Halloween with Malory and Diana
Reuniting with Kelsey from Wapo!
Deep roots in the Amazon!
Conga Ants... watch out!
Toucan Sam at a riverside pool
Last week was full of reunions. Steve Parsons, a fellow member of Wooddale Lutheran Church, is in the area and stopped here in Quito before continuing onto the Galapagos. It was fun to share a meal of Indian food with him in the Mariscal and hear of his recent volunteering and work in Costa Rica as well as his last few months of South American travels. I spent a lot of time with Luther friend Malory out and about the town, and also had another chance to meet with friend and former Wapo co-worker Kelsey. It's a small world after all, and Ecuador seems to be the place to be.
For Halloween I met Paul and Malory and went out dancing. We had a great time and I was again reminded of how small the world can be as I saw a friend that Brooks and I made while canyoning in Banos and also two guys I had met last weekend in Mindo. I was dressed as Jefferson Perez, 3 time World champion race walker from Ecuador. Mal, who was dressed at Mexican TV sensation Chilindrina, and I carved a "pumpkin" that was really an unidentifiable green vegetable before going out for the night.
This weekend I went to the Amazon. I stayed at Tiputini Research Station- where my freshman roommate Jenna stayed for part of J-term last year. I was in birdwatching heaven here. We traveled in small groups through the forest and saw many birds, animals, and insects. Unfortunately at two points on one of our hikes I had two Conga Ants crawling on my back. These are very dangerous ants, about 1.5 inches long. Receiving a bite from one of these ants will send you to the hospital (which is over 6 hours of traveling via boats and bus away from the station)! I was freaking out once I became aware that the ants were by my neck- think screaming and wild thrashing in the middle of the rainforest. This was all involuntary- my guide told me I made the ants very mad, but I don't know how else I could have handled the situation. In the end- no bite, so I'm thankful. I sought my revenge later my eating a tongue of lemon ants.
I did incur many mosquito bites though (even using Ultrathon repellent that serves me so well in the Boundary Waters). I forgot until I watched an insect presentation the last night that these mosquitoes can transmit bot fly eggs into your skin which emerge 5 or so days later as large larva. If you don't easily get the creepy-crawlies I suggest watching the following video. If you do get the creepy-crawlies and perhaps irrational fear of getting bot flies while reading this in the Midwest you can thank me and Andrew Varney.
Our guide was so informed- he has lived and worked at the station for 13 years. He had an incredible eye for spotting wildlife and was able to explain how many plants have been used in medicinal remedies.
All in all this was in incredible trip! Again- bird watching heaven for me- especially watching Macaws from an observation tower. I saw a gaggle of 9 or so pairs of Scarlet Macaws flying together (they are incredibly faithful partners), also Blue- Green Macaws. In all I saw over 35 different bird varieties. Clay, Tariq, Becca and I shared our deck with a large tarantula (which thankfully never entered our cabin)! I observed Saki, Howler, Squirrel, Woolly, and Pgymy Marmoset monkeys. We also swam down the Tiputini River, amongst caymanes (small aligators), piranhas, anaconda snakes, and crabs. Luckily we only saw caymanes while we were in the boat... and the crab swimming beside us left us alone.
This is such a crazy life, and again I am grateful for these crazy opportunities!
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