Day 5 - Early bird catches the worm, or in this case, the bird

Day 5

Another 5am wake up. This morning it was for the bird team though, I was told that there’s a lot of sitting involved, I won’t lie that it was a bit of a relief. After a short walk we got to the bird traps, a loose black net like trap that captures low flying birds. Once all three are set up we wait for a short period of time and then go to check them to see if any birds have been caught. It was a pretty successful morning; we caught many different birds, identified them, studied them, tagged them and then let them free. Louis, the bird coordinator showed me how to get the bird safely from the net and back to our site location out in the jungle.

The mist nets, by Zoe Cole. 

Zoe and Louis would go to one location, Pedro and I went to the other, and we meet back with our newly captured birds. Both Zoe and I caught and secured our own birds for the first time ever. Which is awesome. It was great to be so up close to the birds and to see them more intimately.

Measuring the birds' wings

Identifying the birds

Louis looking for signs of molting 

          

Pedro (Jesus) guiding us back to camp.

It was a successful morning for us and it was a change from hiking around looking for mammals, this morning, in my opinion was a lot more hands on and I felt I learnt a lot (but then I didn’t know much to begin with!). We came back around 10am for a late breakfast and to have to little time to relax on the hammocks. We had some crazy weather today too, there was thunder like I’ve never heard before, the whole camp was shaking and the sky was roaring. It was so beautiful in the morning, the weather can change so rapidly here, one minute it’s sunny and clear, and before you know it there’s a downpour. And it’s supposedly the dry season here. Ha!

We had another evening of dinner by candlelight and played some cards. I was able to stay up a bit longer as I knew I didn’t have a ridiculously early morning ahead of me, so a few of us stayed up and discussed life, love, religion, and finally, buffy the vampire slayer, and stayed up ‘til the wee hours of the, errr, night, which was 11:30pm, which honest to goodness is late when the sun sets at 5:45pm and everyone crashes at 9pm!  

Day 4 - Sunday Funday

5am alarm. That was painful. The only reason I’ll awake early (before noon) on a Sunday is at the potential chance to see some wild mammals in the jungle. I went along the PC loop trail with Juancarlos and Corrie again (not so sure what’s so politically correct about it, but I went along with it). It was a pretty chilled walk as we wanted to be pretty slow and quiet so that we could look out for animals. Juan pretty quickly spotted some movement up in the canapés, it was a couple of squirrels. Further down the trail we saw some monkeys howler monkeys, it was pretty awesome to see them out in the wild, but of course they had to be in a tree that was rooted in a swamp, and of course I had to have the wellies with a gaping hole in them - squelch, that's my word of the day. It was really difficult to get a picture of the monkeys, they were so high in the canapé and with the morning sunrise brightening the sky and being in the darkness of the jungle it felt almost impossible to get a decent picture. However, I did get a picture of the monkeys tail. SCORE! We then spotted a deer and I got a kick ass picture of its butt - Second word of the day is 'rear'.

The highlight of the trip has to be the fact that Corrie spotted a puma track. It was so fresh, it was amazing to think that just a few hours ago there was a puma walking in the exact spot that I was walking. We took som measurements and pictures of the paw print and noted were it was sighted so that we could determine weather it was worth putting a camera trap in that area. A little further down he trail I spotted another puma track, this time, a very small one. The puma had a baby puma with her! Excitement filled me at the thought of the two of them roaming around the jungle. It would make my year if I was to spot a wild puma, but it was great enough to know that they are here, within walking distance of me, and there’s some cub pumas trotting about too. Fucking awesome!

Adult Puma

Juvenile Puma 

We got back in time for a late breakfast (9am - still can’t believe I was up that early) and chilled for a couple of hours. Sundays here are usually a day where the volunteers/workers can chill and have a bit of a rest. They also often go down to the local community – which is a 30-45 min boat ride down the river – to play football/volleyball with the locals. Me, Zoe a few of the other guys and the staff here made our way down the river towards to Lucerna.

