Study Abroad: Naturally, I'd Select to go to Galápagos!: Tiputini Biodiversity Station

This past week, I started off my Tropical Ecology class with a trip to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station*. The station is right on the Tiputini river, which is a tributary of the Napo river. It is so secluded that it took us about 8 hours to get there. It started off with a bus ride to the airport (1/2 hour), a 45 minute flight, a 15 minute bus ride, a 2 hour boat ride, a 2 hour bus ride, and another 2 hour boat ride. The station is absolutely amazing, and the week flew by. I learned so much at the station, however, I am glad to be going back to Quito where I will not be perpetually wet. We did public policy exercises at the station concerning oil companies and the rainforest, we hiked a lot, we climbed a tower into the canopy, floated down the Tiputini river, did a field exercise that involved measuring trees and statistical analysis, and more! My favorite part was the library there. It had tons of books about ecology, entomology, vertebrate biology, and more. I would usually go in there at least once a day and read about what I had seen that day, or other stuff I found interesting.

Here are some pictures! Shoutout to my brother, Ben, for letting me borrow his gopro.

*Funny side story: We had to wait at this dingy resort for one of our boats, and there was a restaurant there. Our professor, Esteban, told us that we could eat there if we wanted to. Later we found out that he got typhoid from the restaurant once. (We didn't eat there Mom, don't worry) #dontdrinkthejuice