Day #5, #6, and #7!: WE HAVE INTERNET!

So Day #6 was pretty exciting.

Day #5 consisted of nausea, no appetite, being sick and that “fun” stuff. I slipped down a slope and essentially seared off the skin on my left arm so it’s raw now, but healed fast.

We got fried dough again for breakfast! Really it’s like a fluffy pastry mmmm with strawberry jam omnomnomnom so good when you haven’t been able to eat for a day, which I get isn’t long but hikes with zero energy at all aren’t fun L

So I took off today for my first data collection hike! I headed over to the abandoned airfield and after staring around for a bit, I found a capuchin off into the distance in a big tree way up. Attempted to use my binoculars, but it’s such a small focused area it’s hard to find a little monkey in the distance L Need practice haha

Anywho, so travelling through the forest just a bit I try to find the capuchin and luckily I did. It was just a lone juvenile, which was a bit weird because they usually don’t wander alone. I lost sight of it after two minutes L I started hearing monkeys jumping between trees so assumed more capuchins were near by, but instead I found squirrel monkeys……….everywhere......like 10 feet from me. So here I am walking in the brush following these squirrel monkeys, getting within MAYBE 5 feet from some of them if that, and just able to take amazing pictures. They don’t mind you being there as long as you don’t make sudden movements, but it was just an amazing experience and I was so happy I got to get some great up close pictures.

Once the squirrel monkeys were gone the capuchins started to surface. Usually these two species are together because capuchins can get into the hard husks of some fruits and nuts, which then the squirrel monkeys forage for whatever they drop aside from their normal diet. So I wandered off trail again and got  another 16 minutes of data collecting before I realized not only was I dizzy, from lack of energy (fluffy pastry dough isn’t the best for energy when you haven’t eaten the day before), and I was also lost xD So I was lost in the brush for a bit, my compass doesn’t work and I didn’t mark the trail on the GPS haha So I wandered around in the general direction. Did have part of a tree fall on my head, soft bark at least, so I assume my head had bugs but I didn’t see any when I combed through it later haha. I eventually spotted a neon pink flag on a tree so I booked it for there and found the trail YAY.

Heading back to camp after enough excitement…..mainly just getting lost and feeling dizzy haha, I found some emperor tamarins. I moved through the open brush this time, more open in the airfield, and they got spooked so they “mobbed” me. Essentially, they gather around and squeak really loud to make me go away. There was only three, but I backed off cause I didn’t want to upset them. They then started jumping across the trail and like eyeing me like a pigeon would. Twitching its head to get better angles, really funny with those eccentric mustaches. All three did that and then they disappeared in a bush.

On the way back to camp I saw three trumpeter birds just waltzing along the trail up ahead. So all in all it was an exciting morning.

I got 18 minutes worth of data which I was happy about haha, it’s not much but it’s something.

For lunch they gave us this like cold rice salad with cucumbers and tomatoes, some had avocado but I was one of the unlucky ones haha, I was back at the window so fast the guy laughed at me. Hey, going a day without eating in this place AND hiking that bit on Day #5 and That exciting morning of Day #6 with running lost in the foods REALLY drives your appetite. I got rice and beans…missed out on the lettuce but it wasn’t missed too much. I scoop my food with the saltines they have, always!. Even the morning and dinner they have cookies, first come first serve, I get one of each kind and I’ve been keeping them to bring home and share. If there are extras I plan on eating them, but surprisingly enough I’m not devouring my snacks. I just finished them and I still have pretty much all my zone bars. I gave about 14 clif bars to Christian who ran out, and I had plenty anyway.

The rest of the day everyone worked on their proposals and I discussed mine with my teacher, but my computer was dead so I had to wait for that night.

I went out again after lunch, but didn’t see anything. Typically monkeys aren’t as active except early in the morning. On the way I ran into Gordon who is here with his wife Darna. Always a happy guy, anytime I ask if he saw anything cool he says “everything is cool.” He asked where I was going and even though he just came from there, he offered to tag along and keep company. I happy said yes, and as we trekked along, mainly hiking not bothering to be quiet really knowing nothing would be around he asked me questions about my research and I with him and his wife. He is a PhD student studying cultural anthropology, honestly it was fascinating and interesting to listen to but it was so much I can’t remember. He talked about the indigenous and the local mining efforts and of the native people of Puerto Maldonado. His wife Darna is studied predation with Saki monkeys. They trap predators, ocelots, jaguars, and such and record their growls and other sounds. They then play those sounds back to the Saki’s and observe how they react to them. Now me remembering Darna’s research doesn’t mean I was more interested to remember haha. It was just easier to remember, look I like monkeys, but I find all sciences interesting. Some are just more complicated then remembering trapping predators and playing them for monkeys.

He showed me the spots where the capuchins ere foraging on the ground, and informed me that we are only just starting the dry season. This kinda washes my research, but there have been two sighting of capuchins on the ground so there’s hope. He educated me on the history of the indigenous people here and the camp which used to be an old mining camp until it was abandoned and bought out. All and all it was an educational hiking trip which I enjoyed.

