Dia Uno en Puyo

So my first real day with the program began in Puyo. We had two events scheduled for us: a visit to the Orquidearo?(Orchid Garden) and then Omaere, another garden run by a Shwar medicine woman and her American husband. The purpose of both was to familiarize us students with many of the natural plants that indigenous tribes around the Oriente(eastern Ecuador, Amazona) use for medicinal and dietary purposes. Much of the jungle around this area is considered secondary forest because it is not natural and has been destroyed quit significantly, but the families at both places work very hard to preserve the forests and return them to their natural primary forest state in appearance. Much of the destruction of the surrounding jungles has occured as a result of the exploitation of the natural resources located within the jungle, amazon by petroleum companies--a group greatly despised here in the Oriente. Both of the places were beautiful and I was able to take pictures of alot of the plant life that had been brought back and the resultant animal life that followed the reinstatement of certain plants and trees



The mud pile is a piece of a maggot nest or whatever you wanna call it...I actually ate some...apparently they are high in protein. The forest is teamed with all sorts of insects and at the beginning of the tour in the Orquideario, there are pictures of the new inhabitants every year as the forest develops more and more.


I spy a stick bug...do you see it?


If you look closely at the girl, you will notice that she is wearing natural lipstick! Actually it is the flower of a plant found at the Orquideario that the tour guide placed in her mouth!


The second half of the day was spent at Omaere. The Shwar medicine woman was out of the country and so we were greeted and guided by her husband. His name was Chris and he looks as crazy as he is--he came to Ecuador some 18 years ago for his thesis and ended up never leaving!! He was quite the character and eventhough he came on strong in his beliefs, he did a good job of explaining some of the indigneous culture...housing, waring, family doings, and such.


Below is is a picture of the bottom part of the "walking" palm. It is a really interesting tree that looks like most of its roots are exposed, but actually those are "legs". The lighter leg is a new growth that anchors to the ground and eventually over time allows the tree to shift position into lets say a more suitable basking spot. The Next picture may be hard to make out, but it is pretty much a swarm of some giant ants or something...I am not exactly sure.


I cut out alot of the other stuff, because it is repeat from the Orquideario, however, I wanted to take moment to show the Green Parrot and Scarlet Macaw (Louis and Robert, I am sure you will enjoy this). These birds are inhabitants of Omaere and moved there as the forest began to grow and resemble a more natural state.


And finally just a little bit of the messages you will see in the Oriente about the value of the environment: