Fungi

Dust

Dust everywhere this time of the year, especially near dirt roads, as in the case of Bosque Santa Lúcia. Spot doesn't seem to concerned about the weather.

Macaxeira plant

Macaxeira (Manihot utilissima)

Fungus

Road to Bosque is open, continued

The next day, Áurea and I made a test drive to the Bosque in our small Fiat car. Here we are about to enter the area that I've often referred to as Lake Maria. Over the last year it has almost swallowed the car on every trip to the Bosque. Then it got so bad, even big trucks and buses were forced to take the detour you see to the left. Then it closed down too. I had to cancel all my private tours to the Bosque and finally the buses taking ship passengers also had to cancel out. Although the road is still makeshift, it's passable. I look forward to doing ecological tours again!

Sunbaked

Well, here we are in September again. This one isn't any different than any other, in terms of weather. We're well into our summer (verão), which is the dry season for this part of the Amazon. It seldom rains, so it's very necessary to water plants and newly planted trees. What's different about this September is that we now have a well at Bosque Santa Lucia and electricity to run the pump. Plus, we now have a full time employee to get the water where it's needed. These are dramatic novidades for me because over the last 25 years I've kept things alive by literally hauling water from the city in whatever vehicle I had at the time. I couldn't begin to provide the water that plants needed. A liter here, a half-liter for this plant. This one doesn't get water today. So it went ... and needless to say, I lost many plants from season to season. It's now another world having a plentiful supply of water. Attached image: clay-like soils out in the open crack open this time of the year.

Tapajós, continued

The desert sun isn't too cool after 11:00 AM. It's hotter than Hates and the glare from the sun is blinding. It can also burn you to a crisp, if you don't find shade. In the image, a young tree of the genus Miconia reaches out over the edge of the woods to explore the sandy road. My car was stuck in it about a 100 meters away. Taking the wrong turnoff, we had dropped down the bluff almost to the edge of the river. Now to get back up the hill and on to the birthday party was going to be an adventure.

Antlions

It's been awhile since I've seen antlion traps. Going to Friar Leão's birthday party on the beaches of the Tapajós River a week ago required that we drive through tropical savanna country, which features sandy soils. The unfamiliar driver can get lost on unmarked side roads and they can also get stuck, especially if they don't have a four-wheel drive vehicle. And that's exactly what happened to us. To make matters worse, we had a flat on the front-right tire. While my friend, Alipio went for help, I took advantage of the situation to look around the "desert", where I found these antlion traps. So as not to reinvent the wheel, I provide a link that describes the antics of these insects. There must be a better way to make a living!

Marilha's garden, continued

A macaxeira plant (Manihot esculenta), sometimes called aipim. It's the nonpoisonous variety of manioc, which can be cooked much like potatoes, since it doesn't contain prussic acid. Marilha tells me that this particular variety came from Pernambuco in the northeastern part of Brazil.

Marilha's garden, continued

Green onions in the foreground with macaxeira (manioc) in the background. There are some veggies right in front of the green onions but I can't remember what. Maybe radishes. Green onion tops seem to be the essential ingredient for any kind of food made here. Many times the cook will throw the onion bulbs away. Yep, that's what I said. In the United States, I think we do the opposite.

Termites

Some well-polished termites are a bit upset with my intrusion into their home. Can't say I blame them. Sorry, but there are some folks who haven't seen your likes.

Tucandeira ant nest, continued

And here's one of our friends, the tucandeira ant. I'm told that they are double hitters. They sting and also bite. They're called the "24 hour ant" because that's about how long you'll be jumping in pain after getting the treatment. Some people compare them to the scorpion in terms of adverse reactions to the sting.

Tucandeira ant nest

Looking at all this freshly excavated wet clay reminds me that I took this picture nearly a month ago, when abundant rains were still falling. The tucandeira ant (Paraponera clavata) may be the largest of all the Amazonian ants. I've never seen a nest this of this size. Normally they enter their underground nest via an opening around a small tree. Guides like to beat up the tree trunk, as seen in the attached image, to call up the angry ants. Next image, the ant.

Tropical Savanna, continued

One of the thatched buildings at Escola Floresta has this spectacular view of Lago Verde, alias Green Lake. Off in the distance you can see Serra Alter do Chão, better known as Serra Piroca, which has a vulgar connotation, if you come from other parts of Brazil. The Tapajós River is just off to the left of the hill and the village of Alter do Chão is on other side of the landmass to the left of the image. This is definitely God's country.

