Waterfall

Researchers and tourists aren’t the only visitors to Villa Carmen; we also entertain students from local schools who are interested in learning about the jungle.  I’ve only helped with a few school programs so far, but  has been a quick tour of the property followed by a short hike to the Pini Pini river.  At the river we are met by a small boat which is often one of the more exciting parts for the kids, many of whom have never been on a boat before. 

The boat drops us off at the base of a steep, winding trail that eventually leads to a fifty foot waterfall, making the hot, buggy hike well worth it.  From that high the water lands with enough force to create a sustained wind, providing welcome relief from any insects.   There is a shallow pool at the base of the falls to relax in and you can get a high pressure shoulder massage if you slide under the falls themselves.  The water, coming down from the mountains, is clear and cold and actually chills you if you stay under long enough.  After spending enough time in the hot jungle, being a little cold is actually a welcome sensation.

After the waterfall we take the kids back to the station where we give them lunch and show them the macaws or the snakes if they haven't seen them already.  I wish my Spanish was a little better so I could actually do some teaching but it is still a lot of fun interacting with and learning about the kids.

Bamboo Christmas Tree

With Christmas approaching, Villa Carmen has been in a decidedly festive mood.  Decorations have gone up, we had a secret Santa before people left for the holidays and we even have a Christmas tree.  As you can imagine, there aren't any Christmas trees in the Amazon so we were forced to make our own out of Bamboo.

Cutting and splitting the bamboo

Nicole, Javier and Daniel

 To start, we cut a long piece of bamboo into sections two or three feet long.  We then split these sections into sixteen strips using a hammer and machete to form branches.  We used a narrower piece of bamboo for our trunk and fastened the ‘branches’ to it using wire, bending them outwards to mimic the slope of a Christmas tree.  Once we added lights and other decorations you could hardly tell the difference between our bamboo tree and a real one… well almost.   

Adding the branches

Now for some finishing touches

The pictures don't provide any sound effects but our light string manages to produce some garbled tones that sound vaguely like Christmas songs.  

All done!

Camera Traps

One of my responsibilities here is to check the Camera Traps that have been placed throughout the trail system.  The cameras are specially made to trigger when they sense movement and will take a picture every 30 seconds as long as something is moving in front of them.  Mostly we just get pictures of people walking past or leaves being stirred by the wind but we also get photos of what we are looking for – large mammals and birds.  We have pictures of jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, peccaries, and many more. 

Jaguar

There are two circuits of traps through our trail system and we check them once every two weeks.  The rotation is staggered so that we go out every Monday.  They are pretty simple to maintain, we just replace the memory cards, check to make sure the batteries aren’t low, and make sure no water has gotten inside.  It is sort of like opening presents every time you go out to collect the memory cards since you have no idea what kind of pictures the camera has taken until you load them up on a computer.

Tapir

Once we’ve loaded up all the pictures we sort through them to identify any animals and plug them into a database.  Footprints or sightings of animals also get put in the database so that we can add the info to our distribution maps and catalogue everything that’s living in the area.  Since the camera traps are in a fixed location, we can accurately record where the sightings occur.  The traps also put a time-stamp on the photos which lets us see when different species of animals are active.

Tigrillo

All of this information will hopefully lead to more grants, researchers and tourists coming to Villa Carmen and ACA’s other projects. 

Peccary

Curacao

Paca

Villa Carmen

I’ve been in the Peruvian Amazon for nearly two weeks now and still have another six weeks remaining.  I’m staying in a place called Villa Carmen, a one-time farm that is being converted into a biological research station.  Villa Carmen is just a couple kilometers away from the small town of Pillcopata, the proximity of which affords Villa Carmen various luxuries not easily had in the rainforest, luxuries such as running water, electricity and even internet. 

Pillcopata during a festival

It took me a while to get here, especially since I didn’t fly direct into Cusco.  I had originally planned on taking a 24 hour bus from Lima to Cusco but the miners had gone on strike and had created roadblocks.  I’ve run into this problem before in Bolivia, where the miners would actually use dynamite on the roads when they wanted to protest something.   I gave up waiting after a few days and ended up taking a flight to Cusco before my trip to the Jungle.  It is another eight to ten hours by bus to get from Cusco to Pillcopata, though my trip was extended by a few extra hours when our bus broke down halfway there.   The ride itself is a little hair-raising (as are most bus trips through the Andes) and there were several points when, upon looking out the window, I was faced with vertical drops of several hundred feet and could see no more than twelve inches of space between the muddy road’s edge and the bus’ tires.   You get used to it after a few hours.  Eventually I did arrive at Pillcopata where I then made my way the short distance to Villa Carmen and was welcomed with a hot plate of food and a nice clean bed.

The main building at Villa Carmen

Villa Carmen is owned by the Amazon Conservation Association, a non-profit based out of D.C. that runs projects in both Peru and Bolivia.  Villa Carmen is a fairly new project; it has been up and running for a little over a year and still needs to work some things out until it becomes a full-fledged research station.

The camping platform

I’m here helping with the biological monitoring project that is attempting to keep track and create distribution maps of the resident vertebrates.  We do this by recording sightings, identifying footprints and by using a network of camera traps.  I’ve also been helping to put markers on the trails so that the locations of animals sightings can be more accurately recorded. 

Most of the people here speak only Spanish which was a bit of a struggle at first as I hadn’t been to a Spanish speaking country in nearly a year before I came here.  Now I’m at least able to follow what people are saying but I still have trouble joining into conversations sometimes. 

The local swimming hole

So far, the jungle is a fascinating place.  Life is absolutely everywhere and the biodiversity is incredible.  Of course, the downside of this means that most of that life can bite, sting or poke you but it is incredible to see.   I'll be posting more frequently of the next couple of weeks and I'll be sure to include some pictures of the local wildlife.