Guayaquil Reflections
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Day 6Our second day in Guayaquil was very exciting. We were off to see the Churute Ecological Mangrove Reserve. This 86,000 ha reserve preserves some pristine mangrove swamps and dry tropical forests. Mangroves are very cool trees. They are found along many tropical coasts around the world, and they are very unique because they actually thrive in salt water. Mangroves are extremely important since they are valuable habitat for many species of fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other aquatic life. They also provide protection from erosion and act as barriers to reduce storm surge where there is human development. In order to live in salt water, they have adapted a system in which they actually pump out extra salt through their leaves. I had never been to a mangrove swamp, and I was extremely excited to finally be able to see one with my own eyes. Before we even arrived at the swamp, we stopped along a roadside fruit stand and tried many different fruits, all freshly picked from t the surrounding farmland. We sampled zapote, a green fruit, with orange flesh and four big seeds, machete guava, a long green machete shaped fruit, with cottony white flesh around big shiny black seeds, mangos, pineapples, and bananas. All of the fruits were delicious.
We finally arrived at the reserve and as we walked along a raised boardwalk over the muddy swamp, we could see crabs popping in and out of their little holes. These crabs eat mangrove leaves and help aerate the muck of the swamp for the roots of the mangroves. They are also harvested outside of the reserve for a tasty meal. Once we reached the water, we hopped into a motorized canoe and set off through the swamp, looking out for birds. We saw more different birds here than I have in my life. Roseate spoonbills were flying around in flocks. There were herons, pelicans, ospreys, and many other types of birds I could not even identify. It was quite amazing to see. I was also on the lookout for salt water crocodiles, since they inhabit these waters but (thankfully) we did not see any. Moving from the canoe ride to the dry tropical forest, we were now on the hunt for howler monkeys. I can only imagine the fear on the faces of the first conquistadors to hear the blood curdling screams of these monkeys. They sound like demons that came straight from the fire and brimstone of hell itself. These monkeys also proved to be elusive, as we did not see a single one. They stayed about 400 yards away hidden amongst the trees. Another noticeable aspect of the dry tropical forest was the amount of mosquitos. They were as thick as clouds and without proper precautions they would have sucked us dry of our blood. They even bit some of us through our clothing. Our guide took us through this path that brought us around to some immense strangler figs. These plants are parasitic and they grow around trees over time. Eventually the host tree dies and the fig creates a circular hollow trunk. The strangler fig drops down new roots to continue its assault on the forest trees moving from place to place. They are like walking giants among the forest. Our guide explained that plants are not slow; they just live on a much different time scale than us. Some plants have developed a defense against the strangling fig. The garlic tree, named for its garlic scented bark produces a latex compound that kills any advancing tendrils of the parasitic fig. Other vines have caught on to this evolutionary trait and they just climb up the tree with little hook like vines instead of actually penetrating the bark. Another cool thing we saw in the dry tropical forest was a colony of army ants marching through the forest floor. The soldier ants have giant modified mandibles that they use to defend the colony and also slice up any of their victims. The ants we saw were just moving the colony elsewhere. It was easy to tell since the colony was in a single file formation. When army ants hunt they spread across the forest floor, literally forcing all the bugs and animals that live there to run away. They sting injecting formic acid into their prey and then cut it up into pieces to bring along with them on their travels. These ants are literally the exterminators of the forest. Our guide even demonstrated the mandibles of the ants, by voluntarily being bit by one. It was pretty raw. Even when separated from the body, the head and mandibles stay clinched on the skin. After our howler monkey hike it was time to go to a cacao farm. We were going to learn how to make chocolate. After a wonderful lunch on an outdoor patio at the farm, we visited the cacao trees. The chocolate comes from these weird pods that grow out of the trunk and branches of the tree like some kind of disease. The insides are full of what are called the cacao beans and they are coated in a white slimy flesh, which is actually extremely sweet. The cacao beans are bitter themselves and they still have awhile to go before they are ready to become a chocolate bar. After the beans are extracted from the pod they are dried in the sun for 50 hours, then roasted, and finally ground into a paste that is 100 percent cacao. This bitter paste can be mixed with sugar and other things to make chocolate. The whole experience was really unique and the hospitality shown to us by our host was really great. We also learned about how the government developed a specific variety of cacao that was resistant to disease and this was important to the cacao industry in Ecuador. Since all of these plants are technically the clones of this variety, I am worried that they could be susceptible to another disease in the future. After our bellies were full of delicious chocolate we were on our way back to the hotel in Guayaquil. |
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