Crashing Through the Forest

We just returned from another week at La Libertad.

This week was a bit more intensive as far as working on Elizabeth and Tim’s transect project. On Tuesday, we hiked to Plot A, which was made last term and did two mammal sign transects with Don Jose, a local of Colipato, the closest town. We found bear sign, agouti holes, deer sign, and what may have been tapir tracks, but he wasn’t certain.

We then had to make another quadrant. However, our new location was at the top of a steep trail, which rises 600m. We hiked up on Thursday and split into two groups. Coral, Alex, and I went one direction, attempting to make a 100-m side. This part was actually kind of fun. The vegetation was quite mossy, and many times, you were standing on branches and moss 10 feet above the ground, hoping that it would support your wait. We became pretty good at climbing around in such a matrix. Also, two Glowing Puffleg Hummingbirds came within a couple of meters of us and flitted around for a minute. That was awesome!

During lunch, it began to rain. This was good because all of Ecuador is very dry right now, and the dam which provides both water and electricity to Cuenca is at a 20 year low. However, Coral and I then had to make another side through denser vegetation of ferns which were laden with rain. Soon, our legs were soaked. Also, the cloud cover greatly reduced the visibility, so that we could barely see in front of us. Then, after 40 m, our side ran off a cliff. We had already climbed down things which we weren’t entirely certain of how we would climb back up, but we were not about to try climbing down a cliff, especially with bad visibility, so we ended up cold, wet, tired, and without a complete side. And of course, a hike back down to camp was left.

We then returned on Friday. I was so tired from the day before. In fact, all of us were. So although we got some more work down, the quadrant is still not complete. Oh well.

In other news from the week, we heard that half of Rumi Loma burned down. As I mentioned earlier, it has been quite dry. Thus, when Rumi Loma sparked, it continued to burn for three days. Amazingly enough, only one of our cabins burned down, and the kitchen is fine, too. Our plan is still to return to Rumi Loma and see the damage ourselves.