Mis amores! I have a little free time and it’s a beautiful day so I figured I would grab a cup of coffee and let you all know what it is I’ve been up to! But before I get going, a couple more pics from Pahuma…
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Our humble abode |
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Breakfast |
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The grandson of the landowner, the world's next great entomologist, and basically the cutest kid ever |
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Lecture |
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Listening to Jake play his air conditioner song :) |
After our trip to the cloud forest, a week in Quito was an absolute drag. But, I really didn’t have much time to complain because that weekend we were off again – this time to explore the páramo ecosystems of Cayambe-Coca National Park and Antisana National Park. Cayambe-Coca was up first. Friday morning we loaded up the bus and headed about an hour and a half, this time, to the east. The páramos are located above the upper montane forests (like Pahuma) and above the treeline between 3000-4000m of elevation. The climate of the páramos is more or less summer by day and winter by night. The intense sun and 70 degree temps are replaced by the harsh cold night, resulting in a daily freeze-thaw cycle that poses a unique challenge for vegetation and wildlife. So, the weekend was all about adaptations – adaptations to freezing temperatures, drought, high winds, and intense UV radiation. What can survive this madness, and how do they do it?
We stopped on our way up the mountain to explore the Polylepis habitat and do a little bird watching. The Polylepis is the only species of trees well enough adapted to the crazy climate to survive the páramos and are an important buffer zone for other plants and animals. So, if you ever find yourself lost in the páramos and you’re feeling a little chilly, go hang out in the Polylepis. They have layers and layers of tissue paper like bark to protect against the cold, and their thick gnarled branches were practically begging me to climb them – so I did J. For those of you aware of my weird love of trees, this one is right up there.
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Polylepis! |
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Just climbing some trees... |
When we reached the top, I was seriously unimpressed. It was sleeting, I forgot my gloves, and there was literally nothing to look at. It was like the Iowa of Ecuador. Or that’s what my grumpy ass thought anyways. After getting off the bus and taking one look at the ground, I almost didn’t want to move for fear of crushing the sweetest vegetation we’ve seen so far. Everything was micro style and close to the ground as a way of retaining heat. Everything was – for lack of a better word – cute! And when you think about how something so small is making a purposeful contribution to the greater ecosystem… I don’t know, I think it’s pretty cool. Or, as the Ecuadorians would say, “¡Qué Chévre!” After exploring for a little while and catching a glimpse of some rare, half naked primates, I decided that the páramos may be even sweeter than the cloud forest. My awe was soon broken up by a shriek from our Ecuadorian TA Amilia. Apparently my friend Teresa had confused her blue pants for my blue pants and thus her butt for my butt. Needless to say Amilia was on the receiving end of a full on ass grab from her student. She actually used the would ‘traumatizing’ to describe Teresa’s feelski J
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Paramo vegetation - Cayambe Coca N.P. |
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To give you a little perspective - one of those rosettes is about the size of a penny |
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Paramo love |
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Crazy shirtless primates |
After lunch we split into groups and surveyed the number and distribution of vegetative morphospecies in a total of 40 50 square cm plots around Cayambe-Coca. The project took the remainder of the afternoon, by which point we were all more or less frozen. What is the best remedy for the effects of a long cold day in the field? A couple hours spent chillin in the natural hot springs of Papallacta, of course. Not sure if I have ever been so relaxed…
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Field research study |
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Hot Springs - Papallacta, Ecuador |
Saturday was day 2 of our páramo exploration – Antisana National Park. It was sunny and glorious and we passed the morning doing some serious bird watching. In an effort to conserve energy while scavenging for food, many birds of the páramos run around on the ground instead of flying which is actually pretty comical. We were also fortunate enough to see the endangered Andean Condor – a powerful, large-bodied, aggressive vulture.
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Check out those good lookin field biologists :) |
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Antisana National Park |
After having lunch by the lake, we spent the afternoon conducting the second half of our study. We again surveyed the morphospecies of 40 plots to be compared with our data from the previous day. The object was to observe the effects of human impact on the composition of páramo vegetation. Cayambe-Coca is a completely protected National Park while the land in Antisana is inhabited and used as grazing land for hoofed animals (as opposed to the soft-footed camelid natives). Conservation of páramo ecosystems is vital because not only is it home to fantastic biodiversity and high levels of endemism, and the soil is means for carbon storage, the páramos are important for hydrological control as they are a major fresh water supply. In fact, 85% of Quito’s water comes from the Cayambe-Coca and Antisana reserves!
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Field Study - Part 2 |
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How many morphospecies? |
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Lecture |
We did a little more birding and then headed back to Quito, anticipating the night’s season opener soccer game between Liga and Nacional (2 Ecuadorian teams). On our way out, I spotted a white-tail out the window. Everyone hopped off the bus and got a good look – I’ve seen a few deer in my life, but it was still pretty cool.
