Saturday, September 19, 2015

Universidad Estatal Amazonica

We woke up in the morning at the Cabanas de Rio Anzu, and knew we were in the tropics!


The Oropendola nests are a dead giveaway.  Oropendolas are blackbirds with golden tails that make hanging nests.

The research station (CIPCA) is in Santa Clara, 40 km from the University in Puyo.  The Cabanas is there too, about a 2 km walk.  We drove from the Cabanas to the research station to pick up David and Mercedes, and thence to Puyo and the Universidad Estatal Amazonica.



The University is small (but growing), with about 900 students.  We attended the morning part of the orientation, then attempted to work on the hiring process.  We discovered that the Rector (head of the university) and at least 3 other important officials were out of town, and wouldn’t get back until classes started.  we will need to wait until they return.  However, they could have hired me full time to teach English immediately.  But that wouldn't allow me any time for research or improving my Spanish.  We will wait until the Rector returns to start the hiring process.

There must be bright lights on the white buildings at night: we found many huge moths perched on them even in the daytime.


This Morpheis pyracmon  (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) moth is about 3 inches long, and in a family that is fairly scarce in the US.  The caterpillars bore in wood.  They seem to be common here.

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