Well I hope you're sitting comfortably, because this could take some time - how do you blog a month's trip to the Amazon? Let the stream of consciousness begin!…
From Iquitos, we headed about 1.5 hours along a bumpy road towards Nauta, which gave us a headstart on our journey down the river. Nauta is a small town, traditional shack style houses, with people sitting around doing nothing much apart from gathering to watch us all board the spectacular research vessels. 3 boats left in total - the Ayapua, Clavero and Lobo de Rio.
The Ayapua and Clavero vessels and their interiors were salvaged from the rubber boom era and have been amazingly restored by Dr Bodmer, the lead scientist, who believes in combining ecological conservation with historical preservation. The part of the Peruvian Amazon that we would be visiting was exploited during the rubber boom era and the local people were used as slaves, so the restoration of the boats was thought provoking. Stepping on board via the plank felt like you were stepping back in time, although the air con was a modern twist that I appreciated greatly - with temperatures of around 37 degrees in the shade!
We set sail and waved to the local children who were playing in a tree and headed straight to our cabins to check out our living arrangements for the coming month. Most of the rooms have 2 beds, with a cute en-suite, with another mattress on the floor to accommodate 3 people per room. The walls were decorated with fabric wallpaper and although a well-worn, the wooden furniture was in good shape and the bathroom was not only elegant and 'cosy' but sparkling clean. The first rule was to remember not to put the tissue paper down the toilet, and to learn how to flush the toilet using the bucket which you fill with water from the tap - which is pumped straight up from the Amazon. The water that came out of the tap in the hand basin and shower was filtered rain water and we were pleased to see that there was an air conditioning unit in our room! Although it (and the lights) would only be active when the generator was on at night - from 5.30pm until 10.30pm. But this was to be our saviour after sweltering in the afternoon heat every day.
We sat down in the slightly sloping, but solid wooden dining room on the middle deck to a lunch of rice and cured beef, which we quickly learned was to be our staple diet and were briefed on the coming trip. Dr Bodmer, a portly Amercian lecturer, from the University of Kenthhas been working in this part of the Amazon, the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve for over 20 years. His Peruvian wife Tula accompanied him during this time and works closely with the local Cocama Indians when she is here. His children were also on the trip, on their summer breaks from Uni, and gave assistance with the projects of which they have clearly gained a lot of experience in during their upbringing. Dr Bodmer is somewhat of an introvert and an entrepreneur, with an awkward manner and a good sense of humour. He has many projects on the go, not only the conservation expeditions, but restoration projects (boats and hotels) and is also involved in Earthwatch expeditons and at the time I am writing this, he will be leaving for another trip with 20 members of the German press! I asked him if he ever takes a break but he mumbled something about a break in October and went off to answer the crackling radio from top deck.
Eager to get started, we were briefed on the dissertation projects which were due to start once we had reached our mooring point at the 2nd guard station along the river, which would take a few days to reach due to a storm along the way. The purpose of the projects is to monitor the success of the conservation programme which has been implemented in the area to help the Cocama Indians to use the resources in a sustainable manner. With around 25 students from Operation Wallacea, including myself, we would do the data collection which would go towards a detailed report to improve the programme ongoing. These were caiman, turtle, dolphin, fish, macaw, wading bird and terrestrial animal surveys. As a research assistant, I was to help the dissertation students each day - I could take my pick of the projects on a first come, first served basis.
We would be working in an area termed Varzea, which is a unique flooded forest area. The river is rich in sediments as the water drains from the forest, which picks up tannins from the leaf litter along the way. The water is murky brown/black and huge Paiche fish, electric eels, caimans, anacondas and many parasites lurk in there!
Each morning, we would awake at around 6.30am, head down for a breakfast of fried egg and rice, tuna and rice, jam and rice or occasionally pancakes and cereal. The surveys took place during different times of the day, to allow for the auxiliary boats (also lovingly restored) to be used to maximum capacity.
The caiman surveys took place in the evenings when a group of us went out in a small auxiliary boat called the Caiman (with a Spanish accent) and we cruised along the river or lake looking for caimans. Renee or Henis would shine a powerful spotlight across the surface of the water, searching for the eyes of the caimans which peeped out just above the water line. When one was spotted, we attempted to noose it and catch the caiman, so the dissertation students could collect data on their weight/length/sex etc. Then came the fun part - extracting the stomach contents for diet analysis. It was an interesting task, involving shoving a long tube into the stomach of the poor caiman, adding some water via a funnel, massaging its stomach and tipping it upside down. All in the name of science!
