From the Field

15 Dec 2001

Time to head back home to Puerto Maldonado. Sunny day. Lance has a nice collection of tropical fish. We had piranha for breakfast. The river is even lower today then yesterday but we have the best crew in the Madre de Dios and we had no trouble getting out to the main river Tambopata.


Hey Roque, what’s the big smile about?

Geezz Belinda, get back in the boat.
Why do you have to take a bath now?....Crazy woman !!!!

14 Dec 2001

Sometimes “piranha” means it’s necessary to return to the canoe for more hooks and steel leader. Roberto tries out Lances fish net, for the first time! We are not sure if Roberto was impressed. But Lance was sure impressed with his net.

The small tropical fish we net today will go back with us to Puerto Maldonado and into our fish tank where they will be on display. Later in “From the Field” we will show how well they survived the trip. ??

Roberto gave us a history lesson this day. Here are rubber trees showing evidence of the rubber boom that found this area during 1960s. The hunt for wild rubber was accelerated with the outbreak of World War II.

We see raw rubber dripping across old slash marks left years ago. The rubber hunters would cut the horizontal slashes then leave and come back every week to collect the rubber that dripped into buckets placed at the bottom of the slash mark. Week after week rubber was collected then exported to countries who demanded it.

Giant spider webs.

Giant people.

Giant trees.

GIANT COCKROACHES !!!!

Belinda is rather fond of cockroaches and she has no problem admitting it either. This one would make a splendid broach, wouldn’t you think?

Shown here actual size……. GEORGEOUS

Roberto is not laughing at Belinda.
He is getting a refreshing drink of water from paca bamboo. It pays to pay attention to a native.

“Aquajal” a seasonally flooded swamp forest with its characteristic tall aguaje palms. This palm is one of the main food suppliments of the native people who eat the fruit of the palm. Scientific name Mauritia flexuosa

A very interesting fungi called “dead mans fingers” by the locals is usually found growing from fell trees that have begun to decay.

After our long but successful day, we returned to our boat for food and some time to relax. We spend the night on the playa and enjoy the beautiful sunset.

13 Dec 2001

Happy Birthday Lance!!! We celebrated this special day with a river trip to one of many small tributaries in the Madre de Dios. Lance wanted to go tropical fish hunting and Roberto knew of a shallow quabrada near one of his favorite hunting spots that had lots of little sardinas.

The river, for mid Dec., was very low. The rainy season is just beginning. Although the river was "dry", so to speak, we knew from experience that rivers such as these can change dramatically and without notice. We planned to be on the river for at least two nights and we went prepared.

Time to cook dinner. We located our camp beach just in time before night fall. Fixing food in the canoe is always a challenge, especially in the dark. Sleeping inside the canoe affords some sense of security in the event the river raises during the night. We want to get an early start in the morning.

Up early and on the trail…..what trail? Did someone see a trail? Here are some reasons why we love the jungle. So many things to do, so many things to see, so few trails!

Insect swarms! What fun this is.

Medicinal plants (plant on right is a cure for snake bites)

Flowers and sloths.

Did we say sloth? (left) If you look very close you will see a three toed sloth. Natives say that young men should not look at a sloth if they have a girlfriend or wife. If the young man finds a sloth he should go away from it and not look. To see a sloth means a “new woman” will come into his life. Good or Bad?

Finding a hidden lake is thrilling and usually gives us something special to film. We must have been good because this lake gave us giant river otters. Four of them. If that wasn’t just good enough, Roberto gave us more when he called the otters in close using his own vocalization of giant otter language. Roberto sits calling the giant otters who come from across the large lake. Belinda tries to film the otters and Roberto while he’s calling them in.
What a choice to make!

Belinda watches as the otters return across the lake. Lance was busy trying to catch tropical fish when the otters came up and surprised Lance with his hands full of fishnet…….empty! Must be all those piranha in the lake.

Fish Masters Lance catching tetras ............. Notice blood on hand? That is not fish blood!
No. 1 Piranha fishing rule: Keep your fingers out of mouth ... the piranhas mouth! Roberto and son, Roque caught a mess.



Giant otter den. We found the den when we noticed the smooth area or “mud slide” on the shore of the lake. Upon closer look we found bits of fish bone, evidence the otter haul fish out here to eat.

Those otters sure were right. Look at the fish we hauled out to eat! Dinner won’t be spaghetti tonight.