Almost done at La Hesperia

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Wow, three weeks has gone fast! The time at the reserve has flown by, especially the last week and a half. Although our experience started off slow at La Hesperia, it has been much better lately. We have been working on projects that we had expected to work on. On Monday, we had the privilege of doing measurements and phenology (flowering and fruiting) observations on tree species deep in the jungle. So, after breakfast, off we went into the forest along an old canal built for irrigation when the farm was a plantation. Winding along the cliff side, the views are breathtaking every so often when the canopy broke exposing the valley we were hiking above. Some of these trees were amazing but involved precarious and careful attempts to access along the cliff. Often hanging with one arm off the tree and measuring tape in my teeth, I carefully took the required measurements and shouted them up to Jenn. The ever changing tropical forest also makes finding the trees rather difficult. Tropical forests generally renew by gap creation where one tree will fall and new seedlings take their place and this is a constant, ongoing process. Well, sometimes, trees that fall take out signs, block paths or even crush the tree we were taking measurements on. We now know the true value of machetes other than looking cool. We use machetes to cut down weeds, cut our way through thick forest, maintain trails and generally are useful for hiking along any trail on the reserve.

On Wednesday we had our weekly soccer game against the locals. We started out hot, going up 2-0 but then they let loose on us despite Jenn´s heroics in net. She was all over the place but Pablo was all over the field making plays happen. It was all a fun time, although it was raining again and Jenn now has a new soccer wound, a baseball size bruise on her shin. We spent other times during the week working on reforestation planting. We are cutting lines in new growth forest and planting hardwoods in the area to grow up in the future. It seems a little odd to cut out forest and then replant but it seems to be working in certain areas.

On Friday, we had our hike on the reserve. We did the channel trail which is a trail that runs along the mountain side, across a waterfall then meanders up a valley, crossing a whitewater river. It was a great hike and we got to hike deep into the primary jungle. The wildlife sighting of the day was a Trogon, which is a hawk sized bird that was bright blue on its back and bright red on its belly. It was an amazing bird and the most colourful we have seen so far. We also saw a few more orchids along the hike that I haven´t seen yet. We have also seem parrots, toucans and many species and colours of hummingbirds.


The last week has been filled with rain. It rained for seven days straight almost non-stop. Yesterday, there was a massive mudslide near Tandapi (a nearby town) that closed the highway between Quito and Santo Domingo for a day. Buses were shut down going both ways and a group that was heading to Banos for the weekend had to hitchhike across the mudslide. We are not sure if they made it but it will be interesting to hear the stories.

On Tuesday, Jenn and I leave the reserve and are heading to Canoa for two nights to relax on the beach before heading to our next reserve. Canoa ia a little surfing village on the pacific with beachfront hotels and cool pineapple and coconut drinks. The new reserve will be much more rustic with no electricity, no running water and no other volunteers. We are working on setting up a soil and tree ecology project that we can spend our four weeks working on where we can apply our knowledge of each subject to the reserve. From what we have heard, it is very laid back and isolated. The village is very friendly and they like to make friends with volunteers. There is also a group of howler monkeys that live outside the cabin and anteaters regularly visit at night. We are looking forward to moving on and seeing a new area of Ecuador.

Cheers for now,

Lee

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Photos

Tarantula
A colourful tarantula that we came across on our first hike to the high point on the reserve

Blue Morph Butterfly
This butterfly is skyblue on top with these intricate patterns underneath. It is bigger than my hand......we see it once or twice a week.

View from our house
Amazing view of the mountains around our house