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<\/a><\/p>\nA bus took us back to the Operations Office in Puerto Maldonado. \u00a0David had a plan for what came next that, frankly, sounded ambitious. \u00a0We would retrieve the rest of our luggage, then somehow he would obtain a motor-taxi (the local transportation of choice) that could hold the three of us and all the luggage and would take us to the main plaza (called the Plaza de Armas, of course). \u00a0We would take care of a few errands, then Christian, his research station’s most reliable driver, would pick us up on a street corner to take us to Finca las Piedras. \u00a0Remarkably, it all worked. \u00a0Part of my skepticism was based on the fact that when David left home five months ago, he spoke not a word of Spanish. \u00a0And foreign languages have never been his forte. \u00a0So I was amazed to see him communicating rather well with various non-English speakers. \u00a0He immediately found a motor-taxi who followed him into the alley where the Operations Office was located. \u00a0Our luggage was strapped securely to the back and we took off for the Plaza.<\/p>\n
Here’s the driver unloading our stuff at the Plaza de Armas:<\/p>\n I have to be honest about Puerto Maldonado. \u00a0It is not a destination in and of itself. \u00a0The guidebooks call it a “frontier town” and the “gateway to the Amazon.” \u00a0These are euphemisms for “really crappy, dirt-poor small city that is the center of the illegal gold mining industry.” \u00a0In fairness to Puerto Maldonado, my time there was limited, so perhaps I missed the fabulous parts. \u00a0The center Plaza was the only green space I saw in the entire town. \u00a0Dave and David deposited me and all the luggage at a cafe near the Plaza, and they found an ATM and liquor store. Then we all shared a really good ice cream sundae (even though it was midmorning). \u00a0At 11 on the dot, we walked to the agreed-upon street corner, and Christian pulled right up. \u00a0From there it was an hour until we got to David’s home for the past five months, Finca las Piedras, the headquarters of the Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon. \u00a0(A good ten minutes of that hour was spent navigating the 2 km dirt driveway.) \u00a0I was really happy to meet the people we had heard about — Geoff and Johana Gallice, who own the land and run ASA, Erik the academic coordinator, Joe, the other resident naturalist like David, Jose the cook, Gualberto the groundskeeper, etc. I knew that ASA \u00a0was a young organization, but I hadn’t realized just how new it was until I was there. \u00a0The main building, for example, was only finished in April. \u00a0Here are David and Dave walking back to the house from the kitchen area:<\/p>\n The green-roofed building in the distance beyond the main house is the new outhouse — two rather nice composting toilets. \u00a0(In Puerto Maldonado David suggested that I wait until getting to Finca before using a bathroom, because Finca’s outhouse would be nicer than anything I would find in PM.) \u00a0The main house has five bedrooms and a center hall where all the boots and shoes reside. \u00a0I swept the center hall at least ten times in the 20 hours we were there, as did others; it’s a constant battle against the red dust. \u00a0Here is the room David shares, currently with Erik (in the chair) and Joe:<\/p>\n This is the view from their room:<\/p>\n Noteworthy is the fact that there are no screens on any of the windows. This place is completely open to the wild. \u00a0The mosquito netting around the beds is critical, not so much for mosquitoes –which are not abundant — but for all the myriad other creepy crawlers and fliers.<\/p>\n An important feature — the charging station. \u00a0Eventually it is hoped that solar panels will provide electricity to the house as well.<\/p>\n This is the butterfly enclosure, also called the shade house. David spent much of his first month there helping build it.<\/p>\n There are lots of irritating bugs in the jungle, but at least they’re pretty.<\/p>\n Lunch in the open air kitchen\/dining area (below) was served soon after we arrived.<\/p>\n Lunch was the only time I was able to spend with Johana, as she was leaving for Lima, where her family lives. \u00a0She confirmed a few facts for me: \u00a0Yes, in September it had appeared that David had dengue fever, and she accompanied him to a clinic to be tested. \u00a0And yes, it was indeed true that the clinic LOST his test results. So we’re just going to work on the assumption that he had it.<\/p>\n After lunch we accompanied David on a walk with two new interns, Judith and Stephanie, along the main trail to set up camera traps. \u00a0The cameras aren’t really traps, of course. \u00a0They have motion detectors and record the wildlife on the trail.<\/p>\n Note the box at the top of the Brazil nut (castana) tree below. \u00a0It’s set up to provide a nesting spot for macaws. \u00a0David and Geoff were the ones to secure it in place up there (the kind of exercise that it’s better for mom not to know about until later).<\/p>\n Stephanie spotted this tiny frog in the leaves. \u00a0It amazed me throughout the trip how the younger folks were able to find things that I couldn’t possibly see, although my observation skills did improve during our few days in the jungle.<\/p>\n Even though it’s quite dark in the jungle, it is super hot to walk around. \u00a0Dave got overheated from our hike and spent quite a while afterward cooling off in a hammock in David’s room, where there was a nice breeze. \u00a0We both relaxed for a while at the house, and I was finally able to disgorge all the items I’d carried from home pursuant to David’s list: \u00a0ketchup, siracha sauce, Pickapeppa sauce, Gatorade powder, lots and lots of peanut butter, a spare camera lens, an external hard drive, silica packets to keep things dry, some gifts that he’d ordered to give to friends there, a GRE study book, and of course the cranberry sauce that we’d forgotten for Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n Late in the day David and I took a sunset walk up the driveway. \u00a0Toucans:<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
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