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This is part two of my diary from the Bear Project. It all starts in Part 1.
28.
We walk for an hour up a narrow gravel road
in an area of farmed fields and wild nature, all on rather steep
hills. Apparently, the local guide has turned us down - seen
in the rear view mirror, I don't blame him.
At 3000 metres height, we reach a hilly
highland with green grass where there used to be forest. We get some
lunch while we grasp our breath.
Unfortunately, the terrain is too rough
for them, and we start to walk with all our gear on our backs. In
addition to my own gear, I get a six person tent and 13 kilos of
food, which I find a lot! At home, I eat half a kilo low-calorie
food a day, and I would have supposed this expedition food would be
packed with sugar and fat for calories.
It
turns out I am caring two kilos of sugar, one kilo
of salt, four kilos of pasta, one kilo of flour, one kilo of milk powder, one
kilo of something-powder, two kilos of rice and one kilo of beans. Sarah and
Samuel have cooking gear, tomatoes, potatoes, spices, ketchup,
biscuits, coffee, plates, cups and other stuff. We are fit for
a month! With half my body-weight on my back, I struggle to keep up with Samuel, up the ever steeper and steeper slopes. It is "full throttle" - my mouth is wide open to grasp enough of the very thin air. Can't figure where Sarah finds the energy, but I guess she is running on stubbornness like me. Samuel is not familiar with the route to the river and since we left the horses, we have been navigating by compass. First, we more crawl than walk through some dry bamboo forest. Samuel starts to use the machete, and chops a hole in the vegetation, half a meter wide, starting a half meter up, and only a meter high. That means that the real huge mountain back-pack I have borrowed at the bear house is a real pain in the back! The aluminium frame is almost double my width and extends over my head. It feels like I am dragging an anchor, and a heavy one that is!. Many times, I have to push it through the holes, yanking and wrangling it through.
Most of the time, we are actually walking
half a meter or more over the slimy clay. Time and time again, we
crashes through, and get entangled in the rotting debris. Lianas and
sticks catch our feet and backpacks, while we crawl through the
thick branches of fallen trees, leaving us less than half a meter to
manoeuvre ourselves and the backpacks through. We walk up and down ravines, many times with 90 degree ascent or descent. Here the slimy clay gives little support, and to make things worse, the "branches" which promise support are covered in wet mosses, and are either completely rotten or very spiny underneath.
It is a personal success to be able to walk 50
metres without "doing the tortoise", falling on our faces
in the rotten debris or clay, or sinking to our waist. By pure luck,
we avoid the spear-like stubs of the chopped vegetation. After an
hour, I have no energy to
I have no idea of how I'm supposed to make photos under these conditions. I am on all fours for 20 percent of the time, soiled in humus and clay, the rain pours down, and I'm way too tired to even swear. We run out of water rather fast, and as an insult from the rainforest, there are no streams at all! Thirsty, in the middle of a rainy rainforest, and the only water I have is the litre in my boots.
This is, without any doubt: Pristine
forest. Unfortunately, that means we get lost numerous times, and
must head back for some time, to be able to contour a ravine. At half
past five, just before dark, we give in, and set up a camp, although
we have not been able to find any water.
I pass out on some semi-rotten branches and palm leaves under my sleeping bag at seven. I have a deep desire to call a helicopter to bring me out alive in the morning! Sarah is tired and out like me, but she likes to go on. Samuel was born to these conditions, and he just thinks it is a walk in the park!
29. The night has been cold and I don't
really feel like pulling my soaked and completely mud filled
trousers on, but we have to find water. I remove the aluminium
frame form the backpack, which helps a lot when dragging it
I have no idea what we walk through, I am just concerned where I put my feet and hands. For many stretches, crawling on all four seems to be the only possible way to get through the tunnel we squeeze through. Multiple wounds on hands and arms. I have a thorn of part of a nail and been bitten by a spider, which luckily only hurt. I have no idea about the rest of my body.
At three, we make a three biscuits break,
not long enough to empty the boots from water and - jungle
things. We should apparently have reached a river long time ago, but
we have not seen even a tiny creek. Finally, we reaches
a river
(Rio Cristo?),
and after 20 minutes, we can have some Iodine treated water to
drink. We are at 17N0762772/UHT0060050 in 1163 metres height. -
where ever that must be?
