Larva, unknown

Speaking of unidentified critters, Cleuson brought this colorful capsule (pupal case) in from the trail system a few days ago. I would guess that it's a larva of something, but what I don't know. I didn't ask, but assume that he found it on the ground. Maybe a future butterfly? It's encased in a very hard capsule, but shows signs of life and flexibility in the softer part to the right. I put it back in the woods so it wouldn't dry out. Maybe I should have prepared a "crib" for it, so that we might see what comes out. Live and learn.

Slug

I'm not sure what this critter is, maybe a slug? We discovered it on one of the Bosque trails a few weeks ago. It was moving around much faster than a snail and it also seemed to be in the right environment, i.e. a slimly, muddy forest floor. To see an enlargement, click on the image.

Jacarandá do Pará, flowers

Jacarandá do Pará (Dalbergia spruceana) is better adapted to the tropical savannas in the Santarém region, but I've planted a few of them at Bosque Santa Lúcia. Most were destroyed when Celpa, the electrical company, installed the power line through Poço Branco. This image of jacarandá do Pará flowers was actually taken yesterday in the back yard of our home here in Santarém. These are the first flowers to appear on a tree that found a home here at home. They are so subtle in size and color, they can go unnoticed. As reported in other posts on this tree, jacarandá do Pará isn't really a jacaranda at all. As the Latin name indicates, it's a Dalbergia. My guess is that the common name came about because of the similarity of flowers, but I don't know for sure if that's true. The real jacaranda tree (Jacaranda mimosifolia) is native of southern Brazil and northern Argentina. It's such a beautiful tree when blooming, it been adopted in many countries, including South Africa. Pretoria is also known as "Jacaranda City".

Passion fruit, inside

This is what we find inside passion fruit (Passiflora edulis). Really not very much except a bunch of seeds and some pulp, but it makes for one of the best fruit juices available in the world. The most common way of preparing the juice here is to scoop both pulp and seeds into a blender, then add water and sugar. Turn the machine on for a few seconds and you're ready for a super drink with strong sedative properties. The concentrate can be used for making ice-cream and other deserts. Passion fruit is one of the most popular fruits here in the Amazon, and the rest of Brazil.

Wild passion fruit, continued

This is the only fruit I saw from the wild passion fruit vines alongside the road as I walked into the Bosque earlier this week. As you see it, that's the way I found it. It had probably been knocked off the vine by a passing vehicle. Strange, but I didn't see any passion fruit flowers on any of the many vines making their way onto the road.

Wild passion fruit vine

The roadside jungle also presented many of these wild passion fruit (Passiflora sp.) vines. I have no idea as to the species. Notice the "cow's foot" plant (Bauhinia sp.) in the lower center of the image.

The Humble Plant

The day I waded through dirty water and mud to get into and out of the Bosque, I felt compensated by some of the flora I encountered on the sides of the road. The "humble plant" (Mimosa pudica) was on stage from the beginning to the end of the hike, and flowering at its best.

Ayahuasca tea, culture

My old friend down in Natal, Horacio Betcel, sent me an interesting Globo article on Gilberto Gil's promotion to make the use of ayahuasca tea official cultural patrimony. Most people in the world know Gilbert Gil as a famous Brazilian musician and singer, but he's also Minister of Culture under the the current PT Government. His introduction of the proposal to IPHAN, the Institute of National Historical and Artistic Patrimony, will certainly favor the non-indigenous groups now using ayahuasca tea in their religious ceremonies. Uniao do Vegetal is one such group, as I reported on in some previous posts on this blog. The attached image is one of the plants used in the making of the tea. It's the Bannister vine (Bannister caapi), which I filmed at the UDV Center on the road going out to Alter do Chao. The other ingredient is chacrona (Psicotria viridis), the leaves of which are boiled together with the woody substance of the Bannister vine. We have both plants at Bosque Santa Lucia, right next to the reception center. Friends at UDV invite me to participate in the tea ceremonies, but my main interest is botanical.

