Welcome to the second (and final) installment of my Amazonian adventure chronicles! Before diving into the pictures, I’d like to tell you a little bit about Tiputini. It is a highly selective research station run by the Unversidad de San Fransico in Quito. Only students and researchers to stay there. It is in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, across the Tiputini River from Yasuni National Park (potentially the most biodiverse place in the entire world). To get to Tiputini, we took a short bus ride from Limoncocha to the Napo River, crossed the river in boat, went through a Yasuni National Park checkpoint (which is run by an oil company), took an open sided bus for two hours to the Tiputini River, and then took another boat for two hours to arrive at the station.
Right by the dock is a miniature salt lick, where butterflies and moths gather to obtain mineral nutrients.
The sheer number of animals and plants we saw was astounding. I’ll stop writing so much and let you enjoy pictures of some of them.
I could talk for quite a while about Tiputini, but I’ll stop there. Tomorrow I’m off the coast with friends, since the President decided less than three weeks ago that this Friday is to be a national holiday. Hopefully I get a post in about the coast before heading to the Galapagos.