. We traded words for about an hour, until we were too exhausted to continue. She was so lovely to help, and I am so grateful for the little tips she gave me.

After landing in Costa Rica, we hung around in the airport for about an hour before embarking on our final flight that would take us into Quito. After getting through immigrations and customs, Taylah and I parted ways, as her host family picked her up, and I headed off to my hostel, the Secret Garden. Quito reminded me, in parts, of Tanzania, and I was soaking up the atmosphere eagerly. It may have also been the fact that at 2800m above sea level, I was literally soaking up as much of the oxygen as I could. I arrived at the hostel, which was quaint and wonderful, but certainly a workout - Ecuadorian stairs are nearly as large, if not more so, than Tanzanian stairs!!! My legs are not that long! The reception sits at the top of 4 stories, on the terrace, so they really make you work for the check in - but the view from the terrace is certainly worth the effort!

As both my normal and travel sim failed to allow me to connect to a network in Ecuador, I set off to explore the streets in search of a sim card - Internet was down and so I needed some way to let everyone know I had arrived and was in fact still alive.  Fumbling my way through with very poor Spanish, I finally came across a small store that looked promising - and turned out to be very promising as when remarking to the man that my Spanish was no es beuno, and that I sort of wished I was in a French speaking country, he proceeded to rattle off in French. I very gladly joined in, and so rather cheated on my first day, getting by with French. He set my phone up with one of the Ecuadorian network sims, and I was able to call home. Unfortunately, as it would turn out, that was all I could do - texting was not able to happen from this network. But that can come later.

So, extremely jet lagged as I was, and attempting to adjust to being at a high altitude, I settle in for the evening, only to find that 16 hours time difference really does throw your sleeping patterns. I managed to get a few hours between tossing and turning. In the morning, I was still exhausted, and woke to have breakfast, a quick chat with my mum and then returned to the cocoon of my room for some shut eye, as at that point, it was midnight at home - and boy, did my body know that! But prior to turning in, I met a lovely American woman who was leaving to go back home and she gave me her antibiotic ointment - long story short, I had a small wound alongside one of my fingernails, which while clean at home, had become infected and pussy along the trip - and of course, the only thing missing from my mobile pharmacy was antiseptic cream. So, I used the cream that this lady gave me, all hunky dorey, went to sleep - to be woken with Taylah and two new friends, Jordan and Ian at my door. Without Internet, I had not been able to tell Taylah I was safely at my hostel, and believing I was either out of Internet reach or dead, she came to the hostel to cllect me for a day of exploration. Rather groggily, I got dressed and we embarked on our quest, which took us to Parque la Carolina, the largest park in Quito, with and assortment of attractions. The first stop was the botanical gardens, which provided some remarkably beautiful specimens of flora, some even from Australia :) Afterwards, we headed over to El Jardin, the large shopping centre across from the park, to get lunch - boy was I in for a surprise! I had realised that Quito was more cosmopolitan than Moshi, and even Arusha and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania - but I was yet to realise just how much. Walking into El Jardin, I could have been walking into any large shopping centre in Australia - I was stunned! They even had pizza hut! and baskin robbins!!!! After picking my jaw up from the floor, we headed up to the food court, which was massive! I had a lasagna and salad.

After lunch, we returned to the park to visit the reptile house, which had some amazing snakes, including a large variety of vipers! And I got to cuddle a boa constrictor, who was very amiable.

Needless to say, exhausted, I returned to my hostel, and the others left for Cumbaya to return to their host home. Upon returning to my room, I took off my shirt - to find my entire right shoulder, all the way down to my elbow covered in a bright red rash - and I rather thought that was not good. Checking for bites, and realising I had none, I retraced my steps to what may have caused this reaction... and found myself looking at the tube of antibiotic cream. Sure enough, written in the directions was a warning that if allergic to the active ingredients, one may find a rash appear....hhmm.

So, more than likely setting a record for the earliest call to the International SOS that we have been subscribed to through the university, I called and requested some medical advice, which was readily given by a very nice doctor. Anyway, the rash cleared up over night, and the cream went away, after making a very bold note in my notebook of the active ingredients and highlighting the fact I had an allergic reaction to those ingredients. Not going there again!

Unfortunately, another rather sleepless and jet lagged night followed. The next morning (Saturday) I comically stumbled on the other Australian student who would be studying the marine biology track with me, and we introduced ourselves, had breakfast, and headed off to the shops to grab a few things, before meeting the others in the Historical Centre of Quito - which, in a word, is stunning!!! After a wonderful morning there, Merric and I returned to the hostel, stopping for lunch on the way, to wait for our host families. My host parents arrived first, and needless to say, they were amazing! Such lovely welcoming people. I am so blessed to be staying with them, and their son and his wife. They are all really lovely people, and I could not have asked for a kinder host family. They took me to their home and introduced me to where I would be spending the next month, fed me and showed me to my room, which is really lovely. Later that evening, my lovely American housemate Ashleigh arrived. I was so excited when we were all together, as I was a tad nervous that perhaps my host family, or my housemate, or even all of the above would not like me. But we all get on really well!!!

Today (Sunday) our Spanish mother and father took us to Mitad del Mundo - the Middle of the World - where I stood on the Equator, and in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres at the same time :) It was ridiculously awesome! We then came home and had lunch, which was cooked by Antonio and Susana's lovely son Ricardo, who, by the by, is an AMAZING chef!!!! The food was wonderful, and we had a lovely chat. I am really enjoying our chats with Antonio and Susana, they are teaching us so much Spanish and being so kind with our fumbling, especially mine, as Ashleigh has much better Spanish than mine. But I am really looking forward to improving. I just keep swapping into French, as there are so many words that are either similar, or exactly the same!!

Well, that is about all for now, if you have managed to stay with me this entire post, then wow, that's amazing and I appreciate your interest in my happenings - if you couldn't do the whole thing, I really really don't blame you, it's a rather long rambling!! Tomorrow, we have our first day of orientation, and it is rather late here, though my body is still on Aussie time. So I should head off

Buenos noches!! Hasta pronto!

Ciao!

Los Angeles pit stop

Well, we meet once again on the field of blogging. This time, my blog will play host to the updates from my trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos, and then the UK.  My friend and I are embarking on an epic adventure in the name of scientific study - well, university scientific study :P we're off on exchange for marine biology/zoology!

We had a pretty comfy flight over, the A380 planes are very comfortable and qantas definitely spoiled us in terms of food, that is for sure! There were plenty of good movies and tv shows to watch and keep us occupied for the 14 hour haul. And there were many moments of yoga at the back of the plane, trying to stretch out and loosen our tight muscles. All in all, the flight went smoothly, except for a smidge of turbulence, which is always good fun.

We have now made it to our accommodation and are comfortably plopped on the beds enjoying the feeling of spreading out after a long flight, and a long wait in customs and immigration. So this is phase one of the trip over! Our next phase is in a day or so, when we head off for another two flights to take us down to Ecuador.

So for the moment, we'll figure out what to see and do while in LA, and definitely catch up on some sleep!! And it was pretty awesome as we got to go back in time, so you can call me the time lord :P

Hope everyone back home is well!!! I will update again soon

God bless!

Annie