In the jungle

After a ten hour journey up Madre de Dios river in a tiny wooden canoe , I am AT the research station. With a journey that long, I had plenty of time to observe the surroundings, and It's strange- for some reason, I expected the quality of light here to be substantially different. I'm not sure what I thought it would be. Maybe thicker and more vivid, like the super saturated pictures in a coffee table book. Distinctly different. But in reality, the broad strokes of the area feels very familiar. The whole ride, I kept almost thinking that I was just on wider version of the St. Croix. It's only close up that I see the exoticness: the shape of the tree leaves are enormous and sustain themselves in radial bursts instead of hanging loosely, the water underneath me is murky like potter's clay instead of murky with mud and the shape I just saw disappearing into the woods is not a deer, but a capibara. I'm constantly whipping my head around for second looks.

The research station itself is a collection of large thatched structures perched high above the river, and is only reachable by nearly three stories of old wooden stairs. One of the monkey researchers told me that it was originally an old logging camp and all the foundations are from that time. Now it's run by the Peruvian side of the Amazon Conservation Association (ACCA- the acronym is from the Spanish name). Now it hosts researchers from all over the world. With the cut grass, volleyball net and lunchroom style dinning, it reminds me as nothing so much as thatched roof summer camp

So far, being here has been an odd mix. Civilization and jungle, peruvian and american, boredom and fascination. Even as I write this, there's a gigantic and vividly blue butterfly batting itself like a common moth against the lightbulb above my table. There's just so much to learn- how to avoid ants that feel like a bullet when they bite, what you need to keep for genetic research, how on EARTH to get the primitive shower working. I'm also a bit of the odd man out here, since the friend I was going to come help with her research got sick at the last minute. So I oscillate between lingering rests with eyes peeled for someone willing to let me tag along and bursts of work and adventures into the jungle whenever someone says okay. So far, I've followed birdwatching expeditions, helped collect tamarin traps (they are quickly released), tried to construct a skeleton of some kind of marsupial and caught the tail end of a class on medicinal herbs. As I learn more, I'm starting to have more independent work, but for now I feel exactly like someone's clingy little sister. Except this time, instead of a big brother, I'm tagging along with Ph.D. candidates.

Anyways, that's the news from the jungle. Now I've got to to go google what the heck those brilliant orange bugs in my room are before the internet goes down again.