Tiputini Biodiversity Station

USFQ has it´s very own research station out in the middle of the Amazon Rain Forest. It´s really easy to get to- all you do is take a plane to the city Coca, then get on a bus through the town to the boat dock, dodge around the monkeys that will sit on the arms and head of any person that is nearby, get on a boat for 2 hours to the oil station, then go through security and load a trolly bus through the Amazon for 2 hours until you get to the little shack that reads ¨ Tienda la Rosita¨ just before the rickity bridge. There, you will load on a long wooden canoe with all of the workers and supplies and head down the tributary for another 2 hours or so until you reach the small cabana on the riverbend. That´s Tiputini. Offically in the middle of nowhere!

We were all given big black rubber boots and bunked up in some small wooden shacks. I roomed with 3 girls from North Carolina whom I love a lot! We had no hot water, biodegradable soap and electricity only from the hours of 11a-1 and 6-930 at night.

> The first night we went on a night hike to look for the nocturnal animals. We saw a snake up close and personal just sleeping right along the trail on a large leaf. There were a ton of crazy looking spiders which I did not like much and even a real walking stick or two!!

> The next day we were up and the crack of dawn for breakfast and then a 3 hour hike through the Rain Forest, up to our knees in mud!! We saw a ton of monkeys!! They were all just playing in the trees above us throwing things and making mischief. Our guide had some binocs so we could take a closer look! We also saw some tracks of a big Pig the size of a small cow. Tapier- I think the name is. ( I actually think I´m wrong cause I can´t find it on Wikipedia!) oh well. I saw a picture later and they are some real ugly things. Our Guide Jose has been living in the Rain Forest his whole life as part of an indigenous tribe. When he was 10 he was lost in the forest for 2 days with only a machete and a stun gun. He´s a tough one. He knew all kinds of things about the trees and plants. We learned a ton! There is even this one type of tree that when you crack open the branch a whole village of ants lives inside- and the ants taste like lemon!!! Yes, we tried them! I just licked one for the taste but my crazy friend Karrin ate up the whole thing!!! Sick huh!?
We did a lot of little hikes. Our second trip was to a watch tower where I saw some Toucans through the binocs and a monkey came right up close to us in the tree next to the tower! He was just chillin and eating and scratching like you seem them do on t.v. and at the zoo!!! It was nuts! We also took a little canoe in the lagoon to look at some crazy parrot species. Again, the name escapes me. But they were very colorful with big spiky feathers on their heads. That was pretty cool.

The second day was my favorite. We sat around in the morning waiting for the rain to pass ( it rains a lot in the rain forest! ) We saw a Boa curled up in the station hiding from the rain. Then we went out to anohter tower and didnt see much. THEN, in the afternoon we went PIRANHA FISHING!!! We only caught like 2 or 3- and the guide got a catfish! We fished with little wooden sticks and chunks of red meat. Comforting that they eat red meat huh? I almost had one but I couldn´t get him hooked with my little stick and he got away once he reached the surface. Also, there were sardines up the wazooo in the water and those little pesks would just nibble away at the bait!! I hated them so much. Later that night for dinner they cooked up everybody´s piranhas and we all shared. It´s actually a pretty good fish. If you can get over the fact that the teeth were still in tact on the platter!

We all jumped in the water with life jackets and floated down the river on the way back to the station from fishing. We were warned not to pee though b.c there are these little animals that climb in your urethra when you pee and expand out little barbs. You have to get them out- and the barbs dont go in!!!! yikes!! I don´t think anyone got one though! whew!!

One night we watched a slide show of all the animals in the forest. National Geographic sponsers a study with hidden- motion and heat sensored cameras which catch all the wildlife in action. they´ve been able to get a picture of almost every species in the forest. We saw some pretty cool leopards and monkeys and even some huge anteaters the size of a big dog!

The last night was my favorite! We got to go out in the boat at night and spot alligators. They´re called Caymans here and are a little bit smaller than alligators. We saw a bunch and were able to get pretty close in our boat. We saw about half a dozen- one was even albino! Then our guide, Santiago, who is like Survivorman meats Chuck Norris- just reached over the boat and grabbed one!!! It was a baby Cayman but baby or not he put that thing right in our boat!!!!!!!! Talk about a man with some balls! GEEZ LOUISE!!! So of course everyone flipped a lid and started taking photos right and left. One disturbed passenger who couldn´t see tried to yell at me to move and I jsut turned and told her if she kept it up I was gonna throw her off the boat! lol. I felt bad so I attempted to talk with her in a mature manner about the matter afterwards but she ran away from me while I was talking! haha. oops! To make matters worse she is the ¨ socially awkward¨ girl that I keep telling everyone Jesus loves too! I guess I just let the gator excitement get the best of me- but it was kinda funny!!! I think she forgives me.



On one of the many long stops on the way home we were at a hotel with a ton of animals just wandering about. These tiny monkeys would just eat everybody´s food and jump on everyone´s head. They are funny little guys! They also had an anteater, sloths, a turtle or two and a peacock just walking about! It was great!!!!

OH and!!! Turns out one of the guys from UNC had some friends who had some friends from Michigan and he was a HUGE Nertz fan!! ( its a card game we always play at state!) I thought my friends like made it up- turns out no! So, we had a nertz tournament everyday!!!! IT WAS GREAT!!!! :)

Now, it´s back to school. Only 7 days of classes left- I think there´s a small chance I can make it out of this alive.