During our time in Peru, we made use of many different forms of transportation. Here are some photos showing some of the shenanigans we got up to while going from place to place:
Planes, Boats, and Automobiles
Author: cjkelahan
How to Tell if Your Bunkmate is the Chullachaki
While in Las Piedras, we learned about the legend of the forest creature known as the Chullachaki (Choo-ya-cha-kee), whose name comes from the Quechuan words Chulla (unpaired) and Chaki (foot). Able to appear in the form of any person or animal (minus one of its feet, which always remains the foot of a deer), the Chullachaki lures unsuspecting victims into the depths of the jungle, never to be seen again… It’s a story creepy enough to cause any volunteer or traveler to quake in their rubber boots. If the idea of crossing paths with such a monster makes you rethink your Perú travel plans, however, never fear! We here at The Forest Online have developed this handy-dandy flowchart for you to bring with you so that you can discern between friend and deer-footed foe:
Is Your Bunkmate the Chullachaki?
Hugo and the Shihuahuaco
A collaborative story written during a creative writing workshop between the Forest Online and Wild Forest and Fauna’s Future Leaders program. Written by Casey, Jose, Blake, and Pavel.
Many years ago (in 1990), Hugo was born in the native community of Tipischa. He spent his childhood in the jungle on the banks of the Las Piedras, amongst the trees and the birds. He sought adventure in the forest, climbing and playing in the trees. Hugo loved all of the trees of the forest, but his favorite of all was the giant Shihuahuaco, or ironwood, that stood by the creek.
Time passed, and there was no school for Hugo to attend in Tipischa, so his family moved to Puerto Maldonado, a small city of laborers and loggers a few hours away from their community. More than anything, Hugo knew that he would miss his tree, and he carved his name and the year, 1997, into its bark so that it would always remember him.
As he began his education in Puerto at the Carlos Fermin Fitzcarrald school, little by little he lost his connection to both his native culture and the land, and his priorities began to mirror those of his peers. Consumerism became the center of his life: he spent his time in front of the TV, or partying with friends. He became accustomed to “easy living” in a society very different from the community in which he was born. In Puerto, money was king. As a result of this new lifestyle, Hugo forgot the beauty of his childhood and his true home…
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People and Planet: Reconciling Conservation Goals with the Needs of Communities
“Environmental problems are really social problems anyway. They begin with people as the cause and end with people as the victims.” – Edmund Hillary
Casey: From the moment that we first sat down to decide on what we would discuss in our blog post, Luke and I knew immediately that we wanted to focus on Lucerna, the community immediately adjacent to ArcAmazon’s Las Piedras Amazon Center. For me, this was driven by a fascination with the dynamic between Lucerna and ArcAmazon, and how their relationship acts as a microcosm of the global challenges of conservation on the frontier. For Luke, well, I’ll let him tell you!
Luke: All of these environmental issues that organizations like ArcAmazon are tackling, at the end of the day, are about people— the people who live there that are affected by all of these things. It’s the community that is impacting the local forest, and on a larger scale, the world. Someone is chopping down these trees and someone is trying to protect them. I want to show both of these stories.
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Our Planet, Our Future: the Promise of Singleton-Mathews Farm
As preparation for our January trip to Peru, our class has been visiting a large property a few miles off campus owned by McDaniel College. Below, Casey, Elizabeth, Ian, and Becca share what they found.
“The acquisition of the Charles S. Singleton farm in 1988 [by McDaniel College] makes possible the fulfillment of a desire by Dr. Singleton and Marthiel Mathews as well as being a challenge to a college community–a challenge to move toward a new venture in which success can be measured in some very unusual instructional and agricultural terms.”
[George A. Grier]
If you are reading this post, you most likely belong to one of two groups:
Group A: The group of people who already know about Singleton-Mathews farm and are currently thinking something along the lines of: “Wow, those are some inspirational words, Mr. Grier! And what a challenge it is!”
Group B: The somewhat larger group of people who know little to nothing about Singleton-Mathews farm. In which case, you may be thinking something like: “What? McDaniel has a farm?? I’ve been here for (insert number of years that you’ve been here) years and I didn’t know that McDaniel was in possession of an entire farm?”
To those in the second group: don’t panic! We, the Forest Online class, are here to clear up any confusion. If you haven’t already read the blog posts from other groups about the history and the natural history of the space, you can check them out here and here, respectively. In this post, you’ll be learning all about the future of the farm (So if you belong to the group with some prior knowledge– don’t leave just yet! There will still be some great information in here for you.)!
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