Monday, July
14
U.S. / LIMA
We board our flight from the U.S. to Lima, Peru where we are met and assisted
to our hotel. (Meals Aloft)
Tuesday, July 15
LIMA / IQUITOS / AMAZON RIVER
Early morning, we fly to Iquitos, an isolated, lively frontier city on the banks
of the Amazon River 2,300 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. There, we meet our hosts
as well as our guides, who remain with us for the coming week.
Morning Session: Discussions with Local Educators & Officials
We meet with educators and officials to discuss the curriculum needs of the schools
in Iquitos. Iquitos is a very large city that grew rapidly as people, with no
knowledge of the rainforest, moved there from other parts of Peru and other countries
in South America. There is no curriculum taught in their schools that focuses
on rainforest conservation. After meeting and gaining an understanding of the
conservation needs in Iquitos, our goal will be to take what we’ve learned
and apply it throughout the week to be able to work with the Iquitos teachers
and create a curriculum that will be taught in the Iquitos schools as well as
in schools in the U.S.
Afternoon Session: Touring Iquitos & Arriving at Explorama
We drive through the busy streets of this former rubber town and visit the central
market of Belen. Later, we board our boat and get our first view of the mighty
Amazon, the backbone of the largest river system in the world. Our journey follows
the meandering course of this jungle-lined “river sea,” which even
this far from its mouth is over two kilometers wide. Depending on the season,
the water level of the river varies as much as 40 feet between high water and
low water. We arrive at Explorama, a well-established lodge with thatch-roofed
rooms lit by oil lamps.
Evening Session: Healthcare Issues in the Amazon Rainforest
Before dinner, hike along the Lake Trail through lowland rainforest where our
guide explains the differences between the plants and animals that inhabit the
flooded forest from those on the terra firma forest on higher ground. We visit
a river medical clinic for local residents run by an American doctor. We are
joined at dinner by Dr. Linnea Smith who founded the clinic who tells us about
how modern medicine fits with traditional medicine in the lives of the river
people. (B,L,D)
Wednesday, July 16
AMAZON RIVER
Early risers are invited to join our guides for a bird walk.
Morning Session: Supporting Traditional Handicrafts by Local People
A group of Yagua from the neighboring village shows many of their skills in a
craft fair. They also bring some examples of local foods and ingredients to try.
Later we visit a library and women’s center where the women learn sewing
as well as reading and skills they can use to become financially independent.
Afternoon Session: Introduction to Rainforest Ecology
After lunch and a short rest, we walk on the Bushmaster Trail, one of the more
extensive and spectacular of the rainforest trails. This area has been designated
the richest botanical place on Earth by researchers from the Missouri Botanical
Garden. They have identified more than 300 species of trees in a single hectare
(2.471 acres) as well as interesting species of plants, including medicinal herbs,
as well as leaf cutter ants and poison-dart frogs. We are almost certain to see
the electric-blue flash of the incredible blue morpho butterfly that illuminates
the shade of the forest as it flies along the trail.
Evening Session: Adopt-A-School Discussion
Pamela Bucur, an American and former teacher who moved to the Amazon in the 1980s,
discusses the Adopt-A-School and Environmental Education projects of the Peruvian
NGO that she helped found and is responsible for delivering school books and
supplies to the more than 70 communities. (B,L,D)
Thursday, July 17
AMAZON RIVER / NAPO RIVER
Morning Session: Ribereño People & School Supply Distribution
By boat, we visit a Ribereño community and school. Ribereños, or
river people, depend on the movements of the rivers and the rainforest around
them for their livelihood. They practice various levels of agriculture, and some
have ethno-botanical gardens of their own. Bananas and manioc are staples as
well as fish. We are met by the kids who attend the school along with most of
the entire community and spend some time visiting the village and school to learn
firsthand about educational challenges and successes in remote rainforest areas.
This village is new to the Adopt-A-School program, and we are making the very
first delivery of school books and supplies to the teacher and students. We continue
our journey on the Amazon and the
Napo River, the largest of the Peruvian tributaries, past the village of Francisco
de Orellana. We have more opportunities to observe local life along the great
river and watch for interesting animals and birds. Soon we reach the Sucusari
River, a serpentine darkwater tributary and the location of the rustic Napo Lodge,
nestled in remote rainforest on the boundary of the Amazon Rainforest Reserve,
our home for two nights.
Afternoon Session: Rainforest Plants in Traditional Medicine
After lunch, we visit an ethno-botanical garden where over 240 species of medicinal
and useful plants are tended by a shaman and his assistants. The shaman explains
many of the local uses of these plants in the Indians’ pharmacopoeia and
the spiritual healing that is practiced together with the medicines derived from
the plants.
