A week in the valley, two weeks in the Amazon, a spontaneous weekend trip, and a FINAL grad school update (feb 10-mar2)

2/15/20
This past week was another week of classes in Cumbaya. We had our ecology midterm on Tuesday and our final exam in Spanish on Wednesday. On Thursday we only had class in the morning and on Friday we left for Tiputini Biodiversity Station (TBS) in the Amazon.
On both Monday and Tuesday I spent the evenings with Henry and Karli studying for our exam. We found a terrace on top of the mall with a fantastic view of the valley below where we spend the majority of our time studying. On Wednesday after our Spanish exam, we went to the taco place across the street and had beers with our Spanish professor–a short, mid-fifty year old Spanish woman who has the heart and sense of humor of a 20 year old. She showed us about 20 different ways to cheers/toast is Spanish. After dinner we went home and then regrouped later at Sabai where we drank on the patio until they kicked us out. On Thursday we had class in the morning and then afterwards Henry, Karli, Tony, Riley and I went to an outdoor Italian place for lunch. We then went to a park where the four of them worked together to cut my hair before we left civilization for the next two weeks. Karli and I also cut Henry's hair. The five of us spent the rest of the evening at the pool watching the sunset over the valley. I then went home and packed for our two week trip to the amazon.
On Friday I woke up at 4:30 so I could be at the university by 5:30. All was well until I got to the main gate of the gated community I live in and there was no guard to open the gate. Keep in mind this is a 10 foot tall steel gate that cars can drive thru and I have no keys or way to open it on my own. I started to panic as my Uber driver angrily messaged me letting me know they were waiting on the other side. I knocked on the guard house but the lights were off and the door locked. I realized I would miss my flight if I didn't find a way to get out asap so naturally I decided I needed to climb over this gate. I was winding up to throw my backpack over the gate so I could climb over with my heavier duffel bag on my back when the gate miraculously opened. I cannot even imagine what the uber diver would have thought if he looked up as saw a gringo with a duffle the same size as him climbing over this gate. I got to the university on time and we got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
Henry, Karli and I got empanadas for breakfast while we waited and halfway thru eating mine I realized there were carrots in it and my eyes were swelling shut. I popped two benedryls and the next thing I knew we were on the other side of the Andes getting into a long canoe on the Napo river. The canoe ride was two hours and it poured the entire time. At one point a wave crashed over the side soaking half of the group–myself included. We got out of the canoe at an oil company checkpoint (they have drilling rights to a huge portion of the Amazon in Ecuador even though its a national park). They scanned our bags for drugs, weapons and alcohol and other prohibited items. Their security was arguably higher than the security at the Quito airport. We boarded a bus (which surprisingly had a roof and sides) then then drove two hours down an oil company road. The Benadryl kicked in again and I have no memory of that trip. We arrived at another research station on the Tiputini River (part of the Amazon river system) and boarded another canoe. This one lasted about two hours and we finally arrived at TBS at about 6pm. We had dinner and while most people went to bed immediately, Henry Karli and I stayed up playing cards and games in the library.
On day two we woke for breakfast at 6:30 and then split into three groups. My group took the canoe up the river, got out a few miles up stream, and then hiked a mile to a lagoon that used to be connected to the Tiputini River. We took a smaller canoe out on the lagoon and watched birds, fish, and spider monkeys. We then walked all the way back to the station just in time for lunch at 12. At 2:30 the guides took us out in the forest and randomly dropped us off along the trail one by one. They left us alone in the forest for an hour and a half during which were were to observe the forest. The most noticeable thing to me was how loud it was–insects, water, frogs, birds, etc.
From 5-7 we had lecture. At 7 we ate dinner. Until about 9:30 most of us worked on homework and then everyone went to bed. Henry, Karli and I played cards and read random books we found in the library. We walked down to the river and found scorpions, toads, and frogs. The next day I found out the toad we saw shoots venom. Around 11:30 we went to bed.
Some side notes about TBS...
-Started about 25 years ago by Boston University and is now in partnership with University of San Fransisco de Quito (our host university here in Ecuador and the top ranked university in the country)
-When it was established, Ecuador was dividing up the Amazon to give out oil concessions, protect some land, and give some to indigenous people. A small chunk carved out be the Tiputini river was left out and Boston University swooped in and made it a research station
​-The land the station is on is reletively un impacted but the surrounding area is heavily impacted by the oil company
-The oil company has caused lots of issues with native Waorani tribes by introducing them to western culture and impacting their land
-TBS has electricity from a generator from 10am-1pm and 6:30pm-9:30pm. during these times the library and student lounge are air conditioned
​-There is running water that is filtered from the river but no hot water
-There is a dining hall, library, researcher offices, ~18 cabins, and ~12 full time staff of researchers guides, and cooks
​-It is only accessible by canoe or in an emergency by oil company helicopter at a helipad 1km away
2/16/20
We split into our three groups again today and this time my group took our breakfasts to go and hiked to an observation tower. The top platform is located about 45m off the ground in a Ceiba tree that is estimated to be 300-400 years old. We stayed there from 7-10:30 before taking a long hike back to the station. While on the tower, we saw dozens of species of birds, 2 species of monkeys, 2 types of poison dart frogs, and more ants than I needed to see. We also saw the "sunrise" or gradual lightening of the sky but there is so much humidity that you only ever see a bright haze until the afternoon when it gets hotter.
We ate lunch at 12 and then we napped on top of the water tower until 1:30. We then split up into groups of 4 to do an insect diversity project out in the forest that I won't bore you with the details of but it can be summarized as three hours of digging small holes in the hot, humid rainforest. We had lecture from 4:30 to 7 and then dinner at 7.
Henry, Kari, and I then studied in the library during which our TA walked in and gasped. "Are you guys studying?!"
"Yes...?"
"I've never seen the three of you working this hard, this quiet, this serious."
Take that as you will.

