Back to Peru

In the shadow of Huascaran, Peru's tallest mountain

Two trips to Peru in two years; experiencing this wonderful country twice in a short amount of time leaves me humbled. And now as I stand in the early weeks of 2014, I find myself planning another trip to this South American wonderland.  I don’t speak Spanish, I’m not fond of eating guinea pig (the Peruvian national dish), hiking in the Andes is strenuous, the rain forest is wretchedly humid...so why would I jump at the chance to go back to such a place? The bigger question is, why wouldn’t I?

Observing parrots at the clay lick near the Tambopata
Research Center.

My first journey to Peru was a trip for teachers to the Amazon rain forest. I spent a week sleeping under  mosquito nets, dodging bats (not my favorite animal), and sweating profusely without end.  However, the ability to witness this marvel of nature was worth 

all the difficult times. Never could I have believed that such a place existed. The monkeys howled in the trees, the beautiful birds soared through the sky, the frogs and insects chirped at all hours of the night; the Amazon presented itself as an alien planet, not an earthbound locale.

My second journey took me in an entirely different direction. I hiked in the Andes Mountains with 13 members of my church. Our goal was to deliver translated Bibles to the native Quechua people. These folks had never owned a Bible in their own language until our band of “Gringos” appeared in their villages to give them one. The trekking was rough, but the thrill of handing God’s word to people for the first time in their lives made every step worth it.

My third trip south of the Equator will again require a trek into the Andes to deliver Bibles to native Quechua people. As a co-leader alongside my husband, we’ve assembled a 16-person team who will walk into little-seen corners of the mountains, Bibles in hand. As heads of the team, it’s our job to get everyone safely there and back and to accomplish our mission in the process. It’s amazing experience to lead a group of friends and to have the responsibility of bringing God’s word to those who’ve ever had it. I expect that we will bless people through our actions, and the experiences of our last trip make me hopeful for our success.

For example, on the 2012 trip we visited four different villages. After the third village, we embarked upon the trail towards our last and final village. When I say, “trail,” imagine a small winding path that may be trod upon by people, donkeys, horses, or sheep at varying points throughout the day. At times we didn’t even walk on trails but just cut across country, as needed.

How privileged we were to see this man
come to Christ!

Our group was walking along one of these paths when a farmer came running to us. He’d heard about our nightly presentation where we passed out the Bibles. He’d been unable to attend the previous night, but he still wanted to talk to us. Through a translator we learned that he’d been struggling with alcoholism, and he knew he needed help. He wanted to accept Christ into his life. So, we all prayed with him right on that mountainside and watched as the joy of Christ became evident in his life.

He was thrilled that he hadn’t missed his chance, and we were thrilled to see the hand of God at work in the mountains of Peru. As we trekked on, it was unclear who was more excited, the Peruvian man we’d just prayed with or our band of travelers who’d just witnessed a miracle.

When I think ahead to the upcoming trip, I can’t help but pray for more experiences like that one. It makes all the work, the planning, the trekking, and the journey into the unknown worth it...to go back to a place I love. To go back to Peru.

Distinctly Peruvian

Two trips to Peru in two years; I am humbled to have had the opportunity to experience this wonderful country twice in a short amount of time. My first journey was a trip for teachers, and the second journey was with my church.  Both took me out of my comfort zone. I learned, saw, felt, and thought. I was changed beyond my wildest expectations, and it left me thirsting for more. And while I yearn to go back, I am left me with certain memories that are crystal clear in my mind…distinctly Peruvian moments. Allow me to turn back the clock and share a few with you.

We're waiting for the birds to arrive at the clay lick.

I’m in the Amazon rain forest sitting by a clay lick at 5:30 a.m. with twenty American teachers and our Peruvian guides. The goal for the morning is to observe macaws at the clay lick and to take notes about their behavior. The birds don’t care that we’re waiting for them. They’ll arrive when they feel like it. And so, we wait. I begin to write a few notes in my journal when a terrible cacophony starts up in the trees. It’s the howler monkeys. They all howl at the same time, and the noise sounds like a freight train. The din continues for a few moments, and then it suddenly stops. As I puzzle at the abruptness of it all, rain starts to fall. I pull out my raincoat and marvel at the timing of the monkeys. Did they know the rain was coming and call out as a warning? I’ll never know for sure, but the timing of it seems too perfect to be anything else.

