Friday evening, January 25, 2019

The late afternoon excursion was an evening hike in the Dorado Flood Forest, to look for creepy-crawlies. Both of the photography experts accompanied us on this excursion, and I was fortunate enough to pick up a few pointers from them that improved the quality of the photos I got tonight (at least I think so).

We boarded our skiff and traveled about 50 feet to our destination. It was probably too muddy to walk. We were fitted with tall rubber boots before heading out.

Among the millions of mosquitoes (many of which bit me through my permethrin-treated clothing), we found bats, grasshoppers, katydids, frogs, and butterflies. A highlight was watching a butterfly lay its eggs on a leaf!

We were getting so distracted by all of the beauty of the Peruvian night that our expedition coordinator had to come and remind us to return to the skiff so the crew could get to bed before midnight! If it weren’t for the mosquitoes, I could have stayed for hours. By the way, the worst place to get bitten is on the palm of the hand. Every time you move your fingers, it starts to burn and itch all over again.