The rest of the evening consisted on making calls to talk about my morning, and then working on my proposal. Dinner was rice with a bone in piece of chicken in what seemed to be a green pesto sauce, but wasn’t? Still good haha.

Below is my finished proposal:

Unfortunately, the internet was continually shotty due to rain and terrible cloud cover so I couldn’t post the Day #6 blog entry.

The nausea is gone for good and my throat hasn’t been sore as of yet. Only other injury, as slight as it is, the eczema on my chest looked off putting. As if mud was caked on, and went I went to scratch the “mud” off I scratched my skin off……..Slowly falling apart I guess. Bandaged it and it’s fine now. Otherwise just  eczema slowly starting up, few bug bites here and there nothing huge.

Now for Day #7 it starts at let’s just say midnight, the official Day #7,………..rain……rain……….more rain……it’s not two minutes to eleven and it STILL hasn’t stopped. All night thunderstorms and loud crazy rain with horrible wind. Meanwhile I in a shirt and short using a sheet as a blanket, yes that’s all I have. I contemplated going to get my sweatshirt, but I prefer to not know what crawls around on the floor at night haha.

Which reminds me, the night before we saw a wandering spider in the classroom, and drew bugs to it with our flashlights and watched it eat. Most lethal spider in the world, about the size of your palm all together.

So anyway, it’s been cold and rainy ALL day. We have a friaje (free-ya-hey) coming in. The correct spelling thanks to Joe, thanks! This essentially means lots of rain, arctic winds, so bad we can’t go out on the trails for fear of trees falling. Believe me, I was the only person willing to ask if we could go out haha, ready to go at 5:45 waiting for my teacher to show up…….an hour and a half later listening to everyone complain about if they have to go out. Regardless, if I find monkeys I enjoy the hikes.

But yeah, I’m sitting in a sweatshirt which already isn’t enough, oh and the windows are just screens……you can’t close it to keep the cold out. Poor Linda is right at the window. Peter in the next room is parallel to the window so he got sprayed by the rain all night.

The temperature continues to drop and we are just having reading catch up day. I’ve spent most of my morning reading my kindle on my phone. Oh this morning for breakfast was spaghetti……I opted out haha which was good cause it was tuna spaghetti in a meat sauce…..which I guess is better than the famous tuna and eggs. I grabbed the clementine they handed out with them. I’ve been extremely bad about eating only hot things, I eat the cold things here too. It’s not as bad as Puerto Maldonado though BELIEVE ME…..Courtney is sharing her apples with everyone else in the group that she got at that sketchy food market …….needless to say I opted out.

Anyway so far it’s pretty dull. I’ve ran out of minutes on my local phone so I have to figure out if there’s a way to add more. There’s a big group playing cards against humanity, I would’ve joined but I was reading in my room. Came out here cause lunch is soon and my phone died haha. Just a cold rainy day in Amazonia I guess J

Lunch was rice with lentils and a little salad. I definitely prefer dinner because of the chicken and the yummy sauces. Madeleine gave me one of her remaining truffles that she brought from O’hare. mouth waters oh the smooth velvety sensation of chocolate, and that’s a big deal J Otherwise still a blah cold, rainy, windy day L

So the rain has stopped! At now 6:32 pm, still pretty cold and dunno if the friaje is done or not but yay! Cause I was shivering horribly in my sweatshirt L Me and my group played card games for a couple hours before dinner, some card drinking games  haha I mainly pretended to drink >.>

We are eating chick soup again, with little eggshell pasta. Entrée is rice, mashed potatoes and a meat sauce. Essentially like the left over spaghetti sauce. I’m bummed there’s no chicken. Madeleine and I are close enough, aside from that yummy chocolate sharing, that I can just taste her meat sauce and let her know if it’s meat or not haha.

Lecture is afterwards and then we will continue with the card games.

Lessons learned:

#1 sometimes duct tape wont work in the shower I find the end of a hairbrush in the mouth works great :D haha

#2: Inspect your clothes even when in drawers……really just anywhere just check them. Aside from cockroaches there have been cases of lone maggots hanging around in clothes. I still have yet to follow this lesson haha

#3: If, like today, you get sudden nausea in the morning and can’t stomach anything down it may just be wise to take the morning off as horrible as it is. Although water replenishes thirst and rehydrates you, you need a high amount of energy to trek up and down a humid forest

#4: Mud is slippery when wet…….shocking right?

#5: Don’t forget where your raw skin is when applying bug spray……not fun

#6: Don’t forget where raw skin is when bumping into wood planks, beams, poles, etc. Also not fun

#7: Someone will ALWAYS eat the food you don’t, even if it’s left overs. Zero waste here.

#8: If you go out all day and miss lunch you can let the cooks know and they will pack you a to go lunch, it’s cute :D There’s no where to really sit and eat like….rice xD

#9: hats help in friajes……like winter hats -_- I regret my personal packing decisions haha

#10: Do your best to keep the brightness of your phone screen as dark as possible even if it’s night out and you’re reading. Horrible things surround your mosquito net otherwise.

#11: When someone gives you nice chocolates out here you know you’re in with them haha.

#12: Sometimes just pulling your foot out of a boot will give you a Charlie horse……painful >.< Sit down and wiggle your foot and it should make it go away.