It’s a dark night in the Amazon rain forest. We have spent an hour in a boat searching for caimans, relatives of alligators, along the river bank. We found a few, easily seen by their eyes reflecting our light, but it certainly wasn’t the bounty we’d hoped for. We return to the shore and stop for a few moments to listen to the sounds of the forest, the tree frogs. Their croaking sounds more like the chirping of insects. I lay down in the sand of the riverbank to watch the stars above and listen to the frog chorus. With no light pollution to mar the sky, the stars are brighter than I’ve ever seen them. I search for familiar constellations, but the southern hemisphere’s sky looks different from the northern hemisphere’s. In that peaceful moment, I feel like staying on the riverbank forever, listening to the frogs and watching the stars twinkle in the sky.

Fast forward two years, and I’m in Peru again. This time I’m standing on a mountain top. It’s cold, and I’m wearing multiple layers of clothes, plus my hat, scarf, and gloves. The sun has set and the night sky is clear. The stars above me make the sky look like it’s filled with diamonds. I can see the Milky Way cutting a path through space. My breath is taken away at the spectacle of it all. The constellation of the Southern Cross, only seen in the southern hemisphere, is visible before me. Our group spontaneously starts to sing because the sight before us is so majestic. This beautiful scene is repeated night after night. I wish I could photograph what I see, but no camera could do it justice.

This family came out to meet us as we hiked.

Now I’m walking along a mountain path heading towards a village to distribute the translated New Testament to the native Quechua people of Peru. As usual, I’m at the back of the group because I’m a slow hiker, but this time it pays off. A family comes out of their house to talk to the people at the end of our group. Through a translator we are able to have a conversation with them and give them a Bible and a children’s picture Bible. They are so touched by our gift that they run into their house and return with a large basket of potatoes. They insist that we take the potatoes as a thank you gift for the Bibles. They immediately start to look through the Bibles we’ve given them and they even walk down the road to meet the rest of our group. Later that evening, they walk two hours to the village to hear our presentation and see the Jesus video. Their excitement humbles me as I realize what a big deal it is for these families to receive Bibles written in their own native language.

It’s moments like these, plus many more, that have caused me to fall in love with Peru. The people, the scenery, the ruggedness of the place; it has seeped into my veins and become a part of me. I can’t wait to go back, to experience more of what makes this South American country “distinctly Peruvian.”

How to be a Rain Forest Explorer

Want to travel to the Peruvian Amazon rain forest? Here are some tips and tricks to consider before you head out on your trip.

1.  Don’t touch anything. That is, don’t touch anything without looking first. Animals lurk where you least expect them. So, shake your shoes before you put them on.  Check the floor before you put your feet down in the morning, and pull back the bed covers before you climb in. Keep your suitcases shut, and don’t grab trees and plants in the forest. Never, ever walk barefoot.

2.  Knee-high rubber boots are your friends and also your enemies. While hiking in the rain forest, knee-high rubber boots keep your legs and ankles safe from mud, animals, and plants. However, if you wear them in the boat and your boat tips over, those suckers will fill up with water and drag you to the bottom of the river.

3.  Forget all those sacred cows in your life. Electricity, running water, air conditioning, hot water, washing machines, Internet access, long showers, cell phone coverage…these things do not exist in the rain forest. Amazingly, your life will go on without them.

4.  It doesn’t always rain in the rain forest. The rain forest has a dry season and a wet season. In the dry season, it doesn’t rain much. Despite this, you’d better be ready for rain because it could rain at any moment.

Waiting along the river in the Peruvian rain forest

5.  Rain forest animals do not come out to play. Finding animals in the rain forest is difficult. You have to know what to look for and how to listen carefully. Also, you have to be quiet or you definitely won’t see anything. If you plan to take pictures, then bring a zoom lens and a memory card with lots of space. Animals don’t pose for pictures or say, “Cheese.” They are hard to photograph.

6.  There’s no sleeping in during a visit to the rain forest. Early morning is the best time to see animals. So, plan on a hike before breakfast and before the sun rises. Don’t worry, you’ll go to bed early because there won’t be much to do in the evenings. No electricity, remember?

