This was supposed to go up yesterday, but we´ve been without power for the last 24 hours or so...

We went on another hike Friday, this time with the whole group of volunteers (needless to say ‘Martha’ opted not to come). No natural disasters this time around, though the hike ended up being way longer than any of us thought it would be. Between being a bit out of shape, not acclimatized to the altitude and twisting both ankles, one of the new volunteers did have a bit of a rough time. Walter ended up going ahead to get a horse to carry back the last bit. With the slow pace we ended up taking about nine hours altogether and I ended up missing out on a Friday night in Quito.

Oh well.

I went instead Saturday morning and inadvertently ended up couch surfing at this Canadian guy’s amazing apartment in the scenic and conveniently located neighborhood of Guapulo. Check out the view:

He had agreed to put up the volunteer I was with and graciously extended the invitation to me as well. He even cooked us curry and went out into La Mariscal with us that night. He teaches at a high school in Quito. So we’re going to try and get him to visit La Hesperia and maybe get his class to come visit for an end-of-year trip.

Back in the cloud forest all is well. We’re planning a lot of projects; hopefully some of them will work out.

Oh, and I saw a bunch of monkeys today.

I´m off to Baños for the weekend (the town not the toilet). Should be fun.

One of the dogs gave birth to puppies today, so I´ll try and get some super cute pics when I get back.

death and near-death

So I posted the wrong picture of the Parula last time.

Check it. It´s really just here to soften the blow of the next pic.

This Rufous-naped Brush-finch wasn’t as lucky as the others.

Don’t worry we gave him a nice catholic burial out in front of the house.

We really need to invest in some stickers or something for the windows. I mean we’re supposed to be trying to preserve wildlife and biodiversity right?

At least it wasn’t a volunteer that died.

This morning I was re-cutting the cascada trail that follows a rushing stream up through lush humid forest. It’s gorgeous. There are fern-encrusted cliff faces, waterfalls, tropical flowers, and the nest of one of Ecuador’s marquee bird species, the Andean Cock-of-the-rock.

Here’s what the chicks looked like back on 1-24.

They’ve really plumped up and gotten some good color in the past few weeks and must be nearing time to fledge.

So far so good.

During the rainy season, the river swells and erases the path and redefining it becomes a bit of a Sisyphean task. For much of the trail, the path is simply the river itself, especially after the full day of rain we had yesterday.

After a lot of machete hacking and slogging through the torrent we reached the point where the trail diverges from the river and climbs directly up the vertiginous valley wall back to the farm. Just was I was about to announce our progress to my sole companion, ´Martha´ I heard an exclamation and turned to see her, several plants and a truckload of loose dirt which had just been part of the path disappear from sight.

!!

Fortunately, despite falling a good 35 feet down to the rocky river, she hadn´t broken anything. I backtracked until I reached a point of the trail at her level and pressed through the thick vegetation, clawing at flimsy vines and stalks and the shear dirt wall. I found her a bit shaken and bruised, but otherwise seemingly fine.

Getting out was a challenge of its own. My two crossings of the impromptu path was all it could handle. Just as I reached its junction with the trail, what soil was left for purchase dropped away and suddenly we were separated: she trapped on a precarious platform of loose dirt, and thorny sticks and me on the path to safety just out of reach. So I retrieved my machete and cleared plants from above so I could reach down and help her traverse the gap.

While she is convinced that I saved her life, all I will say is that I perform well under pressure. It comes with the cool head.

No pictures obviously, but I´ll get some up later that will hopefully capture what ´a 35 foot fall into a rocky river´ or ´a landslide´ might look like.

Stay safe

I went back up to the highest elevations of La Hesperia again Thursday…this time to collect data on Tangaré trees, an endangered species endemic to the Choco bioregion. Of course there were lots of new birds to be seen, though probably the most remarkable sighting captured on film was “the world’s smallest frog.”

We’ll set up a tent with red-and-white candy stripes and charge people a dollar each to take a peak.

It turned out while I was off climbing mountains looking for birds, a couple birds came looking for me.

This cute little Red-headed Barbet (a female hence the lack of a red head) bashed herself into one of the volunteer house windows. After a lengthy nap she pulled herself together and flew away.

And then there was a pair of Tropical Parulas determined to break into one of the rooms. One kept pecking at the window perhaps trying to pick a fight with his own reflection?

