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 A view from the bow of the dugout canoe as we head up the Rio Beni to the Rio Tuichi, into some of the wildest primary rainforest left on the planet. Jan. 2006 © Larry Evans
 A purple Ganoderma conk growing around a fresh woody shoot, Margarita Island, Venezuela. Dec. 2007 © Daniel Winkler
Also we will be able to offer personalized tours to Bolivia - here a link to Larry's Bolivia page - and Peru between December and March and . Please ask for details.
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NEW!
MushRoaming Ecuador 2011
We are working on tour design with Fungal Jungal's Larry Evans, an expert on Bolivia's rain forest fungi.
When:
February 12-25, 2011
Where:
Ecuador Rainforest
Based in a nice, clean Canadian run jungle lodge connected to an organic chocolate plantation.
Arrival and departure from Quito, Ecuador's beautiful capital.
Cost:
No final calculations yet, we estimate around $2500 for all the expenses on the ground including accommodations, food & river boat transportation and canoe excursions.
Participants will need to organize their own flights to Quito.
We accept pre-registration.
$500 deposit for place guarantee possible, fully refundable until final price is announced.
Day 1(Feb 12, 2010) We meet in Quito, orientation, stay at Quito hotel. Some may arrive earlier.
Day 2 Minibus transport to Misahualli, arrive at Jungle Chocolate Lodge, dinner and adjusting
Day 3, 4, 5: Option to horseback ride morning or evening, visit Misahualli morning or evening, hike morning or evening, expand your ability to photograph mushrooms during an afternoon session, visit local wildlife zoo, attend activities and festivals with local indigenous people, and every day there is the option to foray for tropical fungi in a variety of habitats, from pasture to jungle, and to visit a number of local nature preserves. All these activities will be conducted by licensed guides fluent in English, Spanish, or German and knowledgable about the local ecosystems.
Day 6, 7 Option to visit Jatun Satcha jungle preserve via canoe (all day), Option for rafting (all day) .
Day 8, 9,10, workshops and hands-on cultivation of oyster mushrooms for oil spill cleanup and for growing food locally. Option to visit to oil lagoons in the Lago Agrio area and view test remediation plots (half or full day), or engage in developing ongoing oil cleanup projects.
Day 11, 12, A day of recreation, hiking, mushroom collecting, other activities at Jungle Chocolate Lodge
Day 13, 14 return to Quito Shopping and entertainment in Quito
for inquiries please send emails to:
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 Pycnoporus sanguineus or P. cinnabarinus is a beautiful wood rotter common all over the tropics and beyond. Margarita Island, Venezuela Dec. 2007 © Daniel Winkler
 A view of the dock near Lago Chalalan, where our group is housed during our jungle stay. Lodging, food, and guide service are included.
Jan. 2008 © Larry Evans
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 A beautiful lepiotaceous fungi in Margarita Island, Venezuela. Dec. 2007. © Daniel Winkler
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 Larry with a termite nest known as a San Pablos beard. These insects live with domesticated fungi that may fruit if the nest dies.
Chalalan, Bolivia, Jan 2008 © Larry Evans
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 Cotylidia, one of the unusual wood decomposing fungi found in the Yungas and jungles of Bolivia. Near Esmeraldas, Feb. 2006 © Larry Evans
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 A view of the valleys spreading out towards the Amazon basin from Coroico, a picturesque village in the Bolivian Yungas. Jan 2006 © Larry Evans
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 Earth stars, a beautiful example of these puffball-like fungi that are found in the jungle. Ecuador, Jan 2006 © Larry Evans
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 A jungle frog sings for a mate. He was encountered on a night time walk, where we also encountered tarantulas and bioluminescent fungi. Ecuador, Jan 2007
© Larry Evans
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 Searching through the wreckage where a giant tree branch has fallen, Larry and Ricardo look for unusual fungi and lichens not encountered on the forest floor.Jan 2007, Bolivia © Larry Evans
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Oil in the Jungle
Pollution from reckless oil drilling by Exxon has caused serious environmental damage in the rainforest of Ecuador.
Too clean up the jungle there are experiments underway using wood digesting fungi to render the oil in harmless organic matter.
Here a few pictures from such a site
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 Ecuador's rainforest in Jatun Sacha rainforest preserve, seen from the observation tower that penetrates the tree canopy. Everything looks so verdant and virgin from above. However on the ground are serious pollution problems.
Ecuador, Feb. 19, 2007 © Larry Evans
 Donald Moncayo digs oil from down slope of a "restored" oil site in which several feet of soil were bulldozed atop a pool of crude petroleum
 Donald Moncayo holding up a tree rotter near the oil seeping site.
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 An oil lake in Ecuador's rainforest. The black oil is toxic and contaminates water supplies; thousands of locals have died prematurely from various cancers associated with this contamination. Ecuador, Feb. 22, 2010. © Larry Evans
 Here the oil in the jungle seeping out of the ground.
 In the test area bamboo tubes are buried, which were filled with oyster mushroom culture and substrate. Less than 3 weeks after this test plot was established a change in the soil was apparent.
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Some pictures from Bolivia
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 Larry at the gate to the Bolivian National Herbarium in 2008. La Paz
© Larry Evans
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 Rurrenabaque is a colorful port town on the Beni river. This our jumping-off spot for the jungle. Canoes go up and down the river, and cross over to the road to Tumupasa Bolivia, Photo: © Larry Evans, 2007
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 An unusual jelly-like fungus encountered in Coroico, in the Yungas region of Bolivia. © Larry Evans
 Larry in front of the Santana Hotel, his digs in Rurrenabaque, Bolivia.
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 Larry beside his faithful steed on a journey past coca fields to the waterfall at Coroico. Bolivia © Larry Evans
 The garden of the Santana Hotel, Bolivia © Larry Evans
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