Mucajá palm, continued

When Cleuson scooped out the rich organic material from inside the mucajá palm pictured in my last post, this beetle, perhaps a darkling beetle, came with it. I'm sorry that I didn't take time to get more pictures because I don't have a good view of the head. My digital camera, bless it, is so slow, the beetle had partially disappeared under the mulching material before it recorded the image. I suspect that these beetles play an important role in decomposing fallen trees. Thank you, we needed that fertilizer.

Later annotation from Ted MacRae: Beetle yes, darkling beetle no. This is a bess beetle (some people call them bessbugs or bessiebugs) - members of the scarab superfamily. Bess beetles are semi-social - rare among beetles - and colonize decaying logs. Adults and larvae both produce sqeaking noises when disturbed, but more likely this evolved for communication with each other. Adults actually feed the young - preparing decayed wood with salivary secretions beforehand. Very interesting beetles! Thanks, Ted. I copied your comment because I know that not everyone reads comments ... and this information is important.

Mucajá palm, continued

That's enough stump business! Let's get on to the remainder of the mucajá palm (Acrocomia aculeata), which is still laid out on the ground, where it fell after being chainsawed. When I took this picture, my caretaker had already removed several buckets of pith, if that's the right word, material for mulching of young palms planted at that second entrance to Bosque Santa Lúcia. Tropical soils are so poor in this region, we gather organic fertilizer wherever we can find it and I suspect that this mulching material is some of the best around.

Mucajá palm, continued

And here's an even closer look at the inside of the mucajá palm (Acrocomia aculeata) stump. When I think of tree stumps, I visualize a hard heartwood surrounded by decaying bark and sapwood. In the case of the mucajá palm, it's the contrary. The outer ring of the palm is still hard as nails. I remember cutting a live one quite a few years ago. It was so hard, I bent the ax blade and nearly fractured the bones in my arms.

Hauling rock

Cleuson, on the far right, suggested that we take advantage of Mondico Jr. and his ox and cart to transfer a pile of rocks up to the Bosque reception center right away. Mondico was going to be out of town for awhile starting the next day. It was the only mode of transportation capable of getting down the side road, where we had left the surplus rocks many years ago when we built the roundhouse. Now the rocks were needed to build a set of steps going down to the bridge, a rather radical decline that was getting eroded away with the rains. Also a rather dangerous trek for us old people because of slippery mud and bare tree roots. Two loads of rocks were sufficient for the construction, which will begin in the near future when the mosquito infestation dies down.

Colors of Soybeans, continued

I figured that I should get the heck out of this soybean field as fast as possible in order to avoid what smelled like the worse kind of poison. Maybe I could have made it, but I met up with another employee of the farm, who had just cut his foot with his machete as he cleaned the ground around the young trees referred to in the previous post. He was using his teeshirt as an improvised bandage to reduce the bleeding but he commented that he had cut a vein. He was hobbling off home, which wasn't too far away. He didn't make any attempt to hail down his colleague on the tractor, which I thought strange. By the time I got going again, the tractor driver had made a complete circle of the very large field and he was bearing down on me. Well, too late now, so I took a couple of pictures and faced the music. If the driver was worried about my well being, or that of his fellow worker, it didn't show. A few minutes later I got back to the road smelling like the poison concentrate sold in those plastic bottles with the obvious crossed bones on the label. I couldn't help from remembering when this farm belong to a common slash and burn farmer, Sr. Arthur. He and his family worked the land with an ax, several hoes and machetes. Yes, they burned, but it was a small piece at a time. Cut, dry, burn, plant, keep undergrowth down with a hoe, harvest and move on to another area on the homestead the next year. When they got back to that first plot of land several years later, it was already secondary forest and they could begin the whole cycle over again. I laughed to think that now this tractor can cover the same area of land in just a few minutes. Sr. Arthur eventually moved off to the city because he had serious high blood pressure problems. His wife, being an excellent seamstress, earned the living for the family and they were able to educate most of their kids. Sr. Arthur offered his land to me at a very cheap price. It would have increased the size of the forest at the Bosque considerably, but Aurea figured that we already had too much land for which to care, so we let it ride. More coming in the next post.

Difficult access, continued

Looking at the mud hole from the other side, as a truck "surfs" through the water. Notice the hight of the motor above the surface of the water, compared to where the motor of a small car would be. The larger tires also help keep it up high.