High waters, the rivers

I find it a bit early, but I read in some newspaper report that the flood levels of the Amazon and Tapajos Rivers are beginning to drop. The peak reached at about 8.5 meters, which is high, but not to the point of flooding the streets in front of the city. It's worth noting that we have 6 months of raising waters and 6 months of lowering water levels. It doesn't really matter how much rain we get locally, the river levels go up and down in this manner. The Amazon acts as a water box for more than 1,100 rivers before it empties into the Atlantic Ocean. If it didn't rain a drop in this immediate region, the rivers would continue to do their things. I took this picture of fishermen in their canoe in front of the city less than a week ago.

Rain, rain, go away, continued

Yep, the rains continue. After enjoying two days of warming sun, the rains are back. The attached image was taken day before yesterday at the Santarem Airport. The owner of this vehicle did her best to get it under a protected area at the arrival gate, but the water was pouring off the roof. The passenger and his luggage got wet from the spray of the waterfall.

Pajurá de Óbidos, second seed

If you've followed some of my more recent posts on tropical fruits, you'll remember that I came by two seeds of a relative rare tree called pajurá de Óbidos (Pouteria speciosa). One of the seeds germinated some weeks ago and the seedling is already in the ground. I was beginning to wonder about the viability of the second seed when I discovered that I had placed it upside down in the vase. When I saw that there were signs of a possible root, instead of leaves, developing topside, I realized that I had goofed. After turning it over, the seed started splitting and is now producing some leaves. It seems to be more timid than the first seed, but it looks like it's going to make it. Marco Lacerda, a fruit tree collector in Rio de Janeiro tells me that I should plant all the pajurá de Óbidos possible because it's indeed very rare. There are two of these trees on the grounds of Museu Goeldi in Belem, but neither are producing fruit.

Difficult access, continued

Getting splashed on, by the way, is not a humorous event, but Áurea and I still laugh when recollecting an episode from a trip to Serra do Navio in the State of Amapá, where we had gone to research a new tour route that would include that beautiful mining town. The mayor put us up at the official guest house and showed us around for the two days. Needless to say, we felt privileged that the mayor, himself, could take time away from his busy schedule for this purpose, and that he had a nice pick-up truck in which to take us. Right away we perceived that this man was a much respected authority in the region, not just because of the office he held, but also because he is an accomplished political leader, a man who had risen from the ranks of the working class at the ICOMI manganese mine. We soon got used to the out-pouring of homage paid to him wherever we went, so we were quite astonished one day to hear a young boy walking along the side of the road call him a filho da puta. Inadvertently the mayor had driven through a mud hole and had splashed muddy water on the pants of the unlucky young man. It happens all the time, but we still find this particular incident amusing because of the kid's spontaneity towards the unintentional act, and to whom it was being directed. I should add that getting a bath of mud and water is not restricted to pedestrians. A vehicle hitting a pothole in a paved street can splatter the contents of the puddle right up into adjacent cars. A smart driver knows exactly when to roll up the windows - and fast. Source: Santarém - Riverboat Town

Difficult access, continued

Speaking of clothes, by the time I got to the Bosque, mine were a mess because of the fall at Lake Maria (she's the mayor of Santarem) and the rest of the walk. Luckily, I had some old work clothes stashed away at the Bosque, so I changed and then washed the others, which you see in the image. By the end of the day they were dry, so I changed again before walking out. To try another route I took what used to be a walking trail to Cipoal. It turned out to be worse than the road! It's now being used by smaller vehicles, ox and cart, horse drawn carts, bicycles, motorcycles and anything else that can't negotiate Lake Maria. By the time I got to my car on the Santarem-Cuiaba Highway, I was all muddy again and smelling like a pig stile. I got to thinking about how the community people out there face lack of access on a daily basis. I go out only when I need to this time of the year because I'm quickly destroying our family car and now, myself. Local people don't have any choice, so they improvise the best they can. I was concerned about how I was going to get two sacks of cement in to the Bosque to continue construction of sidewalks around the reception center, thereby reducing the need to walk in mud. I got the cement to Cipoal, telling Cleuson to contract an ox and cart to get it to the Bosque. I was surprised to see the cement already at the Bosque when I arrived on foot. One of my neighbors had brought it in on the back of his Honda motorcycle, all 100 kilos of it. I thought that was indeed a feat, but then I learned that in addition to the cement, he also brought in his wife and 9 year old son on the same trip! I've seen motorcycles and bicycles simply slide out from under the riders on these muddy roads. Cleuson says that the secret is to keep the bike going at the fastest speed possible, even facing serious consequences, if there's an accident. By slowing down, or stopping, the bike is subject to flipping over onto the riders. That happened this week to Cleuson on his bicycle. He's still limping along because one of the pedals jammed into his foot.