The other surveys were less hands on, when you floated down the river for about 5km and counted the number of dolphins/macaws/wading birds/turtles that you saw. The fish project was fun, where we tried to catch fish with a makeshift rod and also put out nets. The nets were more fruitful and I found a new love for fish, thanks to Eric - an infectiously enthusiastic dissertation student from the U.S. The terrestrial transects were for about 3km, when we walked into the jungle - stealth-like - and noted the number of animals we spotted, along with species and distance from the transect. We saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, capucins, tamarins, tapirs, anteaters (apparently!) and some fresh puma jaguar prints.
Mostly, the surveys were fairly monotonous and didn't give you much of a chance to do anything apart form sitting on a boat, or walking through the forest. It made me realise that perhaps I am not cut out for the more laborious data collecting tasks in the long term!
With my enthusiasm for the surveys dwindling due to my short attention span and craving for hands-on work, I focussed more on my self-guided science communication project. So armed with my new solid-state recorder, I conducted interviews with Dr Bodmer and with some of the field guides, to find out their sentiments on the human ecology aspect of conservation and with climate change threatening the structure of the reserve, how the local people would adapt to changes in their surrounding environment. Dr Bodmer was keen to highlight how the Cocama people of this area are historically well-able to adapt to changing environments and he is positive that they will be able to adapt to future conditions. The unusually high water levels this year, which followed a previous drought, are warnings of how climate change is affecting this area. My visit to the Andes, which feed the Urubamba river upstream, gave me a wider aspect of this interesting collage. The Cocama make whatever changes they need to in order to adapt, not expecting too much and perhaps are ready to expect the unexpected. Perhaps these 'less-civilised' groups could teach us a thing or two.
The afternoons were a drag sometimes. Outside, you faced abuse from the brazen horseflies, which nip at your ankles and left me with red itchy bumps and a love-bite style mark. Inside was scorching and unbearable in the strong afternoon sun. The dining room was the best place to chill out and soon became the location for afternoons card sessions and rounds of 'the name game'. This had us laughing even more than we already were during the rest of the day, we had some real comedians on board who never failed to put a smile on my face. Other times I watched the boys play football or go spear fishing in the canoes, or dip my feet in the river or have an impromptu Thai boxing session with my buddy Toby. One day, Toby and I initiated a 'welly wanging' session, involving the whole boat and the Peruvian guys from the nearby guard station. That proved to be a right hoot, with the American and Canadians doing well in both the girls and boys, although Gareth from Cambridge, and Tim from Oxford put in a fine performance. Mud fight was next, although I decided to pass on the opportunity to get a mouthful of river water, and Tim managed to acquire a fine black eye in the process. It seems Gareth had been taking the Cambridge v Oxford thing a bit too serious -) It was all in good spirit though and we enjoyed reminiscing over a bottle of rum that evening.
The main conversations on board revolved around rum, cake, nice food, beer, rum, chocolate, beer and er rum! It appears that not only did those 'thirsty' volunteers, of which I am classified, bring an insufficient amount of alcohol on board, but have no rationing skills whatsoever. So when we paid a visit to a local community on our final day, we cleared them out of rum and wine, and ended up buying the local brewed 'cashassa' or sugar cane rum. At £2 for a 3 litre bottle, and siphoned out of an oil drum by the shop owner, it tasted as grim as it sounds, although it did the trick! We had a bonfire on the beach that particular night and the cashassa made the fire glow even more and stopped the itching sensation of my bites for a few hours. Although I woke up in the morning with a fat lip and memories of a group bundle came back.
We visited another community, where 2 of the crew members on board the Ayapua live - Alfredo and Euclides. It was a pretty village, pretty self-sufficient, with handmade houses from palm leaves and other trees. We visited a large house, which was home to 2 families and it had a broken old childrens umbrella hanging, a faded front page of a newspaper hanging on the wall and the shiniest mirror you've ever seen. They were cooking freshly caught bocachico fish on the fire and selling crafts made by one of the guys. One of the children had a skin disease, which is apparently common in these parts, as access to medical equipment is scarce. They still have a strong shamanic tradition, although I decided not to ask more! The guys played football with the locals and Toby took the most stomach churning bang to the head which had me rushing over to play nurse Carolyn, although dazed, he gallantly returned to the field to help redeem the side, who ended up losing the game and about 150 Nuevo Soles.