I had naively hoped for a larger river with
a steam boat to bring me out of here, but even a enthusiastic canoe
venture wouldn't have stand a chance.
To my big horror, I discover I have lost the large and heavy tent. I did check it often in the beginning of the day, but got way too worn down to think of anything later. My brain can't come with any solutions at all! Then, out of the forest, five soldiers emerges. They have been flowering our trail, and have found - and brought - the tent. I help put up the tent, and go straight to bed. I have not energy enough to eat dinner. My head hurts due to lack of water, my hand due to some sort of sting I can't recall I got. I do recall something about a small bird-spider crawling around in the camp, but had no energy to photo it. I also have a wake memory about a 25 centimetre walking-stick, 25 different orchids or more, some bear scratched stems, monkey chewed fruits, hummingbirds and other wonders of the nature, but not any clearer.
30.
Everything I have brought is soaked. My
clothes are divided in three categories namely soaked, wet or damp. Our tent is
underneath a huge tree in a small clearing. The canopy and the
Philodendron that covers the thick stem gives us some
protection from the never stopping rain, but Samuel has a hard time getting a
fire going. The rain finally stops at eleven - for half an hour. Samuel have gone with the soldiers, and Sarah has been told to do some cooking. He wanted me to do some firewood cutting, but I recalled something about I actually was here for a completely other reason.
The nature is awesome. I shot 700 photos.
Mainly different plants for documentation of the habitat, insects and
a single snake skin, which - given the 20 degree day temperature and total
lack of sun light - surprises me. A few frogs seems more likely.
After four hours and two loops in the forest, I am back in the camp to wait for Samuel to guide us out to find tapir tracks. When he finally returns at three, it is almost dark due to rain clouds, and too late to start an expedition. We stay in the camp, drying firewood by the fire and keep cooking dinner. The camp is teaming with life: We live on a nest of large red ants, and food and sweat soaked clothes attracts hundreds of small bees. Fortunately, both ants and bees are surprisingly harmless, and only the horse flies causes some irritation, although they are far from as painful as the Danish. And here are no mosquitoes or leaches!!! In the evening, a few fireflies turn up. It is actually beetles, but they make a fine ballet in the clearing. Sarah wants to stay one more day, hoping to having some "jungle experience" while we are here. I would rather get it over with the march/crawl/struggle home, but I'm overruled again.
1/10. Now, I sort my clothes according
to smell. Nothing has dried at all, and they have started to develop
some nasty personality. It feels wrong to draw muddy, wet and
slightly slimy clothes on, but after an intense hike, it is kind of
warmed up.
Samuel leads us over the river, and up a
steep hill. I only see a few new plants, but the nature is awesome.
Everything is covered in a five centimetre thick layer of mosses,
but here are not many flowers or insects. The sun touches the
canopy, but it rarely reaches the lower parts of the forest. The
temperature reaches 25 degree for a short period, but when we get
back to base-camp after three and a half hour, the rain starts
again.
I have taken 400 photos, but there have been depressingly few new species to add to yesterday's list. And no sign of tapirs at all! Closest was a few deer prints. We spend the rest of the afternoon cooking, and apparently planning going all the way back to the horses in eleven hours tomorrow. Early to bed, nothing else to do here, after a short tour in the near surroundings with my camera and strong diving lamp. 2. The camp is broken down at seven, and we head back. The tour back should be easier now, as there is a (kind of) path, and we should avoid getting lost time and again. I have optimistically kept my camera at hand, and after have got rid of the 13 kilos of food, I actually manage to shoot 200 photos on the way.
At one point, near the top, we walk
underneath a group of monkeys. They run up to the top of the trees,
screaming and throwing leaves and branches at us. I have reached the point where I really can't be bothered; I
just want to get back to the bear hut and have a warm shower.
