July 5th-8th, 2016
For our trip, we had a massive bus for just the 12 of us. We each got a full row to ourselves which was perfect for sleeping- which we would do for most of the drive. I fell asleep on the drive out of Cusco and woke up to our instructors stopping at a market on the side of the road for ~magical~ bread. It was shaped in a massive wheel and tasted super sweet. It’s supposed to have healing powers. We stopped shortly after for some wild life observation but at this point two other students and I REALLY had to pee. There were no bathrooms and not even trees for cover so we resorted to going behind the bus. And thus began the saga of peeing outside literally anywhere and everywhere.
The rest of the ride was pretty terrifying. The dirt road hugged the mountains and went right up to the edge of a cliff. The bus drove so close to the edge that I couldn’t even see the road below us- only the descending mountain side. The bumpy road also passed by an ancient burial ground where we stopped to get a look. It was a short but steep walk up to the top of the hill for the best view, but with the altitude we were all wheezing on the way up.
Our stay in Wayqecha was pretty luxurious compared to what was to come. We stayed in cabin which had all the bunkbeds together in one room. There was a full bathroom with showers and toilets. There was another building used as the dining hall where we ate all our meals. I honestly don’t think I had one bad meal during the entire trip. There’d always be an amazing soup as an appetizer and I couldn’t get enough. I’d usually end up finishing other people’s soup when they couldn’t. All the chefs were also super accommodating for my vegetarian diet.
Our first morning in Wayqecha we woke up at 3:00 a.m. and hopped in the bus to drive to Tres Cruces for the sunrise. It was a rough start, a couple students got sick on the bumpy road and our driver (Wilbur!) woke up late but somehow we got there in time. The view from Tres Cruces was incredible; the Andes looked out over the Amazon Basin and you could see forever. The sunrise is supposed to be one of the best in the world because of some sort of optical distortion. I didn’t see double images but I couldn’t get enough of the scenery.
Unfortunately the troops weren’t doing too well. A few students were sick at this point and we hadn’t eaten. The only bathroom available was some sort of outhouse that was essentially an overused hole in the ground. I managed to avoid it but those who had to use it came out horrified. The “Tres Cruces bathrooms” became a running joke of the trip.
After the sun was up, part of the crew headed back to the field station and the rest went to hike down 300 m in elevation. As we hiked down the vegetation changed from grassland to full on rainforest. We went slow and took pictures of plants.
The next morning there was optional birding at 5 a.m., so needless to say I slept in. It was pouring rain so we put on our rain pants and jackets and headed out for a canopy walk. The afternoon was spent doing our first round of vegetation plots where we’d mark transects and evaluate things like ground cover, canopy cover, and the tree count. The goal was to compare how vegetation changes across an elevation gradient. After we finished we were back on the bus to head to San Pedro.
