A First Glance at La Libertad

La Libertad is the lower of the two field camps, though 2917m is still quite high. (Rumi Loma is about 3450m above sea level.) It has a number of differences from Rumi Loma. First, you can drive much closer to it, so there is not nearly as far to carry supplies. Yay! Second is the lack of building. Our kitchen was actually a sturdy tent with foot high grass as the floor. However, there were actually a number of choices for sleeping, which did include a couple indoors. Choice number one, which Alex choose, was to sleep in bunk beds in a room that shared a wall with Ramiero’s family. Ramiero works for Stu and has 5 kids, so they’re capable of making quite a bit of noise. Choice number two, chosen by Jesse and Coral, was to set up tents by the kitchen. The one problem with this is that there have been problems with ants eating the tents in the past. Choice number three, chosen by Elizabeth, Tim, and me, was to set up tents inside a shed/museum nearby. This way we didn’t have to worry about ants, but could still sleep in our tents. Tim and I used our own tents (well, actually mine belongs to my sister. Thanks, Sarah!), and Elizabeth used one that belongs to Round River. The third difference was that we had electricity. And fourth, the only rain was misting and it was rare!

One common experience between the two camps was Big Blue breaking down. Again, we weren’t too far away when the accelerator stopped working, but unfortunately, Stu wasn’t with us this time. So Coral asked a lady in a house nearby if there was cell phone reception anywhere, while the rest of us prepared to hike the essentials in. Coral and I ended up walking 20 minutes back down the road in order to call Stu and Catherine. Thankfully, we were able to make a connection and found out that Patricio, the guy who had fixed Big Blue before, was at La Libertad that day. Thus, he’d have to pass us on his way out and could at very least drive some of our stuff in. Coral and I went back and told the others. We decided to start hiking, just because we had no idea how long Patricio would be. Plus, Patricio didn’t even know we were there. So we finished repacking, locked up Big Blue, and started hiking. We hadn’t even gone 100 m when Patricio came along! Then, he looked at Big Blue and fixed the problem within 10 minutes!

Of course a whole week would be a lot to describe in such detail, so here are my highlights:

Orchids: We had seen some wild orchids in bloom at Rumi Loma, but there were tons in the cloud forest surrounding La Libertad. Most of them were smaller than the showy ones sold in the US, but they were absolutely amazing, and we became skilled at picking them out.

Parakeets: Pretty much every day, we saw at least 12 golden-plumed parakeets fly overhead. Usually, they weren’t close enough to see their colors, but they are the only parrots in the area with long tails, so we could always tell them apart. Plus, by the end of the week, all of us could recognize their call. My other favorite bird that we saw was the Turquoise Jay.

Hike with Stu: On Thursday, Stu drove up from Cuenca and took us on a hike from his house (which is amazing!) back to our camp. We walked through cloud forest with orchids, some bear sign, and came up above in paramo. From there, we hiked some along the ridge, and then headed back down. By this time, clouds were settling down on top of us. It was so mystical. I wish that my photography skills could capture it, but there is no way. Along the way back, we set out our first two camera traps.

Camera Trapping: Each of us is in charge of a research project this semester, but all of us help with each project. My primary project is camera trapping in order to see large mammals, including spectacled bears and puma. The cameras are attached to motion sensors and set out in locations with previous bear sign. I’m excited about the prospects, but also a bit wary about how many photos I’ll actually get. We tested all of the cameras, and most of them require quite a bit of motion before they take the picture.

Playing Archeologist: I mentioned before, that Tim, Elizabeth and I set up our tents in a sort of museum. Basically, there are about four wall plates talking about pottery during different Cañari time periods with examples that were found in the surrounding fields. Stu told us that if we paid attention, we would find pottery shards ourselves. On Saturday, Elizabeth noticed one, and then Coral saw one directly next to it. So we paused our hike and started digging. We ended up finding five pot shards which fit together to make up almost a quarter of a pot.

Tree Climbing: On Saturday, we hiked into the cloud forest to a large Podocarpus tree, which had a ladder on the side of it. However, we couldn’t use the ladder because a) it was slippery, b) a rung was broken, and c) the ladder came up beneath the platform so that you couldn’t move from one to the other. Instead, we threaded a rope over a branch, tied it down and harnessed ourselves in. Then, we used this in conjunction with the ladder to climb up. (Alex doesn’t like heights so he stayed on the ground.) The view was beautiful, and it was nice to get a closer look at the canopy. We then figure-8ed down.

Alpacas: Stu uses his land to raise alpacas, and their fields were all around us. Stu breeds his for the best characteristics, and on Sunday, he and Ramiero picked out the best ones for competition. I ended up helping most of the morning. Mainly, I opened and closed the gate when told to, but I also caught an alpaca and held it by the ears, and put a muzzle on another alpaca. Mainly, I learned a lot about what makes a good alpaca. In competition, about 70% of the score is based on fiber. The fineness is most important, which varies by only a few microns but makes a huge difference. You also want to the fiber to have crimp with a high frequency, to be dense, to have shine, and to have indistinguishable base hairs. The rest of the judging is based on composition, so the alpacas need good teeth and eyes.

Night Sky: The first night was super clear, which made me incredibly excited. Unfortunately, we were not able to pick out the Southern Cross. Thankfully, we have some star maps at the house, so I´m going to check them out, so that I´m prepared next time we go out to the field. We did see Orion, though. I found it a bit comforting to see such a familar constellation.

Sunrise: Yesterday, all but Alex woke up at 5 am in order to watch the sunrise. At this time, the sky was completely clear and we could see a ton of stars again. We then hiked up the mountain to get a better view. As we hiked, we watched the stars begin to disappear and clouds roll in. We got to our spot by 5:30 and watched the sun come up. Since we’re near the equator, the sun rises surprisingly quickly. It was beautiful. We hiked back down around 6:15 and then made a delicious breakfast of omelets and hash browns.