I fell off the track, and tumbled down the
80 degree hillside once. When I get back, up to the track, first
with the backpack, then the "anchor", I have lost orientation, and
started walking the wrong way. Taking me some time to realise, and
significantly more time to catch-up with the other two. Kind of
demoralising to be by your own here for more than an hour, not being
sure if you are heading the right way. On numerous occasions, Sarah
had to call for Samuel if he got too far ahead. The newly cut
trail is hard to spot! Even though we keep a deathly pace, the total of 2200 metres assent, the still obstacle filled path, the last days rain, a few detours, fog on the upper parts and general breakdown of bodies means we only reach the horses at five. When we pass the top, the environment changes completely. It has not rained for a long time east of the ridge, but the fog is a heavy.
That causes some difficulties, rounding up the
horses in the hilly and large enclosure they have been in. They
escape a few times, but finally Samuel gets one of them caught, and
the other follows. The little hut where we left the saddles in is now
occupied by four farmers, who offers a very welcome cup of hot and
sweet tea and a place near the fire. My trousers are steaming, and I
get the feeling back in my fingers. One horse is fitted with just a saddle, the other - more frisky one - with our remaining gear. It gets away, and we can hear the rattle of the cooking gear all around the enclosure in the darkness and fog. At six, we finally leave, but manage to get lost several times in the fields on our way out and down by the stream.
It is a four hour walk back to Samuel's fathers
farm, and I get to ride the horse for half an hour. Strangely
enough, We end up at a very rustic farmhouse at ten, too late to be able to find any transport further on. Samuel's family are here, and his wife prepares a meal for us in the kitchen. The floor is bare soil, the walls rough planks of hard-wood with finger wide cracks in. We get the child room, and Sarah volunteers for the real short bed. At eleven, after sixteen hours of enormous effort, we collapses.
3. There are two ways out of here.
The 5;15 bus or the milk truck around ten. We choose the milk
truck, but unfortunately, the hens, rooster, pigs, horses and family
start their day before six. We keep in bed until eight, resting our
tormented bodies.
Quite fast, we get a ride to Apuela, but
here we run out of luck. It is Saturday, and apparently, all the
traffic heads the wrong way. We have to wait two hours, sitting in
the shadow of a house on the outer edge of town. We spend the time
pulling parts of the jungle out of our numerous leaking wounds. A
local woman brings us a bunch of really tasteful bananas. Once
again, I get confirmed: The less people have, the more generous they
are! Home Again. The rest of the bear hut population turns up from Apuela, and a truck pick us up. We land at out home at three, and I start washing my stinking and slimy clothes. After three hours, I have some partly clean, others still stinking, but my back can't cope with the real low washing-thing any more. After a fast but very tasteful homemade pizza dinner, I do the dishwashing, and start to transfer my photos to the computer. It turns out I have taken nearly 1500 photos [EC2 1029 - EC2 2481]. After the first, rough look through, there are 1000 left for proceeding. The power fails, then the water. I work to eleven, and then I'm out of battery. 4/10. I get up at seven, while the rest of the house still sleeps. It turns out we still are out of power and water, and there are not much to do, but sit and wait. I check the clothes I washed yesterday: They are still as wet as I left them, but the smell has returned.
The power returns at half past ten, and I
start working. 200 photos are re-framing by hand,
I keep working on the photos, kindly interrupted by a nice dinner. While the machine works at the resizing, I start writing my diary after the muddy, half disintegrated notes. Kind of finish at eight, now I just have to sort the 1000 photos. They can be found under the Toisán Tours: Highlights, Plants, Animals, Nature, The Expedition and Orchids . That takes until eleven, and I am the last to go to sleep. Now I just have to write the tags - at least for the highlights. And find photos for the diary and resize then and write comments while I add them to the diary... I feel more sour in my body this evening than after fifteen hours walking/crawling!
The nine'ish bus comes at 10;30, and I'm joined by the guide Alfredo. We drive uphill for an hour, and jumps of at the Vuetta del Oso trail, which actually is the main road home again. We find Frida, a female bear which usually are found around here. At two, we have passed the last station, and after some walking, the bus picks me up. I have found several new plants and insects on the way, and got confirmed I still can walk on my legs alone (not using my hands). Back at the bear hut little before three, but the bath I was looking forward to most wait: There are still no water. At around five, four new volunteers arrivals from Quito along with Armando. A Canadian couple; Jenn and Darsey, a Norwegian girl; Henriette and a British woman; Julie. It have started to rain a bit, there is no water, the living dogs have started digging up the remains of the dead, and Sara and I tell a bit from our jungle experiences. Apparently, they seems to be a bit scared.... After a cosy meal and a project introduction by Anna, we see a BBC film featuring Armando and some Andean Bears, and people are ready to hit the beds. We try to get the new crew settled in; showing the "toilet-bushes" behind the hut and stuff like that.