7.  Be ready for close encounters. You’ll have some freaky animal encounters. For example, bats flew past my legs so fast that I felt wind on my calves. I had a large cockroach on my shirt. There was a frog in my bathroom, and a vicious bullet ant crawling up my arm (their bite hurts for days). Bats woke me up while they fed during the night. A guy in my group found an extremely large spider in his bed. Toughen up before you leave home. You won’t regret it.

8.  You will sweat. The humidity is high and there’s no breeze. Air conditioning doesn’t exist, and you’ll need to wear long pants over your legs. You might even need to wear long sleeves. Oh, and on some hikes you’ll need to wear those knee-high rubber boots. You can bring all the moisture-wicking clothes you want, but you will not be cool or comfortable. You will be hot, sticky, sweaty, and stinky. Don’t worry, though. Everyone else will be, too.

9.  Picky eaters had better bring snacks. Granola bars work particularly well. Rain forest food will be native food, including lots of locally grown fruits. If you want a cold drink, then you’d best search for a lodge that caters to tourists. The more rustic accommodations will not serve anything cold. Caffeine addiction? Bring your own or hope for coffee.

10. There’s no time for beauty. Leave your make up, hair dryer, curling iron, and other beautification items at home. For one thing, there’s no electricity to power all those appliances. Make up is pointless because of the heat and humidity. Make sure you can put your hair in a ponytail and then throw a hat on your head. Everyone else will look equally plain, so you’ll fit right in with the crowd.

11.  You will not blend in with the locals. No matter how hard you try, everyone you meet will know you’re a foreigner. Your Spanish won’t be authentic enough, and your clothes will be too American. If you’re taller than about 5 feet, 5 inches, your height will give you away. Blonds and redheads don’t have a chance of passing as native Peruvians. People will stare at you, and you will not be able to avoid it.

12.  Get ready for awesome. If you can handle all these tips, then you’re ready for an awesome, mind-blowing experience as you journey into the wild. You’ll learn, see, feel, and think. It will change you beyond your wildest expectations, and it will leave you thirsting for more. So pack your bags, buy your plane ticket, and get ready for the journey of a lifetime to the Amazon rain forest. You will not come home the same.

A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Mist Net

I am not a “bird nerd.” So, why in the world would I go on an educational trip to the Amazon rain forest where one of the study topics was birds? That’s a question I often asked myself as I tromped through the forest looking for birds. The answer?  Well, I like adventure. I like to learn new things. I needed college credit hours, and so all those things brought me to the forest to study birds. I learned a lot about birds in just a week...more than I ever thought I could.


On the first day of the trip, my group and I dove right into our learning activities, and one of the first things we did was to set up mist nets. A mist net is a long net that is used to catch birds in the wild. The birds can't see the nets, so they fly right into them. It doesn't hurt the birds to be in mist nets, but the person removing the birds has to be careful. Only our professors, Ursula and Jose removed birds from the nets.


Once the nets were set up, we checked them about every 45 minutes. Once a bird was caught in a net, it was removed and placed into a special bag. Ursula assured us that the bags did not harm the birds and that being in the bags helped to calm them. We then took the birds back up to the main lodge to be tagged.


The tagging process involved several tasks because one of our goals was to identify the types of birds we caught. So, all the birds were weighed and measured. Measuring involved the length of the beaks, legs, and wings. The colors and markings of the birds were also observed. Sometimes it was difficult to identify the birds because many of them looked similar. Ursula and Jose identified quite a few of the birds, but the rest of us typically had to look them up in a book, such as The Birds of Peru. After all the observations were made and noted, tags were placed on the bird's legs. The tags were tiny because birds don't weigh much. To place heavy tags on birds would greatly interfere with their ability perform needed tasks.

I'm in my gear and watching birds!

After the tags were on, the birds were ready to be released. The birds were held in such a way that they could simply fly away when they were ready. We were told not to give the birds a toss or a push because the ones who had been struggling during the tagging process might be weakened. If we tossed them, they could fall to the ground and be injured. Most of the birds we tagged were happy to get away from us, though.


Another learning activity during the trip was listening to birds and identifying them by their calls. I would like to say that I got really good at doing it, but that would be an exaggeration. By the end of the trip I could pick out about five birds every time by their calls. At the start of the trip, I couldn't do any, so I felt successful in this venture.