Weather in the Amazon
It rains everyday here. Multiple times. Hard. It is also very humid and hot (80s). Because of this you sweat but its so humid that the sweat doesn't evaporate so you just sit there like a wet dog. You also have to wear long pants and rubber boots all of the time to protect yourself from snakes. While it is wet, the rubber boots are entirely for snake protection and have almost nothing to do with water. At night I crawl into sheets that are damp from humidity. I usually wake up every few hours to the sound a Leptadactylus pentadactulus (a frog who lives under the cabins and scream "WHOOP" every 2-3 seconds) or from malaria medication induced dreams. These are known for causing incredibly lucid and vivid dreams. They are truly terrifying.
2/17/20
​Today after breakfast we hiked in our small group to a salt lick. In the Amazon, the soil is so degraded and nutrient poor that animals actually struggle to get some nutrients such a salt. A salt lick is a cliff face made of mud where water leeches out and deposits salt. Animals regularly visit them to obtain salts and other nutrients. We took two hours getting there, sat there for an hour, and then walked the two hours back. It rained for the hour we were there and we didn't see a single animal. Yet it was oddly relaxing to be still out in the rain. We had lunch and then continued working on our insect diversity projects as well as some plant surveys. We had lecture from 5-7, dinner at 7, and then Henry, Karli and I worked on homework in the library. This time, it was our professor who walked in and said, "This is unusual...the three of you quiet and working...?"
2/18/20
We has breakfast today and then got in the large canoe so we could float down the river to observe wildlife. We saw monkeys, various large rodents, and plenty of birds. At one point we stopped the canoe on a bank so we could get out and walk on a trail. Three people got stuck in waist deep mud and one one rubber boot was lost and never recovered. We got back on the boat and floated a bit before we jumped in the river and floated a few km in our lifejackets. The water is not that warm and you're advised to not touch the bottom if you like your toes. We had lunch and then had the afternoon "off" so we could work on homework and meet with our small research groups. We had lecture from 4-7, dinner, and then the usual shenanigans.
2/19/20
Today about half of us (myself included) woke up at 5:30 and hiked about a km into the forest to set up mist nets for birds. These are fine meshed nets that are about 2m high and 8m wide and are hung vertically about a meter off the ground. Birds fly into them and get caught. The idea is to put them up and check them every hour. We did this for three hours and didn't catch a single bird. Our professors said that in the 12 years since they started doing this program, that is the first time thats ever happened.
​In-between checking the nets we sat on the trail, napped, talked, relaxed and listened to the forest. This was one of my favorite experiences in the woods. While walking in-between the nets, we discovered a fer-de-lance snake on the path. This is a highly venomous snake whose bite will cause you to lose which ever limb it bites you on. It had a frog in its mouth and was slowly dragging it into a tree. It was also slowly pulling the frog deeper into its mouth by walking its fangs over the frog's body. We watched for a few minutes before it dropped the frog at which point our professor said, "that is very unusual for a snake to drop its prey. Its fang are now empty which means it is looking to fill them with something new (us). We need to leave now."
We had lecture from 10-12 followed by lunch. We had another "free" afternoon which was spend napping, working on homework and working on our research projects that we would be starting the following day. I worked with Henry and a girl named Riley on a project looking at macro invertebrate communities in the different aquatic ecosystems in the amazon. While I do find rivers interesting, our project choice was mostly driven by our mutual desires to spend four days just chilling on a canoe.
2/20/20-2/25/20
We spent each morning our on the water collecting data for our project and spent the afternoon processing our data (which entails staring through a microscope at a bunch of dirt and a few small insects and trying to identify them). I normally hate this work but because most people were out in the field, it was oddly quiet in the lab and this became by favorite part of the day. Despite being in the middle of the rainforest, it was never quite because of so many people in a small space and the wildlife. During all of our time on the water, we swam twice in the Tiputini River. Once was with a river dolphin and the second time was with an unknown animal that bit me. We got to spend an hour one afternoon floating down the river to get back to the station and I swear that was the only time I've ever actually been out in the sun since getting here because the canopy is so thick that sunlight almost never makes it to the ground. We made a habit of sitting by the river for an hour drinking tea after getting back in the morning but before processing our sample in the lab. We worked in the rain and in the brutal heat but ended up collecting enough data to write our paper.
Henry,Karli, and I spent most evenings in the library or lounge wasting time doing nothing. We listened to music ( I realized the hardest part of not having internet for two weeks is that you cant stream new music.), playing cards, and just doing nothing till 2 am.
​We spent most of the 25th finishing up homework and studying for our field exam on the 26.
2/26/20-2/27/20
We spent the morning of the 26 studying for our field exam. We are expected to know and be able to recognize and identify common plants and animals. We need to know bird calls and frog calls.
Our exam was in the afternoon and took three hours of walking through the forest with our professor asking what certain plants were or what made that noise. I was relived when it was over. We spent the evening working on homework and wrapping up our class.
The 27th was our only true free day. Henry, Karli, and I walked to the lagoon and took the canoe out for the morning. In the afternoon we walked to the canopy tower, relaxed up there for a few hours and then watched the sunset. We got back for dinner and then packed so we could wake up early and leave the next day.