6. I'm up early, and starts helping
Armando getting our own well going. It is near ten meters deep, and
the water is fare from clean. At least, it can be used for the
toilet. The tap water returns, and the line for the showers forms
fast. After breakfast, Anna continues the introduction, and then the
others head out for some tracking.
Armando and Samuel are working on the trail we have opened into the national park, where he plan to send further expeditions to search for tapirs. I'm not going to volunteer, although it will be significantly easier next time, now the trail are known and opened. I give him my input on what to bring and what to expect. Additional, he get the selected and sorted 1000 photos I made on the tour to hell and back again. After that, I spend some time cleaning up the area, from the kitchen to the backyard. "Nanny" seems to have left early and in a hurry, and learnt by experience, I do the dishes while there still are water in the tap. My newly washed cloth are finally dry, but it still smells like a long forgotten gym-bag. Guess I have to boil it to get rite of the fungus.
The others get back from their radio
expeditions, and the bear hut start teaming with life. I work on my
Conservation-Page, and then joins the others for dinner. At seven,
some of the new volunteers go to bed while the rest of us play
Shit-head in the kitchen until late: Ten!
7.
We are doing the Sempre Verde Tour. Half an hour bus, then up a rather steep road into the forest. After a
couple of hours walking, we have only achieved a single signal from Get some awesome photos of dragonflies, butterflies, huge beetles and other creep along with some plants. I reaches the main road at little to one, and have to walk for an little hour before I get a lift. No one at home, so I start proceeding the well over 200 photos. All the others turns up with the same three-bus, and they look like they have had a hard day!
After dinner, some of us watch "Babel" with Brad Pitt. God, that is slow and depressing! At half past nine, the camp quiets down, except from a light rain on the visible roof.
8.
Sara, Richard and I do the Cazarpamba walk. It is a short bus drive, and the nine bus passes at 8.38. Alberto meets us on the track, and we head upwards for two hours to the settlement Cazarpamba. There are no bears in our area, but it is a beautiful walk with five different orchids, three in flower.
We get a lift back to the main road, and
make a few scannings on the way home. The Apuela bus passes, and I
jump on. I'm counting on getting down to Apuela to check mails and
upload afterwards, but it depending on the
There is open! I get the upload done, and
written a few mails. On my way back, I buy a bottle of rum for five
dollars and some candy. The rest of "the old crew" and I have the
weekend off. They are going to Otavalo to dance with "the caveman",
and I plant to have it cosy during the days in the bear hut.
The water has not returned, and I crashes
in a hammock on the porch. The others returns, and we are all forced
to listen to Nanny's radio. It is cloudy and rather cold. Strangely
enough, the rain we had during the night can't be seen. If that is
the rainy season, I'm not worried!
A game of Shit-head in the evening accompanied by some quite smooth rum while the others have beers. The light have been on on the porches all evening, and I get a lot of moth photos on my way to bed. 9. I stay in bed until Sara and Richard have left for Otavalo, and the others have gone up. It is my day off, and I have no real plans. After breakfast, I empty the well for water - which was depressingly easy. It sticks, but at least it can be use in the toilet. I have, some hove, been
This is a nice shortcut to get an idea of, how many bears there are in the area - at least if you are NOT the one collecting them. Toisán is a waste area, and we are only going to search a smaller part on daily tours from a base camp. With a bit of luck, we have horses for the whole tour to base camp! I start charging batteries and do some
planning, which hopefully should be better
I work my way through the left-behind Ecuador guidebooks, but none mention Toisán, and the maps are real rough for this remote and little explored area. An intensely work on my own maps gives me some idea, but I just don't seem to be able to place Toisán precisely. Spend some time weeding out some of the saved
photos. I have passed 2900 taken photos, and of cause some of the
first have been "upgraded". A short walk in the area, picking
up trash, leftovers from the dogs raids to our trashcan. The bear hut is
surrounded by avocado trees, on which there are few fruits and new
flowers. It seems to be natural around here, to have both almost
ripen fruits and flowers.
