re: Fernando's CP Expedition

From: Fernando Rivadavia Lopes (fe_rivadavia@hotmail.com)
Date: Sat Jan 30 1999 - 11:35:27 PST


Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 11:35:27 PST
From: "Fernando Rivadavia Lopes" <fe_rivadavia@hotmail.com>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg272$foo@default>
Subject:  re: Fernando's CP Expedition

Dear Jason,

>How lucky to have such a treasure trove of CP in your backyard.

            I WISH it was my backyard! Please take a look at a map and
you'll see that the Venezuelan Gran Sabana, for example, is almost the
same distance away from my hometown, Sao Paulo, as it is from where you
live, in New York state! And the total distance I travelled (by foot,
plane, boat, and car) from the moment I landed in Manaus to when I flew
out of there 6 weeks later, was nearly 4000km!!! And just the flight
from Sao Paulo to Manaus lasts almost 4h!

> All the more reason to save the rain forests of that lovely country.

           Thanks for the praise! Actually, we didn't see any CPs in
rainforest, except for the epiphytic Utrics in the cloud forests of
Neblina. Considering how much we hear about the destruction of the
Amazon, we were very surprised at how much virgin forest there still is.
While flying over the Amazon (S.Paulo -- Manaus, Manaus -- Sao Gabriel,
and Manaus -- Boa Vista), it was amazing to see how the forest just went
on and on, untouched, one massive green carpet.
           Yet it was also sad to see the huge holes and garbage left
behind by the illegal gold prosperctors ("garimpeiros") up on Neblina.
Unfortunately it's very difficult to control all the thousands of
garimpeiros in the Amazon. First of all, there's not enough money to
patrol all these huge national parks, some the size of small European
countries. And second of all, even when removed, the garimpeiros quickly
return. After all, it's rainforest all around, how are you going to keep
them from walking back in??

>Personally I find this fascinating. If you have any pictures please
>think about posting them at a website or, perhaps, allow Rick to put
>them in the database where pictures are lacking. I'd love to see >these
species as I'm sure everyone else would.

          It's surely in my plans. But I believe Andreas Wistuba will
have his pictures up on his webpage much quicker. I haven't even gotten
around to developing my film yet!

>Many thanks for the mini travel log!!

          More to come.......

Best Wishes,

Fernando Rivadavia
Sao Paulo, Brazil



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