We have returned safely from a rather calm outing to the jungle. Giovanni sent us to Otongachi, a field station that is set up near the small village of La Union de Toachi. It is a smaller, more accessible version of Otonga, Giovanni's main bioreserve. We walked through Quito to the Trole (20 min), took that to the bus station (one hour), and then took the bus to Toachi (2.5 hrs). Once we arrived, we were directed by Giovanni to "ask someone for directions." The first person we asked did not know Otongachi, and the second person sent us to the office. When we got to the office, no one was there, so we ate ice cream sandwiches while contemplating what to do next. Lucky for us, Patricio, an employee of Otonga, found us and showed us the way to the house. It probably would've taken us an hour to find it on our own.
When we arrived, we were amazed by the huge building surrounded by jungle, and by the huge river called "Toachi." The house has three floors: the kitchen, a big room with many sleeping mats and the lab are on the first floor; a big open room with an entire wall of windows is on the second floor; and private rooms with bathrooms are on the third floor. We saw many different flowers, butterflies, humingbirds, and frogs (Pristimantis achatinus) when we walked around the house. On our evening walk, we heard the calls of several frog species.
Today, our friend Elicio gave us a tour of the garden of useful plants. At each plant, he stopped and explained what it was and then offered us a bit to try. We ate coffee, ginger, papaya, chewing gum and pepper. We smelled lemongrass and cinnamon. We saw achote (used for red dye), curry, heart of plam, tagua, black tea, the palm from which panama hats are made, cacao (chocolate), rubber, mango, coca (don't tell the CIA), and the tree of the "miracle fruit" which makes things that are very sour taste sweet.
After our garden tour, Elicio drove us back to Quito. We stopped at a restaurant along the way for a lunch of fresh trout, and then continued on our way to deliver two very important speciments of Atelopus elegans (Elicio spent Thursday doing fieldwork near the coast) to PUCE.
Tonight we will enjoy dinner at Giovanni's, and tomorrow we hope to buy our plane tickets to Cuenca and to visit a large museum of Ecuador's rich cultural history (El Museo del Banco Central). We've also just realized that we don't have the right cord to upload pictures and videos from our small camera, so visual accompaniment will have to wait until next time.
When we arrived, we were amazed by the huge building surrounded by jungle, and by the huge river called "Toachi." The house has three floors: the kitchen, a big room with many sleeping mats and the lab are on the first floor; a big open room with an entire wall of windows is on the second floor; and private rooms with bathrooms are on the third floor. We saw many different flowers, butterflies, humingbirds, and frogs (Pristimantis achatinus) when we walked around the house. On our evening walk, we heard the calls of several frog species.
Today, our friend Elicio gave us a tour of the garden of useful plants. At each plant, he stopped and explained what it was and then offered us a bit to try. We ate coffee, ginger, papaya, chewing gum and pepper. We smelled lemongrass and cinnamon. We saw achote (used for red dye), curry, heart of plam, tagua, black tea, the palm from which panama hats are made, cacao (chocolate), rubber, mango, coca (don't tell the CIA), and the tree of the "miracle fruit" which makes things that are very sour taste sweet.
After our garden tour, Elicio drove us back to Quito. We stopped at a restaurant along the way for a lunch of fresh trout, and then continued on our way to deliver two very important speciments of Atelopus elegans (Elicio spent Thursday doing fieldwork near the coast) to PUCE.
Tonight we will enjoy dinner at Giovanni's, and tomorrow we hope to buy our plane tickets to Cuenca and to visit a large museum of Ecuador's rich cultural history (El Museo del Banco Central). We've also just realized that we don't have the right cord to upload pictures and videos from our small camera, so visual accompaniment will have to wait until next time.
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