On Monday, February 8, biologists Santi Castroviejo and Victor Vargas, along with journalist Andy Isaacson (working for the BioGraphic project of California Academy of Sciences) arrived exhausted and wet to Camp 2. They had hiked a long way by themselves because two Ashaninka workers had deserted them and the rest of the team was opening a track above the precarious Camp 3 at 2,650 m.
Despite the weather conditions, the shortage of dry clothes, and the fact that Camp 2 is less comfortable than Camp 1 (where we at least had cooking gas and an electric generator), we enjoy our life in the forest. Tracks, footprints and scats of the secretive spectacle Andean bear are abundant; and shy birds such as tinamous, hummingbirds, anteaters, tanagers, wrens, manakins, toucanets, pigeons and others visit the bushes around our campsite everyday.
José Padial and his team of researchers are traveling in the Vilcabamba mountains of Peru in the pursuit of biodiversity research. He blogs and sends photos as frequently as possible to capture his expedition along the way.
