Volunteer Tasks at Picaflor Research Centre

Volunteer tasks at Picaflor Research Centre include pumping well water into the holding tank.

The volunteer tasks at Picaflor Research Centre pretty much seem like a cover-up to disguise that the centre no longer appears to be in operation. We mainly just maintain the house and grounds, if and when Pico feels like it. One day we weeded the banana farm. Useless job. Another day we mowed the lawn — with machetes. […]

First Days at Picaflor Research Centre

Lobster claw bromeliads growing just outside the hacienda at Picaflor Research Centre in Peru's Tambopata region.

During my first days at Picaflor Research Centre, Pico took me on a small introductory tour of the trails behind the house (reed roof, walkways, screens instead of windows — very exotic). He pointed out various things to eat, like Brazil nuts and guanábana. We even saw two red macaws, a monkey walking high above in the canopy, […]

Getting to Picaflor Research Centre, Tambopata River

Getting to Picaflor Research Centre on the Tambopata River in a peki peki.

I ended up staying in Cusco one more night, for the simple reason that I mistimed my arrival in Puerto Maldonado. Since getting to Picaflor Research Centre for my volunteer commitment on the day I’d said I’d be there had become impossible, I took a one-way flight to the jungle. I was disappointed, for I was looking forward […]

Archive Navigation (Numbered Page List)