by amazonecology
July 12, 2011
I slept better than the night before, but still awoke well before dawn. When the need to visit the outhouse superseded my desire to finish the last chapter of my book, I emerged from my sanctuary from mosquitoes to begin …
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by amazonecology
July 12, 2011
Saturday morning began with a quick outing with Aurelio to collect samples of a few vines. One popular kind of earrings is made from thin cross-sections of the ayahuasca vine. Native Amazonians have long used this hallucinogenic plant to induce …
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by amazonecology
July 09, 2011
My mosquito net did its job well last night but it provided no respite against the cacophony of roosters that began their competing calls before dawn. I was at least spared spasms of cramps that sometimes also make it difficult …
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by amazonecology
July 06, 2011
I was originally going to go out with Yully and the copal team for a full day of searching for the resin trees in a new area of forest, but I was both tired and wanted to get photos of …
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by amazonecology
July 05, 2011
Wednesday morning Yully and I headed off with Beder again to one of his “purmas” to begin a survey of his chambira palm trees. Chambira is by far the most important raw material that goes into the handicrafts made in …
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by amazonecology
July 04, 2011
Tuesday morning, Yully and I almost got to sit down to enjoy our morning fried eggs when the first artisan arrived at Marcelina’s house with her 10 foot long piece of wood to have us mark the template for the …
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by amazonecology
July 03, 2011
I’m often exhausted by the time I get to bed in the field, but I almost never sleep through the night. I’ve gotten used to just sleeping in my clothes inside a light-weight fleece zippered bag. I usually go to …
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by amazonecology
July 03, 2011
Yully’s father-in-law loaded two large duffle bags of gear and clothes and two large plastic zippered bags full of food onto the back of his motorcar and secured them with a rope while Yully and I crammed into the back …
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by amazonecology
June 18, 2011
I woke up around 5 am on Thursday after too few hours of sleep – I admit that I had stayed up too late watching re-runs of Law and Order SVU and a movie I don’t remember. I watch a …
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by amazonecology
June 17, 2011
One of the landmarks of the Iquitos airport was the old hulk of a plane by the side of the runways. It’s now been cleared away and the inside of the airport has been transformed from sleepy well-worn beige walls …
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by amazonecology
June 16, 2011
6/15/2011 I spent about five hours in the Atlanta airport before catching my connecting flight to Lima. I wandered first into a room in search of a spot with free wi-fi that said “Sojourner’s – must be 18 to enter”. …
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by amazonecology
June 14, 2011
Every day for the past few weeks seemed to be a battle between advancing and retreating white space on my dry erase board of things to do before leaving for Peru for six weeks on June 14. The day before …
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