Kyle Rasmussen - BRIT/Andes to Amazon
Week 4

Cicra, Puerto Maldonado, and the Jungle

My weeks at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas were inspiring. I watched people at BRIT work together. Everybody was friendly and supportive of one another. This was the week that I left for Peru. I was nervous and somewhat scared at what the world was going to throw at me. But, all I knew was that I was ready to take what was thrown at me. Tuesday morning I continued with my regular ritual. I knew that today was my last day at BRIT. I was a little sad, but excited as well.

My last day spent at BRIT was not a usual one. Instead of finding work to do and working on the Atrium (BRIT’s database website) tour, I got everything finalized for my trip. People kept coming to me and giving me things that they wanted me to deliver to people in Peru. I also ran a few last errands for things that I remembered that I would need, such as a pair of boots and a snack for the airport. The last day seemed to be one of the quickest days that I spent at BRIT. When the day ended and I double-checked if I had everything that I needed, I said goodbye and met Grammy Roz outside with some of her friends in the car. Roz was planning to take me to the musical, Cinderella at the Bass Hall in downtown Ft. Worth. The bass hall is a very large beautiful performance hall that the Bass family in Texas built for the city. The structure is beautiful with two very large angel sculptures that are blowing into enormous horns. Inside, the hall is decorated with marble floors and a large dome with clever paintings. The dome is named after Grammy Roz because of her contribution to the construction of the Bass Hall.

After I was ready to go. We departed for downtown from Grammy Roz’s house. We ate at Fernando’s again. This restaurant is the most fancy restaurant that I have ever eaten at. I ate there before with Roz, Roz’s son Billy and many other people. The restaurant is known for its amazing steak that is said to melt in your mouth. The show was right after the dinner and it was amazing. I enjoyed all of the music and the colorful scenes. After the show we left downtown. It was my last time to see downtown until I got back from Peru. That night I prepared by laying everything that I would be taking with me to Peru. I organized until I was too tired to pick up one more article of clothing.

Wednesday was the day that I would say my goodbyes and get on the plane to Peru. Bea, Grammy Roz’s housekeeper, was back from vacation in Colorado. I was happy to see her, but knew it would only be for a short while. My plane left at 6:30 pm. I took the day off from working at BRIT so that I could get packed and organized. I was nervous. I got through customs fine and when I was waiting at my gate to board the plane, I realized how “on my own” I was. I was not the best at Spanish, and really this was my first time that I would be out of the country. I first had to fly to Mexico City. This was a short flight compared to the next flight.  I met a lady on the flight to Mexico City. She and her friend were kind enough to make sure that I made it though customs at the airport and that I made it to the correct gate. I was extremely glad to have had them there. The next flight was exhausting. It was a seven hour flight to Lima, Peru. I sat next to a man that did not speak a word of English and was relatively large. This made me extremely uncomfortable because for one I was pushed up against the window all the time and secondly, I could not communicate to him that I needed to go to the bathroom. I managed long enough to get to Lima at 5:00 am the next day. I only got one hour of sleep the whole plane ride! It was dark in Lima when I arrived, so I could not see any amazing features of the land such as the ocean and the Andes mountain range. I did what all people do in the airport; waited for my next flight. This flight would be my final flight into my final flight into Puerto Maldonado.

John Janovec and Jason Wells met me at the airport to pick me up. They are both researchers for BRIT. John first took me to a small restaurant in Puerto Maldonado. Driving through Puerto was a bit of a cultural shock to me. The streets were lined with street vendors and markets of all sorts. Over 90% of the traffic was motorcycles that were a form of Taxi, and the buildings looked like they had been there for over eighty years. The restaurant I went to was a small cafe. John ordered me a papaya and orange mix juice. It was smooth and quenched my thirst better than any other beverage could.

Jason led me to his house in Puerto (short for Puerto Maldanado) soon after I finished my drink. The traffic there was hectic. Nobody has the right of way at an intersection. If it is safe, they just go. This is just a small example of the traffic. Arriving at John’s house was a relaxing feeling. It was out of the city and his house looked more inviting that the structures in the city. Dawson, another Pinhead Institute intern, met me at John’s house when we arrived. I also met Andy White, another researcher of BRIT. The area around John’s house was forested. I relaxed a little bit at John’s house until John got back from using the internet in town. We all decided to go to dinner at a different restaurant in town.

