Reflections in Tiputini

Arriving in Tiputini

 

On Monday, October 12, I left Quito for the Tiputini Biodiversity Reserve in Amazonian Ecuador.  Simply traveling was an adventure in itself.  I flew from Quito to Coca, a trip that took all of 25 minutes that would have been all day by bus.  It was like being transported to another planet in this short time going from mountains to rainforest in less than a half hour.  Next, I took a boat down the Napo River for about two hours.  The jungle seemed to become denser the further down the river the boat traveled.  At some points along the way, the water would become too shallow to pass on one side, so the boat would make sudden zig zags across the river, sometimes bank to bank. 

 

After two hours of merrily zig zagging, we arrived at a bus station.  There we left the boat to board a truck, which traversed us through the forest to the Tiputini River about another two hours away.  By the time we reached the next river, we were quite off the beaten path. 

 

The next boat ride was deep into the heart of the jungle.  Every hundred meters or so, there would be a group of butterflies sunning themselves on the ground.  When the boat passed, they would all suddenly fly up in a swarm together, revealing greens, yellows and whites in a beautiful blend.  Turtles sat drying on logs, while more butterflies hovered around them.  Even a river dolphin swam by the boat. 

 

After about another two hours along the Tiputini River, we arrived at the Biodiversity Station.  I am now hundreds of miles from civilization, exploring the most biodiverse spot on earth. 

 

My Project

 

At least ten years ago, although probably more, two sites in TBS were cleared for helicopter landing.  Since then, the forest has made a valiant attempt at recovery, in a geological time scale sense anyway.  Trees have regrown, and the understory has thickened.  However, to the trained eye it is clear that these spots represent young primary growth.  Most of the trees that have reached the canopy are the same species.  My project is to compare the species richness and sheer amount of baby trees in these two plots to the mature, pristine forest that surrounds them. 

 

Working in the forest has been a very humbling experience.  I feel so lucky to be here in such an incredible place.  This rainforest has been alive and well, and evolving and thriving for millions of years, and for one moment in the great span of time I have the honor so share a glimpse of this natural masterpiece.  There are some trees here that are over six hundred years old, and tower over even the canopy of the smaller giants below.  To stand next to such a giant can make one feel quite insignificant.  After all, these trees have lived through quite a lot.  Have you ever stopped to imagine that those living beings were alive during the Age Of Exploration, The Spanish Conquest, The American Revolution, The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, man walking on the moon, the fall of the Berlin Wall and now myself passing through the woods.  Living in this beautiful untainted wilderness is both enriching and refreshing.  It helps put the essentials in life into perspective.  Living well with the few essential items I packed into my backpack is proof of how little one really needs to be happy, and being able to take delight of a perfectly starry sky and the sighting of a beautiful animal are proof of the pleasures that exist in nature without the need for flipping a switch; if one could take a moment to notice…

Que Lindo el Mindo

This weekend the other students and I went to Mindo, a little town nestled in the cloud forest.  It is a relaxing and sleepy place, with a warm and welcoming charm.  There is something distinctly Latin American about it: the children playing the streets, a little central park in the town square, dimly lit dirt roads.  

Shortly after arriving, we rode the zip lines.  13 cables criss-crossing a deep valley.  It was such a rush to jump off a cliff to what would otherwise be to the death and then to soar across the valley suspended by a cable.  Later we hiked down to the river and jumped off a 36 foot cliff into a waterfall.  Now with a bad jump or landing this actually could have been to the death, but we all lived to tell the tale.  

Early the next morning, my friend and I woke up very early to go birdwatching with a guide.  It was unbelievable just how teeming with life the canopy of the forest is, but without the guide, I would never have appreciated it as much.  Every few seconds, the guide would stop, and say "look, a beautiful bird over there!"  Then he would quickly find the bird in the telescope and we could see.  We saw many toucans and all kinds of colorful birds.

 

Simply passing through the town was an unforgettable experience in itself.  We ate delicious pizza made of pan de yuca, (yuca bread) and the world's greatest brownies.  Seriously, this brownie was freaking amazing.   

Jazz Concert in La Plaza de Teatros September 19, 2009

The jazz band had its first concert today in Quito, specifically in the Plaza de Teatros in the Old Town, or the old Spanish colonial neighborhood.  It was an awesome place to have a concert, surrounded by beautiful buildings on all sides in the heart of Quito.  The turn out was excellent with nearly 200 people there to listen, my host family included. 

 

The band sounded sick.  The repertoire was as follows: The Chicken, Ya Gotta Try, Oye Como Va (which really struck a chord with the Latinos), Body and Soul, Blues Anonimo, Two Seconds to Midnight, and Song for Bilbao.  It was such a great experience to play with a band so talented and in such an incredible place.

The Wedding September 13, 2009

My cousin Jose Luis was married last Saturday and we gringos of the family were invited!  The whole experience of going to the ceremony and then salsa dancing for hours on end afterwards was just incredible.  The ceremony was in an old yellow church in the far south of Quito.  It began like any ceremony in the states would, with the bride walking down the aisle to a typical wedding song joining the groom at the alter with the immediate family just behind them.  The priest then spoke for a while; of what exactly I’m not sure, but I’ve heard enough catholic masses to take a guess.  However, by the end of ceremony, nearly the entire extended family had surrounded the couple at the alter and was flashing pictures like a paparazzi crew. 

