Heppytour in South America

[ Home Page | Africa | Australia | New Zealand | South America]

Argentina

We arrived in Buenos Aires 5 hours before we took off to a surprisingly Western city. Completely jetlagged we did a little touring, taking in the obligatory tango show and a large part of an Argentinian cow. Flew LanChile to Lima; inflight movie "Proof of Life" about a westerner being kidnapped in the South American jungle.

Peru

Lima is much more what we were expecting. A sprawling smog of a city, mostly rundown.

Mark has to visit the doctor (managed to get a nasty infection in New Zealand). Go through the usual bureaucratic process - first pay an estimate of the consult cost. Obtain receipt. Take receipt to waiting room. Wait. Find out the doctor has gone home. Retrieve money. Bribe way into casualty. Pay...etc. Wait in consulting room. Admire diagrams depicting methods of performing rectal examination. Tighten belt. Doctor appears. Attempt to communicate. Second doctor appears. Both shake their heads knowingly. Tighten belt further. Obtain expected prescription for antibiotics. Obtain partial refund. Leave hurriedly.

After a few days in Lima, during which time we accidently bump into Taline (our Canadian buddy from the Africa stage), all the volunteers and staff of Greenforce muster.

The Rainforest



Leave Lima, having raced through the streets SEGA style at 3:30am. Plane is delayed an hour whilst a mad Italian tour guide attempts to hijack our plane as she´s managed to miss hers (with half her group). Security can´t seem to prise her from the door. Learn the meaning of the Peruvian shrug. Fly back over the Andes (3rd time) then get the first view of our home for the next 10 weeks. Mile after mile of flat green rainforest divided by muddy brown rivers feeding the Amazon.

As soon as the plane lands in Puerto Maldonado and we clamber onto the tarmac, we´re covered in sweat. A snake of motorcycle tuk-tuks carries us to our hotel.

Late afternoon we head to the market to buy essential jungle gear. Wellies and flip flops. Ha hah, us jungle types laugh in the face of technical equipment and expensive gear. This stuff is tried and tested.

Next day we´re lectured on our purpose - principally the provision of data to the Peruvian Government on the biodiversity present in the area - mammalian, avian and vegetative. We then head out to a local agro-farm where we marvel at plants with medicinal properties, trees (with phallic protruding roots) that walk and trees that sweat. Although not as much as us. We´re also introduced to one of the most abundant things in the rainforest. Mud.

Enjoy our last cold beer.

Next morning we make our way to the river and spend ages loading the boat. Cramped and heavily laden, it´s a long 70km trip upriver to our base. A human chain unloads the boat in the dark and we investigate camp. 14 volunteers (including 2 Peruvian girls) are stationed in a thatched, stilted, wooden longhouse, divided into 4 rooms by bamboo screens. We sleep on the floor with mossie nets strung from crossbeams. Toilets are longdrops further into the forest. The six staff (including two trainees and one changeover) are in a bungalow the other side of camp. Between us is the comodor (dining/social room) and kitchen - open sided, palm thatched platforms. We soon meet some of the wildlife - a beautifully coloured coral snake under our bungalow and tarantulas in the rooves. Our building is known as "The Bungalow", although as I write, I note that all of our buildings were single storey. Must ask. Heppies enjoy a little privacy as we´re in a room of our own (mostly because it leaks). The rest of the Bungalow are 4 to a room - 2 girls' rooms and one mixed. M/F ratio is 5/13, age range 18-34 (mostly 18-23).

As soon as we can, we're out in the rainforest, ignoring the heat, humidity and relentless insects. Much of the first week is spent learning technique, clearing trails (we wield machetes like manic Rambos, only shorter) and camp duties. The river is our water source. We bathe in it (only during the day as we've not yet learnt to wrestle caimans), wash our clothes in it - we put muddy brown clothes in and out comes, well, muddy brown clothes generally - and drink it. Despite filtering, it still looks like tea and tastes like swimming pool water (as we have to chlorinate it). Food is basic. We've no power and no fridge so we eat beans, lentils, split peas and vegetables (carrots, onions, potatoes, until they run out). For the first few weeks we can also collect brazil nuts from 450 year old Castaña trees.

