Next Race - Nocatee Challenge

The ACC is now called the Nocatee Challenge and I am racing with team FLXtreme. I enjoyed this race a lot last year and am looking forward to it again this year - all the details are at http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/race.php?r=40 - it looks like there are a lot of teams in the Sport class race and just a small group (10 teams) going for the 30 hour race.

Guana at Sunset - Courtesy of www.teamracephotos.com

I've got some pics from last years race - but you'll need to friend me on Facebook so you can see my albums... I Use FB since it is pretty easy and convenient to use.

Race to the Yukon

I just finished my friend Rod Price's book "Race to the Yukon" - a great read, you can find it at http://www.rodpriceadventure.com/

To me it is amazing how small the community of true adventurers and ultra-endurance athletes is in the US and the world. I am truly blessed to know a lot of them and recognize a lot of them from the book. We are a small and crazy group, but we love it.

Stories From the Amazon - Lodge at Pavacachi

Not everyone wants to rough it in the jungle. For those folks Mickey built an incredible lodge near the airstrip in Pavacachi. I've never had the pleasure of actually staying in the lodge - but am looking forward to it, so we want people to join the level 1 adventures so I will get the chance.



www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories From the Amazon - Foraging Mushrooms

Eating forest mushrooms is always a pretty iffy thing. Some are delicious as long as they don't kill you. Others have adverse but temporary side effects, some of which can be quite fun. Here is our expedition learning about which one to eat and which ones to avoid.

The Equator and the Coriolis Effect

I was curious about the coriolis effect. I knew that it had a large scale impact on the weather and wind patterns. I also knew that it was the reason we see counter-clockwise rotation when water moves through a drain. The question is - what happens on the equator, and how far do you need to be from the equator to observe the effect - well here is a video showing the effect in action. In case you are wondering - we tried this over and over again and always got the exact same results - happy viewing.

Stories From the Amazon - Amazon Architecture

As we headed downstream we came upon the community of Victoria. We needed to stop and arrange passage and ability to explore the region of this community. We were told by a local lady that was out in a dugout where the community "president" or "leader" lived. We headed to meet with him. Pictured is his location from the river;

We docked and headed up the cliff to meet with him. His young son greeted us with a bow and arrow, though a couple days later he was our buddy. The compound consisted of 2 open air building. One was basically the kitchen (it had a fire) - but was a complete marvel of architecture. There were no nails - just joints and joists that were put together by fitting them together.

You can see the incredible symmetry of the architecture from this interior shot of the hut. It is pretty amazing. It is also incredibly sturdy. The construction of these huts is a community project and takes about 6 months. The roof - though it looks flimsy - is quite watertight and will last up to 20 years (yes 20 years!) - so these are really architectural wonders that would be incredibly difficult to duplicate in the "civilized" world.

Speaking from experience, having a nice dry, covered space to meet, eat, or just to hang out is a pretty nice thing in the rain forest.

www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories from the Amazon - Balsa Rafts

OK - so I had a little fun with this one. Bucket List Item #74, the video tells it all. This is on the Curaray River in the Amazon Rainforest. The Balsa rafts were quite fun.



www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories from the Amazon - Getting to Pavacachi

Sometimes getting there is half the fun. Well getting to the Amazon has a lot of fun associated with it. First we flew from Miami to Quito. From Quito it is a 5 hour drive down the Pan-American Highway to the road to Banos and then to Banos. Of course we had to stop and climb to the glacier at Cotapaxi and a mountain bike ride down the side of the volcano (I had a pretty bad elevation headache - but still enjoyed it). After a night in Banos it is about a one hour drive through the cloud forest, through tunnels, past waterfalls, to Shell. From Shell it is a hop on a small plane to a tiny airstrip in Pavacachi. From there it is a dugout canoe - and the expedition really begins - but just getting to Pavacachi is an amazing adventure in itself.



www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories From the Amazon - Traveling on the River

Travel on the Curaray river is quite enjoyable. We were traveling in a large dugout canoe made from a single trunk of a very large tree. The native guides had built this boat and Mickey had supplied the motor. When we went into some of the lagoons we would use a much smaller dugout. Travel on the river is pleasant - though we would get the occasional rainstorm. This, however, was what it was like - realizing that we would come across birds, monkeys, river dolphins, and other wildlife that kept it always interesting. Reading on the tribes and history of the Curaray River is recommended as it has a fascinating history. For information about the area - Uncontacted.com is a very interesting resource.



www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories from the Amazon - FOX 35 Coverage

FOX 35 did some really good coverage of the Amazon expeditions. Even though most of the footage is from other expeditions - the content is really cool and is much of the same things we saw and did.



www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories from the Amazon - Fishing

Our staple diet while we were in the Amazon were fish (and the fruits and vegetables). Fishing was pretty easy in the lagoons and we used a variety of techniques to fish included fixed gill nets. Pirhana were the easiest catch and we caught and ate quite a few. Because of their teeth they easily bit through the line so we had to use a steel lead between the lines and the hook. Some of the more exotic and edible catches we had were the Electric Eels, Peacock Bass, and Armored Catfish.



Hereis Mickey holding a good sized Pirhana catch;

Amanda holding a Peacock Bass we caught in the side lagoons;

www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories from the Amazon - Parrots on the Clay Lick

I know everyone is waiting for the Taegari story - but you are just going to have to wait. While going downriver towards Loracachi we came across a clay lick. This is a spot where the parakeets congregate (especially in the morning) to lick minerals from the clay. These minerals help neutralize the toxins in the nuts and berries that the birds eat as their primary diet. This clay lick was in a very good location for observation as it was along the river. We found other clay licks deeper in the jungle - but they were usually a pretty good hike. In this video the 2 most predominant birds are the Amazon Parrot and the blue headed parrot.



for more adventure footage and pictures see www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Stories From the Amazon - Giant Kapok Tree

One of the amazing aspects of our jungle adventure is the ability to winch up into one of giant Kapok trees. These trees are amazing - but what is more amazing is watching the Amazon Natives climb these trees. One of our guides, Bartolo, scales 170 feet into this tree without ropes in under 4 minutes;



Of course the view from the top is pretty amazing (I took a much easier route after Bartolo set the ropes).



From this spot I could see a Caiman in the little lagoon. We all took turns up in the tree, it was pretty amazing. For more cool footage see www.ecoplanetadventure.com

Expedition Map - Ecuador

Everyone who reads this probably knows I love maps. Well here is a map of some of the expedition - Iam adding details, but internet here is slow and this may have to wait until I am back in US.


View Eco-Expedition 2010 in a larger map