2/28/20
Our flight from Coca got moved up a few hours so we had to leave Tiputini at 5:30am. We traced back our steps (2 hour boat ride, 2 hour bus ride, 2 hour boat ride, 1 hour flight, 30 minute bus ride back to the University). I was fortunately awake for most of this trip, although it did rain for almost all of it. We got back to Quito at around 4. A few of us went straight to our favorite restaurant and had burgers and a beer. I went home and fell asleep by 7.

3/1/20
On Saturday morning, Henry, Karli and I took a bus into down town Quito where we boarded a bus that would take us to Banos, a super touristy town about 4 hours away with lots of waterfalls, hot springs, and hiking. The trip did not go as planned. We intended to get there around 1 but got there closer to 5 due to an accident on the highway not that far out side of Banos. The road closed for a few hours and we ended dup walking about 3 miles up the mountain before we were able to get on a different bus in to Banos. By the time we got there, we realized we wouldn't have enough time to go to any of the waterfalls or hotspings. We decided to take advantage of Banos's other main attractions– the food and drinks. We ate and drank all night and all of the next morning before we had to head back to Quito. We got back at around 7.

March 2-7
We have a paper, presentation, project, and two exams this week. We had classes from 9-12 everyday and most afternoons were spent doing homework. On Thursday night our professors took us all out for dinner and then we walked down the street to Sabai Brewery with them and drank and played pool with them till midnight. On friday, Henry, Karly, Riley, and I went out for dinner and a movie to celebrate being done with our tropical ecology class. At some point during the week we discovered there is a pool table in the student lounge at the university and I think that decreased our productivity a bit. Tuesday was Karli's birthday so we went to pizza for lunch to celebrate and then her host mom invited Henry and I over for a incredible lasagna dinner. We also watched Finding Nemo, which was a fantastic prequel to our marine fishes lecture the next day. Over all it was a work hard, play hard week with lots of studying but also lots of lunch and dinners with friends.

3/7/20
Today I was supposed to get on a plane at 9am to Patagonia but when I woke up at 5 and checked my email, I was informed that our flight had been canceled. We had to reschedule and are leaving at 4pm today instead. Had this not happened, this blog post would have had to wait another week.

Grad School Update
On this past Monday I received an email from Virginia Tech letting me know that I was not admitted. I decided to stay at Madison for my 2 year masters program. I was obviously disappointed at first but I am excited to stay in Madison with so many of the people on this trip and people I've met there in the last few years. I am also excited to continue working with my undergraduate thesis advisor.

​