Animal Sightings with the Forest Rangers

Spider monkeys!

Yellow-footed tortoise found on one of our walks.

Tropical house gecko found in the shower.

Yesterday, Thursday, it finally rained properly, for the first time in a week. We've all been waiting for this, because most days there is a pressure in the air that speaks of rain; a pregnant feeling that brings on headaches and wishes for the relief of a downpour. When it doesn't rain, it's hot, and everyone feels sluggish. Many an afternoon here is spent reading in the hammocks, playing card games, or making friendship bracelets. I have finished reading The Handmaid's Tale and am now reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, Death in the Andes, and The Peru Reader. I figured I should probably do my best to learn about this country while I'm here in any way I can, hence the books about Peru. On Monday and Tuesday of this week, I went on patrols with the forest rangers. We were delving deep into the conservation concessions, walking 15-17 kilometers before lunch. I was wet with sweat after 30 minutes of walking at the fast and constant speed. The first 15 minutes are always miserable as the sluggishness is cast off: my head pounds and I feel tired, bored, and irritable. After those first 15 minutes, my body and mind settle into a rhythm and I am able to happily walk for hours without breaks. Walking at a constant speed and covering a lot of ground allows you to see a variety of animals. On Monday, we saw a group of squirrel monkeys, several groups of cappuchins (also monkeys), guans (large birds), and some tinamous (also birds). Additionally, we always see tapir and peccary tracks on the trails, and I hope to someday see the animals themselves. On Tuesday we went upriver to a different concession. Within the first 15 minutes of our walk, we saw a group of 10 spider monkeys, including a mother with a baby clinging to her back. They shook tree branches at us, and we watched them for several minutes. We continued on, and soon after saw another, larger group of 15 or so spider monkeys! There was also a pregnant female, which was very cool to see. Soon after, the guides pointed out to me some white cappuchin monkeys (usually we see the white-faced cappuchins). As we watched them, another monkey group appeared in a tree nearby, 5 or 6 of them fleeing our presence. These monkeys had long fluffy tails and walked more on top of the branches than the spiders and cappuchins, which usually grab the branches or swing from branch to branch. I wasn't sure whether this new animal was even a monkey, but the guides told me it was, and was called the "Huapo Negro". As soon as we got back to camp that day I looked it up in the mammal field guide. It turns out that what we had seen was the Monk Saki Monkey, which are quite rare to see! We have also seen night monkeys (the only nocturnal monkey) around camp and on Thursday's dusk walk. We also saw a kinkajou in the trees on that walk, which I was very excited about. I am getting very close to all the people here, and we have long, amazing conversations every day. As we talk about our families and experiences, it always becomes clear that I had a not-quite-typical childhood in a not-quite-typical family. Upon explaining that I went to a Waldorf school I was asked if I can dance my name -- the answer is yes. Stories about my parents are also quite popular, and I have been asked several times to "tell another crazy story about your parents". I never thought the things they did or we did were that weird, but evidently, the stories are quite unique. I have a lot of time here to think, and I think a lot about the future. I will be getting college acceptances or rejections soon, and in the next month and a half I will have to make a decision that will have an impact on the rest of my life. This waiting period now, just before that decision, is a bit nerve-racking. A big part of me just wants to have it over with. A smaller part of me is also really dreading it. When I fall into that thinking spiral, I always remind myself that I am here, right now, in the Amazon rainforest. I only get to live through this time once, so I should enjoy it. On the other hand, I only have to live through this time once, because minute by minute, day by day, time passes. One of these days, the waiting period will be over. But my time in the Amazon will be over too. The only thing to do is to live in the moment, because everything comes, and everything passes.