We watched the guys who were crazy enough to play football in the immense heat, and cheered them on. It was amazing though, between the first and last game the weather had completely changed, blazing sun to cloudy and raining, to mild and sticky. The weather here is so intense, but I still can’t get over how quick changing it is. Once they finished football we decided that buying a beer from the local ‘shop’ was a good idea – it was indeed a great idea. Pedro, Tom Zoe and I were roped into playing volleyball. We had a blast playing (and losing miserably) and rewarded ourselves with the now warm, beer! 

Half time

Team Fauna Forever

Us playing Volleyball with the locals

It was a bit of a rush to get back to boat as the sun was starting to set. The trip back was epic. I usually hate that word, but I am using it in its most sincere meaning. The sunset was magical, it was so bright and powerful that we were all in awe. The clouds started to gather on the way and I could see mist in the far distance of the river. This mist was rain, and I mean, rain!  It was getting darker and darker and the rain was hitting us hard. We were using life jackets to cover ourselves but I was far too excited, I pushed my camera to the limit and when I thought that was too much, I had my GOPRO. I love weather. No, I really fucking LOVE weather.

Once we got back to our port, it was dark, wet and the steep hill to get to the top was slippery and unforgiving. I didn’t have my torch on my (well actually I did, but I put it in a silly pocket and didn’t realise, so I fully believed I didn’t, Zoe did the same thing - we’re such twats!) Pedro also didn’t have one, so we just went for it and paced through the jungle with no light, and with the rain beating down on us. It was so exhilarating. We got back to camp safely, we were all hot, sweaty and soaking wet so we all went for our freezing cold shower to cool off.

I love the evenings here, as it’s so peaceful and tranquil. The sound of the jungle is constant and comforting, while the candles at the table make a perfect evening ambience. Me and Pedro did some stretching/yoga in the communal area after a long day to unwind before we sat for dinner. We all have eat together, with the just the two candles to light us up. We all get along together so well that conversation is always flowing we’re always laughing. There is something really special about being here.

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Day 3 - Awake in the jungle

Day 3 – 3^rd May

First day waking up in the jungle, I slept quite well considering the almost deafening noise of the crickets, monkeys, birds and all the other wildlife, but I found it quite relaxing to hear the outside noise while I was safe under my mosquito net.

I woke up about 7am ready for breakfast, which was a huge bowl of chocolate oats, boiled eggs and more bread than you can shake a stick at, but I made myself eat as I knew I would be hungry while trekking so I filled up. Me, Corrie and Juancarlos, the Mammal coordinator, went for a mid morning trek along the river trail towards the waterfall, it was too late in the day to see any mammals, but we saw some spiders and insects, lots of butterflies, fungi, a couple of bats and birds, and some cat tracks - which was awesome. We think it was an Ocelot track, and it seemed pretty fresh. It's known that the cats do use the bridges and trails than man has made, it's so amazing to think that I'm walking in the same paw steps as these amazing cats. At the end of the trail we had the satisfaction of sitting on the top of the beautiful and serene waterfall. I could have stayed there all day. Before I leave I have to go back and just sit there for the day, it's so peaceful. 

          

Being out in the jungle is so amazing. It's everything I hoped it would be and more. I feel instantly at home here; walking through the trail and following the marks and taking time to soak in all the different plants, trees, insects, smells etc. is an unique feeling. There's so much for me to learn here, 

                   

We made our way back to camp along the waterfall trail and were yet again, greeted by lunch (I love that this is becoming a thing!). The rain came in the afternoon, most people were out on field so it was peaceful at camp and the smell of the rain was wonderful, and the gentle breeze that came with it was even more welcomed.  So I spent the afternoon rummaging through pictures, drinking tea, and slapping myself every once in a while to see if I'm actually just dreaming that I'm in the Amazon or not. It seems that I am most definitely awake and alive in the jungle. 

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P.s Coca tea is my new favourite thing.

Day 2 - Jungle Mania

Day 2 – 2^nd May

Tired eyes and sleepy mind awoke early today for the early morning trip to the jungle where Pie camp is. We all packed what we needed for the trip and got ourselves prepared with a big breakfast and water on hand. Our ride came at half 9 to load our stuff, the car journey took us around 3 hours, the roads were great and then the final road to the port was slow, bumpy, wet, and then very bumpy, and then very wet. We had to get out of the car in preparation to push the car out of the water, luckily we didn’t have to, but we did get pretty muddy in the process.

