I had meetings in Lima on Sunday and I taught a new friend how to make Indian curry.  I also got a chance to visit the wonderful Jane in her magical cloudforest bioreserve and spend a night there.  Today, I am in Tarapoto.  Tomorrow we leave early in the morning from Tarapoto to go to Charts.  I am already preparing for my cold, morning shower.  My fault, of course, because I wanted to stay in the very beautiful bunglow out of town with cold water and no internet, rather than a place in town (why be in a frontier rainforest town if you can’t get a little sense of the forest!).  Next two days will be in Chazuta and Chipaota.  I have had long meetings, long days, no break but sitting here in Lucia’s house, I am happy.

Despite the craziness, I slept in the canopy of a wonderfully large tree 200, 300 or 550 years old according to some experts. That was amazing.  Not many people get to sleep in the canopy of a rainforest towering tree, not even indigenous people. It was truly a treat! I saw more birds than I can count and I have some pictures. 100s of parrots, parakeets and macaws, and honey creepers and wood creepers and pigeons and tanagers and more names than I can remember. And, even red howler monkeys in the distance, several curled up two each to keep warm, high up on barren branches. The sunrise was beautiful as was the moonrise. This is what we are trying to save and protect, these magical, amazing places!

After visiting the tree again on a clear night, before the moon had risen, Willifreddy very gently took us down the lake (I talked him and Claire into going there again).  Since it was late, he took a short cut through the reeds.  But the best part was being in that canoe in such a beautiful dark, clear night. The stars and the sky reflecting perfectly onto the water and the bright stars coming along with us as we gently went down the lake. I don’t think I have ever seen such a sight. Bill told me the names of the stars that I was seeing in the equatorial sky and they all have lovely names but I can’t remember them.

I met this wonderful 88-year-old English woman named Doris who at 45 learnt to do bharat natyam dancing.  She is quite an amazing woman, as was most of the group who had come to be at the wedding of Mary, an Englishwoman, and Patricio, the former president of Sani Isla.  They have a beautiful, circular house made in kichwa tradition. She and Patricio are helping with our project which is great.

Things are good. Everything here has been fruitful as it always is.  Lucia’s house is terrific.  The house overlooks the mountains and has a nice garden and is very close to my bunglow which is accessed by small rickshaws on very bumpy dirt road. It is very calm there with birds singing all day long and froggies at night, I love that!

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What a crazy world this is. I am sitting in a dugout canoe, writing on this notebook that has something like a nine hour battery on it. I was supposed to come inside the house to wait for another, larger canoe to get here. But I just don’t feel like putting on my socks and rubber boots on.  I prefer to carry them until it is time to go to the fincas (small family farms) this afternoon.  So, here I am waiting for however long, typing away.  The gentle waves rocking the small canoe are actually kind of calming.  And, it is all good until an oil company fast boat passes and maybe almost knocks me out from the boat from the big waves it will create.  Sadly, I think a chainsaw has just being turned on the other side of the river, far away for the river is very wide here but it disturbs the air nonetheless.  Check out this interesting article on the oil situation in Equador.

We are in this predicament because the canoe wasn’t there at the lodge to pick us up at 8 am.  It is already past 9 and we are lucky if we get into the community by 10.  Someone decided that instead of waiting we should get going in a small canoe and head to Sani Lodge instead.  With a lack of communication, proper plans, and no other means of communicating except by radio during emergencies, there is a lot of guessing that goes on.  It is surprising that things actually work out as they do, more or less.

But at least I get a minute to write to you about the amazing days I’ve spent in Equador so far.  How lovely to work here like this.  This morning, Claire, with whom I am sharing this incredibly big room, went on a gentle canoe ride at 6 am.  The rising sun, the still water reflecting the changing sky and the moving clouds along with the chorus of hundreds of parrots and parakeets in the tall trees made for a gentle, meditative start to the morning.  It was very quiet, calming and beautiful.

Last night we went for a canoe ride looking for caimans.   At one point, Willifreddy, our guide, took the canoe right into the reeds, and I saw these beautiful two small frogs on tall blades of grass.  I was taking a picture of the frog and someone said that there was a caiman right behind the frog, but for some reason I couldn’t see it.  Blindsided by these frogs, I hadn’t seen the caiman – large as life, maybe 3 feet long, with big eyes – just a few feet away from me!!  I barely got a picture and off it darted away eliciting a shrill scream from Claire that momentarily and abruptly broke the rhythm of the jungle evening.

So, the day was wonderful.  The women in the community welcomed us in a wonderful manner.  Great speeches by men and women, a dance by little girls, native music by some older folks, and then we all danced.  We had a lovely lunch of fish in herbs of the mountains cooked in leaves.  I did have a head as part of my fish but it didn’t bother me, as not much does.  Just as waiting here now hasn’t bothered me, nor the fact that I stepped over a very poisonous snake that everyone fears and didn’t even see it.  Okay, I have to go now. Willifreddy is putting a little gas in and we are going to the next house!! I’m looking forward to spending more time with these wonderful people. I will write again soon.

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