We soon settle into a routine. We're rota'd to daily tasks. These are:

Plants - We fire arrows over tree branches with a line attached so we can get ropes up. We climb the tree (up to 40m) to collect samples for identification, then abseil down. We spend the afternoon i.d.ing. Otherwise we are marking out plots and logging tree data. Interesting specimens are photographed and emailed to Edinburgh Uni.

Point Counts - for density and abundance data of birds, we rise before dawn and record 6x10 minutes of the chorus which we then spend the rest of the day analysing. Copies of the tapes, complete with comedy burps, farts, sneezes, etc. are sent to the British Library.

Scivy - clean and cook for the entire camp.

Mammals - walking quietly through the forest (try doing this on a diet of beans & pulses) at dawn and dusk to record observations of all mammals we see. Sightings include six species of monkey, coati, deer, agouti, peccary, tamandua, jaguarundi, but not the big one (Jaguar) - we only find his tracks.

Mist nets - halfway through the phase, the staff mist netter, Dan (who's been severely ill), and his replacement, Andre, arrive and we start netting birds.We set up two lanes of 30m nets, 5m high and wait. Birds caught are measured, weighed, identified, ringed and released. This is a highlight for many people as the birdlife is amazing - from 3gm hummingbirds to 3ft macaws (don't catch many of these as they live at 40m).

We work six days a week and can drink only on a Saturday night. For fun we climb trees - watching sunset while suspended 40m in the canopy watching parrots and macaws fly past is magical - go on walks in the rainforest, spot birds in trees; so pretty much the same as work then. Oh and play volleyball, mud wrestle on the river bank, play silly games and large it on Saturday night.

Extracts from the diary (rescued from email)

Day 1
Fantastic view of snaky brown rivers flowing through endless green. Arrive Puerto Maldonado. It's in the Madre de Dios region. Think it translates as "Mother of God". Oh dear.

Day 5
Grab machete and slide around in the mud trying to clear overgrown trails and not kill anyone in the process. More fulfilling is using the machete to open a castaña nut to enjoy fresh brazil nuts.

Day 6
Visit the long drop after dinner to find a sloth in occupation. Not a common occurance in Maidenhead. Poor beggar gets frightened off as everyone comes for a look.

Day 7
Less than a week in and everyone knows my opinion of porridge. Roll on the banana season!
Tested on our knowledge so far. Get told to go to the bottom of the class when I answer "Panda" to "Name a creature found in bamboo". Apparently, they're not overly common in Peru.

Day 11
First proper mammal day. Up at 4:45, walking slowly through the forest. After an eternity see Saddleback Tamarins. They're small, russet brown and stare at us with dark faces and an attitude. Further on we catch a glimpse of Brown Capuchin and then, alerted by the sound of a donkey swallowing a chicken live, Dusky Titis. Bit of a simian feast.
Relaxing in the hammock before lunch, hear squeals from the river. Investigate to find KT, Jennie (18 yo redhead) and Sophie (19 yo blonde) frolicking in the mud. No other word for it.
Finish the day with another walk and the fantastic sight of a Scarlet Macaw in a near tree.

Day 14
Scivy day...make the porridge, cut steps in the mud down to the river, mend the footbowl with candlewax and tape, carry water, cook lunch, cut and chop coconuts, experiment with food options, prepare dinner. So busy, manage to prepare refresco (fruit squash) with baking powder by mistake. Much ribbing.

Day 18
Sophie and I are teamed to take plant samples. Or deforestation as it seems to be. First I climb 15m up a tree and attempt to fire an arrow across to another tree to set a new rope up. Arrow gets stuck up tree. Bugger. Jorge, our Peruvian plant expert tries to retrieve it, but does exactly the same thing. Bugger. So give up and climb a 25m tree for fun instead. Great views.
After lunch we work on building a swing out over the river for Sophie. This soon becomes a hit. Turn into dad as I have to keep going over when a new method of swinging (ahem) is discovered.

