Itch, itch, itch; scratch, scratch, scratch. In an effort to stop scratching I'm blogging about scratching. Not the most effective way to forget about it but at least it's keeping my hands occupied. I'm so frigging itchy; I fall asleep at night shaking the bunk bed because I'm rubbing my feet together so hard, and I wake up in almost exactly the same motion, it's a good thing I have the bunk to myself. Brazil has the distinction of having an estimated 10-15 million insect species, according to the guide. Great. And it feels like they all want a piece of me. Borrachudos are a type of mosquito – I think they are the ones to blame for the bites with the blood spot – although they look more like a flying ant than a mosquito to my untrained eye.
It started in the rainforest on my hands - my right hand puffed right up one day because there were so many bites on it. All from teeny tiny little black mosquitoes that I never saw or felt on me but left me with swollen red knuckles that would become an itchy blister after a couple of hours. My insect repellent did not deter them. Then there were the ticks...but as I only had 2 of them I think the all over itching sensation was purely psychological – everyone was scratching with the thought of them.
I heaved a sigh of relief on leaving the rainforest – that was it! The end of the bugs! No, not to be...Boissucanga, a sleepy beachside town where I spent the last 4 days...I got annihilated; forthwith a catalogue of the bites on my legs...
Right leg: 2 on big toe (one with a blood spot in the center), one on middle toe with itchy blister, one on outside of foot near little toe, 5 of top of foot, one on instep, one on heel, 7 around ankle, 7 on shin, one on outside of calf, one on inside of calf, 2 on inside of knee, one on back of calf, one massive one at back of knee, one centre of knee with a blood spot.
Left leg: 2 on big toe (one with a blood spot in the center), one on little toe with blood spot, 3 on top of foot, one of arch of foot (with blood spot), one of sole of foot (with blood spot), 4 around ankle, 3 on shin, 5 around scar on outside of calf (v. discerning of them not to bite the scar I thought), 2 on back of calf, 2 on outside of knee, 2 above knee.
OK, itching has stopped – sort of – except for my right knee and my left shoulder, and, and, and....
I woke up freezing & very happy this morning – last day of trekking – yeay! Last day to put on smelly, dirty, damp clothes & socks and head into the jungle. Happily we had good weather this morning to bid our fond (or not-so-fond) farewells to the rainforest. And only a half day of trekking too. Again 2 groups, one to collect the camera trap on the Waterfall trail, and one to follow the Housekeepers trail. I returned to the scene of the first day's crime – the Housekeeper's trail.
We started from where we finished late on Tuesday night and continued into the forest. We found where we had lost the trail and where we found it again in the darkness. Some of the people whose first time it was on the trail acknowledged how difficult it was and that we had not exaggerated when getting back on Tuesday night. Anywho – we got back fine this time, no problems. Have just eaten lunch and having a meeting now to discuss packing up all the equipment & baggage in preparation for tomorrow's departure.
The other team who collected the camera from the Waterfall trail had some good news to share when they got back – there was a picture of an ocelot on the camera – which is great because it replaces the picture that was on the stolen camera.
I am so happy to be getting out of the forest J. And while I MAY consider another Biosphere Expedition at some point, because I do like the idea of helping with conservation, it will definitely not be in a rainforest next time! Update (May 24): It's now 3 days since I left the rainforest. I still have a divided opinion of the expedition. While weather & lack of animals are out of our expedition leaders' control – the "getting lost" incident and how it was handled afterwards really negatively impacted my experience. Maybe it was a bad choice on my part – I should have gone somewhere else other than a rainforest, given my abhorrence of all creepy crawlies. I think getting lost also (for sure) impacted our expedition leaders – we never split into smaller groups as was expected – I think they were more cautious after that night (which is to be expected). But as a result, we didn't cover as much ground as expected – and I didn't feel like I was making a contribution or that my presence on the trail actually mattered – it doesn't take 7 people to walk a muddy trail in the rainforest and record & photograph animal prints.
I debated this with Anne (one of the other volunteers) yesterday before she went back to Germany, and she made some interesting points. Our "work" in the rainforest does not just involve looking for the prints – by being there in large numbers, we draw attention to the project and local people become more aware of it and the issues of jaguar protection. We also create employment for locals (expedition cook, trail guides). Yeah...ok...maybe...I can sort of see that point...but I still feel that if I had just donated the cash & not been there in person the result would be exactly the same.