Up until I went on this trip, I thought being an animal researcher was all excitement and danger. In some cases, I’m sure it is. However, I also learned that it can be mundane. This became evident on the day my group sat at the bird researcher’s station at the clay lick.

The clay lick is where birds come to eat clay, which helps aid in their digestion. Our task was to spend three hours watching the clay lick and making notes about the activity we saw there. Well, as our luck would have it, just about the time that we took over the duties, there weren’t any birds at the clay lick. For three hours we sat and waited, but we didn’t see anything. Then the bugs descended on us and decided we were good for a snack. It got so bad at one point that we all resorted to wearing mosquito net hats. We looked ridiculous and had a great laugh about it. However, it didn’t change the fact that we had no birds to observe. On occasion, we studied birds in nearby trees. We saw some excellent blue and gold macaws, but they didn’t go back to the clay lick.

I was relieved when the regular researchers returned, and we got to relinquish our bird researching duties. I concluded that patience is one of the key attributes of a good bird watcher. Patience and a lot of bug spray.

This is NOT the Discovery Channel!

 

My group hiked extensively in the Peruvian rain forest. We observed plants and the structure of the forest, but we mainly searched for animals. One thing I learned is that although there are lots of animals in the rain forest, they don't come right out to say hello. They are hard to find. Before the trip, I expected something like I've seen on the Discovery Channel. On those shows, all the animals are right there in living color, up close and personal. In reality, they're well-hidden, and we had to be quiet and observant if we wanted to see anything.

Hiking through the rain forest was a unique experience. Our hiking apparel included long pants, knee-high rubber boots, long sleeved shirts, and hats. All of this was to keep insects off our skin and poisonous plants off our legs. We needed the boots because in some areas we trudged through mud. I always coated myself with bug spray, and I never went hiking without my hat because I didn’t want bugs falling into my hair. All of this gear was hot, even though I had the kind of clothing that was moisture-wicking. The humidity was so intense, the entire day was spent sweating, no matter what type of clothing was worn. Even with those challenges, I made myself ready to head out and find those animals.

We had guides who took us into the forest when we hiked, and we were not allowed to hike alone. These guides could identify lots of animals by sound, and they saw animals that were perfectly camouflaged. Sometimes we didn't see animals, but we saw the tracks, nests, or holes that they left behind. In the areas where we hiked, paths had been cut. This didn't mean that there weren't things to step over or around, it just meant that we had a clear trail to follow.

We mostly saw insects. The rain forest was literally crawling with them, and some of them sting and bite more painfully than any Ohio insect ever could. I always imagined that the big animals would be the most worrisome, but those animals never came out to reveal themselves. Bugs were everywhere, and if their territory was invaded, they would definitely fight back. Hiker, beware! The next most common animals we saw were birds. In fact, birds were one of our main studies of the entire trip, and we saw plenty. My favorites were the large macaws. I enjoyed watching these majestic birds soar across the sky in a flash of color. They were a sight to behold.

A squirrel monkey at the Tambopata Research Center

My most exciting animal moment was the first time I saw a monkey. Our group had stopped along the river at one of the few checkpoints. As we were waiting, we heard chattering in the trees nearby. I had my camera with me, so I started snapping pictures right away. They were little squirrel monkeys, and they were having a great time swinging through the trees. I was thrilled to see them! Now I felt that I was really in the rain forest. Later, when I scrolled back through my pictures, I had another reality check…photographing wildlife was as difficult as finding it. Those monkeys didn’t want to sit still and pose for pictures. I had a lot of pictures, but only a few that were quality. How do they get such great pictures of animals on the Discovery Channel?

My goal over the next few days was to take quality pictures of the animals I saw. Sometimes I was successful, but many times I was not. Those animals had no interest in participating in any human endeavors whatsoever. I was disappointed that we never saw any big animals, either, like jaguars or sloths. The guides told us that it’s rare to see a jaguar. Oh sure, they’re out there, but they have no interest in revealing themselves. I did see some animals that were new to me, like capybaras, which are the world’s biggest rodents. I also saw caimans along the river. They’re related to alligators. One day while several of us just happened to be standing outside the Tambopata Research Center, an agouti, relative of the guinea pig, decided to come strolling out of the forest. I started snapping pictures, and after awhile, it just turned and walked back into the forest like it didn’t have a care in the world.

