Life at the station: Cooking and cockroaches

I loved helping out with the research and going on walks afterwards (even the ones that scared me), but it was also always nice to return to the station and relax. I really loved the whole atmosphere at the station. All of us got along very well, and it was so nice being the only ones out there in the middle of pristine Amazon forest. There was such a great, communal atmosphere at the station; everyone pitched in with the cooking and cleaning. When I am traveling, it often makes me uncomfortable when tourists expect local people to wait on them hand and foot and barely talk to them apart from asking them for things. It was nice to break down those barriers a bit and live on more equal terms with Garza and Melo, joking around with them, chatting, and exchanging language lessons. We all took turns cooking and washing dishes, though the ones who enjoyed cooking cooked a bit more and washed a bit less. Mmm, I especially loved Garza’s boñuelos – a sort of fried bread made with squash. I really loved cooking for everyone, although it was always a bit of a challenge with the limited ingredients available. One night I even tried to make a Thai curry... but without the 3 most important ingredients: coconut milk, fish sauce, and curry paste. Everyone still claimed that they enjoyed it though! I also made chili, spaghetti, and a few other simple dishes. I really wanted to cook up a plate of gung bou gei ding, but they were fresh out of Sichuan chili paste and Shaoxing wine there.

Life at the station was really chill. In the afternoons after coming back from transects of macaw monitoring, we would all just sit around and chat, practice our Spanish, and read. At night, it was so peaceful and quiet, with nothing but the sound of the forest all around us. The station only had lights in the kitchen (powered by a giant battery), so everywhere else was just lit by candles or oil lamps. Sometimes I would just lie out on the wooden walkway by my bedroom and gaze at the sky. I don’t think I had ever seen so many stars before, all shining so brilliantly in the night.

Living at the station was not without its challenges though, especially at night when the station was overrun by bugs! I had expected a lot of bugs in the Amazon, but I don’t think I had been completely prepared for the number of insects in the station. Because Emma’s lodge is so open (no doors or screens anywhere), there was NO stopping them. Poor Tim got bitten by wasps almost on a daily basis, though the rest of us somehow managed to only get bitten once or twice during the two weeks. Every night, I would find at least 5 or 6 giant cockroaches scampering around my room, and about 3 in each bathroom, waiting for me at the soap dish, or on the rim of the toilet. On my very first night, I casually picked up my bag, and put it in my lap before realizing there was a giant cockroach on it! It scampered into my lap before I hurled it off me. Even just thinking about it now makes me feel queasy. While no one else liked the cockroaches either, I think I was particularly repulsed by them. I told everyone that I blame Tum for scaring me with the front cover of Zoobooks’ insect edition too many times when we were little.

All the insects made cooking and eating quite interesting too. I learned some interesting facts about insects. For instance, when it rains, termites fly around in giant swarms and then shed their wings to mate. Strangely enough, one night the termites also seemed very attracted to a big bowl of onions that I had just diced and kept honing in on it, diving in, and shedding their wings. I had to fish out about 20 termites and their wings, though we probably ended up eating a wing or two. While eating, the insects would also swarm around our food, presenting an interesting dilemma. If you sat near the candlelight, more bugs would be attracted to the light and dive into your food. However, if you moved away from the candlelight, you wouldn’t be able to see what you were eating. In the end, I think you just need to make your peace with eating about a dozen bugs or so every night along with your dinner. Since we had to eat vegetarian for 2 weeks (no fridge so no meat), I figured it was as good of a source of protein as any!

The two weeks at Piedras flew by, and before I knew it, we were all on the peke peke again, speeding back towards Puerto Maldonado. I was sad to leave, but also felt so grateful that I had been able to spend 2 weeks there and had made some new friends. I really agree with the way Emma and Juan Julio run their lodge and both of them are such cool, down-to-earth people. It was really interesting for me to discuss conservation issues with Emma and the other volunteers while we were there. Having lived in the region for 9 years, Emma has especially interesting insights regarding the environmental problems and social issues of the region. Ecotourism is such a thorny concept; some people hail it as the savior of the rainforest, but it comes with its own set of problems. In many ways, it is just another industry, as ruthless as the oil or logging industry and often quite destructive as well. A lot of these issues became even more glaringly apparent to me after my next two week stint volunteering at a VERY different lodge: Explorer’s Inn. But before heading to Explorer’s, we all spent one night in town, where I gave Ariel and Tim breakdancing lessons in a discoteca, danced merengue with Garza, and downed lots of bad beer.