Day 9: This morning the clouds rolled back in & it spilled rain all day. One team went in the morning to meet another scientist who lives in this area of Brazil and has also studied big cats here. We went to Limeira trail to collect one of the cameras left out last week. It was a miserable walk in the rain. In the afternoon, the other team arrived back – due to the rain they were unable to make it to the planned sight, so the scientist Renata came back to our base camp with them to give us a lecture on her masters and the results she had found. Then Marcelo & I drove her back to Curitiba (well, Marcelo drove & I kept him company and watched out for places to buy chocolate). Renata kindly gave us tea & a tour of her beautiful home which is built in an area of replanted secondary forest on the outskirts of Curitiba. After which we headed back to basecamp, stopping off to replenish my junkfood stores J. Day 10: I've been lazy today – my foot was aching this morning so I didn't go out walking with the group. Instead I took down a couple of the tents in camp not being used – in preparation for packing up on Friday morning, transferred some pics to the BE computer to share with the rest of the group – and remained on laundry duty while the others were out collecting cameras from trails. It has been raining on and off today and the hut resembles the Magdalan laundries at the moment. The last 2 days were so wet, nobody's clothes have dried, and everyone got extra wet again yesterday – so Sylvia & I have been taking advantage of the short sunny intervals to dry clothes and transfer them inside when it starts to drizzle again.
One group has just arrived back from the Donkey Trail. Although they had nice weather on the trail, there was some bad news to report L: one of the project's digital camera boxes was stolen from where it was attached to a tree on the trail; worse news again is that it is the one that contains the good pics we checked earlier in the week – of the tapir, ocelot and armadillo. Very disappointing. There is some talk of a night walk tonight – not sure about that after my earlier experiences on night walks in the forest...but I am hearing this through my ipod earphones so maybe I'm hearing wrong...
We went today to Paranagua – the port town from where it's possible to take a boat to Isla do Mel. We arrived too late for the morning boat, so instead we wandered around the town, had lunch, sat by the riverside & generally chillaxed. There's not much to do in Paranagua on a Sunday – most shops & businesses are closed, and cafes close about 3 or 4pm. The old Jesuit college turned museum is a nice building, well renovated & quite modern in comparison with the town, but unfortunately it lacks exhibit explanations in any language other than Portuguese – so it held only a little of my attention.
Our expedition leaders did some shopping & then we rode back to camp. We were supposed to have a journalist join us yesterday for the remainder of the expedition but her flight was delayed or she missed her connection so she should arrive tomorrow. For the remainder of the week we will be re-hiking the trails already done to check the mud & camera traps and to collect the camera traps and take them back to base.
Today was a beautiful day – we split into 2 groups again and our group: Malike, me, Martina, Frank, Nancy & Felicity headed off up the Donkey Trail. The weather was sunny & warm. We had to ford a river thigh deep, for which I borrowed Gosia's sandals. The Donkey Trail had plenty of animal tracks; tapir, deer, armadillo and even ocelot! The ocelot had followed the trail for a good distance and was even caught on the camera trap – it was a highlight of the day. We continued on to the end of the trail and set another camera trap. Then back home to discuss our day off tomorrow.
Today was to be an easy day – we were to drive along the motorway to a bridge that had an underpass full of brush – it is assumed that this underpass allows animals to pass from the north side of the mountains to the south side – and we wanted to set a couple of camera traps there. But as expedition life has proven recently J things do not always go according to plan. We parked up on the motorway, crossed at some road works and went to make our way down underneath the bridge, but the sides of the underpass were too steep. So a trail had to be cut through the brush...Felicity, Michael & I opted to stay up on the road rather than run the risk of getting lost again. An hour later the rest of the team were back and we made our way back to the cars, picked up some shopping and headed home to find out what the rest of the team got up to.
So I went out on the Limeira trail today with the group. It was fine – wide, impossible to get lost. I again had to explain how I am not afraid of the forest but do not want to get lost again. I will be sticking to similar trails for the rest of my time here – no more exploring for me...
AM: Woke up with a bit of a hangover, and stayed in my tent until I heard the jeep pulling out as the majority of the group went out to walk the Celsos trail. The remaining 3 volunteers; Michael, Nancy & I – and our scientist Marcelo and Biosphere Expeditions' observer Malike remained at base camp and were to take a half days hike.
