Earning a privileged insight and an afternoon to say goodbye to the Amazon: Belem day 3 – The collections

Posted on 29 April 2015 by Pete

Today I had to present a research seminar to the geneticists and biochemists at the museum, then George had to jump on a plane home after which Luis and I had been promised a glimpse of the collections. This promise gave me the adrenaline to overcome last night’s beer and find my voice. I have
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Trust in People: Belem – Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi

Posted on 29 April 2015 by Pete

After a a groggy start we stocked-up our energy on Tapioca pancakes (http://flavorsofbrazil.blogspot.com.br/2011/06/tapioca-what-it-is-depends-on-where-you.html), caffeine and juice and tried to start to address the issues that had arisen. We had a quick win over breakfast when George’s EMBRAPA colleague Santarem came through big time – access to two sites, a vehicle and a cheap (almost free) field station to
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Positive thinking: Manaus to Belem

Posted on 29 April 2015 by Pete

Today George, Luis and I had to leave the team in Manaus and travel to Belem to meet the archaeologists and anthropologists that work at the ‘Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi’ in an attempt to identify sites for the next field trip in may.  Leaving was tough as although everyone had enjoyed collecting their favourite species rather than the systematic
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Video of Giant Earthworm Poo

Posted on 27 April 2015 by Pete

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Team Selfie – Tera Preta soils team

Posted on 27 April 2015 by Pete

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The rain cometh and the worm rise (with a little help): Manaus Day 7 last day in the field

Posted on 26 April 2015 by Pete

Well today was the last day in the field for me and I was rearing to go and complete control sites for the dark soil sites we had done on Day 2 (crop and new (ish) secondary forest.  Being saturday we flew out of Manaus without the now customary traffic issue and raced to the
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Giant ‘Earthworm’ Poo: Manaus Day 6 Sampling non tera preta soil

Posted on 26 April 2015 by Pete

Sorry for not post yesterday – a tremendous thunderstorm in Manaus knocked out the internet for 24 hours – no internet how can one survive? Well you do the next best thing and sample earthworms. Today’s sampling is a non-dark earth (tera preta) site and I had been promised something special and I wasn’t disappointed
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Spaghetti, chicken and salad – nothing like a cooked lunch: Manaus Day 5 EMBRAPA field station site three.

Posted on 24 April 2015 by Pete

We just made the supermarket before closing last night and in addition to 18 Kg of onions, we brought lunch. As I checked out it struck me that we had spaghetti, rice, salad and four chickens – my mind spent all night thinking about the dish this combo would make – but to be honest
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Driving in the rain forest

Posted on 23 April 2015 by Pete

Here’s a youtube video of us going to site Monday –
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The ‘dark earth horizon’ and onions: Manaus Day 4 a team forged by the heat of the sun

Posted on 23 April 2015 by Pete

Wake up call at 6.00 am and everyone has tasks to do before we hit the road. The idea is to beat the Manaus rush hour at 7.00am – it makes sense to work early when the heat is not that oppressive, but it makes for very sleepy people trying to remember what they need
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