Day 21
Soph & I back on trees. We have the distiction of being the first to climb to 40m. This feels like a huge achievement and the view's not bad either.

Day 22
Try to outdo the lads in their "Saturday Night Shirts" by wearing a tie. "This may be the jungle, but I'm British and we have standards, you know". Cake and lemon vodka start a good night. Attempt to remove drunken Sophie from the beach at midnight. She swears she's OK as she slides slowly down the slope to the river!

Day 27
The boat returns from town. Our only contact with the outside world. Learn of a new addition to the family - Louise Offersen.

Day 28
First attempt at mist netting (catching birds). Tease Dan mercilessly for his complete failure to deliver one bird in 3 hours.

Day 35
Dan comes good and we catch our first bird. A musicians wren (has a call like Les Dawson playing the Star Spangled Banner).

Day 36
Mid phase break in Maldonado. Got to admire a country where you can spread 'Fanny' jam on 'Bimbo' bread. Big party mood as it's our first cold beer in 5 weeks.

Day 40
Following thefts on camp while we were in town, many have gone back, so the few that are left get a choice of activities. I get to handle, measure and ring my first bird, a Plain Throated Ant Wren. They´re surprisingly docile (or maybe it's just my touch with the birds). Ange & I continue to take the mick out of Dan as the birds he measure fly straight out of his hand to the ground. Calls of "Is it dead yet Dan?" are not appreciated!

Day 42
Amazing electrical storm lights the sky. Walk down to the river to see it has risen 20 feet in a couple of hours and is full of huge tree trunks being carried downstream. Too risky to go out into the forest as we can hear trees falling all around. Teach some of the gang to play poker.

Day 43
Join Chris and Helen at the Otter platform. Soon spot otters. They ignore the book feeding pattern (2 fish a day), 4 of them each taking 8 fish in half an hour. They give us some fantastic views when they climb out onto some logs.
Race back to camp, beating the target "hour" and end up mud wrestling with Helen on the beach.
Bizarre Saturday night (our only drinking night) - end up teaching our token American, Heather, how to waltz.

Day 44
Mud is reaching perfection. Teach KT this the hard way. It rains hard enough to wash our hair under. Very Timotei.

Day 54
As Chris & I wash up breakfast, a flurry of green appears on the steps. A parrot has appeared. Everyone comes for a look and after they´ve gone, I find he's quite tame and pick him up. We welcome Percy to our group. He moves into the comedor and soon shows he's a big fan of casino biscuits. Tease Dan that I can catch a greater weight of birds without a net and not leaving camp.

Day 57
A troop of Squirrel Monkeys pass by as we're collecting plant samples. Climb the renaka - 40m tree with great sunset views (KT saw macaws fly past at close range) and speedy abseil down.
Saturday night so pass the time with impromptu pea shooting competitions at Helen's cleavage and other party games.

Day 62
On holiday. Head upriver, passing colonies of capybara, fantastic birds - herons, hawks, river terns, etc., for most of the day then camp on the riverbank. Camp maybe an exaggeration as we're using bamboo poles and blue plastic sheeting. But watching the sunset as hundreds of parrots fly overhead, as well as a few pairs of macaws is amazing.

Day 63
Early morning start at the colpa (clay lick) to watch more parrots and three types of macaw.

Day 65
Last few days are spent dressed in every item of clothing we have. A friaje (cold wind from the Andes) has reduced the temperature from 29deg C to about 5. With open huts, it's somewhat chilly. The animals in the jungle think the same. It's odd to hear no sound at night, not even from the insects. So no work for us!

and some of the bits that didn't get a full entry...

Helen ratproofing the kitchen
Stung by killer bees
Kat with a botfly in her, er, bot (she names it 'Quentin')
Identifying "Oxfam" birds - someone else's recordings that haven't been id'd
Chris and Joe running past in their swimming shorts discussing recipes
Sarah miming "A porn star's first meeting with his potential mother-in-law"
Initiating a 3 person Mexican wave during bird call analysis
Remapping transects with the help of "Bambi" a life sized cardboard deer
Competitive volleyball games
Rat piss from the rafters

---

Some people shots:

Helen (Fish)	Jen	Heather	Gina	Vanessa	Sarah

and some scenic views:

---

Leave the jungle and get a haircut. I can see again. This is a good thing. I can now avoid hazards that aren´t too obvious in the jungle - pavements, traffic, Peruvians.

