Our week in the Amazon was very rewarding and very challenging. Through extreme heat, bugs, fire ants, butcher wasps, and spiders, we were working on reforestation with our contact, Robin. We spent every day on his farm, which used no electricity save for a solar panel-powered satellite phone and chicken coop electric wire, and learned about the natural biodiversity of the Amazon and how vital it is for the area to protect it. We also got to make homemade banana chocolate dessert and learned the benefits of fermented sour kraut during lunch.
After a 5:30 am wakeup call, we started out with a large area of herbacious forest that we brought down with nothing but nine machetes and a dream (this is where I angered the hive of butcher wasps). We needed to clear the soil for the trees to root, as well as haul all the larger cut down trees off the land so they wouldn't resprout and compete for nutrients. After planting a grid of posts to mark the trees, we planted trees known for timber and essential oils to hopefully perpetuate sustainable products coming out of the Amazon.
As we are currently waiting for another night bus to take us back to Cuzco, we are enjoying the last few hours in Puerto Maldonado, dreaming of cold weather and clean laundry. We learned about medicinal plants, restorative planting, and how the Amazon can provide prosperity to its occupants as well as necessary exports without depleting the trees and endangering species of plant and animal. We also hope that our 120 new trees helps neutralize our carbon footprint from our travel in Peru.