One of the most important lessons we learned during our trip to the Las Piedras is about the power of community and a shared mission. Some of our fondest memories stem from the connections we were able to make with people living and working in the Las Piedras watershed. Hearing the impassioned stories of these people reminded us why we were on this journey and had many of us thinking about how to continue our own personal journeys after the trip ended. On the first leg of our trip in Puerto Maldonado we had the opportunity to hear from a few speakers. Their stories helped us begin to understand the extraordinarily diverse issues in this region of the world.

Upriver, our gaze focused on the Las Piedras, we were finally in the region we had begun studying months beforehand. We worked with ArcAmazon’s Las Piedras Amazon Center, the native Amahuacan tribe of Boca Paramanu, Hoja Nueva, and the people of the small town of Lucerna (All of which you can learn more about on the Our Partners page of our website). Many members of our team had never studied Spanish, thus interacting with the native people we met could be a challenge. Thankfully, we learned when two people share a passion, language barriers suddenly become less intimidating. Our team communicated through translators and some with varying levels of Spanish, but we also communicated through sports, dancing, a desire for education, and celebration.

One of the most impactful groups we were able to learn from and with was the Future Leaders/Innovadores of Madre de Dios. This group is sponsored by Wild Forests & Fauna and, like us, they are from a wide variety of backgrounds and all passionate about the environment. We joined them at LPAC for a series of lectures and activities focusing on the environmental impact of the Amazon and how we can work together to build a brighter future.

For the vast majority of our group this trip was the first experience in a jungle environment. For some it was also their first experience without access to a cell connection and internet. We were all visibly unnerved during our first few nights in this new environment. Everything was unfamiliar. Thankfully, with the people we met along the way willing to guide us, we were able to settle into a routine at LPAC. We began to relax and become truly acquainted with the jungle. Things such as the noises, smells, weather, how to maneuver a trail, and general way of life began to feel familiar.

The passion of the people we met and worked with was palpable. So much so, that it increased and solidified our own passion for this forest and its people. A few members of our group are already making plans to return and find more ways to use their skills to develop solutions to the destruction in this region.

By Samantha Wilson, Executive Project Manager; Jason Swartz, Director of Photography & Formatting; Sylvan Greyson, Director of Writing & Editing; and Atticus Rice, Director of Editing & Style.

It begins to rain shortly after you start out on the trail, unsurprising given the heavy clouds that have been creeping up over the canopy this afternoon. Everything around you is saturated with water already, the rainy season in Madre de Dios, Peru often bringing over 400mm of rain per month. Having only just arrived in the rainforest, it still takes you a couple minutes to orient yourself in the immensity of these surroundings. It is an environment that forces its presence to be known and felt, no avoiding the deluge of sensations you encounter with each step into the forest.

BUTTRESS ROOTS & MUDDY BOOTS: Take an ecological and cultural trek through the rainforests of the Rio Piedras watershed in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Eyes are greeted with a textural tapestry as you try to peer further than the forest’s edge. It feels as if you must walk with eyes forced wide in order to drink up the layers of vine against leaf against spiny bark. But it is not the eye-opening feeling of a city’s neon colours and cloud-topped towers. Instead, it is a glowing green landscape, growth spreading from every cranny and sunny spot, pushing your eyelids open in order to more fully understand it all.

But the sensations of standing as a small human in this forest are incomplete without the sound of rain as it topples from the sky, first onto the leaves and branches above you and then down further still to splat onto your head and shoulders. Through the wild crackling of rain, you hear a distant throaty clamour: howler monkeys hooting out their warning chorus. And beneath it all, you realize, is the whine of a mosquito, undeterred by the rain.

Returning from your ear drums to the feeling of your body as a new sprout among the old-growth and the buttress roots, you notice that while standing in one spot, your feet have sunk down, and your rubber boots are now surrounded by a cool gritty cushion of mud. You try to take a step forward and nearly fall out of your boot, slurpingmud behind you as you move towards drier ground. But nothing is truly dry, you have to remind yourself, as you notice how your rain jacket adheres to your skin, sweat on one side and rain on the other.

