Thoughts entering Peru

I have arrived in Peru safe and sound. I have a welcome couple of days off with the crew, while our boss takes care off different paperwork things for the project. We go back into the forest (Selva) tomorrow (well, back for the crew, first time for me). Iquitos is definitely a frontier type town. It will take some getting used to when I am here.

Anyway, I thought I would post (most) of my journal entry that I wrote on the plane on the way here.

6-7 September 2010.

Somewhere over the Atlantic/Gulf regions. On the way to Peru!

I feel much more relaxed about this than I expected. Perhaps I haven't had time to get jittery. Perhaps it is because this is the 4th time I've entered (well, 5th with the Aussie reentry) a foreign country in the past 16 months. Or maybe I'm too excited. Or because it sounds like my future boss helped put the entry at ease.

Whatever the reason, I have mixed feelings now about many things. I wonder how warm/hot it will really feel like. I am in disbelief I will be in the Amazon - the Amazon! - in about 12 hours. And my mind still hasn't wrapped itself around the fact I'll be seeing oodles of new birds soon. The goal is 1.400 world total before I leave - a "mere" 169 birds away.

I rarely have problems with coworkers, but I wonder what the crew will be like. I expect I'll be the oldest - but that no longer bothers me. I attribute that to having worked with Ryan twice - it is nothing to be ashamed of doing something you love. And my recent past employers have like my maturity.

I am glad for how off the grid we will be, save for one aspect. I spend far entirely too much time online when I have it - and this trip wreally will force long breaks. As always, I will be glad for no T.V. It really does seem to be too much of a distraction.

As much as I try to imagine what this job will be like - I can't. I have spent time in rainforests in Ecuador, in Costa Rica, in Australia. I look forward to my first view of the river. To the wildlife. To the heat, even. To just the experience.

I finally feel my typical writing skills are back. Maybe I need to stop being "photo heavy" in my blog. This is what the flickr site is for.

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So, what birds and other wildlife do I expect? Well, I'm sure I'll see a new species of monkey. Some kind of toucan. Lots of antbirds and mannakins. A few hummers - not many, being the rainforest. Hopefully a new raptor or two. I would love a sungrebe or sunbittern.

So, lots of excitement to come. I will try very hard to be diligent, and write every day. Also to shoot a little video every week.