Dena La Explora: El Pahuma

This past weekend was the first trip we took. We went to the El Pahuma Orchid Reserve where we learned how to identify plant familes, birdwatched, went frogging, hiked up a mountain, and stayed in a cloud.

On the way there, we visited the monument that marks the equator. We were running back and forth between the Northern and Southern hemisphere, at one point, I was in both!
Turns out, the marker everyone takes photos by is off, and not really on the equator.

My group, half in the Northern Hemisphere, and half in the Southern

My two professors, Joe and Catherine, were driving by this place about eight years ago, and saw the giant waterfall, so they decided to enter. It turned out that the reserve owned by a family who did not know what to do with the land. The Ecuadorian government was putting landowners in a position where they could really only cut down trees for wood, however, Catherine and Joe saw it as a wonderful place for conservation. CEIBA helped turn the reserve into a family run business for tourists and natives to come hike. It is an amazing area for bird watching and an amazing area for pretty much anything bio. The orchids and giant waterfall are the main reasons it is such a great attraction.

CEIBA has eased off the family so that they can become independent. They have a lot of family members living at the reserve, and I had a lot of fun playing with one of the kids. He name is Carolina, and she is 9 years old. She did not speak any English, so when she talked to me, I would look at our TAs to translate. She was soooo cute and knowledgeable about the area. She was not afraid to touch a weird plant, or pick up a bug and let it crawl on her. It must be amazing to grow up on a reserve, but I don't know if I would want to stay there my whole life. That is the problem with family run reserves;sometimes family does not want to stay there forever. It is a tough situation.

When we were hanging out around the fire, I taught her Head, Shoulders, Knees and toes so she could learn some English. I learned it in Spanish, and the next day, she taught it to her little cousin. I have a video of it:

Carolina and I pretending to be Monkeys

Professor with a stickbug on her face

Carolina was hanging on me telling me not to leave. I gave her candy and she was so excited. She also was fascinated by my mechanical pencil, so I gave that to her as well. It is funny that she knows all this information and has this entire mountain as her backyard, yet, she has never seen a mechanical pencil. That is one way I have seen people here living so differently.

Cock-of-the-Rock Bird

It took me 2 hours to climb the mountain with lots of breaks. I was frustrated because I thought I was in shape, but I was one of the last people up to the top. Luckily, my friend Jas is also an asthmatic, so we went slowly together. For the Ecuadorians, it is a piece of cake, they do it in a half hour. Part of it was the altitude, but the other part was the fact that I have such short legs and was carrying a heavy backpack- the climb was the best workout I've had all year. We stayed in the Montane Forest that night which is so high, its in a cloud. It is really amazing! We also walked the trails that previous pirates and bootleggers had once walked on the top of the mountains. The paths were used so much, that their horses' weight caused the paths to sink.

On the way down the mountain, it was raining. The other group had to climb up the mountain, but my group climbed down it. The entire trail was a mudslide, so I decided to just slide down on my butt. I had Carolina get me a trash bag to slide on, but it ripped open the second I fell the first time. I collected a lot of mud, and made the trail a bit harder for anyone trying to go up. It was like a water slide- just not so safe. When I would try to walk, I'd slip and fall, so it was very hard with a heavy backpack.My professor had to help me down because I was so unstable. I literally was covered in mud when I got to the bottom. Again, I was the last, and the dirtiest person, but I had made it up and down the entire mountain, so I felt very accomplished!

Trashbag/Mudslide Shorts

Down in the garden, we learned plant families, and took a smaller hike to a giant waterfall. It was very beautiful, and I almost got in, but the water was FREEZING cold, so I just went part way in.