ANNOUNCING:
Mycotour Ecuador 2008
July 11-28
This tour featuring fungal biodiversity in Ecuador is being hosted by the Amazon Mycorenewal Project and the Ecuadorian Mycological Society in Quito, Lago Agrio, the Galapagos and various regions of Ecuador.
First, some details about the Amazon Mycorenewal Project: Right now we are in the second of a three part experiment phase that began in December 2007, attempting to come up with a technique for bioremediation using mushrooms adapted to the rainy and warm Amazon climate. Our team is strongly hopeful that we will be able to implement mycorenewal on a wide scale once we have the technique established. This will enable us to subcontract community members to grow mycelium and remediate their own lands while earning income. Besides being severely polluted by oil spills, Lago Agrio is a post-oil boom town, an impoverished city where securing a livelihood is always difficult. So the project has socio-economic as well as ecological significance.
The Ecuadorian Mycological Society was formed in January 2008 by a team of Ecuadorian mycologists and biologists who wanted to form the country's first mycological research and hobby organization.
The mycotour is designed as a fund raiser for the Amazon Mycorenewal Project in partnership with the Ecuadorian Mycological Society and our U.S.-based NGO sponsor, the Cloud Forest Institute, which has 10 years of experience leading ecological educational tours around Ecuador and supporting conservation work in the country. We see the trips as a way to expand the community of folks interested in our work and enable people to see a unique side of Ecuador´s biodiversity.
The cost of the tour will run for one thousand five hundred US for the 10-day option and three thousand US for the 17-day tour, which includes the excursion to the Galapagos. That cost includes everything except air travel to Ecuador, travel insurance, souvenirs and other extras. A limited number of partial scholarships are available, so please inquire if you are unable to pay the full amount but still want to attend. Also, we can assist university students to take the trip for independent study credit.
About 2/3 of the days will be spent doing mushroom related activities and the rest relaxing and sightseeing, and this is flexible depending on participants' collective interests which will be sought in a survey once folks have signed up. There are some nature reserves in the highland cloud forests and Amazon rain forest that we will be visiting, as well as the Galapagos for the longer trip option. We will also visit traditional communities in the Amazon region and study ethnic uses of mushrooms, be they for dyes, culinary, medicinal, spiritual uses, etc. See the attached itinerary for details.
We will visit the Lago Agrio land of Donald Moncayo, a leader of the Amazon Defense Front movement working for oil spill justice. He is hosting our mycorenewal experiment plots and gives excellent tours featuring both the diverse richness of the area and the oil pollution damaging it.
Also, we welcome groups of volunteers and interns any other time (except in September through mid-October when we will be raising money and doing speaking events in the U.S.) Folks could help us establish future experiments, take lab samples, design future experiments, or travel to different forests to hunt and catalog which species are present.
Let us know if you have any more questions about the trips. Even if you can´t make it in July, we are happy to offer travel and research advice about Ecuador whenever you happen to be visiting.
Itinerary
Mycotour Ecuador 2008
July 11-28, 2008
Tour option #1
July 11:
-Orientation and meet-and-greet
Talk: -"Fungal biodiversity in Ecuador:: An introduction" by Ecuadorian Mycological Society founders
July 12:
-9 am flight to Lago Agrio
-Arrive in Lago Agrio; depart to Cuyabeno nature reserve via canoes
-Afternoon mushroom hunt/nature walk; relaxation time
Talk: -"Biodiversity, conservation and ecotourism in the Ecuadorian Amazon" by Cloud Forest Institute staff
July 13:
-Afternoon: Examination and taxonomy of species found
Talk: -"Traditional ethnic uses of Amazonian mushrooms" by village elders and Ecuadorian mycologist -All day: Outing to see lagoons and canals in Cuyabeno region; relaxation
July 15:
-Afternoon: Meet with Amazon Defense Front leaders
-Evening: Meet with Amazon Mycorenewal Project coordinators
Talks: -"Ecology, oil, health and justice in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon" by Amazon Defense Front members
-"Mycorenewal: Using oyster mushrooms to remediate contaminated lands" by Amazon Mycorenewal Project members
July 16:
-All day: Toxic Tour led by Donald Moncayo of Amazon Defense Front to both pristine and contaminated sites around Sucumbios province
July 17:
-Afternoon: Group participation and service learning with Amazon Mycorenewal Project
Talk: -"Planning and perfecting fungal bioremediation in the tropics" by Ecuadorian Mycological Society founders
July 18:
-Afternoon: Arrive in Verdecocha or Maquipucuna cloud forest reserve near Quito
-Check into hacienda and hike around nearby trails
Talk: -"Cloud forest ecology, biodiversity and protection" by Cloud Forest Institute staff
July 19:
-Afternoon: Bird watching, horseback riding, relaxation
July 20:
-Afternoon: Quito city tour in colonial historic center
-Evening: Farwell dinner of typical Ecaudorean food with folkloric performance
July 21:
-1-week tour guests depart to various destinations; 2-week guests depart for Galapagos
July 22-28:
6-day Galapagos cruise and sightseeing -1-week tour guests depart to various destinations; 2-week guests depart for Galapagos -Morning: Quick sunrise hike, depart to Nono for lunch-Morning: Mushroom hunt around cloud forest reserves; examine/catalog species found -Morning: Return flight to Quito -Morning: Visits to mycoremediation sites with Amazon Mycorenewal Project coordinators -Morning: return to Lago Agrio-Morning: mushroom hunt led by village elder -7:30 am meet at airport -Dinner in Mariscal district of Quito
For more information contact Jess at
jesswork@gmail.com
http://fungal-jungle.blogspot.com/
