Week six

Week Six 

It feels like, till now, this trip has been a mad rush of macheteing through the forest, chopping rotting fish, collecting butterflies and processing them, with only the occasional broken-down car or rainy day to add a little spice. Welcome to Peru!

However, staying here at Camp 2, in what is quite literally the middle of nowhere, has been a welcome change to our daily routine. Here you can't sleep past 5:30 am due to the workers' morning ritual of playing music. Food is cooked over an open fire, and our bathroom is the boundless rainforest surrounding us. 

Yes, working here is hard - there is a gruelling hour's walk in the forest to reach our sites. Yes, every insect here wants to bite us. But, here, in what is nearly untouched primary forest, one feels at peace in a way that is simply impossible anywhere else. Our first night here, Tish and I just lay back and looked at the stars; it's like being surrounded by the night sky, with only the occasional shooting star or firefly able to draw your attention away from the sheer magnificence in front of you.

And that is the beauty of fieldwork - though at times it is difficult, and you want to give up, there is something inherently rewarding about it.

Sorting butterflies in our makeshift lab, we are surrounded by curious workers, asking us which butterflies we are holding and what we are going to do with them. Before long, the workers themselves can identify a 'Morpho' butterfly and pay rapt attention as each sample is meticulously recorded onto our spreadsheet. 

Here, it seems like our work is appreciated and respected more than it could ever be back home, with the distracting bustle of city life.

I'm so glad and so incredibly grateful to be here.

!Bienvenido a Peru! 

Mahika

Hugo and Mahika practicing Spanish

Campamento 2

Mahika with a Calligo