Lucerna

Once we arrived at the port at Lucerna, we got on the boat for the final let of the journey to the Pie. The boat trip lasted about 45 minutes, and we pulled up just after a waterfall, Zoe told us, “Oh, that’s where we’re getting dropped off!” My immediate reply was, “fuck off, really?!”. She was pointing towards a steep, muddy cliff (at this time it was also raining), this was going to be fun with all our heavy bags, I though. We managed to clumber up, we got super soaked (and I’m not talking about the rain this time!) the humidity here is pretty brutal, it seems that just breathing makes you sweat, but hey, I was embracing the hot, red, wet look. Sexy. The site was another 500m ish away, up hill. This wouldn’t be a problem but after 5 hours of travelling, no food since 8am and with the intense weather, it felt like I was climbing a mountain. When we arrived at camp it was like something out of a fairy tale, the huts here are super cool, and there is no electricity other than a small generator that goes on for a couple of hours a day for laptop chargers etc, and there are hammocks to chill out on and a great open space for all us interns/volunteers/coordinators to relax and socialise. I was even happier to be greeted by food. I almost shed a tear with happiness.

The sun sets here at about 6pm, we got out a few candles to eat dinner with and then played some cards, Ass Hole, to be more specific. I was pretty tired at 7pm, I’d like to say that the 23 hours of travelling got to me but I’m not sure I can blame the lack of sleep. I was ready for bed when I saw thunder across the canapés of the jungle, holy shit I was excited! The storm was moving really fast and before I knew it, it was behind me, I looked out and I suddenly saw the night sky – why did it take me so long to look up – I was amazed to see the amazing, cloudless, southern sky, and what a sight it was. For the first time EVER in real life I saw the Milky Way galaxy, suddenly the exhaustion left me and I was running to get my camera. I didn’t bring my beastly tripod but Zoe luckily had one, so we, along with Corrie, stood out watching the sky while I zoned into my photographer mode... 

A few distant lightning sparks filled the night sky, along with a couple of comets and of course, that beautiful milky way. My heart felt full. Happiness overwhelmed me. I like the jungle.

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Day 1 - Hola Peru

Day 1 -  1^st May

I arrived in Peru slightly later than expected, thanks to a crazy lady in Lima who missed her plane to Cusco who then proceeded to run out the gate without permission and then, once that plan failed, she tried to hijack our plane – how was she not arrested?! There I was thinking I had to be on my best behaviour in Peru…

Anyway, once I finally arrived, Dave from Fauna Forever came to meet me at the airport; the house was only 10 minutes away he told me. I arrived to be greeted by the 10 other housemates. I was given some time to settle in and was then told that I will only be there for one night as I would be heading out to the jungle tomorrow – a bit of a shock to me I thought I would mainly be in the house as my position is social media/marketing intern as it has internet there and not in the jungle, but hell it was good news for me! So I had a shower just in time for lunch.

We headed out to town for lunch, the restaurant was really sweet, and had some great looking food as well as some awesome homemade lemonade and fresh juice. I got to know the housemates/volunteers a little better. Afterwards we went to the local blue market by scooter taxi to pick up some last minute bits to go into the jungle with. My first sightings of Peru were pretty much what I expected, scooters everywhere with a huge lack of health and safety, seeing a man riding on the back of the scooted dragging a machete along the road confirmed this fact for me, busy streets full of people and markets full of food and colour, stray cats and dogs everywhere you turn – full of character, basically.

Blue Market

The evening consisted of chilling out, having a health and safety briefing for the jungle and scrambling for internet to try and let people know that I would be un-contactable for a while – I couldn’t even log in to facebook so all of about three/four people were lucky enough to get an email (which took all day to send, so apologies to those who might think I’m dead right now). 

Zoe, one of the housemates, and the other creative media intern made some delicious food and a few of us chatted all evening about what why we’re here, what we can achieve, the changes that the Peruvian landscape has witnessed over the last century and the adventure ahead of us. 

Time for bed!

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