Not really much for me to do, and I get restless. Have to control my selves, not to start fixing the hut, which in that degree need some careful mending. The gutters have fallen of - like so many other things. The lack of tools helps me not doing anything drastic... My old leather belt, which suffered severely from the jungle tour have gotten shoeshine, olive oil and now some grease. I have had it for 30 years, and I'm not giving up that easy; there should be many more years in it! Late afternoon, the water returns, but just for an hour. I fill the buckets, get a shower, wash my cloth and do the dishes. Amassing how little it takes to make ones world work. And on top of that, a dash of sunshine. Now I just have to figure how to dissolve the milk powder in my coffee! Real cosy evening in the kitchen with cart games, peach wine, rum and beers. Strangely enough, I don't sleep well after that. My two blankets are somehow twisted, the sheets rolled up as a thick rope and the sleeping bag gone on its own. 10. Late start on the day, but what a
beautiful morning: Fresh baked bread, sun and water! What more can
an volunteer ask for? We have all the day off, except Anna, who had
to go to Quito to pick-up the faeces- and hair The rest of us make a tour for Apuela to use the internet, do some shopping and have a look around. I would like to find a raincoat and even trousers. And somehow, I am missing five T-shirts, and learnt by experience, new, fresh and especially dry cloth are favourable in the rain forest - where I guess we are going next week. I do the rest of the packing, this time in
considerable stronger plastic bags, and plenty of them! I'm not sure
how long we are supposed to be away, but I'm counting on five or six
days.
We all walk down to Apuela, and the tour seems real short this time. We get a ride along with a small calf the last little bit. The internet shop have closed, and we head for the central square. I find some four dollar T-shirts, but no raincoat. A short stop at a sidewalk to consume the brought lunches, and then some more shopping. A rather nice restaurant lures us in. A glass
of freshly made and really thick red juice, a chicken soup and a
piece of chicken with beans and rice cost $1,75, and it taste I prepare an nice bonfire in the backyard of the
debris lying there. Have an sneaky idea about coal grilled
bananas with 100% chocolate, vanilla and rum. Unfortunately, the low
clouds kind of spoils it, and I
Sara returns from Otavalo, but Richard had to stay due to a bad stomach. Sara had it too, but got over it. Anyway, she will have to do the bear search alone tomorrow. I prioritizes the meeting with Samuel, trying to get a better information and planning on this tour: Less food on my back, more horse! Due to the size of the pages caused by the pictures, it continues in Part 3. |
After a cold night, sleeping on
something that felt like a ladder with a sheet over, we start the day at six. Fast
breakfast, and we catch a ride with the milk truck, which apparently
doubles as a bus in these regions. Samuel sends us ahead while he
arranges the horses.
Samuel and two horses
finally turns up, and we head up a 30 degree narrow path for
two hours. It follows ravines and high ridges, and the farmed fields
disappear.
The backpacks and other gear are
unloaded, and the horses set free. For sure I expected to have
the helpful company by the horses for way more time!
We passes the high saddle
at about 3300
metres height. The climate changes drastically from the warm and sunny
aspect on the walk up, to being very wet and muddy in low swirling
cloud. It is rain/cloud forest, and the canopy is surprisingly open.
This means the lower vegetation is dense. There is forest
debris half a
meter deep and very slippery which along with the spear shaped machete cut
bamboo stems makes it a real challenge.
turn my head to look at a hummingbird
or
frogs I hear a few metres away, and I only note flowers and animals
which are in the narrow path I put my hands and feet.
We
have been walking for ten hours, only with less than 45 minutes rest
in total. A fire could have been nice; the temperature has gone from 20 to 15 Celsius, and all our
clothes are soaked! The same with the firewood unfortunately, and
dinner comprises a few tomatoes and some biscuits. We are at 2972
metres height, at 17N0768800/UHT0051285 - in the middle of
absolutely nowhere!
through the
dense vegetation. Unfortunately, we have not eaten any of the food I
carry, and the now soaked tent and "dry" clothes now means; I have to
carry even more weight on my shoulders, and not the belt. They don't
approve...
