{"id":839,"date":"2022-10-30T20:43:48","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T18:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tuijasonkkila.fi\/?p=839"},"modified":"2024-09-20T13:19:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T10:19:44","slug":"peru-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tuijasonkkila.fi\/?p=839","title":{"rendered":"Peru 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Julkaistu alun perin Instagramissa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8.7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carretera a Manu, the Manu Road, is sometimes so hairy that the same dust that your vehicle generates is sucked in when you drive around the bend. The dry season is still young but the amount of fine-grained, yellowish dust is already epic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The road begins after Paucartambo, a three hour ride from Cusco. Today, this first leg, Carretera a Cusco, is paved, which means potentially (and also actually) faster driving. Your stomach switches to alert mode if you are me and sit on the back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Manu Road ends in Atalaya, by the shore of the river Alto Madre de Dios. In 2007 the only option from Atalaya onwards, from the department of Cusco to the department of Madre de Dios, was by boat. Now there is also a road. It follows Alto Madre de Dios on its Southern side until Boca Manu, the local traffic hub with an airstrip. Google maps don’t show the last leg from Shintuya to Boca Manu but it’s there. We will not use the road though but will embark on a boat. First to Boca Manu. Then, sharp right, and we sail on Madre de Dios the rest of this journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September 2007 all roads were still gravel. Many a thing has changed in 15 years but one remains. David Fuerte was our guide then, and he is our guide now. It must be Cusco’s altitude of 3000 meters where David lives or his frequent guiding trips through the humid montane forests of the Andes down to the lowland Peruvian Amazon or maybe both, but he doesn’t look a day older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estaci\u00f3n Biol\u00f3gica Wayqecha sits right next to the Manu Road, on a scenic, steep slope of the Kos\u00f1ipata River valley. That said, slopes here belong to only two categories: A. steep or B. really steep. Both are scenic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here, bordering Manu National Park, just below 3000 m, you are saved of the inescapable headache of Cusco, but any physical activity like sliding into bed after 9 pm when the 6-to-9 generator is turned off and blackness is turned on, results in serious panting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stars! As if someone had wiped clean the big celestial window from all accumulated dirt. Venus shines boldly in low East until a quarter to 6 am when the last Broad-eared bats return from their nocturnal shift and fly underneath the cabin roof as effortlessly as only bats can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[Identification of the bat species thanks to the Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro ultrasonic module by Wildlife Acoustics Inc.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayqecha is one of three lodges operated by ACCA (La Asociati\u00f3n para la Conservati\u00f3n de la Cuenca Amaz\u00f3nica). The main object of research at the moment is the Spectacled bear, a small photogenic bear with distinctive white face markings. “So far we have identified nine different individuals from camera trap photos”, tells Ruthmery Pillco Huarcaya, the science coordinator at Wayqecha. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camera traps are in heavy use. 60+ are in operation in any given time. One can only imagine what it takes to install and maintain the lot. In normal conditions, the battery lasts roughly one year. Wayqecha is not normal in that sense. For one thing, it’s cold and humid. Secondly, bears. Curious and strong, they are famous of bringing havoc to the camera world. One of the items on the donation wish list of ACCA is a camera trap, 250 US dollars. “My team checks all cameras every other month.” The cost of one of these field research trips is 1000 USD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Radio collars are another state-of-the-art technology in the field of biological sciences. Here, the team is moving at that direction too. 
The mascot of Wayqecha is Ukuku, a rescue dog trained to find bear excrement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

10.7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After a rainy day, colors are left hanging in the sky to dry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andean Guan #penelopemontagnii climbs on the top branch of a lichen-and-moss-laden tree to catch the most of the early morning sun.  Other common birds are Hooded Mountain Tanager #buthraupismontana, Masked Flowerpiercer #diglossopiscyanea, Great Trush #turdusfuscater, Rufous-collared Sparrow #zonotrichiacapensis, Grass-green Tanager #Chlorornisriefferii and of course numerous hummingbird species. Follow tags for photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One must appreciate the way the small kitchen was able to deliver three meals a day in six days without repeating the dishes once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Potato is a core ingredient, followed closely by rice, and chicken. Tofu is a newcomer. Every dinner starts with a hot soup, often accompanied by a lingering scent of coriander. Desserts are light and delicious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

11.7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To descend from the mountains to the level of 700 m of Pillcopata and the next research station-cum-lodge of ACCA, Villa Carmen, is like moving fast forward to another season. Everything changes in one way or other: temperature, humidity, vegetation, animals – you included. The more tropical it gets, the more you, a traveller, begin to be aware of your inevitable place in the big picture. No longer are you just a cool observer, capable of making your own decisions as you please. From now on you have to admit that there is fairly little you can do just by reasoning; you must adapt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At daytime, Wayqecha was almost empty of insects give or take few smallish butterflies at high noon, sand flies, bees, some small spiders, and one stubborn shield bug that kept crawling back into the cabin underneath the door. Zero ants, for instance. No mosquitos whining into your ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 6 pm though, moths in various sizes began to bounce against the glass windows, distracted by the temptingly bright artificial light inside. Beyond 1000 m, beetles and allies. 700 m, ants, and bigger butterflies. Moths increase in size and color palette. Mosquitos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

12.7<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villa Carmen used to be a hacienda, a farm. Now it is returning to its more natural state. A slow process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former owner, Abel Mu\u00f1iz, was a man of visions and passionate about improvements in agriculture, sharing his knowledge with locals, we are told. Then, during the first decade of the 21st century, he decided to move on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the forest trails, you are surrounded by bamboos. They are a dominant “evergreen perennial flowering plant” (Wikipedia). You need to mentally pinch yourself that hello! this is South America, not Asia. Zigzagging the canopy with their long, green stem that, when bent enough by the wind, age or whatever, bamboos start to produce vertical shoots from its nodes.
Unburnable, bamboo has unique uses. David tells that Peruvians cook fish in bamboo stalks. Google with ‘Pacamoto’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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