Post #16: Jungle Day 3 - Rain, rain, go away. Gallocunca stream

February 5, 2011
Morning:  Rain.  Read.  Observe critters around lodge.
Afternoon: Hike through forest to Gallocunca stream.

One nice gift the tour provided for this jungle experience was a booklet with background information about the eco-lodge, its services, the rainforest, the Reserve, wildlife viewing tips, Ox-bow lakes, the giant otter (we didn't see any), the macaws (didn't see them either due to rain), info about the ages of Madre de Dios, gold extraction (conducted on the river), eco-tourism and applied conservation.  From its pages it tells of the indigenous people, too:

"The oldest inhabitants of the Department of Madre de Dios are the indigenous Amazonian Indians belonging to the linguistic families Harakambut, Arawak, Tacana and Pano.  Archeological evidence points to an occupation of this vast territory by these people of several thousand years.  Approx. 4,000 indigenous people survive today.  The majority have been "contacted" and now live in permanently settled communities near the major river systems.  However, small groups still live a very secluded nomadic life deep within the forests in areas such as Manu, Piedras and Tahuamanu."

Back to our story:

The honeymoon couple left that second morning for Lima to continue their vacation.  We missed them.  But another guest had turned up at lunch the previous day, a Londoner who had worked as a guide at a nearby lodge a number of years earlier.  During his stint then, no Peruvians had training to be guides yet, so mostly Europeans conducted the jungle tours for travelers visiting the lodge.  Being back was sort of like old home week for him but he was on his way downriver so he'd only be with us about 24 hours.  He is Kevin Morgan, and he appears in some of our photos.  I don't think he'd mind my plugging his web site here.

In the morning it rained.  Hard.  Elvis said that when you wake up in the jungle and don't hear any birds singing, you know it is raining.  The weather, then, was in charge.  Due to rain our plans to visit Lake Sachavacayoc (Tapir Lake) were canceled and so was a plan to visit the famed Macaw Clay-licks.  Darn it.

After ruminating about what to do, we settled on just hanging out.  I caught up on my journal, Hoyt and I brought books to read over to the lodge's porch, and we settled down there to watch whatever creatures might show up in the forest across the pathway. 

In Post #13:  Jungle Day 1b - Tambopata Lodge, I included most of the photos I took during this morning off but here's another monkey breakfast group feeding on bananas put out there daily by lodge staff and a few more with butterflies.

Saddle-back Tamarin monkeys
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Inside the lodge was a nice display of local butterflies.  We had seen several on our hikes already.

Butterfly collection in the lodge lobby
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Tiger heliconian butterfly
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge



Peanut grasshopper - his head does look like a peanut, yes?
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

I learned that one difference between a moth and a butterfly is that when a moth lands, its wings lay flat out.  A butterfly's wings stay raised up, close together.

Moth on the lodge's floor
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Butterfly on Charlene's pack looking for a drink
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Yippee, the rain stopped
To our delight, around lunchtime the rain stopped.  After lunch - another delicious feast of chicken, rice and veggies plus dessert of fresh watermelon - Elvis, Hoyt, Kevin from London, and I went for a hike on the shorter trail around the lodge area.  It took us down towards a stream called Gallocunca.

On the trail we discovered Natural malaria medicine (not for the first time ever but the first time for us) that comes from the bark of a quinine tree featured in one of the following photos.  The rest of this blog contains photos of the many plants, animals - especially the red howler monkey, whose howl sounds like wind rushing through a narrow tunnel and is very haunted-house-horror-movie sounding.  The males make the howl noise to mark their territory which can end up being for many miles.  Those howling monkeys are big and live high in the canopy.  The mother looked as big as me.  So enjoy the following sights of our last hike in the jungle. Captions explain photo contents. 

Red howler monkey
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Red howler monkey
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Mother red howler with baby on her back
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Smokey jungle frog
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Leaf-cutter ants.  See the small pieces in the middle of the photo?  Each piece is being carried by an ant.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Lizard
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

 Cicada mounds.  They live in there before they break out and live in the trees.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Stairs to nowhere.  The jungle floor probably just collapsed.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Termite mound
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Charlene Edge holding a brazil nut shell. 
Inside the individual Brazil nuts are set in a circle like orange sections.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Charlene Edge standing by Quinine tree. 
Bark is used to make quinine which was used in the original recipe for Tonic Water.
Photo by Hoyt Edge

All we need is syrup for these pancakes!
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

A prickly fern in the same family as one that caught Charlene Edge's arm.  It pricked her arm right through her shirt, drawing a little blood.   No worries.  Not poisonous.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Coca bloom.  Coo coo for Coca Puffs
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

More fungus among us
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

...and more
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge



Almost there...
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge



But first...a giant colony spider web, nearly as tall as Charlene Edge.  Also called social spiders.
Photo by Hoyt Edge

A little light through the canopy on Hoyt and Charlene Edge
Photo property of Hoyt Edge

My three tour guides: Hoyt Edge, Kevin, and Elvis. 
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

The stream at last
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Yup.  You guessed it. Charlene and Hoyt Edge at the river.
Photo property of Hoyt Edge

And that's the end of that story.
Photo by Charlene Lamy Edge

Travel tip:  The rainforest makes no promises.  You never know what you'll see.  Just show up.  Be thankful for what's there and don't miss what's not.  The lesson is sort of Zen-ish.

Next and last post:  Adios rainforest friends: homo sapiens and all other creatures big and small.  It's been a privilege to meet you.