The Mountains

Fly to Cusco. From 340m (the Amazon only falls this far in thousands of miles - wow) we are now at 10 times this. And wheezing. Steps are to be feared. This is bad, as Cusco is set in the mountains. Lots of steps. It is a beautiful city (apart from the bits that smell of Peruvian pee) with Inca stonework included in some of the colonial buildings.

We´ve arrived at festival time and the main square is pretty much occupied all the time with Catholics competing with pagans and the police. The big day is Inti Raymi, where loads of people dress up as Incas and carry a moon god and sun god around town (lord knows where they find them) then up to the Inca ruins at Sachsaywuman (locally known as Sexy Woman). The atmosphere is great and the pageantry is quite spectacular. Even the sacrificial llama was happy as a fake heart was removed from him.

Arrange to go on a horseride with Fish (aka Nige aka Helen, our Kamp Kommandant). Suddenly find we are joined by six more volunteers from Greenforce who have varying (read little) experience, so our ride in the mountains is erm, interesting.

Dump most of our friends who are off walking around a tall mountain whilst we go for the Inca Trail option. Walking through spectacular mountain scenery, KT struggles on the second day as we climb vertically a mile. Young Kat strikes on ahead. Have to take narcotics to help (coca leaves seem only to leave the mouth numb, but who knows...?) But it´s well worth it (even the freezing nights in our tents as the snow falls). The Inca sites set amongst the green peaks are amazing. The final morning we´re up at 4am for a two hour walk before watching sun rise over Macchu Pichu. More superlatives.

Back in town we rejoin our friends, most of whom are young and suffering from altitude sickness. Shame. It´s a nice change being followed around, rather than trying to keep up!

Most of the crowd then decide to head to Puno. We cross the altiplano by train. More fantastic scenery and a surprising amount of birdlife in the shallow lakes we pass.

In Puno we do the obligatory tourist things - a visit to the funery towers (spot wild guinea pig) and a cruise on Lake Titicaca. The biggest shock is the temperature change - from the late 20´s in the jungle, we´re now running at -5 degs at night. Suddenly, the tourist purchases of "genuine alpaca" in Cusco don´t look so stupid. Especially, as Peru seems not quite to have come to terms with agua caliente as a concept yet.

Finally manage to get away from most of the crowd - the youngsters have finally worked out their diaries and don´t have as much time as they thought. So tearful goodbyes, and we head south with our erstwhile former leader.

Bolivia

There have been rumours of strikes in Bolivia and the border is potentially closed, but we decide to give it a go. We manage to cross over, but now the peasants have started to revolt and take it out on our bus as we drive to La Paz. We suffer only a broken window and the cancellation of our diversion to Tiahuanaca, which is deemed unsafe. Overnight in the highest capital city in the world (it snows in the higher reaches) then we spend a day taking a bus and a train south to the salt pans of Salar de Uyuni. On the way, we pass shallow lakes with hundreds of flamingos. Another beautiful sight as they take off into the setting sun as we pass by.

We arrange for a three day tour of the salt pans and desert. Some of the bleakest, most remote landscape in the world. It´s an area of unspoilt beauty (apart from the odd Toyota Landcruiser filled with gringos and Brazilian tourists). The salt flats look like ice, and the cold adds to this impression. Odd islands appear from time to time with huge cacti and the odd mammal (vicuña or viscacha - rare wild llamas and rabbit-like animals respectively).

At this point, M manages to come down with giardia. Nige admits responsibility as she had it whilst on camp and may have infected 3 or more of us. The rest of the trip becomes a blur - flamingoes, hot springs, active volcanoes, bleak deserts - as the illness takes hold. Luckily we´re carrying the large dose of antibiotics needed and 24 hours later, he's back.