These days, when I watch the Discovery Channel, I have great respect for the wildlife photographers who take those pictures. I understand how patient they have to be to get just the right shot because as soon as a human sets foot in the rain forest, every animal knows he or she is there. However, that doesn’t mean they have to come out and play, as I definitely learned the hard way.

This Clay Lick's for the Birds!

Traveling to the Peruvian Amazon rain forest meant I saw many new things each and every day. One of those new things was a clay lick. Before this trip, I had no idea what a clay lick was or why birds would visit it. By the end of the trip, my knowledge of tropical birds had grown, and I was fortunate enough to make two trips to a clay lick. What I saw amazed me.

My group’s sojourn into the rain forest took us to the Tambopata Research Center (TRC). While providing tourists with ecological opportunities and adventures, it also functions as a working research facility where the main focus is macaws. TRC is located close to a sizeable clay lick. The most basic description of a clay lick is that it’s a cliff of clay where birds, such as macaws and parrots, come to eat. Researchers think the birds do this because the clay helps neutralize the toxins from other foods they eat, such as berries. However, the research on clay licks is still being conducted in the field.

Going to the clay lick involved an early wake-up call because we left TRC at 5:00 a.m. We needed to be in place at the clay lick observation area before the birds arrived. The clay lick was not accessible from TRC by foot, so we took boats to the viewing area. The boat ride was just a short ten minute jaunt down the river. Our journey to TRC had been a total of eight hours on the boats, so ten minutes seemed miniscule in comparison.

The first morning we went to the clay lick, it was still dark. The sun had just started to peek over the horizon, and the color of the sky against the outline of the forest was like a scene from a painting. We loaded into the boats and headed for the clay lick. I wore my knee-high rubber boots, but I took them off for the boat ride. The guides told us that if we happened to end up in the river, the boots would fill with water and drag us to the bottom. So, I always took them off when I was in the boat.

The river was shallow in places, and as we maneuvered to the clay lick, we hit a set of rapids. I thought for sure we were going to capsize as the boat rocked from one side to the other. I grabbed hold of the sides and held on for dear life. All I could think about was what I would do if I ended up in the water. I was glad I had taken off my boots! The boat driver and our guide in the front, whose job was to push us off protrusions in the river, handled the situation with ease, but I was glad when we reached shore.  It was the only time in all of our boat rides that I felt afraid.

Once we were ashore, we had to walk for five minutes to get to the viewing area for the clay lick. We each had to carry a little aluminum folding chair as well as our own backpacks. The viewing area was across from the clay lick with an inlet from the river in between. We set up the chairs, and then we waited.

Mealy parrots and blue headed parrots at the clay lick

There wasn't anything to do at this point except wait for the birds to arrive. We could hear birds and monkeys in the forest, and occasionally we would see birds fly in the sky. At one point the howler monkeys started to make noise, and they sounded like a freight train. The other birds and monkeys joined in until they all made the most awful din. And then...it started to rain. I was shocked by this because it seemed as if the animals knew the rain was coming, and so they called out their warnings to the surrounding area. I don't know if the animals’ calls were a coincidence or not, but it was a surreal moment for all of us. The rain didn't last long, but it was heavy enough that I was glad to have my raincoat and umbrella with me.

Finally, the birds showed up at the clay lick, and they all came at the same time. They swooped in and out to eat the clay. We saw about five different types of parrots and three different types of macaws. The guides had brought along a telescope, and through it we could see the birds well. When they were done at the clay lick, some of them perched in nearby trees, so we studied them even more. After awhile, all the birds flew away, and we wondered what had triggered their departure. The entire spectacle left me with the impression that the birds were purposed and coordinated in their visit to the clay lick. We humans were the ones who wanted to try and understand the meaning behind it.

A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush, or in This Case, a Mist Net

One of the focuses of our work in the Amazon was birds. I will readily admit, I am not very knowledgeable about birds. I like to observe them, but not necessarily touch them. However, on this trip I had an open mind and was ready to learn. I learned a lot about birds in just a week...more than I ever thought I could.


We were fortunate to have Ursula as one of our professors, and I was amazed at the amount of knowledge she had about birds. With a PhD in Ornithology, she should know a lot, but I enjoyed how the information just seemed to roll right off of her. She was excited about birds and it genuinely showed. I don't think she succeed in turning me into a "bird nerd," but I did learn a lot from her.