Evening Session: The Rainforest at Night
We go into the rainforest, which truly comes alive in darkness, and many of the
creatures are only found after the sun sets. Unlike during the day when cicadas
and birds provide the sounds, at night katydids and frogs provide much of the
listening pleasure. We find a myriad of frog species from large smoky jungle
frogs to gorgeous arboreal species like monkey frogs or gladiator frogs. (B,L,D)
Friday, July
18
NAPO & SUCUSARI
Morning Session: Life in the Rainforest Canopy
After breakfast we take a 45-minute walk to the Amazon Conservatory for Tropical
Studies (ACTS) research facility, through primary forest and rolling terrain.
The understory swarms with exotic butterflies and colorful poison-dart frogs.
We cross to the research center on a canopy walkway, a suspended bridge spanning
500 meters, connected by tree platforms and reaching a height of over 115 feet
above the forest floor. Here we observe a part of the rainforest rarely seen
by humans and learn the importance of light in the battle for growth of the trees.
Afternoon Session: Blackwater Lakes
We explore one of the most unusual habitats in the Amazon Basin, a blackwater
lake. Lakes of this type, known as oxbows, are formed when a section of river
becomes separated from the main flow of the river. The water becomes black due
to the leaching of tannins from rotting vegetation. We search for primitive-looking
birds called hoatzins that build their nests on limbs overhanging the water.
The young will drop from their nest into the water whenever a predator appears.
They swim quite well and have a unique adaptation, a claw on each of their wings
that helps them climb back up to the nest. On the way back, we fish for piranhas
before heading back to camp where the cooks will grill our catch to sample at
dinner!
Evening Session: Nocturnal Animals & Sounds of the Rainforest
After dinner we motor our canoe a few miles up the Sucusari and drift silently
back downriver searching the jungle-lined banks by flashlight for the red eyes
of caiman and other nocturnal animals. We listen to the night sounds and view
the stars and constellations of the Southern sky. (B,L,D)
Saturday, July 19
CANOPY WALKWAY / AMAZON RIVER & CEIBA TOPS
Morning Session: Teaching Rainforest Sustainable Skills to Ribereño
Students
After breakfast and morning birding, we board boats and travel down the Napo
River and up the Amazon to the village of Iquique where we visit a community
carpentry workshop, where young people are taught carpentry skills as well as
selective harvesting techniques. We arrive at Ceiba Tops, a beautiful lodge located
in a small section of primary rainforest, and walk to the immense Ceiba or Kapok
tree for which the lodge is named. We relax and enjoy the swimming pool before
dinner. The rooms at Ceiba Tops Lodge have air conditioning, private facilities,
and hot water, thus providing more of the comforts of home for the next two nights.
A night walk around Ceiba Tops reveals a wide variety of katydids, moths and
other insects attracted by the electric lights. (B,L,D)
Sunday, July 20
AMAZON RIVER & CEIBA TOPS
Morning & Afternoon Sessions: Community Service Day
After breakfast we travel by boat to a local river village for a community service
day. Our work project has been designed specifically for the needs of the community
we visit, and we work together with the villagers on one or more of the following:
• a school painting project
• a planting project such as fruit trees or a vegetable garden
• a construction project such as building a community gazebo or making ecological
signs for the school grounds and gardens
Following a picnic lunch we play soccer, volleyball, swim and chat with the villagers
before returning to the lodge.
Evening Session: Recap of the Week
After dinner we discuss our week, draw conclusions from our observations, and
begin outlining the next steps in writing curriculum with our colleagues in Iquitos.
(B,L,D)
Monday, July 21
CEIBA TOPS / IQUITOS / LIMA
Morning Session: Sustainable Use of Rainforest Plants & Dolphin Search
We travel by boat to visit the village of Timicuro Grande where CONAPAC (Conservacion
de la Naturaleza Amazonica del Peru A.C.) has recently inaugurated the Centro
de Transformacion de Plantas Nativas. The part of the river we travel is an excellent
area to observe freshwater dolphins as they cavort in the shallows. At the village,
we see students making jam from local fruits and bread from plantain and breadfruit
flour.
Afternoon Session: Presentation of Findings
We return to Iquitos to meet again with our colleagues and present our recommendations
for a rainforest conservation curriculum. Follow-up lesson plan assignments are
made and a time line established for implementation. This evening we fly back
across the Andes to Lima where we check in for our overnight flight back to the
U.S. (B,L,D)
Tuesday, July 22
LIMA / U.S.
Overnight flights from Lima arrive in U.S. gateway cities early in the morning
with plenty of time to clear customs and continue home. (Meals Aloft)