Chile

We leave Bolivia by the back door and sneak into Chile. Infrastructure makes a rare appearance into South America (along with a red-headed customs official, odd in a country full of jet black hair).

We settle into the bizarre village of San Pedro de Atacama, on the edge of the Atacama desert. Settle, on account of the dust storm that follows us into town. After a day this disappears and the three of us go riding into the desert. It looks like something out of a Western, complete with painted backdrop!

Moving on, Chile lets itself down in the shape of a bus agent who, perculiarly, refuses to sell us a through ticket to Arica.

So we end up in the town of Calama at 10pm with 24 hours to kill. Which is just about right...the cinema is closed and the only other attraction is a concrete park with a couple of papier mache llamas. Except, of course, for the statue of a man with a pneumatic drill in the centre of town. Even the 19 hour bus journey we take out of town is more interesting.

Peru

So, we´re now back in Peru and in Arequipa. Last aftershock from the earthquake was yesterday, but life goes on. It´s a nice, working city, so we´re enjoying a day off before touring again. Went to the nunnery in Arequipa. Interesting self contained nun city. Bits were being removed whilst we were there. I think they were fallen masonry from the earthquake, but you never know in Peru.

Went to the Colca Canyon, took twice as long as usual as we swerved around the rockfalls. Second deepest canyon in the world (the deepest is a bit further inland) - breathtaking scenery, hot springs and the amazing experience of watching condors rise over the ledge of the canyon in the morning.

From there we left Fish and went down to Nazca. With usual bureaucratic efficiency our bus was held up on the coast road where sandslides had made the road one way. So obviously we were let through before the traffic had finished coming in the other direction. So we shunted and waited whilst the sand continued to slide. Que Sera. In Nazca, wandering around a cemetery (obviously), we bumped into a couple of the Jungle Bunnies (Chris & Jen, not yet killed each other). Flew over the lines in a vomit inducing flight, but well worth the effort.

South to Pisco, met up with Fish again so now we are 5. Took a boat cruise to the Islas Ballestras (aka the Poor Man's Galapagos). Red footed boobies, Humbolt penguins and a guano load of other seabirds, not to mention a few seals and the odd sea otter.

Ditched Chris & Jen in Lima as we travelled overnight to Trujillo on the North coast. Interesting historically as many generations of kings built cities out of mud. Learnt all about the various types of mud. Apparantly, your unadulterated adobe mud is the highest quality. However, despite being intensely dry most of the time, El Niño does raise it's ugly head every so often. Doesn't seem to be much in the way of Fairy Stories to provide useful allegories locally. Still, very impressive as far as mud goes. Also visited the local Mobil station, which has a museum in its basement. Some of the most important historical artefacts from Peru are stored here, so we had a personal tour (including the "locked cupboard" with pottery representations of what the folks got up to in the quiet months of the year).

Trujillo started our run of bad luck. M got mugged (but held onto nearly everything), then a money changer tried to rip us off (but sorted by a local hero and a policeman). As it happens, we met some of the nicest people in Peru here also.

Ecuador

Finally got rid of Fish and got an overnight bus to the nearest town to Ecuador. Then, a mad collectivo ride to the Peruvian border, a tuk tuk across into Ecuador, then a bus to the Ecuadorian border (not set up for an easy crossing!). The scenery changed rapidly from the desert of Peru to cool tropic lushness. Onto the pretty city of Cuenca for an overnight stay (yet another World Heritage listed location). Then, as we were leaving someone stole all of our camera equipment, which was a tad annoying. Also lost a couple of films and a few irreplaceable prints, but most upsetting was the loss of our Jungle Diaries.

Arrived in Quito, which has a fantastic setting amongst the volcanoes. Took a day trip to Coatapaxi, which is one of the highest volcanoes in the world. Trudging through the snowstorm, we occasionally had glimpses of the valley below, then just as quickly we couldn't see our noses. Riding back on the roof of the Land Rover was quite entertaining.