One of the first things we did on this trip was to set up some mist nets. A mist net is a long net that is used to catch birds. The birds can't see the net, so they fly right into it and get caught. It doesn't hurt the bird, but the person removing the bird does have to be careful. Only Ursula, Jose (our other professor), and Raoul (one of the workers at CECCOT) removed the birds from the nets. The rest of us just watched.


We did get to help set up the nets, though, and then about every 45 minutes we went to check them. Amazingly, we did catch a few birds (and a bat...see my earlier post about bats). Once a bird was caught in the net, a knowledgeable person would remove it and place it in a special bag. Ursula assured us that the birds were fine in the bags and that being in the bags actually helped to calm the birds down. We then took the birds back up to the main lodge to be tagged.


The tagging process actually entailed several things. It was more than just tagging. The bird was weighed and measured. Measuring involved the length of the beak, the legs, and the wings. The colors and markings of the bird were also observed. The eventual goal was to be able to identify the type of bird. Ursula knew many of the birds, but the rest of us typically had to look them up in a book. The Birds of Peru was the book we used to try and identify the birds. Sometimes it was very difficult because many of the birds looked very similar with just slight differences in appearance. After all the observations were made and noted, tags were placed on the bird's legs. The tags were very tiny. They had to be because birds don't weigh very much. To place heavy tags on the birds would greatly interfere with their ability to do what they need to do in order to survive.


After the tags were on, the bird was ready to be released. The bird was held in such a way that it could simply fly away when it was ready. We were told not to give the bird a toss or a push because some of the birds who had been struggling during the tagging process might be weakened. If we tossed them, they could fall to the ground and be injured. Most of the birds we tagged were happy to get away from us. No injured birds during these tagging sessions!


Another thing we did was to listen to birds and try to identify them by their calls. I would like to say that I got really good at doing it, but that would be an exaggeration. By the end of the trip I could pick out about five birds every time by their calls. At the start of the trip, I couldn't do any, so I would consider this some success. Some of the birds I could identify by call at the end of the trip were the oropendola and the macaws. The oropendola also does a really cool "show." (Watch for a video that I will post later.) The macaws are very loud, and I thought their calls were quite easy to identify.

All in all, I do not think I will ever be a bird expert, or a "bird nerd," as Ursula liked to say. However, I feel pretty pleased with the amount of knowledge I now possess about the birds of Peru. Like a good student, I learned something! It's amazing how much there still is to know about this wonderful world.

Hanging Out at the Clay Lick...Again (Day #2)

After the first great visit to the clay lick, we got set to do it all over again on the next day. This time, though, my group would get to stay longer and help the researchers count birds. I was all for this because it meant avoiding another long hike. By long hike I mean, four hours. This was how long we hiked after the first day at the clay luck, and frankly, it was a bit much for me. I started calling that experience the "Four Hour Death March." That's what it felt like after waking up at 4:00 a.m., watching birds at the clay lick, and then hiking for four hours in those rubber boots. I was spent!


Anyway, so I was looking forward to extra time at the clay lick since it meant that I wouldn't have to take another four hour hike. I was also laughing with some mean-spirited glee at my friends who missed the four hour hike on the previous day, but would probably have to take it today. I know, that wasn't nice, but sometimes misery loves company.


Since we were assisting the researchers, we got to go to a different viewing place than the rest of our colleagues. We also got "breakfast on the go," which basically consisted of scrambled eggs in a plastic container. That is exactly why I always travel with a stash of granola bars. They've saved the day more than once! We had our little aluminum folding chairs and we hunkered down again to wait for the birds.


The birds decided to go to a different part of the clay lick than where they had been on the previous day. This worked out really well for us because they were closer to where we were sitting. We got some pretty good views of them, and we could see them really well with the telescope. As they did on the previous day, it seemed like they all just left at once. Some were still perching in nearby trees, but they weren't at the clay lick anymore.

It was about that time that the researchers left and gave us the job of counting birds. Every five minutes we were supposed to write down how many birds were at the lick. It was our job to do this for about the next three hours. We also were to make some other observations of the birds that were perched in the trees and describe what exactly they were doing.