The next morning, I woke at John’s house. It was early because we had to leave in time to catch the boat ride at Labereito to take us to Cicra, the research station, just a small distance up river from Los Amigos. We took a taxi all the way to Labereito, which was about an hours drive from Puerto Maldonado. This taxi was a regular taxi, not a motorcycle taxi. Labereito was a small city. It bordered the Madre de Dios River. Our boat was waiting for us at the river. The boat was about forty feet long and it had a number of seats. Most of them were already occupied. A man was there to take our luggage to tie it down on the boat. I sat in the front of the boat with Dawson. Behind me was Ben Hamine. He is a Peruvian researcher for BRIT. He speaks only Spanish. Andy sat in the very back of the boat. It was hard to talk to Ben Hamine whenever he tried to talk to me. My Spanish vocabulary is poor very. I would get very confused whenever somebody tried to speak with me.

The boat ride was seven hours total and as we traveled up the river, the forest became thicker, and the trees became taller. I was in awe the whole seven hours. It gave me time to work on my Spanish as well as to observe the several gold mines lining the river.

When we arrived at Los Amigos, there were many people there to greet us. We were only there for a short time for reasons that I do not know. We continued up the river a short distance longer until we came to a small village looking area. When we approached this small area, I could see a building that was on top of a hillside. The roof looked like it was made of palm leaves. I guessed that this was our destination. The building hid behind the trees as we got closer to it. We banked the boat on a sandy beach. A small building, similar to the one that I saw on the hilltop, rested just up a small bank. I gathered my gear and was led by a line of people to a group of stairs. On the first step there was a sign written in chalk that read “0%”. I was not sure what this meant. I could soon tell what this meant after I went up my first 100 stairs. There were a total of approximately 300 stairs. Every so often, there was a percentage written to let you know how far you were until you reached the top. Because I had all my luggage with me, I was extremely exhausted. I felt like just dropping everything and sleeping right at the top. Dazed and confused from the heat and hard work, I toted my bags to a number of buildings. I could tell that one of these was the building that I saw from the river. They did have palm roofs! “Jungle Hut” is a perfect way to describe them. I walked to the middle one of the three and a Peruvian man insisted to take my luggage and lead me to my room. My room was in the building that you could see from the river. The room was small with two beds and a bathroom in a separate room. The walls of every small room did not touch the high ceiling, so you could hear voices of other people in their rooms as well.

Shortly, I walked outside, looking for Andy and Dawson. Andy found me. He led me around Cicra so that I became familiar with it. He showed me the labs, the kitchen and one of my favorite places, the “hot tub”. This was located down a trail beyond the kabanas that BRIT built. It was in a small canyon. There was a large dam that held back a small pond of water. This water flowed into a smaller tub down below the dam. This was the “hot tub”. The ironic thing was that when I felt the water, it was not hot, but cold.

I left the ‘hot’ tub and went back to Cicra, only about a minute away. There was a soccer field that I passed by just before I entered Cicra. There were a number of people on the field that looked as if they were warming up for a game. I discovered that was exactly what they were doing when I found Andy to ask me if I would like to play soccer with them. I agreed. But, when I got some shorts on and left with Dawson to go out to the field, the game was started, and the field was so crowded that I had to sit and watch instead. Before the game had any time to finish, it was dark already and it was only 6:00. Dinner was served shortly after the game, and I went to bed soon after dinner.

