November 2, 2007
From SATA-Peru-2007
This morning we were awoken by the sounds of howler monkeys after a refreshing night of sleep. We gathered our belongings and headed to a delicious breakfast of eggs, bacon, and fried bananas. We packed our stuff onto the boats, got eaten up by gnats, and then headed off the on the 3 to 4 hour boat ride to Cocha Cashu.
We arrived at the infamous Cocha Cashu and quickly set up camp. Shana and I got a fairly isolated site and with Glen’s help we set up our tent. A few of us jumped into the algae covered lake (with a little fear considering the threat of caimans.) After, we set off on a hike with Varun and saw an insane looking strangler fig that had sent out roots at least 30 feet away from its trunk. We also had out first experience on one of the rope bridges at Cashu which was fun/scary.
After the hike, most of us jumped back into the lake very quickly and then did some laundry. We had a delicious dinner of corn chowder and pasta and then headed to the office for a lecture by Manuel about ethnobotany and ethnobiology. The group returned to our separate campsites and after some intense bug hunting Shana and I settled in for the night. Some people had the luck of seeing an ocelot while the rest spent a peaceful night in our tents.
