From John

It rained all night. This morning we are going to take the boat and go to Pacaurilla Reserve that has a primal rainforest and do some more fish collecting. Hopefully, we will have some new photos and reports by this afternoon.

From Janelle

We are currently on our way up the river to an area of primary forest for the day. Right now it is cool with mostly clouds above with some areas of sun after having rained all night. At 2:30 I was awake and just listening to the sound of the rain with all the frog noises in the background. Not another more beautiful place to be on earth.

Yesterday afternoon we photographed some of the frogs and lizards we had found while John went fishing. The rain let up just in time to have beautiful light to photograph with. Last night we went walking in the jungle after dark. After the first initial clangs, the wonder of the night took over. We saw leaf-mimics, and grasshoppers, and frogs, and giant moths and a bat flew by and brushed my arm. I know the last thing a bat wants to do is tangle with a human but it didn't even say thanks for the meal of mosquitos I provided. I wanted to take a shower last night but I figured the cold water would just wake me up and I didn't want to be up for the night. I figure we all smell the same by now so no problem.

I got an e-mail from Winston. Somehow I knew he would be the first person I heard from while here. To Winston: what, pray-tell, is an animal management meeting? And the frogs, they are on their way. And I do not remember the computer you are talking about. What's a password?

It is truly amazing to me to sit here and watch the jungle go by. All the birds, and the fabulous orapendula nests, and termites, and carton ants, and the kapok trees. It is so rich here. The breeze is cool this morning and carries many sounds to us over the humming of the engine. Raoul, our cook, is behind me whistling something or another while putting out the cups. I have not felt this at peace with the world in a long time. It is wonderful to feel this way again. I will try harder this time to keep it..

Will go kayaking tomorrow. It will be a morning for David and Dave to photograph all the things the children brought us as well as the stuff we found. There is a walking stick with neon red legs that I want a picture of though. We have dendrobates frogs, and a lizard with a red tail to do too. But I really want to try the kayak so I will do that.

I will not want to leave this place. It is truly heaven on earth. Will do more later, the river is passing me by and don't want to miss it.

From Nancy

Amazon!!!! Why am I even trying to put this into words? On both sides of our vessel is dense unbelievable rain forest, Strangler figs from hell--bromiliads, epiphytes-- we are headed upriver to a primary growth region. Where we are camping it is secondary - new growth. It rained most of last night (Monday) and about 02:30 I woke up and had to pee. I tried to convince myself I could wait, but the rain said no you can't. So I woke J up, we put on wellies and climbed down the steps to the outhouse. I could not see if the fer-de-lance was waiting or not, but by then I didn't care, We then returned to our tent and finally fell asleep. What incredible night noises--frogs that quack, rumble, twitter, belch. Bird noises -not noise--melodies from toucans, tinamous.paraques---` Mon. morning forest hikes over log bridges. Many interesting and brilliantly colored beetles, Poison arrow frog. Have been in several rain showers, including one while taking a shower. Brrrrr! Cold water. Food excellent! Raoul is a good cook. Paucarillo forest reserve on Tuesday. Weather has been mostly pleasant. At night sheet has been plenty, Earlier today (Tues.) Devon pointed out a sloth in a tree -- then we saw a river dolphin sailing through the water. Going backup to look for more.

From David Schleser

It's almost 9AM and we are travelling up the small (by Amazonian standards), and scenic Orosa River on our way to the Paucarillo Forest Preserve. It had rained all last night and the sky is just beginning to clear. Temperature is in the mid-seventies. Birds of many varied types fly up from the shoreline vegetation as we approach, and children wave at us as we pass their numerous small villages.

Their are 2 major types of land in the Amazon Basin. Land that floods yearly with the rise of the rivers during the rainy season is known as "varzea" or "Tuhuampa", while the slightly higher land that avoids flooding is known as "Terra-firma". The Paucarillo preserve is comprised of virtually intact terra-firma primary forest of unbelievable diverstity and beauty. Our visit there should be a visual teat for all. John Benn, our fish nut of the group will undoubtedly attempt to net a collection of ornamental tropical fish from the many small forest sreams, while David Rouse will try and photograph every creepy-crawler he comes upon - lots of varied interests within our small group of travellers!

We plan on returning to Madre Selva after dinner and then taking a skiff ride to a small jungle steam to observe caimen (a type of crocodile), tree frogs, and various species of nocturnal birds and mammals. We will check back with you later to report more fully on the day's events.

Dave Schleser

From Devon

A soggy sort of day yesterday. The rain played with us most of the day, but we did get in a good morning hike before the rain started pouring down about 200 yards out from the house clearing. Of course, it would be disappointing to come to the Amazon and not experience rain! Sort of like going to the beach and not having sand and waves. The afternoon was a mixture of rain and overcast skies, but the photographers managed to get quite a few photos of various lizards, frogs and insects that we'd collected on the trails, or that local people had brought to the station for us. John and I did some fishing in the creek right by the house where we are camped. The fishing wasn't very productive, however, just a few individuals of various species since the water levels are still very high, and the fish are pretty scattered through the forest. If the water levels drop (and it stops raining!), the fishing should be much better in another two weeks or so. Nevertheless, we did collect a Pyrrulina sp., bubble-nest catfish (Callichthys callichthys), Apistogramma eunotis and bitaeniata, Amblydoris hancocki (talking catfish), rosy tetras, glass tetra (Asiphonichthys - don't trust the spelling on that, however!), a small wolffish, and a small Buruquinta (spelling again...) cichlid. Not too bad a haul for a relatively short period of time spent under much less than ideal water conditions.

At the moment, we're on the way upriver to Paucarillo Forest Reserve, located well past the last village on the Orosa River. Water levels will be high there as well, but by sampling in some of the creeks back off the river aways, we should be able to get a pretty good selection of things. One species that we've found regularly at Paucarillo in the past is neon tetras, always a fun thing to catch and take back, even if only to be able to say that you caught them yourself. It looks like today is also going to be an overcast day, with possibilities of a bit of rain. For fish, of course, rain is a good thing. There is no chance of them getting overheated in basins or bait buckets accidentally left in the sun, and if you're using a seine on a sandbar, overcast skies and/or rain are desireable. Sandbars and mud flats heat up very quickly on a clear day, and fish definitely don't appreciated being drug through warm water up onto a hot sandbar.

We should be arriving at Paucarillo in the next half hour or so, so the next entry will give the scoop on what we found fishwise (and elsewise) there.

Signing off, Devon

From David Rouse

Hey Everbody,

I feel like I'm in a PBS documentary. This place is incredible. Went on our first night hike last night and saw some amazing Leaf mimic Katydids. Also some Katydids about six inches long.

We are heading up the river to a different preserve and have seen many pink dolphins along the way. We have caught and photographed many different types of frogs, lizards and insects. It is fun to see animals in the wild that I have only seen pictures of or in zoos or pet shops. It has been raining quite a bit. Well we are almost there so I better go.

David