Galapagos

Flew from Quito to the Galapagos where we had arranged a week's trip on the motor-sailer Cachelote. One of the smallest boats (8 passengers, 5 crew) with a great guide, we had an amazing time. On land we were David Attenboroughing - watching the ridiculous courtship dance of Blue Footed Boobies and the fencing of Waved Albatross from a few feet away. Snorkelling with sharks, rays, turtles, penguins, and (most fun) playful sealions. And, for a change, only KT managed to provide some fish food.







After a couple of days chilling in a waterfront apartment on one of the islands, we sneak back to Quito before leaving for Venezuala.

Venezuela

We fly to Caracas, a modern city with worse crime reports than Quito, via Columbia. Venezuela is hot and sticky. We overnight before flying to Merida at the beginnings of the Andes. This university city is located in a valley between two mountain ranges that means that flying in is an interesting experience.

We decide to go horseriding up some of the steepest paths we've encountered, but it's worth the effort. The mountainsides are an explosion of colour with orchids and all manner of 'alpine' plants. We have fantastic views over to the other peaks and riding above the level of the incoming planes means that, during a comfort break, I have to turn round to spare the blushes of the crew and passengers of a passing scheduled flight.

Not content with exploring the mountains on horseback, we also intrepidly wander around on foot. In order to gird KT for this, we have to visit the largest ice-cream parlour in the world. Alcoholic ice-cream is rather pleasant, but not convinced by onion, tuna or meat flavours.

From the mountains we head to the jungle again. Expedition time. Stopping overnight by the Orinoco, we fly the next day to Kavak, a small indian village. We turn down the option of flying past Angel Falls at $70 each as we plan to see it by canoe. In fact, the weather is so good that our pilot decides to overfly the tepui (think Conan Doyle's Lost World mountain) so we have a magnificent, rare, free view of this wonder of nature.

Joined by a Polish man and his twitcher-mad son, we explore the rivers near Kavak in a canyoning style. Crystal clear water, safe to drink without chemicals, and not as cold as you might think.

After sleeping (I use the term loosely as Polish father snores like a bear) in hammocks, we join our indian crew for the canoe around the tepuis. Our 5 day expedition involves camping on the riverbank, attempting to catch fish (unsuccessfully), watching the abundant birdlife (including Cock of the Rocks) and marvelling at the unreal scenery. As we share little more than a smattering of Spanish words between us and our indian crew, my attempt at integration involves playing cards and drinking Cuba Libre with them. I think that the Spanish conquistadors could probably learn something from my approach as winning or losing the odd game of cards does not seem to piss the indigenous people off as much as wholesale pillage and slaughter.

Following considerable overnight rain, Angel Falls is absolutely spectacular, made all the more special by our means of approach (not a day trip flyby from the resorts of Margarita). Our final day involves a walk behind the waterfall Salto Sapo, somewhat more rugged than Niagra, and the rains meant that we were absolutely soaking. Great fun.

An overnight bus journey takes us to Choroni on the Caribbean coast. The last two hours on a bejewelled bus that takes a dangerous hairpin road 2,000m up into the Henri Pittier National Park and down to the beach. Loud white reggae accompanied us all the way.

Well, a week on a white sandy beach with the azure blue of the Caribbean lapping at the shore fringed with palm trees is an obvious backpacker institution, and one that enables us to top off our tans and look glowing for our return to the UK.

So a long day trip back to Caracas, and with some excellent string pulling from Auntie Chris, we travel back to the UK in the same style as we left - upgraded to the comfort of Club, well away from those unkempt backpacker types in trog.

Back home to proper beer, interesting red marked taps that produce hot water, the confusion of not wanting to throw paper into the toilet, infrastructure, cars that don't look as if they should have been consigned to the scrap heap before the second world war and the warm welcome of family wanting to pander to lots of whims. Excellent. Only minor problem is that the clothes we left behind are too big as we seem to have lost half a stone each somewhere around the world. Luckily we are soon to be students, so that should be easily resolved.

---

[ Home Page | Africa | Australia | New Zealand | South America]

Links
Greenforce
Our tour company in the Galapagos, Angermeyer's
The tourist lodge near to where we observed Giant River Otters