You’re brought back to your muddy boots as you take a deep breath through your nose and get a sudden whiff of some tangy putrid Amazon mud. Another breath in reminds you of your newfound mushroom obsession, the wild tendrils and fibrous sponges giving the air a subtle hint of their nutty scent.

You take stock one last time of all that’s around you and then head out on your squelching way, buoyed by the keenness of sensation that the forest lures from you and by the taste of maracuya juice whose biting sweetness lingers from lunch. It’ll be another glorious day of muddy boots and buttress roots.

Click here or on the image to take your ecological and cultural trek.

Before leaving, we, the Forest Protection Team, were beyond excited to hear about and see pictures of some of the amazing experiences we would get to have in the rainforest of Madre de Dios, Perú. As a group composed of three Environmental Studies majors, we were a little bit more than excited about our mission: deep in la selva (the rainforest), we would visit LPAC (the Las Piedras Amazon Center, run by ARCAmazon) where we were to experience the jungle from the perspective of a forest ranger and take a firsthand approach to learn more about what it takes to protect this wild and beautiful place.

During our time at LPAC, we learned so much and were able to experience conservation on the front line. During our stay, we went on night hikes where we saw sleeping butterflies, birds nestled in the ground, and insects of all varieties (most jungle critters like to come out at night when the heat of the sun isn’t beating down on them). During the day, we got to see an unimaginable number of trees and plants. Sometimes just closing our eyes – at night or during the daytime – and experiencing the sounds of the jungle was enough to make us appreciate the amazing biodiversity of the surrounding forest.

One of our greatest adventures was a hike and overnight camping trip with the forest ranger, Harry, who was very experienced at pitching tents (even ones that hang from trees!), starting a fire (which is rather difficult in a rainforest), and navigating the concession’s boundaries. Harry also took us to a corn field in the middle of the jungle, where we learned about the difficulty of protecting the concession from outsiders. It was saddening to learn of the reality of the situation – the people who are destroying the forest for agriculture are just trying to make a living and survive. We were, however, left with a note of hope when we visited the neighboring concession.  Here, a nonprofit called Hoja Nueva is experimenting with agroforestry and biochar as sustainable agricultural solutions and is working with the local community to demonstrate and teach these alternate methods.

We accomplished so much more than our original mission of learning about forest protection from the perspective of a ranger. We didn’t just experience the rainforest and all of its complexities – we became full-fledged participants in an environment so profoundly zoetic that we couldn’t help but feel a calling, stronger than any we have ever felt before, to ensure that this untamed paradise continues to thrive.

Check out our awesome video (edited by Cris!)

The purpose of the Ecotourism group was to work as mediators between the three other groups. We listened to their concerns and kept their respected objectives in mind as we assessed the situation at ARC Amazon.

We consider Ecotourism a viable solution for the diverse set of problems that each group faces. We understand the importance of protecting the jungle, but we also find it necessary to allow the native Peruvians to profit from their own land. We aspired to find the perfect balance between protecting the jungle, while serving the community by establishing a profitable ecotourist attraction at the ARCAmazon concession.

When we arrived in the jungle, we participated in and evaluated the activities that a paying ecotourist would engage in. We reflected on this experience and came to the conclusion that ARCAmazon would have to be apprehensive and thoughtful when making future decisions to avoid overpopulation of tourists, which could disrupt the stasis of the environment. We interviewed volunteers, workers, and community members what their personal definition of ecotourism was, and what it could mean for the future of ARCAmazon. Because we questioned people of different backgrounds and dispositions, where their personal purpose at ARCAmazon ranged from being a cook to a volunteer forest ranger, we found a common consensus in their compassion for the future of the jungle and Peru. Their response was overwhelming yet insightful as it created clarity. It spoke to our initial goals of ARC Amazon and it provided direction for the future of the organization. The future is looking up and ARCAmazon has already laid the foundation upon which they will build a sustainable ecotourism destination for nature-lovers and travelers alike.

