The market in Chachapoyas:

I loved the long row of vendors selling fruit. The colors were amazing, the people were happy...and the fruit was delicious!

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures of the market. Seeds are amazing; plants are amazing; the fish are alright!




























They make a juice out of this corn.







Fruit from a palm.

The fruit below is from a cactus! It is amazing!

More photos from Huaylla Belen Valley:


Collecting and identifying



Stuck in the mud


Taking a break from pushing

Hoping the rain will hold off as we collect...



Collecting near the village of Cruzpata along the trail to Karajia:



Waiting out the rain...again.





Friends along the way:








These kids rocked! Not only did they know their plants but they helped us collect as well.

Karajia:

Collecting in the Huaylla Belen Valley area:


The view as we started up the road to the Amazonas region.

We stayed in the town of Lumad. A statue of Jesus Christ looking over the town.


The view of the town at the top of the hill where the statue is.


The first couple of days we collected in the cloud forest. It rained...a lot...and was very cold.




The valley of Huaylla Belen
The collectors: Carolina, Carlos and Claudia

Life could not be complete without some photos of the plants in the area.

Need to identify (above)
Pasiflora (above)
Nasa (above)
Orchid
Aroids

Back in Chachapoyas. Collections from our last day in the field waiting to be pressed.

Adventures in Peru:

We were suppose to leave today to collect in the Maranon area. But, a drunk driver crashed into Carlos and Carolina's parked car at 4:00AM this morning. Needless to say...we are still in Chachapoyas. :)




The driver on the left, his friend in the middle, and Carlos (all the way to the right) talking about the accident.

The markets are only the beginning of our botanizing fun! After the markets we spend hours at the herbarium pressing our plants and putting the bulk samples in the plant drier. We ran out of "press guts" and had to cut up cardboard...we also had to build another plant drier to accommodate all of our bulk samples.

Herbarium Fun:

L: Plant presses

B: "Eating" Noni

Using a hand lens to look closer at the characteristics of this Asteraceae; pressing plants from the market. :)

About 1/4 of our bulk samples lined up outside the herbarium.



While botanizing is a lot of fun for botanists...to the students it's another story... :)

The students preparing for their week of botanizing!

Playing trivia games!