Welcome to the Jungle

Yesterday Carlos and I returned from four days of camping. It was for work. Carlos has a job assessing a protected area near Cuenca and advising the municipality on what to do with it. About 20 to 30 years ago it was used as a scientific station but has been sort of abandoned, which is good for the forest because we have been able to observe natural regeneration. Three other friends were there with us, all biologists. They mainly counted birds and trapped animals.

Anyway, there is a small building there where we were able to stay, rather than in tents. But the building didn't have too much to offer. There is water, but no electricity. The water is piped in from a waterfall nearby (I boiled it to drink, the guys did not, Carlos thought I was being paranoid, but I responded by telling him that I was the one with the degree in "don't drink the water"). They have a parallel line that used to run a hydroelectric generator, but it's not in use anymore. There is an old stove in there, but we were not provided with gas, so we cooked over a camping stove. I know this because my duties on this trip was "drafter" (there aren't any records of the building we stayed in, so I made some), "engineer" (analysis of potable and waste water systems), and "chef."

But besides that work, I went hiking with the boys as well. The longest day was 8 hours, my shortest was 3 hours (I think Carlos' shortest was about 6 hours). And I should state that we weren't actually in the jungle. We were in an Andean forest. But it was like the jungle, just a bit cooler, higher, and without snakes. There was knee deep mud (well, upper calf deep, coming just to the top of our galoshes, which, by the way, are terrible to hike in since the soles are thin and slippery, but do a great job of keeping feet dry) and we were wielding machetes.

Well, only one machete. And I got to wield it a few times. It's really quite hard to hack your way through the forest. I was not very good at it. There were trails, but they were a bit overgrown. Can you see the trail?


Yeah, I couldn't either, but it's there. Even though it was tough, I had a great time.