The time went too quickly, and before we knew it, we were nearly back at Iquitos, delayed by another small but spectacular thunder storm. With 5 days in Iquitos to rest, recover and get over the post-Amazon comedown, although it meant me saying goodbye to all the other volunteers, which put me in a state of mourning for an entire day! I certainly made more friends than I could have expected, with such a range of people from UK, USA, Canada and Ireland, who never failed to pleasantly surprise me with their fun and games.
Back in Iquitos alone, gave me a chance to get more of a taste of life in this bustling and self-confident town. Motor taxi - a 3 wheeled motorbike which can take 2 passengers - and motorbike is the way to travel here. It is too hot for buses apparently. The motor taxi's are cheap, slightly hair raising but exhilarating at the same time and the roads are all one way which means you can relax and enjoy the view without worrying too much about spending time in a Peruvian hospital!
The Amazon museum in Iquitos has around 30 statues of Amazon locals, some of which still exist today. There is the story of the carnivorous shrunken head tribes and the tribe that used to kidnap local women and cut their Achilles tendons so they couldn't run away - and this was still happening about 50 years ago. In fact, Dr Bodmer knew a lady who met this fate - she was abducted one day when feeding her chickens in the forest while her husband was out cutting wood and her son was in the house. Her new life was to marry the chief of the group that abducted her and she never saw her child or husband again. The cultural history of the Amazon is fascinating, but not documented well as far as I can't find a book anywhere!
I visited the butterfly farm, which you reach by boat and although the guy attempted to fleece us for an extra 40 soles, I managed to get away without paying the extra with the help of the nearby police. Arguing with an arrogant 18 year old Peruvian in a busy market village of Bella Vista Nanay was not easy! But I didn't let the experience spoil my memory of the beautiful butterfly farm, which is also home to a tapir, red uakari monkey, jaguar, giant anteater, sloth, howler monkeys and a cheeky thieving capucin. The capucin took a liking to me after a lady tourist squealed at the sight of the poor fella, and he proceeded to wrap himself around my neck like a scarf and wouldn't leave!
If you stand still for one minute, an eager young guy will appear next to you and ask the same question "where you from? How long you stay in Iquitos?" etc etc. Friendly but perhaps slightly wearing at the same time! After a visit to the local artesian market, Anaconda, where you can buy some locally handmade souvenirs, I was flashed by some drunk local asking me something along the lines of 'do you want some ****?'. Obviously I declined and took refuge in a stall before making my escape.
I made some Peruvian friends on board the Ayapua, local students at the University, who were willing to show me some local sights and take me to some cheap restaurants. Antonio took me on his motorbike and then to the park where we ate a burger from a stall (I am still here to tell the tale!) for the equivalent of about 50 pence. Unfortunately, the lunch I had at his parents house the next day didn't sit quite so well in my stomach. Let's just say the 2 day journey home wasn't pleasant.
My feet are impregnated with dirt, my skin has a permanent layer of deet and my clothes bear the permenent marks of jungle life. My toiletries bag is still filled with various ointments and remedies that weren't required and the whole trip has been relatively drama-free. It was an experience that made me think more about more social and political aspects to sustainable development, I have even decided to use the Amazon and the challenges faced there as the subject of my third year dissertation.
Things are working in the Pacaya Samiria pretty well, the project is running well and there is a genuinely good balance between the scientists and the locals - it is not perfect according to Dr Bodmer, but it is a lot better than it used to be. When I asked Dr Bodmer about how the Cocama will cope with impacts of global warming, he was confident that they would find a way to adapt, as they have done historically. It made me realise how perhaps we are stuck in our ways and we may struggle to adapt more than 'less-developed' or 'less-civilised' communities around the world, as they work and connect with nature in a more healthy way. I guess it shows how we can teach each other things if we work together, with the right attitudes and a common goal. It has left me feeling positive about how strong people really are when they have been faced with exploitation in the past, such as the slavery that the Cocama experienced in the times of the rubber boom. I hope one day to return to visit the community. On that note, the first thing I must do is to offset my carbon emissions for the very long flights.
Thanks for reading, and I hope I managed to successfully capture the main elements of the trip, but I'm sure I'll be harping on about it for months to come in person anyway!