We had Friday off, so I took off for Quito Thursday evening. I somehow found myself at a club watching a Nirvana cover band. It was rather surreal. The front man really had the Curt Cobain image (longish blonde hair, plaid shirt) and even his voice down. I was quite impressed. And then between songs he would drop some banter in Spanish to the crowd and the spell would be broken.

The next night I somehow stumbled upon 5 volunteers from La Hesperia in the streets of Quito.Then we all got dragged into a bar/dance club by some promoters on the street promising us free entry and a free drink. None of us were complaining though we later found out that Ecuadorians are charged a $3 cover which seems a bit unfair to say the least.

Unfortunately I didn’t plan ahead properly and arrange to have Monday/Tuesday off for Carnival. All the other La Hesperia staff are away (it’s a national holiday), so I have to wrangle the volunteers, all of whom were likewise oblivious. Nearly everyone else in Ecuador is off to the coast or a few choice party towns for a couple days of parades, water fights and parties.

I can´t really complain though. Being back in the cloud forest is so awesome. And with everyone else away I am truly el jefe.

Yes, the 7-year-old son of the president of Ecuador was here last week. I can tell you that now because he has left.

Here’s his school group when they arrived. Security was tight all week. See the police and secret service in the background?

Saturday I went into Santo Domingo to Skype home and buy some supplies. It’s not a terribly photogenic city, so just use your imagination.

This morning however was perhaps the most gorgeous I have seen since my arrival, so I set off after breakfast with all my birding paraphernalia up the trail to the highest point of the reserve (some 2000+ meters above sea level).

This is from about halfway up. By the time I reached the summit I was surrounded by clouds.

The best wildlife shot of the hike ended up being this cut little Western Red Squirrel.

Squirrels aren’t as common here as they are back in the US. In fact, every squirrel sighting is supposed to be recorded on a mammal sighting data sheet.

I saw lots of birds of course, including one species of woodcreeper that has not been recorded at La Hesperia before(!). Out in the forest, birds tend to hide themselves pretty well within the dense foliage. But when I got back to the farm for a late lunch, this guy just begged to be photographed.

So I put down my fork and obliged. (It’s a Fawn-breasted Tanager for those of you who may be keeping score).

I hope to get a more serious blogpost up soon about the idea behind La Hesperia. So much of the rhetoric about the place seems like it has never been properly read and edited by a native English speaker. I’ve got quite a lot of writing to do this week, so a little rain would not be so bad.

No puedo hablar

No deaths or injuries so far with the muchachos which is quite good.

I walked with them up the big hill and heard a lot of “Cuanto falta?” So I distracted them from their exhaustion by talking with them in Spanish about America, wild animals and LEGO Star Wars.

On the left is not the president’s son, on the right is not the president’s son and none of the kids in the back struggling to keep up are the president’s son either. Is the president’s son here? Well, I can’t say.

What I can say is that I milked a cow and rode a donkey yesterday. I also helped build a new tree nursery because a huge avocado branch fell on the current one.

Here’s one of the volunteers “Chen” working the vaca teets.

Yeah, this is a quick post, mainly just to keep me in the habit. But it wouldn’t be a post without a bird pic.

This cute, noisy thing is a Pacific Hornero. They are everywhere here.

Hasta Pronto

Lindo Mindo

So, we almost finished the school, just came up short a few pencils and teachers.

The Canadians took off for the rainforest and I left for the weekend for a little town called Mindo with the rest of the volunteers. It’s a tourist town for sure, but in an authentic and charming way. It wasn’t very crowded either, at least with other gringos, which I’d guess is partially a result of the season (wet) and economy (bad), though it may very well be typical.

Anyway, we all quickly agreed that we wanted to move to Mindo permanently. The scenery is gorgeous, the locals are friendly and the delicious breakfasts cost just two bucks and come with coffee and thick freshly squeezed juice.

I’ll have to go back soon anyway. The town has led the world in annual bird species recorded for four years running. But of course my traveling companions were not bird watchers so instead of wandering around in the forest all day gazing up at tanagers, toucans and mot mots, we ended up doing boring touristy stuff like this.

We did drop by an orchid garden with a butterfly house one morning and got to see some stunning mariposas.

They also had a row of hummingbird feeders around which hundreds of kolibris swarmed like bees.

It was another good opportunity to play with my new camera. I could never get these guys to sit still so close to me in the forest.

The Ninos have made it up the hill in one piece, so that’s a good start to the week. It looks like I’m not going to have to be as hands on with them as I previously thought, which will give me time to draft my proposal to the San Diego Orchid Society.