Urubamba adventure

Normally our work is confined to one slope of the Andes, so I decided I would go and check out a valley a bit closer to Cuzco, to see how different things were. It turned out to be quite different. We took the bus to Urubamba at 6am, and "team epiphyte" were in full flow. I am back working with my assisstant from last year, Guido and am now helped by three American undergraduates, Payden, Liz and Sally.

We just spent 2 days, each time hiking up a different valley, and then working in some of the forest we found. The hikes were not easy, but the views were amazing, and both times we followed close to a mountain stream. We found 4 new species of bromeliad, all in flower, which was great! The adventure was a success and I wish I had time to go do some tourism in the Urubamba valley, with its famous Inca ruins.

Im off back to the field tomorrow for about 10 days, my final stint in the cloud forests, with hopes of getting some new data on the photosynthesis and respiration of the epiphytes, but we will see because the equipment we have to use is old and prone to breaking. We were discussing the other day how three research groups who study forest ecology could not manage to buy a decent machine to measure photosynthesis/respiration, and how a Department of Plant Sciences could similarly lack such a machine...!

Anyway, off to Wayqecha and the Trocha Union for one last time this year...