At lunchtime I informed them that I was not going hiking – I was too tired. Michael said the same and we watched a movie while the others went out to find another trail. After the movie, I fell asleep in the hammock until late afternoon when the others came back. I really didn't feel up to hiking in the forest. Everyone had said that I would feel differently in the morning and that things would look better – but the problem is not that I am scared of the forest – I knew & still know that we would get out – it never entered my mind that we would not make it back. I just don't want to put myself in that situation again EVER – I am on vacation – travelling – yes, to push my limits & boundaries – but I also know some of my limits and I have no valid reason for putting myself in danger again. And we were in danger – when I think of the ways we tried to make our way through the forest – it still upsets me & freaks me out. PM: After dinner tonight, I spoke to Ronald about how I felt. Basically I said I did not want to go back into the forest – full stop. He has tried to convince me that I can stick to well known trails and that I will not get lost again, but I am not convinced. He has spoken with Marcelo and tomorrow we will do an easy, wide trail that we cannot get lost on – no adventures – so that I can regain confidence and get back into the program.
This morning we split into 2 groups – one group to wade thigh-deep across a river & follow the Donkey Trail with Ronald, the expedition leader, another group (mine) to go with Marcelo, the expedition scientist, to explore a new trail.
We left at 8.30am & all started out pretty well. When we reached a river, it took us 3 or 4 attempts at crossing to pick up the trail again but we did & had a good lunch around 2pm. After that the trail turned unexpectedly north & nobody realised for a good half hour, at which point we were deep into the forest out of GPS satellite range (no signal) and totally lost.
For a couple of hours, we trudged around, trying to find another trail. Every now & then someone would pick up a weak GPS signal which would then indicate a trail – we knew that there were 2 trails in the vicinity – Housekeeper or Celsos - and we were making for whichever of those came closest. At 4.30 the panic began to set in...it would be dark in an hour & a half and even if we were on the right trail at that point, it would still take us at least 2 hours to get back to base camp.
We continued in this fashion for another 5 hours until we eventually hit the Housekeepers Trail. It was exhausting. We were climbing up small rivers & creeks over large rocks & fallen, rotting trees, only to slide down when we reached the top, clutching at tree roots & long vines. I was trying to remain upbeat & positive, and I was always convinced we would make it home (unlike some others in our group), but inside I was freaking out at how dangerous our path was. If we had seen it in daylight there was no way we would have climbed up those paths, it was crazy...but as we learned in our training the day before...extreme circumstances call for extreme measures.
We made it back to base camp at 10.20pm, exhausted & a bit hysterical. When we got back we learned that Ronald had gone out searching for us by himself – and we could do nothing but just sit & wait for him to come back. A couple of vodka shots helped to sort me out - we drank a litre of vodka between us – and I passed out that night vowing to myself that I would not step back into that rainforest again.
Monday May 10, 7am: Am already up & dressed! I slept surprisingly well last night, woke up at 6.15am and got up thinking I was well early – but the hammock was already taken this morning – damnit J.
Last night, after dinner, we discussed today's schedule – today is training day. We have to be ready (with lunch boxes prepared ourselves) at 8.30am. Everyone turned in pretty early last night – in part (in my opinion) due to tiredness, in part because there is nothing to do here once it gets dark J. And I mean nothing – ok, you can read some nature books on puma & jaguar. This is a real expedition – we had it pretty cushy on the Ushuaia. I was one of the last to turn in at 9pm, and I really wondered how I was going to get to sleep because I didn't feel at all tired. But it was really (and shockingly) cold last night (9C), and once in my toasty warm sleeping bag, my eyelids got heavy quite fast. I woke up with a start around 1am, grumbled to myself about how I was going to get back to sleep after a good 4 hours and then went out like a light again until near to 6 this morning. Am hungry now...waiting for breakfast to be ready so I can eat & make my lunch. PM: Spent the rest of today going over safety procedures, how to use GPS and compass and what to do in case of emergencies. Exhausted from the amount of information to take in. In the late afternoon we took a short walk into the forest to practice making mud track traps & how to set camera traps. Early night tonight, tomorrow will be our first proper trek.
Getting to the Tulip Inn near Curitiba airport from Curitiba city centre was a bit of an expedition in itself – my taxi driver didn't have a clue where we were going. After radioing base & calling his mate on his cell phone for directions, and after I told him I wasn't paying any more than R$50 seeing as he didn't know where we were going – we eventually got there. Tired & hungry, I just wanted to chill out but in the hotel lobby I met one of my fellow expeditioners, and we went for dinner in the deserted restaurant – my filet mignon was ok, but not a filet mignon by irish standards J, while Michael's chateaubriand looked excellent – I'm gonna have that when we get back.
