The Big Field Trip

Our family has been pretty busy over the past several weeks. Angela, Cyrus, and Bella have been taking guitar lessons. Cyrus and Bella have been taking music and voice lessons. Cruz has been taking a rhythm and movement class. Cyrus and Jason are taking cooking classes.
Cyrus, Bella, and Jason are teaching English to two [...]

ABRA PATRICIA from Jason Kirkman on Vimeo.

The Chachapoyas were a group of people who lived in the northern part of Peru. They were feared fighters and their culture started around 800 AD. The Chachapoyas were conquered by the Incas around 1470 AD. Chachapoyas probably means either “people of the woods” or “people of the clouds”.  The Chachapoyas interacted with cultures from [...]

On the second day of our trek we woke up early to go on our six hour hike. It was sad to leave the caramel colored horse behind, but luckily we brought another horse to bring our baggage. I even got to ride the horse. It rained hard and light for most of the day. [...]

     My family and I went on a four day trek to see ruins. Our guide, Edgar, went with us. We hiked to Karajia to see sarcophagi. They were on a big boulder, way above us. If we went right below them we couldn’t see them because they were on a ledge. The sarcopahgi looked [...]

     ECOAN is a group of conservationists in Peru. They reforest areas and protect endangered species. One thing they do is reforest. They have nurseries in Abra Patricia, by Lake Pomacochas, and in other areas. In Abra Patricia, their nursery is in a town called Progreso. People in the town help plant the trees and [...]

Hector is our friend from ECOAN. His job is to be a guard. He keeps people from cutting down trees at Abra Patricia. Hector never cuts trees down in Abra Patricia Reserve. He only cuts trees down in his back yard. He uses trees for fires to keep warm and to cook. He lives with [...]

We are currently in the town of Chachapoyas located in the mountains of Northern Peru. We have been here for almost one week.

From the big field trip

We began our exploration of this area by hiking to Catarata Gocta, the third highest waterfall in the world. It was a tough trail, but we were rewarded by [...]

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 [...]

 
     Hello from the cloud forest in Amazonas Peru. We are in a lodge in a protected cloud forest. This cloud forest is important because it contains lots of different animals and plants that are rare and endangered.  Endangered animal species include the spectacled bear, the spatule-tailed hummingbird, and the long-whiskered owlet. There are also [...]