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| Checking in with
American Airlines |
La Paz, Bolivia has one
of the highest commercial airports in the world, so riding down into the
city is quite an experience; first tilt one way... |
...then the other. |
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| I stayed at
Hotel Calacoto while in La Paz |
First stop - the
Bolivian National Herbarium in La Paz |
Quite a nice herbarium! |
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| Typical dress of
descendents of the Incas, part of a culture called Aymara |
The main plaza
in La Paz |
We flew from La
Paz to Santa Cruz, Bolivia on TAM Airlines |
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| Although we
returned to La Paz via Viru Viru International Airport, we arrived in this
smaller El Trompillo Airport |
This is Oscar
Plata, my botanist guide in Bolivia |
North of Santa
Cruz, Oscar willingly climbed on top of the car to collect this vine with a
3-lobed leaf that turned out to be Cayaponia |
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| Cayaponia
sp. |
Cayaponia
sp. |
Near the
Cayaponia we found this Psiguria ternata (small road on the south
side of the highway near La Amistad bridge) |
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| Psiguria
ternata |
Psiguria
ternata fruits |
trifoliate leaf
of Psiguria ternata |
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| We drove through
the small town of Portachuelo, Bolivia where children were selling ice cream
from these styrofoam boxes |
Portachuelo,
Bolivia |
cute little
Mimosoideae; I don't know the species |
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| Bolivian traffic
cones |
We visited the
botanical gardens east of Santa Cruz and looked for Psiguria |
Jardín Botánico Municipal, Santa Cruz, Bolivia |
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| Capybara - the
only wildlife we saw |
the ubiquitous
Momordica charantia |
Passiflora
sp. - these passion fruits are grown for food |
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The next day we drove west on the highway to La
Paz. Walking on a small side road, I found this Psiguria ternata
flowering and covered with butterflies. |
We were at about 620m in elevation. |
Leaves |
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| This is not the
mutualistic pollinating butterfly. These are probably pollen robbers |
Leaves |
more butterflies |
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| This is the
highway to La Paz |
Going about
60mph, I saw this giant flower of Psiguria ternata |
The highway
again; it looks like a small country road, but this goes 600 km, through the
Andes mountains, to La Paz |
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| Psiguria
ternata |
Pablo Campos
(our driver), his wife, and Oscar |
Psiguria
ternata |
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| lunchtime |
in the Andes |
Bromeliads on
the mountains |
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| On the return
trip, Pablo's wife spotted this Gurania lobata |
Gurania
lobata |
Gurania
lobata |
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| The next day we
didn't find any Psiguria, but we picked up this snake along the side
of the road... |
...literally.
It was roadkill, so Oscar decided to take it back to La Paz. |
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| On the last
night, we ate at La Casa del Camba. The menu was jacketed in cow hide.
Hmm ... I wonder what they serve? |
Lima, Perú is on
the Pacific Coast of South America. This was the view from the end of
the street. |
The Miraflores
area of Lima where many tourists visit. This is a shopping mall built
into the cliff. |
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| Yes, quite the
tourist area. |
Another view of
the beach. |
Another view of
the shopping mall. |
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| The Natural
History Museum in Lima, Perú |
First stop,
the herbarium |
Grounds at the
Museum |
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| After visiting
the herbarium, I had time to take in the sites. On the edge of that
cliff, you can see the "Parque del Amor" - the Park of Love. |
Statue in the
Parque Del Amor |
Parque Del Amor |
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| I found a couple
of beverages that I liked - Inca Kola, which is kind of a pineapple soda,
and... |
Chicha Morada,
which is a fruit juice made from purple corn, mmm...delicious! |
Then, I was off
to Iquitos, Perú. This is a view of the Amazon River from the
airplane. |
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| more views of
the Amazon River from the airplane going to Iquitos, Perú |
more views of
the Amazon River from the airplane going to Iquitos, Perú |
more views of
the Amazon River from the airplane going to Iquitos, Perú |
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| Airport in
Iquitos, Perú |
I discovered
delicious "Inka Chips", made from green plantains |
The local people
get around in little "moto-taxis". They make you feel like you're on
an amusement park ride! Apparently, though, they don't enjoy the loud
noises they make; see below. |
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| typical roads
around Iquitos |
On our first
day, we searched for Psiguria by moto-taxi. |
It says, "Noise!
Think of my future, the noise is killing me!" |
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| Right away, we
found this Gurania |
Leaf of
Gurania |
Gurania
vine - I soon realized that Gurania grows EVERYWHERE around Iquitos;
it's like a roadside weed! |
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| This was typical
of the roadside forest where we searched. Karla, my guide, and the
taxi driver are seen here. |
That's me,
finding yet another Gurania; this one with fruits. |
Gurania sp.
fruits |
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the bathroom
monitor |
great
bromeliads! |
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| Later that day,
we searched for Psiguria outside the university arboretum. |
We saw some
great bugs! |
And this cute
little cucurbit that I always want to be Psiguria, but it's not. |
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| The next day we
took a taxi about 40 km out of town and walked this muddy trail... |
...until we
arrived at this farmer's property. |
He grows
bananas,... |
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| Behind the
farmer's property is this amazing rainforest! Where I found... |
Psiguria!!! |
...and papayas. |
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| There is some
controversy about which species this is. Probably either Psiguria
triphylla or Psiguria bignoniacea. |
Roxi collecting
Psiguria sp. |
Psiguria
sp. |
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| Flowers of
Psiguria sp. - tiny petals |
The tendrils
will wrap around anything in order to climb; even a nearby leaf! |
Heliconius
sp. |
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Heliconius
sp. |
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| Psiguria
is not the only tropical vine with varying leaf morphology. I think
this is Cayaponia (Cucurbitaceae) |
We saw
rainforest destruction firsthand. |
Gurania sp.
growing up between the leaves of this palm. |
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| The next day we
visited a little preserve. It is maintained by a community of locals. |
Costa sp. |
The local guide
is showing us the flexible, new, adventitious root if this walking palm. |
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"Our animals are disappearing little by
little; we have to protect them" |
We didn't find
any Psiguria, but we saw lots of little creatures nicely camouflaged
on the forest floor. Do you see the little frog? |
Now those are
spines that will keep the herbivores away! |
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The next day we searched for Psiguria by
boat! It was my favorite day! |
We know it's a
cucurbit, but which species?? (By the way, that's Karla, the local
botanist that helped me for several days.) |
?? |
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| We searched for
quite a while with no luck. |
Eventually we
stopped at this little riverside community. |
Locals just
returning from the market. |
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| Here we found
another Psiguria but without flowers; probably the same species as
the last one. |
We traced the
vine back to the main stem, and it was huge! |
Karla and the
boat driver helped trace the vine back to the main stem. |
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| The leaflets of
the trifoliate leaf are thick, leathery, and HUGE! |
It's nice to
have a bridge! |
Going back to
Iquitos. |
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| Flying back from
Lima to Miami, there was fog in Miami, so we had to sit on the tarmac in
Nassau Bay, Bahamas for a while. |
Miami coastline. |
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