We are quite the international bunch – 1 Australian, and another to arrive next week, 2 Germans, 1 Irish, 1 Norwegian, 4 British and 1 American – and that's just the volunteers. Our expedition leaders are German and our scientist is Brazilian. Sunday May 9: We met this morning in the hotel lobby, had a brief introductory meeting where we introduced ourselves, handed over our paperwork and then loaded up in the jeeps to head to base camp about 2 hours away. Land Rover sponsor the expedition so I was riding in the back (cos I have the shortest legs) of a lovely new Discovery – very comfortable, even for the back seat J. We drove along the motorway for 45 mins – stopped off at a petrol station for some sundry supplies (read alcohol) and then started off down a dirt road, which got rougher & rougher & rougher as we went along (see video below). We drove over tiny wooden bridges that you would not believe would support the weight of our jeep with us & our entire luggage on it.
So far today, we have just spent getting to know each other, having safety talks and an introductory lecture on the science behind what we are trying to do and the difficulties facing conservation in Brazil. Arriving at base camp I am pleasantly surprised. Our briefing documents warned us that conditions here would be basic, but there is electricity, flushing toilets and even an electric shower! Maybe I've just been hardened by all the horse riding – but this is not what I would call basic – and I am thrilled about that J. Although I still do have to sleep in a tent...hmmm.
The title of this post should really be Oh...Vila Madalena! I absolutely fell in love with VM...I had been very nervous about going to Sao Paulo and had not received much encouragement from others to go there. But thanks to Auveen's suggestion that I stay in the Vila Madalena neighbourhood, I was in a lovely area of the city that was safe, fun, plenty going on, I met lots of interesting people, caught up with Grant & generally had a blast for a week. In fact I was having such a good time there that I ended up staying longer than originally anticipated and I intend to go back by the end of the month.
My first day in Sao Paulo (a Friday) I arrived exhausted after my early morning (read late night) flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, at my hostel The Vila Madalena Hostel with the wonderful Tulio as host. Despite not having a reservation I got a room in a 4 bed dorm and crashed out straight away. I woke up about 5pm absolutely starving and craving sushi. After enquiring at reception, I was directed to a sushi restaurant a couple of blocks away. I got there to early, an hour before opening, so I wandered around the block for a coffee. Found a cafe, and sat myself down to people & traffic watch. I immediately liked Vila Madalena – it's a real artsy neighbourhood, with lots of little boutiques on each street, people wandering around and sitting on the pavement outside cafes smoking & chatting. My sushi restaurant eventually let me in, and even though not being a budget place to eat, the food was amazing and worth the expense (still cheaper than Dublin too). I headed home satisfied and crashed out early again.
On Saturday I got up, full of enthusiasm for...shopping! It felt like an eternity since I had been in a proper shopping centre after Chile & Bolivia. Thinking back the last time I was in a shopping mall was when I was studying Spanish in Cordoba. Not that this is a bad thing...given my tendency to overspend. I got directed to a nearby shopping mall where I indulged in a day of pure unadulterated window shopping J. I drooled over clothes in several fancy shops and eventually settled on a purple halter neck – type dress and a pair of black havaianas. Sufficiently guilty for spending money on fashion, I headed out that night to a BBQ with Grant & his friends wearing my new purchases – I was completely overdressed of course J but I didn't care, it was so nice to semi-dress up for a change.
Sunday afternoon I went to Liberdade, the Asian area of Sao Paulo to the market there, bought cheapy earrings at one of the stalls, visited the Japanese Immigration museum where I didn't actually find the Immigration exhibits but instead a Japanese singing competition in aid of Womens' Liberation or something of the kind (see video) – it was strange & entertaining.
I also filled my belly at one of the many eat-by-the-kilo Chinese/Japanese buffet restaurants in the area – and had a great jelly & cream desert that reminded me of my grandmothers' trifles J.
After eating, I took off to MASP – Musee Arte de Sao Paulo, saw the Max Ernst exhibition which I was really impressed by and a whole heap of European art. Sunday night, I went to Bar Filial in VM with a friendly Brazilian girl from my hostel, Isabelle. Isabelle used to live in Sao Paulo and was the perfect hostess, telling us about the area, Sao Paulo in general, Brazilian food & drink. I am addicted to Bar Filial's Caipi-vodka con Frutas Vermelhas – absolutely delicious (& potent)!
Monday Isabelle invited me to join her at a free concert by a famous Brazilian musician who plays 7 string guitars. I invited Grant along as well. Unfortunately we underestimated the popularity of this guy and the demand for tickets so we couldn't get into the live venue but the promoters set up a big screen upstairs with chairs so the unlucky did not have to miss out completely. Yummy pizza for dinner afterwards. Then back to Vila Madalena to watch circus practice (very cool!) in the local school playground (see video)...and then Bar Filial for another session of Caipi-vodkas J.
