Backlog #3
As an aside to those of you catching this post on Facebook- I'm catching up on the things I've done over the past year, starting out with a recounting of my adventures in Ecuador. The way I see it, if I don't write it down then nobody's going to believe my story. As it stands I have a hard time believing it myself.
On my first day with the nursing students I went out for a hike with all of them. We were guided by the local yacha (shaman) who was describing the various medicinal uses for plants. There was a wide, flat vine that (if I remember right) was used to make poison for arrows, and a couple of trees that had bark that was good for one thing or another. I should have payed better attention, but I was still a little jet-lagged.
Then we came to the first thing that stood out. A tree that stood on its own, inside a circle about six feet wide at its base. This was notable because there was no vegetation around it at all. Then one of our guides pulled down a stem. At the base of each leaf was a sort of bulbous protrusion. He cut this open to expose a group of ants, and instructed us to taste them. They tasted approximately like lemon.
The ants live symbiotically with the plants- the ants defend the plants from attackers and infection, and the plants provide a shelter for the ants. Plants harboring these ant colonies are widespread throughout the area, and I took several opportunities to photograph them.
As we hiked further we came across flowers and plants and a great number of things that astonished me. I was feeling a bit in shock from the flamboyant, multicolored displays of flora and insect fauna on display- coming from a place where every plant, reptile and bird is dull-colored in drab brown and grey I felt like I was suddenly living life through some sort of strange glasses that flung colors everywhere.
It was fortunate, though, that I wasn't actually wearing these technicolor spectacles. The humidity was far higher than I was accustomed to as well. The high rainfall that produced such amazing flora also provided miserably sticky, heavy air and very muddy trails, which brought me to another moment for the journal. We came across a spot in the trail where it was eroded away by a small ditch, about three or four feet wide and two or so feet deep. The entire area was muddy and slippery, and strewn with leaves.
If I hadn't been warned by one of the people ahead of me I might never have seen the snake calmly coiled in the ditch. There was no easy way about it, but it seemed that the best course of action was to jump the ditch. Going around would necesitate stepping into the ditch right near the snake, as the jungle beside the trail was quite thick. So I jumped. It was fortunate that I wasn't the first to go as I nearly lost my footing on the opposite bank, but the nursing students helped me steady myself. I took the opportunity to snap a couple photos of the little fellow.
Seemingly not wanting to be outdone, the order Hymenoptera provided another sight that astonished even someone not put off by the sight of a tarantula or other desert-dwelling crawler- the largest ant I had ever seen.
One of the more daring among us provided a hand model to compare for scale- this ant was well over an inch long and quite large circumferentially as well.
Even as we reached a shelter where we were to eat lunch there were more amazing thins to see. I discovered a small red bug hiding in a heliconia, and in deference to a shutterbug it provided me with the professional courtesy of not fleeing immediately.
Fortunately for my appetite lunch arrived fairly quickly, and it was only a preview of what was to come. As the first representative of a great many nearly identical meals I would eat during my time there I found that the plate of beans and rice served quite well. The hot sauce, fruit juice and watermelon slice served as a fine diplomatic entourage from the embassy of Napo River cuisine.
The rest of the day I spent exploring the 'field school' where I would spend most of my time for the following three weeks. There were several hens running around with their chicks, and one of my fellow guests discovered an interloper in his cabin.
That isn't my hand in the picture- I was merely the documenter in this instance. We can see that the fellow attached to it has sense enough to wear a thick leather glove and gently lift the tarantula somewhere other than right on its fangs.
Drop in for the next installments, when I find bees in a sock, Seussian foliage, and the wonders of time-lapse photography, not to mention a leech and a gold skultulla. All in one day, if you can believe it.
On my first day with the nursing students I went out for a hike with all of them. We were guided by the local yacha (shaman) who was describing the various medicinal uses for plants. There was a wide, flat vine that (if I remember right) was used to make poison for arrows, and a couple of trees that had bark that was good for one thing or another. I should have payed better attention, but I was still a little jet-lagged.
Then we came to the first thing that stood out. A tree that stood on its own, inside a circle about six feet wide at its base. This was notable because there was no vegetation around it at all. Then one of our guides pulled down a stem. At the base of each leaf was a sort of bulbous protrusion. He cut this open to expose a group of ants, and instructed us to taste them. They tasted approximately like lemon.
The ants live symbiotically with the plants- the ants defend the plants from attackers and infection, and the plants provide a shelter for the ants. Plants harboring these ant colonies are widespread throughout the area, and I took several opportunities to photograph them.
As we hiked further we came across flowers and plants and a great number of things that astonished me. I was feeling a bit in shock from the flamboyant, multicolored displays of flora and insect fauna on display- coming from a place where every plant, reptile and bird is dull-colored in drab brown and grey I felt like I was suddenly living life through some sort of strange glasses that flung colors everywhere.
It was fortunate, though, that I wasn't actually wearing these technicolor spectacles. The humidity was far higher than I was accustomed to as well. The high rainfall that produced such amazing flora also provided miserably sticky, heavy air and very muddy trails, which brought me to another moment for the journal. We came across a spot in the trail where it was eroded away by a small ditch, about three or four feet wide and two or so feet deep. The entire area was muddy and slippery, and strewn with leaves.
If I hadn't been warned by one of the people ahead of me I might never have seen the snake calmly coiled in the ditch. There was no easy way about it, but it seemed that the best course of action was to jump the ditch. Going around would necesitate stepping into the ditch right near the snake, as the jungle beside the trail was quite thick. So I jumped. It was fortunate that I wasn't the first to go as I nearly lost my footing on the opposite bank, but the nursing students helped me steady myself. I took the opportunity to snap a couple photos of the little fellow.
Seemingly not wanting to be outdone, the order Hymenoptera provided another sight that astonished even someone not put off by the sight of a tarantula or other desert-dwelling crawler- the largest ant I had ever seen.
One of the more daring among us provided a hand model to compare for scale- this ant was well over an inch long and quite large circumferentially as well.
Even as we reached a shelter where we were to eat lunch there were more amazing thins to see. I discovered a small red bug hiding in a heliconia, and in deference to a shutterbug it provided me with the professional courtesy of not fleeing immediately.
Fortunately for my appetite lunch arrived fairly quickly, and it was only a preview of what was to come. As the first representative of a great many nearly identical meals I would eat during my time there I found that the plate of beans and rice served quite well. The hot sauce, fruit juice and watermelon slice served as a fine diplomatic entourage from the embassy of Napo River cuisine.
The rest of the day I spent exploring the 'field school' where I would spend most of my time for the following three weeks. There were several hens running around with their chicks, and one of my fellow guests discovered an interloper in his cabin.
That isn't my hand in the picture- I was merely the documenter in this instance. We can see that the fellow attached to it has sense enough to wear a thick leather glove and gently lift the tarantula somewhere other than right on its fangs.
Drop in for the next installments, when I find bees in a sock, Seussian foliage, and the wonders of time-lapse photography, not to mention a leech and a gold skultulla. All in one day, if you can believe it.
Labels: Beans and Rice, Cotococha, Napo Province, shaman, SNAKE
posted by Pablo at 8:54 PM
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