So, once we had the directions and the researchers were gone, we were ready to do our jobs. There was only one problem...there weren't any more birds at the clay lick. For three hours there weren't any more birds at the clay lick! Wow, talk about boring. If the birds would've been there, it would've been great. But it was like a graveyard. So, we sat. And we watched. And we waited. And that was about it. 

To make matters worse, the bugs were trying to munch on us like crazy. We even resorted to wearing mosquito net hats for a little while. I don't think I have ever worn a more ridiculous outfit in my life: convertible pants, knee-high rubber boots, long sleeved shirt, and a mosquito net hat. I'm sure that my students would have rolled with laughter if they'd seen me. It doesn't get much funnier than that! Just look at the picture and you'll see what I mean.

While we were waiting for the birds and swatting away mosquitoes, I took the opportunity to get caught up on my journal. We did get to make some observations of the birds in the trees by using the telescope. For one minute we watched a bird and reported on its behavior. There was a checklist to mark with information about what the bird was doing. We took turns observing the birds this way, and it also helped to pass the time.

Finally, it was time to head back to TRC. We hiked back down to the river, but the boat wasn't there yet to pick us up. I suggested that we wade in the river for a few minutes to cool down. What a great idea this turned out to be! It felt so good to dunk my feet in the water. I could've stayed there all day. In fact, I was really sad when the boat came and we had to put our boots back on. I actually took off the lower parts of my convertible pants and wore the boots with them as shorts. It looked funny, but it felt much cooler.

I learned something very important during our extended time at the clay lick....being an animal researcher can be extremely boring at times. (Oh, and my friends didn't have to take a four hour hike, so I guess I shouldn't have been looking forward to their pain and agony. Serves me right.)

Hanging Out at the Clay Lick, Day #1

While we stayed at the Tambopata Research Center (TRC), we got the visit a nearby clay lick. This is a cliff of clay where birds, such as macaws and parrots, come to eat the clay. Researchers think that they do this because the clay helps neutralize the toxins from other things they eat, such as berries.

Going to the clay lick involves an early wake-up call. And by early I mean around 4:15 a.m. Those of you who know me well are probably laughing because you know that I do not like to get up early. However, you would have been proud of me...I got up on time every morning that we had to do this. And, sometimes I even got up early! Anyway, we'd leave TRC at 5:00 a.m. so that we could be in place at the clay lick before the birds came. We took boats over to the clay lick, but that boat ride was only about ten minutes long.

The first morning we went to the clay lick, it was still pretty dark. The sun had just started to peek over the horizon. It was beautiful! We loaded into the boats and headed out. I was wearing my knee-high rubber boots, and I took them off for the boat ride. The guides told us that if we happened to end up in the river, the boots would fill with water and drag us to the bottom. So, I always took them off when I was in the boat.

The river was shallow in places, and as we were heading to the clay lick that morning, we hit a set of rapids. Now, I'm not usually afraid of boating or water, but I thought for sure we were going to capsize. We boat rocked from one side and then back to the other. I grabbed a hold of the sides and held on for dear life. It was the only time in all our of boat rides that I was afraid. The boat driver and our guide in the front (who's job was to push us off protrusions in the river) maneuvered the situation with ease, but I was really glad when we reached shore.  

To get to the viewing area for the clay lick, we had to walk for about five minutes. We each had a little aluminum folding chair (and I use that word lightly) to carry as well as our own backpacks. The viewing area was across from the clay lick with an inlet from the river in between. We set up the chairs, and then we waited. There really wasn't anything to do at this point except wait for the birds to show up. We could hear birds and monkeys in the forest, and occasionally we would see birds fly in the sky. At one point the howler monkeys started to make noise. It sounded like a freight train! Then other birds and monkeys started in until it was the most awful din. And then...it started to rain. Amazing! It was like the animals knew the rain was coming and starting calling out a warning. I don't know if it was just a coincidence or not, but it was a surreal moment. The rain didn't last very long, but it was heavy enough that I was really glad to have my raincoat and umbrella with me.

Finally, the birds showed up at the clay lick, and it was an amazing sight. They would swoop in and out to eat the clay. We saw about five different types of parrots and three different types of macaws. When they were done at the clay lick, some of them would perch in nearby trees, so we were able to watch them. The guides had brought along a telescope, and through it we could see the birds really well. After awhile, all the birds left. Why did they all come when they did and then leave at the same time? Who can know, but it was a sight to behold.