Third Day: Ready to go

A rainbow over the Amazon, outside our hotel in Iquitos.

In front of the Casa Moray in Iquitos, ready to go up the Amazon!

Second Day: Iquitos

June 28

This morning I flew over the Andes Mountains and landed in the rainforest. From the plane I could see how dry and brown the western slopes of the Andes are. Then we flew over tall peaks, some with snow on them (it's winter right now south of the equator) and all of a sudden I could see green below us, and a small brown ribbon, a river, that got bigger and bigger as it flowed down from the mountains. Many of the rivers are brown with sediment eroded and washed downstream.

The Amazon River travels over 4,000 miles and carries the most water of any river in the world. Over 1,100 smaller rivers feed into the Amazon, and when it reaches the Atlantic Ocean in Brazil, it discharges 4,500,000,000 gallons of water every day into the sea. You can see the muddy Amazon water up to sixty miles out to sea from the air. 

Here are some images of the Amazon River watershed taken by satellite. (from Earth Snapshot)

The mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil. Muddy water from the river spreads out into the ocean.

Rivers of brown water flowing across the rainforests of Peru to the Amazon River.

First Day: Lima, Peru

June 27

I am spending the day in Peru's capital city of Lima, near the Pacific coast, and traveling tomorrow to Iquitos where I meet the rest of the group. Even though they are in the same country, they are very different places. Lima is a huge sprawling city where it hardly ever rains, home to over 8 million people (the size of New York City), while Iquitos (half the size of Lawrence) is in the middle of the rainforest, the largest city in the world you cannot drive to by car. The only access to the world outside is by plane or boat.

I am practicing my espanol, especially "no gracias" to the many people trying to sell tourist maps or change foreign money on the street, my blond hair makes it hard to blend in with the locals.

Packing

I am leaving today, and have almost finished packing. Here are some items I am bringing:

 In the top left picture you can see my passport and immunization card.  I had immunizations (shots) to protect me from yellow fever and other diseases. I am bringing a journal and colored pencils so I can record my observations both with words and pictures. I also have a wildlife guide to the Amazon so I can figure out the names of the animals I am seeing.

In the top right picture you can see my first aid kit, my sunblock, insect repellant, and the biodegradable soap I have so I won't pollute the river when I take a shower. I also have a swiss army knife, and a mosquito net for my head in the small green pouch in case the bugs get really bad. In the rainforest, mosquitoes can carry several diseases, so I need to protect myself from being bitten.

In the bottom picture are my rubber boots to wear when walking on land in the rainforest to protect from snake bites. I am also bringing a pair of binoculars to see animals from far away, and a sunhat. The green machine you see is a bat detector which I will use at night to find bats. It turns their echolocation calls into a call our human ears can hear. I also have a flashlight with a red light to count caimans (a cousin to alligators) by seeing their eyes shining from the bank at night.

Getting Ready

I am leaving for the Amazon in Peru two weeks from today, June 26, and am traveling upriver on a restored historical steam boat on an Earthwatch expedition. We will be doing a census of different animals such as pink river dolphins, manatees, caimans, macaws, and monkeys, that show how healthy this part of the rainforest is. We will also meet the native Cocama Indians and learn how they are working with scientists to be able to continue hunting and fishing around their villages without hurting the rainforest food web.