The Big Field Trip

Today we woke up early and went to visit Hector’s house. Hector is one of the guards at the reserve. His house is on the edge of Abra Patricia, and his family runs a restaurant for truckers who travel on the highway. He raises most of the food served at the restaurant right around the house. There are pigs, ducks, chickens, cows, corn, and chili. He also raises orchids, some of which are very rare.

From the big field trip

Next we went down the road to a very small school in Vista Alegre. There were 12 kids in the school and one teacher. Robert, another guard at Abra Patricia, has a son who goes to school there. We got to know the kids and told them about our trip.

From the big field trip

Then we went to another school in a larger town called Centro Poblado Menor el Progreso, or just Progreso. The first class we visited had the oldest kids in the school. They were about 15-16 years old. We talked with them about how to preserve the cloud forest, about ways to be more environmentally friendly in the community, and about conservation in the United States.

From the big field trip

At about 11:00 we went to each classroom in grades 1-6. In the lower grades we mostly talked about not cutting down trees and not killing animals. They asked us to sing songs and to speak in English. In the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes we talked about how to protect the cloud forest, about ecotourism, and about carbon footprints. After that we went back to the lodge to eat. We really needed to rest.

From the big field trip

From the big field trip

Later in the afternoon we went to the tree nursury. It is located right next to the school in Progreso. It is run by ECOAN, but lots of the work is done by the students. They had a compost pile and a worm bin. The students would put soil in plastic bags. Other students would put seedling trees in the bags. The seedlings were placed in the shade to grow. In about three months the trees are ready to plant. The whole community helps out. Trees are planted on deforested community property like the school land. Families can also take trees for their private land if they want to set some aside for forest habitat.

From the big field trip

From the big field trip

Students planted trees behind the school. There is a huge area of deforested land there. The students are responsible for caring for the trees. They also measure them and record data in notebooks. The trees grow fast. Tomorrow we will drive to Lake Pomacochas to see (hopefully) the marvelous spatule-tailed hummingbird. ECOAN has reforested an area there that has larger trees. We will also pass a gold mine that has deforested a lot of land. ECOAN is selling them native trees to reforest damaged areas.

From the big field trip

From the big field trip

We will be in the cloud forest for two more days, so if you have any questions or suggestions for us please ask. By the way – we saw monkeys tonight. Unfortunately it was too dark to take pictures. We’ll take some pictures of the spatule-tailed hummingbird tomorrow, if we can see one.

Tags:   Cloud Forest · Peru · reforestation1 Comment