 

After the ceremony, we left for the reception.  The party was filled with traditions and enough salsa and rum to last the whole night.  When the DJ started playing the salsa, everyone immediately rose and danced their hearts out.  I actually think salsa is inherent in Latin genes, and I wouldn’t be surprised if babies come out of the womb here dancing.  My aunt Veronica pulled me into the dance floor and I attempted my salsa skills.  I’m sure this was a hilarious sight at first, but I eventually figured it out somewhat.  And if I still was making a fool out of myself, I had a good time doing it!  After about four hours of salsa, the DJ put on some American swing.  My two gringa cousins, Susan and Elise, and I jumped back to the dance floor and swung our hearts out.  The music transitioned from In The Mood to Grease, and was a lot of fun to dance to.

My Classes at the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito September 1, 2009

I am impressed every day by what USFQ has achieved in such a short time.  Today the school celebrated its mere 21^st birthday and it is considered to be one of the best liberal arts schools in Latin America (although I suppose that view is biased since the only people who have expressed that opinion outwardly are USFQ professors.  However, the school does have the only college Big Band in Ecuador, and it is sick.  That certainly counts for something).  The school itself is beautiful with interesting architecture, tiles, and a pond surrounded by large mountains. 

 

Taking classes with Ecuadorians is an enriching experience.  In my class Temas de America Latina (Latin American themes) we are currently studying the history of US-Latin American relations.  I’ve been exposed to these themes in various courses over the past years, but through US textbooks and with US students.  Now I am exposed to these same issues through the Latin American perspective surrounded by Latin American students.  It sheds a new light on my own country.  It makes our historical mistakes stark and clear, but also all the good aspects of our country as well.  There of course was the occasional US supported coup of elected leaders in Latin America, but there was also the Peace Corps.  However, it is important to note that on a personal level, nobody judges others based on nationality, or historical grudges.  Everywhere I go I am greeted with a smile, a handshake and kiss on the cheek.  That is, I think, what cultural exchange is all about.

La Mitad del Mundo August 30, 2009

Today was awesome.  My host mother, along with Veronica and Fanny and Victor took three of us gringitos to the equator, or en espanol, la mitad del mundo (half of the world).  The equator is only about a half hour north from where we live.  When we arrived there, a group of Indigenous people was performing a long dance routine.  Their dance was just incredible.  It was almost like Andean square dancing/line dancing.  To the beat of Andean drums and to the melody of captivating pipe whistles, the dancers performed dazzling routines to act out their culture with emotion.  All the many dances were complicated and creative, involving intricate moves between couples and the group. 

 

One dance in particular struck me as exceptionally creative.  A large pole was brought to the center of the floor, with about twelve long ribbons tied to point atop the pole.   Each ribbon was claimed by a dancer who stretched their ribbon out to the radius to form a colorful circle.  While dancing and turning on each beat, the dancers weaved the ribbons between each other, creating a beautiful braded pattern along the pole.  When the weaving was about a quarter way down the pole, the dancers reversed, and danced the pattern back to untied ribbons again.  (See movie if that description was confusing)

 

Then we walked to the equator itself.  The line is painted on the ground, and we took touristy pictures straddling the line.  It turns out that when GPS first came out, it was discovered that mitad del mundo is actually is actually about 100 meters off the equator...but for all intents and purposes i stood on the equator.  

Arriving August 22, 2009

I made it!  I am here in one piece, which is more than I can say about my luggage which is probably still hanging out in Miami, but that aside, everything is cool.  After I waited in vain for my bags, I passed through customs into the room where my host mother Sonia was waiting, holding a sign with my name.  As soon as I met her, and the rest of my family, any anxieties of living in such a foreign place were assuaged.  My mother gave me a big kiss on the cheek, which apparently is customary in Ecuador because I give and receive kisses on the cheek to every Ecuadorian female I meet.

 

Sonia lives alone on the second floor of her house, but her parents Fanny and Victor live on the first floor of the house.  Her sister Veronica lives around the corner and her other sister Paquita lives another block from Vernonica.  All of these families are hosting a student as well, which makes four of us Americans, or Gringos as Latin Americans call us, part of the family.  The family is even more extensive.  Sonia has many siblings: Julio, Mauricio, Paquita, Veronica, Richard, Jose and many others I can’t remember.  All have children, from five years old to marrying age.  A cousin is actually about to be married in a few weeks and we Gringos are going to the wedding!  It should be a very interesting cultural experience.

 

When I arrived at the house, two of my fellow gringos in the family were already settling in.  We all sat down to our first dinner with our new host family.  We were served a delicious soup and then a course of chicken with coleslaw (which actually turned out to be KFC.  Our family wanted the gringitos to have an easy first meal I suppose).  During dinner, various children and other family members passed in and out the house.  Our host parents taught us important phrases and words that will come in handy here in Ecuador.  For instance, the Quecha phrase “¡Ay yi yi!” is “what a pain” or “this can’t be serious.”  “¡Ay chi chi!” is “cold!” and “¡Ay ri ri!” is hot! 

 

I can’t wait to experience the adventures that are to come.