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What do ya say, pops? Shooter? :) |
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Whitetail deer - Antisana N.P. |
We quickly learned that these people LOVE soccer with intense loyalty to their team. After the bus dropped us off, we walked about a half block and found ourselves in the middle of an actual riot. To paint you a picture, the road went something like…crazed Liga fans armed with rocks in hand (one guy was swinging a bloody chain around – not kidding), a shit ton of cops, a group of stupid gringos, more cops, and then the even crazier Nacional fans. Not only did we stand out because we’re white, but we were all in our muddy field clothes, rubber boots, and carrying giant hiking backpacks. I was sure at least a couple of us were goners, but thankfully a group of police officers took pity on us and ushered us into a fenced off area. So what did we do? Went and bought tickets to the game – duh. We weren’t entirely reckless though. Assuming that the $4 section was where all the crazies were going to sit, we opted for the $10 seats. We all went home and dropped our stuff off and then met up at Shwarma for a couple beers before the game. On my way, I was almost trampled by a herd of men running, waving big wooden sticks and the sound of sirens was near constant. I was excited. I pretty much had no idea what was going on on the field (without Joey Gangler to explain what the heck was happening) but it was a good time none the less. At Ecuadorian soccer games, beers cost $2 and apparently it’s normal for fans to shoot fireworks at other fans and a bloody face is no reason to be alarmed. Absolute insanity would be the most accurate way to describe my first fútbol experience and I fully intend to repeat it before I leave. On a roll, we headed to Bungalow 6 after the game to drink tequila and dance the rest of the night away.
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We have fun |
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Danae, Caitlin, & I at the game (note the actual fire in the middle of the Nacional fan section - apparently no big deal) |
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Bungalow love |
The week again passed pretty uneventfully, but Friday brought our last day of Spanish and our first free weekend in awhile. After knocking off a final and a semester of Spanish in a month, we were ready for some fun (because clearly we don’t have enough already). I was bumming a little about missing Ski Weekend back home (for the first time ever), but our plans to spend the weekend in Baños white water rafting seemed like a pretty solid alternative. And what better way to get to Baños than a private party bus? The best description I can give would be: our annual summer yellow school bus trip to Miller Park Waunakee tornado style – on steroids – plus Spanish techno music and neon lights. 3 hours later, we arrived in Baños all feeling “happy” (an Ecuadorian phrase for ‘a little tipsy’). We ditched our stuff at the hostel and headed to the clubs. We settled on a couple favorites and danced until bar time. ‘We Found Love’ came on and I thought of you Nick Gilles, and that stupid shit grin Sean Statz would have had on his face…
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I might miss my Spanish class juuuust a little bit... |
The next morning, a crazy, multi-colored bus with no sides picked us up from the hostel and took us to the river, the whole way blasting the Spanish techno they love here. Lookin good in our wetsuits, we split up amongst 4 rafts. The guide in my boat was like 60 and for sure the man in charge, meaning we led the way. After we were underway for 15 minutes or so, he goes, “get in the water”. We thought he was kidding. But he wasn’t. 15 minutes after that, he goes, “who wants to play flip the raft?” Again, we thought he was kidding. Again, he wasn’t. After we were all safe in the raft again we noticed we were missing one. Poor Aviv (Kim Kraabel size)was floating a quarter mile behind us. Eventually we rescued her and when we thought all was good, our guide just swan-dived off the back of the raft, leaving us without directions. I’m not sure what type of regulations they have here in Ecuador, but it was definitely an experience J.
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Bus ride to the river |
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Banos sugar cane stands! |
We spent the afternoon bumming around Baños and doing a little napping. Later, 7 of us girls got showered up and went out to dinner at this really cool place called Casa Hood. It had a sweet feminist vibe, great food, and delicious canelazo. Our solid evening of good conversation ended with us momentarily trapped in the restaurant. After 5 minutes of failed attempts to open the door, Laura and I discovered an attached plastic banana. Apparently, ‘pull the banana and push’ was the key to leaving. I don’t think there was a single person there not staring at us…
Back at the hostel, we pre-gamed a bit and then headed to the Leprechaun – our prime spot from the night before. Somehow, we managed to get free flaming shots. They were free because they were gross. But they were on fire so I still felt like a badass. The bar opened up to a big area outside with lots of tables, cool plants, and a fire in the middle, which was where we spent most of our time. Before long, I struck up a conversation with a guy who ended up being from Portugal. He introduced me to his friends, a pretty random collection of people from England, Germany, and Wales (I told him all about you Ellen – and HillDuff!). Anyways, I pretty much parked it at a table and hung out with these 6 guys for the rest of the night. I’m not sure if it was in an effort to fit in or what, but for some reason I decided to speak in a British accent for the larger part of the evening. Seemed like a good idea at the time… On the whole it was a solid evening and the end to a stellar weekend. So, shout out to Matthew Colton of Dubai, my miraculous ability to recall your name, and our new facebook friendship.
Sunday, we bussed back to Quito without the luxury of our private party bus. They played a movie on the bus, in English, without Spanish subtitles. It was awful too. The Mechanic? Look it up if you’re curious, but the whole thing was just bizarre.
We were only in Quito for the night though, because in the morning we began our week long trip to the coast. But, you’ll have to wait until next time to read about the bamboo cabin, monkeys, hammocks, beach rager, and my 21st birthday because as I’m sure you’re sick of reading, I’m over writing. Tomorrow morning I leave for the Tiputini Biodiverisity Station in the Yasuní, in the heart of the Amazon to spend two weeks in the most biodiverse place in the world! Here’s hoping I don’t get Malaria, a bot fly, or swallowed by an Anaconda! No internet while I’m there, so until next time folks…
H