QueenPuya

Greetings,

I´m back now at my homebase in Quito, and am quite happy about it. Things took a bit of turn for the worst, but let us recap some of the positive first, shall we? When I wrote my entry from Cuenca I wasn´t quite in the mood to appreciate how fun a place it was. The collecting was great, first of all. We hired a taxi, which was a big mistake for him as a truck was really what was necessary to make it up to Paramo Matanga, but it really wasn´t my problem as long as the thing kept moving. Our first stop was kind of exciting, though it did involve hiking on a cliffside, which is brutal on the ankles and not the most fun. Why it was exciting, though, is I think I found my first sort of big discovery of the trip. A species that is only recorded in the north (Puya aequatorialis) I think was all over the hillside and actively hybridiznig with this other species. I was able to collect both species and the hybrid and will take them to Mr. Puya to verify. Cool! Headed further up, up, and up hitting major rocks all the way and having to wait for large earthmovers fixing the road to move for us (again, I will never go collecting in the rainy season...the roads are dirt and the hills are dirt and they burned down everything holding it together) Ironically, the people in the next town over the mountain had closed the road in protest because of the road´s condition....they were working on it, just starting on the other side! People have a funny way of getting things done around here. Up on the paramo I got to see the tiniest Puya of all...Puya exigua...in full bloom! It has rosy, round bracts and black flowers just peaking out of the top layer of bracks. It clumps a lot and lives right with another tiny Puya, P. pygmaea, which doesn´t clump. Edwin collected one to put in his paramo collecting at the Quito Garden.

We also saw the giant Puya ¨brackeana¨, which I´m pretty convinced is the same as Puya hamata. Mr. Puya just looked for a few minute differences in this population, so he could name a new species after his wife. I can´t blame him, but I wasn´t prepared to kill an entire plant just to prove this point. To take a specimen of this species, I´d have to cut the whole thing down, and it doesn´t clump, so that is thirty years or more of growth for naught. I just couldn´t do it....maybe that makes me a bad Botanist, but I think it means I am a good person. The plant was past flowering and had brown shiny seed capsules a few weeks away from opening. It would be like killing a pregnant woman! NO thanks....I vouchered it with a photo instead.

Back in Cuenca and had to face the arduous task of pressing the plants again. The lady who ran our inn was very intrigued, though her bustling about trying to clean up after me was a bit annoying and she mixed up some of my leaves. She just loved the plants, though, and asked that the extra inflorescence chunks of Puya navarroana be strewn about the inn for her grandson´s birthday party (aged 4) the next day! So there was a little kids party with spiny Puya chunks next to the candy bowl. Whatever works, I guess. She´ll email us a picture. Then we had one last meal of hamburgers, which were decent, before heading north. OUtside the hamburger shop there was a little boy, maybe two years old, sitting by himself with a little cup, begging for money. He wasn´t very insistent, just sleepy. He kept almost falling over with tiredness. Now, I´ve seen a lot of street kids here, but this one really broke my heart. I know his mother (in a very ragged band of campesinos the next block over) was nearby and had set him here just to prey on my emotions, but damned if it didn´t work. I nearly broke down. I opted instead to give him some money and found him later eating a mango. At least it as nutritious. Maybe someday we´ll adopt a South American kid.

The busride north to Ambato was really annoying, because it was a bus with stops and people would jump on, ride half a mile and then demand to get off. It took about 7 hours and they didn´t even show movies. Thank God for the iPod again. There is a lot of time to be killed down here and the three things that get me by are said iPod, Suduko (Thanks Matt!) and Moby Dick (again, Thanks Matt! My husband is a substitute teacher, and an expert on knowing how to kill time during long boring days). In Ambato, we opted for Chinese food, which was pretty tasty and a much needed change. I couldn´t eat much, I think, because I was getting sick.

I woke up the next morning and couldn´t really eat breakfast and said I was feeling debil/weak. Found our taxi for the day in the driving rain and headed up, up, up over the mountain to Guaranda. I broke into a full fever, which was pretty miserable, but also kind of trippy at 4200m. I got to see (at least I´m pretty sure I saw...) a herd of about 10 wild vicuñas (the ancestor of the llama and alpaca) majestically running through Chimborazo Fauna reserve. They have long skinny necks and reddish fur and white bellies. In my state, I thought they were like Puya and didn´t move, so I though I could just take a picture of them when we returned. Oh well. Cody, I couldn´t convince any to fit into a pocket. This is really the only interesting animal I´ve seen on the trip, except for a few stunning hummingbirds and other birds and this rabbit in El Cajas. No monkeys...

We found Puya vestita growing in rows marking off a cow pasture. It is not the most interesting of plants, but this was the first time I´d seen this people actually use the plants, so that was kind of cool. We made it down to Guaranda, where again, it was a festival day (this towns Independence Day). This means that everyone puts their piglet, goat, chicken, calf on a leash and takes it to town to try to sell it. In the driving rain and in my condition I wasn´t in much of amood to join in the festivities. Found some aspirin, though, and this calmed the chills considerable. I was determined to find the last plant for the day, though...Puya ferruginea, one of my favorites. It grows in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia and this was supposedly the northernmost population. We looked EVERYWHERE and asked everyone if they´d seen it, but to no avail. It is gone....I don´t know what happened, as it is a great clumper and I don´t think burning would do it in. Exhausted, fivety dollars poorer and only one species richer, we returned to Ambato. I slept the whole way, a feat in a cab packed with gear. I was way too tired to take the bus to Quito, so I opted to spend one more day in Ambato. I gave Edwin some money (somethign I do a lot, gladly, but I´m rapidly tiring of) and spent the rest of the day in bed. Edwin tried to convince Monica to come down and spend the day with him shoe shopping (about one of the only things she likes to do...but it didn´t work out. Nothing really seems to work out between them. I hope Edwin knows what he is doing!) Napped some, watched some cable, including seeing the Village in English. I thought it was pretty good, actually. Slept through the night, except was awoken by a mosquito buzzing in my ear. I killed it, but I became terribly paranoid I had malaria...which is ridiculous at this altitude, but I wasn´t in my right mind.

This morning the fever was gone and I was able to make it back to Quito. Poor Edwin, I think he was really scared for me. Trust me, I´ve had way worse in both Bolivia and Brazil....no stomach problems this time around! Today I napped some more and am loaded up on tea and juice. I think I´ll be healthy enough for Cotapaxi on Tuesday and then Papallacta. Two more days in the field should about do it for me! I can´t wait to come home, really. I feel like I´ve seen it. I will enjoy the next week, and I do have stuff to do, but the US will be a welcome site indeed. If you have any souvenir requests, get them in now!!

Love,

Rachel