Peru fieldtrip 2024

It would be an understatement to say that the past month has been incredible. A better word would be unforgettable, an even better one enriching. My time in Peru was smooth sailing, as hard as some of the fieldwork days were, and on top of getting all the planned tasks done I had the chance of building relationships with many local researchers as well as exploring the city of Iquitos, the culture of the Peruvian Amazon, and familiarising myself with the local lifestyle.

The beginning of the trip was a little tumultuous (pardon the pun) due to an earthquake that struck Arequipa (7.2 magnitude) and was felt quite strongly in Lima, where I was staying the first couple nights. In the midst of that, my airline forgot to load one of my suitcases into the plane from Madrid to Lima, so I had to contend multpile times with airport staff until I was finally reunited with my stuff, including my toothbrush! Otherwise, I was able to spend the first days of my trip visiting Lima and in partitular the archaeological site of Huaca Pucllana which was fascinating.

But soon after it was time to fly to Iquitos, which I had been anticipating for years since my PhD in 2019. Landing in the middle of the Amazon and being slapped in the face with that concoction of hot and humid hair as soon as the airplane doors open was something I weirdly missed! And of course it was fun to ride again in the back of the motocars, a mode of transport so strange to the unaccustomed eye but so normal for the locals, and I soon learnt how to haggle for the price of a ride. Once in Iquitos I met with the forestry team at IIAP, and it was nice to finally meet the people who, from the other side of the world, had helped me plan all the necessary documentation and logistics of the field campaign. A special mention goes to Gabriel Hidalgo, Jimmy Cordova, Siria Portalanza for all their hard work prior to my arrival.

I was then joined by Ander Davila, who became my research assistant throughout the field campaign, and provided invaluable help both for the scientific side of things but also on a social angle. Inbetween trips out into the forest while staying in Iquitos, he took the time to show me around the city, introducing me to his group of friends and making sure I’d experience his culture. We ended up becoming very good friends and I hope we will have many more chances to collaborate again in the future.

The fieldwork kicked off with a trip to the village of Veinte de Enero, the location I studied for my PhD and it was so nice to be back (and a little nostalgic!). We were welcomed with open arms by the community´s chief and began our work of setting up pollen traps (aerial and river) and collecting soil samples from the palm swamp located a few kilometers behind the village. Everything, including the installation of the river traps, went very smoothly and successfully.

Our work then continued on to the village of Parinari, and subsequently to the middle of the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve at a ranger control point (Punto de Vigilancia) called Tacshacocha (PV6), where our tasks remained the same but the ecosystem types changed. It was great for me to see different parts of this reserve and the different environments it hosts. It was hard to keep concentrated on the tasks at hand and the science with all the beautiful nature around - eagles, squirrel monkeys, giant river otters, pink dolphins, kingfishers, spiky caterpillars and gigantic trees!

We also visited another reserve, called Allpahuayo Mishana, where white sand forests are present, and this was totally different to any kind of forest I’d been so far, with white sandy ground underneath the layer of fallen leaves and tall thin trees everywhere. Here too our task was to set up pollen traps and collect soil.

I am very much looking forward to having a look at all the samples, although we will have to wait an entire year until we can collect and examine our pollen traps - which means another trip to Peru next summer, something I am not mad about!

Overall, this trip was very successful, and I as well as all the assistants who accompanied me returned safe and unharmed in anyway, and possibly even with a couple more kilos after all the rice we ate. Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible, to the local villages for hosting and helping us, and to IIAP for all the support.

I have many photos to show, and much more detail to tell, but I will leave it here for now as this blog post could easily become a novel.

Stay tuned! I think I will go and get some rest now and think of pink dolphins.

-Dael