Difficult access, continued

Having gotten to the other side of the mud hole, I met up with Professora Inez, who was walking out to the highway to catch a bus to town. Inez is a retired school teacher, well into her 70s, and she thinks nothing of walking the four kilometers from her home to the highway and back, at least once a day! Being a community spokeswoman, she has been after the government to repair the road for the last several months. She keeps getting promises, but so far .... As Inez started her wade into the mud hole, I remembered some humor told by a lady friend who lives in Cipoal that this mud hole was so deep that the women were having to remove their panties before crossing. We had all laughed about the story. Now, at lakeside, I decided that I wasn't going to stick around to see if it were true. I headed down the road and left the good professora do her thing, whatever it is.

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.

Difficult access, continued

This is a picture of "lake" early on in the rainy season, when I was able to get through with my car. It's not a lot larger now, but some deep holes have developed within the body of water. The flow of traffic is fairly much restricted to larger vehicles, like trucks. A small car is at risk of getting stuck and also of flooding the motor. Then the owner is in big trouble.

Difficult access, continued

Once leaving Santarem for the Planalto area (highlands), we leave sandy savanna country and get into clay soils, which make for nasty mud holes during the rainy season. Our Bosque Santa Lucia is only 3 kilometers from the main highway, BR-163, but those 3 kilometers of dirt road have been a real challenge over the last 27 years. I remember only too well my first tour at the Bosque in 1987, when I took three visitors from Holland for an ecological tour. At that time it wasn't much more than a one-lane trail with the forest coming right to the edges of road. I left the car on the highway and we walked in the 3 kilometers, did the tour at the Bosque and then walked back out. Yesterday, April 29, 2008, I had to do the same thing because of a big mud hole located not far from the highway. The situation was much worse than in 1987! On getting close to the "lake" I stepped into a thin coating of mud that was slicker than you know what. Before I could think twice I went up into the air and landed on my left side into the mud. Luckily I had taken my camera out of my back pocket just before, or it could have been worse for me and the camera too. I got up without feeling any broken bones and nobody was round to witness the show, so it was on to the mud hole. The attached image shows more or less where I "hit it".

Difficult access

One of the most difficult problems we face in the Amazon is that of transportation. Access is difficult everywhere, especially this time of the year. Paved city streets are full of potholes and most of the non-paved streets are impassable. The municipality government gives high priority to fixing up streets, but the repairs are fairly much limited to filling up holes with asphalt, which doesn't last long. Even the federal highway, BR-163 is full of craters (attached image), which can dismantle a vehicle if hit at any speed at all. The solution is to zigzag from one side of the road to the other. When oncoming traffic presents itself, better slow down to almost a stop to get through the holes without tearing up a tire and the hub. People who use the highway on a daily basis know all the tricks of driving without destroying their vehicles. City folks going out to the barbecue restaurant on the weekend often find themselves stranded on the highway with two flat tires and damaged hubs from hitting an unsuspected crater in the road. Get off the highway, then things are really difficult. Take, for example, getting to Bosque Santa Lucia, our small forest reserve. Next post.

Orchid attracts insect

I'm almost certain that this orchid now in bloom is a Catasetum galeritum. I remember having misnamed it last year. Luckily the mistake was seen by an orchid collector, who notified me right away. I don't remember the flowers attracting as many insects as this year, but it was probably an oversight on my part.

Henry Ford in Belterra

Another old friend we encountered at the Book Fair was Henry Ford, founder of rubber tree plantations at Fordlandia and Belterra. I didn't pay a lot of attention to details, but I think this exhibit was sponsored by the Municipality of Belterra, which borders with the Santarem Municipality. I've never seen this painting of Ford before, although it's similar to a photograph that hangs on the wall of the ICBS Library.