Day-19a, July 21 2009

Ola!

For those of you anxious we'd been devoured by an anaconda, apologies. Internet access was severely restricted in the Amazon Basin.

Our group was split into three once we flew from Cusco to the inland port city of Puerto Maldonado. It ressembles a dusty, wild west town of 46,000 people that is bustling with tuk-tuks (a three-wheeled motorized version of a horse and buggy) and Honda motorbikes. Puerto Maldonado sits at the crossroads of the Madre de Dios and Tambopata rivers. Just to give you an idea of the abundance of wildlife, on the Tambopata Reserve alone, there are 620 species of birds and 1200 species of butterflies. To compare, in all of North America there around 700 species of each. It was all aboard for three different adventures.

It appears that everyone enjoyed their wildlife tours. Some of us were able to go on canopy walks and climbed 100 metre towers to begin a nerve-wracking crossing over seemingly rickety, suspended bridges from platform-to-platform amongst the tree tops. One set of towers took 15 years to design. Most of that time was spent studying root systems (which are shallow) to understand how to build a sturdy foundation and weather patterns to determine which materials would prove hardy. The actual construction took only a month.

Our primary guide, Jesus (pronounced hey-zeus) was knowledgeable and hilarious. For example, when we were beginning our canopy walk two thirds up the tower, he went to the very top and poured a yellowish liquid down beside us. Was it humming bird food or...well I'll leave it up to your imagination. We also took a bridge detour to a treetop cabin. For $500 (USD) a night you can play Swiss Family Robinson.

Some groups had nighttime forays up the river to see caymen or into the rainforest to discover tarantulas, snakes and locusts. Some groups saw monkeys. Two groups were delighted with their food and accommodation - cabanas or huts and gourmet dishes. One group was less pleased with the lack of privacy, electricity and mediocre food. On Tuesday these adventures all came to end as we were reunited at the Puerto Maldonado airport. From there the group flew to Lima.

It's Wednesday morning as I write this. We have now scattered. Some have continued onto vacations in the Galapagos Islands or Easter Island. Some have departed back to Canada via Miami. Some will depart back home today or tomorrow. Most are a bit weary. But we will all rally. Joe and Jennifer head to another mission in Guyana - their country of origin - in early 2010. And there's already a buzz about a mission to Tanzania and Kenya in 2011.

I'm going to leave the final word to my 16-year-old friend Mariah. This young writer is more focussed on transferring her learnings from this mission back home. And as the head of a training department, I believe the value of learning is all in how it's applied.

Here is a link that you can click to a see the mission photo gallery. http://gallery.me.com/davidhillock