We struggle on through an environment that
resembles an overgrown, muddy, rainy and obstruction filled version
of hell until 12.30, where we stop for a seven biscuits and emptying
the boots break. Not long enough to remove the backpack, nor to the get
the breath back. 
The soldiers have set up camp
near the river. I can't figure if they are here to watch out for -
or after us, or it is because they think it would be a great
challenge to go here and do some fishing. Anyway, they remain while
we stay here.
I
grab my camera, spare batteries and memory chips and start taking
photos in the clearing, the in the forest along the river. It is a
dense and very biodiversity rich forest, and I have to be careful
not to get myself lost. Here, there is
no other guidance than the river. Not even animal tracks, which I
normally find easily. 
We only make a few, four biscuits breaks,
not long enough to take off the backpack or empty the boots. At the
place of our first camp, I get bothered with the aluminium frame
from the backpack again. It is not a object that makes life easier in
these entangling surroundings, but it is, after all, easier to have
in ones hand, than to have it attached to the backpack.
walking by a simple, narrow gravel path after having walked
for fifteen hours feels quite easy, after I got rid
of the backpack. I am just a walking machine without a brain.
Breakfast, and we walk up to the road and
wait for an hour. The milk truck brings us into Cuellaje, where we
wait in front of Samuel's house for an hour and a half, while it does
a tour in the surrounding farm land. It is back at twelve, and we
get a lift to a bridge some way out of Apuela. 
then
the rest by computer. Andrew and Jamie are going home, Angela is
in some village, teaching, and we are
only four left at the hut. Richard is not feeling well, Sara are
still recovering from the jungle, and it is
quiet. 
5. I wake up as the first, and am pleasantly surprised: The
water is back. I get the last work on the "Tapir Expedition" done,
just in time to take the nine bus towards Otavalo. While I wait,
the water disappears again. Apparently, there is a lack of water,
here in the end of the dry season. 
I finish my diary, and walk ahead of the
ten-bus to Apuela to upload diary and read mails. The bus catch up with me
after 40 minutes, just out of town. By some strange reason, the
internet cafe is closed, and no one can say when it opens again. Bit
of a bummer, considered I have taken the day off, only to use the
internet, and I now have to walk for an hour uphill to get home.
No cars passes me, before the bus, 100
metres from the bear hut. Not exactly my lucky day! Back at the
house, I re-burials the dogs while I'm in the mood. A long over-due
shave and a bath, followed by breakfast, and I'm almost feeling
human again.
The four new volunteers is picked
up by the young Armando, and leave with the seven'ish bus. Anna took the one
before to
go to Otavalo to do some shopping, and I do my best to get the new
ones prepared for the tour. Sara, Richard and I meet up with Alberto in the bus.
Frida, and we have reached the end of this track. There have been
several interesting plants and insects on the way up,
and even a snakeskin. When the others
stops for lunch, I start a slow decent by
my selves.
The
water fails again, but one get use to it - kind of. As long as there
are
drinking
water, we should be fine, although dish washing and showers would be
nice from time to time.
shop being open, and the chance of
getting a bus back to the bear hut. Recon I won't have energy for
the long walk back today either!
enrolled on a
new camping tour to Toisán.
Samuel, the Norwegian girl; Henriette and I am going out there to
find bear trails and clear the trees they make their markings on for
hairs. Later expeditions will then collect
bear fasces and
-hair samples for DNA testing.
this time, although I
honestly don't know what to expect. I don't know if it will be a wet
and hot area, dry and cold, steep or flat, dense or open area we are
going to work in. Neither do I know where it precisely is. Would
have been cool with some maps at the office, but we doesn't even
have a map of the radio trails we uses.
collection gear. 
great.
Back to the square to buy a cluster of small bananas for frying, a
bottle of rum, and we are ready for a lift home. Wait for five
minutes, and a brand new pick-up picks us up.
continues my sucker fried-banana
experiments in the kitchen after dinner. Get it better now I got the
right bananas, but I might use slightly less sucker next time.