I woke the next morning at 6:00 am to get some breakfast before I went out on a trail with Andy and Dawson. I took as many precautions as I could by checking that my shirt was tucked in, that I had my hat, etc. I did not want anything flying up my shirt or landing on my head when I least expect it. I met Andy and Dawson outside and we were off. As soon as we entered the forest, I could swear that we entered another world. It was somewhat dark, but not an eerie dark. Green was Nature’s carpet here, and foreign noises suffocated the forest. We walked deeper into the forest. Everything was unique. We walked a far distance until we came across a small wooden platform. Attached to the platform was a walkway that led to another platform on a tall tree. On the roped off entrance was a sign that read “Peligroso” meaning “dangerous” in English. I was feeling brave so Dawson and I decided to go out onto the platform. I really wanted to do this because this was a different view of the forest. It gave us a look at the canopy instead of the understory for a change. Dawson went first. I waited until he made it across safely and then I went. The first few meters were not too bad. But, once I got further out onto the platform, the ladder started to wobble, the wood would creak and the heights go higher. When I reached the main platform at the end, I felt relieved. The view was one of the most amazing views that I had ever seen in my life. You could see miles of rain forest with an occasional break indicating a river or a lake.  When we had had enough of the view and walking on eggshells, Dawson and I tiptoed back over the bridge and back to solid ground. The rest of the day was spent treading the forest floor and observing everything that came into our sight such as Peccaries (a small wild pig), small rodents, and flowers and trees of all sorts. It was a relaxing day. We even got a rare sighting of a family of spider monkeys. My first day in the Peruvian rainforest and I was already seeing rare sights.

I spent most of the remainder of the day relaxing and getting caught up on other work that I had to do. Mathias Tobler asked if I would like to join him on a Tapir expedition. Tapirs are a small mammal that have a small trunk and resemble a hippop. I accepted his offer and put my sweaty cloths on that I had used from the previous hike. We left at around 5:00 pm. That gave us just enough time to get there until it was dark.

First we had to walk to the Los Amigos River. We then boarded a boat and headed up river. When we reached our destination, everybody got off of the boat and hiked another short distance. I noticed a tent before we stopped next to it. Two people, both Spanish speaking, went away from the tent, while Mathias, another Peruvian, and I stayed at the tent. Our job was just to wait until we received a call on the radio that a Tapir was down.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten my dinner, so I went hungry for the night. I lied down and tried to get some rest. All night I was tossing and turning. The sleeping pad was uncomfortable, I had forgotten a blanket and pillow, and there were bugs biting all night. In substitute of a blanket and pillow, I used a rubber rain jacket, and a coarse wool sweater. I kept waking up and checking my watch to see what time it was and if it was time to wake. When my watch finally struck 5:00 we got a call on the radio. Disappointingly, it was only a call to say that they were finishing the patrol for the night. I was happy arise and move my legs a bit with the hike back to Cicra.

Upon arrival at Cicra, I, surprisingly, had a lot of energy. I offered to Dawson if he would like to come to Pozo Don Pedro with me, a small lake on the trails. He said that he was too tired so I went on my own.

The forest was different when I was alone. It was calm and at rest, but alive and breathing at the same time. I took a long route to the lake so that I could get more personal time with the forest. I came across many spider webs that stuck to my face and a herd of peccaries. The peccaries use their jaws to make a large clopping sound to scare away predators. They can be very dangerous if you threaten them. I made loud noises with my hands and voice to intimidate them. I could hear the thud of their feet in response to my noise-making. This made me a bit nervous, considering that just yesterday, I had learned that peccaries can be dangerous. Eventually, they continued their mysterious business in the forest while I continued to ponder the beauty of this forest.

I finally arrived at the lake after treading a long line of stairs to a small wooden walkway that overlapped a swampy looking area. At the end of the dock were four boats. In groups of two, they supported a row of wooden planks that formed a dock. I proceeded to untie one of the rafts and paddle towards the middle of the lake. The sun was shining so perfectly on the lake that the palms reflection bounced up and down with the shape of the water. Butterflies, independent, graced the water making a small ripple effect across the surface. The air around me produced it’s own form of silence that could put a giant to sleep. One butterfly landed on my hand as I was paddling the small ore. I let it stay to keep the serenity that was around me rest within the small valley. I stayed in one spot for an hour, looking, contemplating the mysteries of the forest, and having a mental conversation with the butterfly that licked the salt from my sweat. Regretfully, I had to leave this amazing discovery. The butterfly left my hand as I paddled back to shore, listening to the chug of the water against the side of the raft. I reached the dock, tied up the raft as it was before when suddenly, on my hand, the butterfly was there again. It stayed with me until I reaches Cecra. This butterfly was not just a plain butterfly. It made me realize the value of trust. It made me trust the forest more that I ever could have. After I watched the butterfly, sail off into the distance, trusting the forest, somewhere where it had never been before, I said to myself: “Now, you are in Peru.