I was supposed to have left Sao Paulo at this stage for Curitiba/Paranagua/Ihla do Mel to get some sunshine before heading off on expedition, but I was having fun and the weather reports did not sound great from further south so I decided to stay where I was. But in an effort to at least prepare for Biosphere, I tried (again) to get some camping/trekking supplies – I had previously tried in the shopping centre but the sports shops were strictly limited without fail to gear for football, fitness and tennis. The ever helpful Tulio gave me directions to a downtown street that had lots of fishing/camping shops there. After getting there, I understood people's reservations about Sao Paulo – the area was seeeeedy! I went into the first fishing shop I came across, quickly bought a sleeping mat and got back on the metro ASAP. Tuesday night went to a bar recommended by the hostel for live music & dancing.
Wednesday, my last day in Curitiba, I went on a walking tour with Dave, an English guy I met in my dorm. He wanted havaianas & I wanted a long sleeve shirt to protect me from mosquitoes in the rainforest. We missed our turn several times but eventually found a shopping street where he got his havaianas & I got my shirt – in a men's shop on the bargain rail. While rifling through the rack I found a t-shirt with a print for Roundwood Army Nature Camp in Wicklow from 1988! Bizarre!
Wednesday night went to a jazz bar recommended by the hostel again – very good even if jazz is not really my kinda music.
Thursday got up, packed, checked out and finally made my way to the bus station to go to Curitiba – I can't wait to come back to Sao Paulo!
OK, I 've been too lazy/busy partying the last while to blog - but in the meantime I am going to the Atlantic rainforest (NOT the Amazon - yet!) for 12 days on a conservation project with Biosphere Expeditions.
Updates will be posted here via a satellite link: http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/diaries
And I will (eventually) blog about it after...Ciao for now! C xxx
(See previous post 'Decisions, decisions in Bolivia') So none of my previous plans happened J. The glory of travel & another lesson in why I shouldn't try to force things too much – just go with the flow, relax, and good things will happen.
After a week in Sucre, I was starting to get a bit stir crazy, and as the volcano ash in Europe was playing havoc with my parcel delivery – I decided to give it up for good, take the bus to Santa Cruz and then travel to the Brazilian border. The bus to Santa Cruz was another trial. We literally ran out of road 2 hours into a 12 hour journey, and after that we were driving on what felt like a dry river bed (see video).
On arriving in Santa Cruz, it started raining – I immediately thought of the state the roads would be in and wanted to take a flight to Brazil. Then I thought about how I should suck it up and take the bus/train. I tried unsuccessfully to get a train ticket – the train was cancelled in the end – I never found out why. I booked a bus ticket but the morning of the journey I got the hostel to check the status and it turned out some of the road was blockaded...back to plan #1 and the plane...
By this time I had met some Irish girls and we had decided to go to Samaipata – a village in the forested mountainous valley about 3 hours from Santa Cruz, near to the village where Che Guevara met his end. Samaipata is the starting point for going on a 'Che' tour for those inclined (not me). There is also a prehispanic/Incan fort called 'El Fuerte' nearby. Its a sleepy little town with a surprising amount of expats running tourism based businesses there, but it makes for a friendly, relaxed & easy place to while away a week, good or bad weather (and we had both).
While the 2 other girls headed off on their 'Che' tour, I tried to organise my flight to Brazil with the local tour agencies. I was assured one agency could manage it for me but would charge a commission. I wanted the flight booked, so I didn't mind paying the hefty fee of 100 bolivianos. I was given a reference number, told to turn up at the airport 2 hours before the flight & I could pay then.
Off I went to the airport, sat up all night & to cut a long story short – my booking had expired 24 hours prior to the flight (despite the fact that the booking had been made 36 hours before the flight – sigh). The price of the flight had gone up from what I was previously quoted, and I had to pay an extra US $100 to get on the flight. I was really annoyed at having to pay the extra – but I did it anyway just to get out of the country – I was never so glad to leave.
Looking back at the past month, I realise I have been blogging more about a country I haven't particularly enjoyed more than any of the others (counting number of posts). I need to stop complaining & start concentrating on the more positive aspects of my trip!
I've given up my comfortable life in Switzerland to do what I've always wanted: travel the world. Basic itinerary as follows: Latin America 6-8 months, (recently amended) Route 66 in North America, Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand (working holiday visa), Australia (working holiday visa), Asia, Africa, back to Europe (at some point in the distant future)...