Read previous content from the Ecotourism Team below:

Ecotourism Team Field Update–Los lobos del agua, aka Adventure at Lake Soledad

Surprise Tree Canopy Walk

The Selfie-Stick Wars

The Tourist Gaze: Unrealistic Expectations

During our time traveling in Peru and especially during the three days we spent with members of the Lucerna and Palma Real communities, we reflected a lot about the role of communities in conservation. We knew going into the trip that working with communities is essential for successful conservation, but we did not know many specifics. The complexity of the relationship between conservation and communities became clear very fast. It involves balancing the goals of everyone involved, education, job options, and the influence of both local and global economics. On top of that, the challenges of conservation are different in every community.

Despite these complexities, we left Peru with a large dose of hope to carry us through the rest of our class and to inspire us to continue to try to make a difference in the world. The people we met were well informed about the social, economic, and political problems relevant to them, and they wanted to improve their lives. They were open to new ways of agriculture, and some of them were actively trying to change their communities’ practices to be more sustainable. It wasn’t Westerners coming into their territory and telling them how to change; it was Peruvians acting on their own beliefs, passions, and abilities to instigate change, and to a large extent, ARCAmazon is a tool for them and their goals.

Members of the Lucerna and Palma Real communities (and the Peruvians who we met in general) taught us something important: conservation, just like most aspects of life, is most possible when people help each other. It requires selflessness, not just towards the environment but also towards the people that need the environment to survive.

Conservation, in a word, requires ayni.

PS- Here is the video that Luke made for our group starring some members of the Lucerna and Palma Real Communities.

Continue reading “Final Thoughts: Community Team” →

Coming back from the Amazon, some key take-aways would be just how diverse the biodiversity in the rainforest actually is. In the morning we would hear the sound of howler monkeys, and then during the day we would see lots of colorful insects and birds.  More than just insects and birds, we would also be exposed to a wide range of different organic life including trees, plants, and rainforest canopy. To think that our actions can have a direct impact on the wellbeing of the wild forest and fauna in the Peruvian rainforest is incredible. Staying hopeful about rainforest preservation is important. More specifically, the birds in the Amazon rainforest were what drew me in for closer examination. Aldo, who was one of our guides is a bird expert, and explained a lot about birds, such as the harpy eagle, one of the largest birds in Peru. Some of the sites we saw of flocks of Macaws gathered at the Macaw claylicks were beautiful, and as a result I did become interested in different species of birds. For what we couldn’t see with our own eyes, we would cross logs and rivers, and go on long treks and hikes through the forest to set up camera traps. This helped us to see life like jaguars and pumas, while at nighttime we could experience nocturnal wildlife. by: Ian Yoshioka

A Collaborative Story from Our Adventure

Health in the Jungle

Our goal as the wildlife crew was to observe as much wildlife as possible. Seems simple, right? Well, in trying to do this, I learned to stop looking. The wildlife of the jungle taught me how to see and stop looking. While wading through swamps of oxbow lakes or sloshing through thick, jungle floor mud, I realized that wildlife has no obligation to perform for my camera. Despite wanting great shots to share back home, in fact, I didn’t want a performance after all. However, when I did take the time to genuinely see what was there, Mother nature blew me away with astounding beauty in moments of spontaneous awe. Those moments that stopped me in my tracks — capuchins and other monkey species frolicking through camp, the tracks of the animals unseen, sharing it with influential people — are among my most cherished memories. Even the minutes I spent simply standing still and feeling the energy of the forest, can give me the chills from thousands of miles away. When I really get down to it and try to synthesize my experience as a wildlife researcher, I am left with this thought: while I was learning to see differently, the rainforest helped me find deep tranquility. by: Christina DeJoseph

Fauna are Fun-a

En las colpas – In the claylicks

Take a Look…