Source: UC Daily News
Have you ever wondered what life is like in the jungles and villages surrounding the Amazon River? Find out during “Life in the Peruvian Amazon,” presented by Orlando Hoyos and his wife, Nancy Hoyos. The event is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. on Thursday, April 22, in Pennebaker Hall, Room 128.The Hoyos will address the isolated villages of subsistence fishermen and farmers, village life and how villagers obtain food and shelter, and how villagers deal with education and illnesses. A Center Stage event, the discussion is open to the public free of charge.
“The Hoyos’ presentation provides a unique opportunity for exposure to a simple life radically different from the American lifestyle,” said Daniel Combs, biology department chairperson. “The people who live in villages along the Peruvian Amazon have very few belongings and depend on the jungle and river for their food, shelter, and other needs.”
Orlando Hoyos, the third of 13 children, was born and raised in Yanamono, Peru, a small fishing village on the bank of the Amazon River. His father was a part-time river trader and a trapper who often went into the Amazon jungle to hunt animals. Hoyos accompanied his father on many of these trips, learning the ways and animals of the jungle along the way.
After teaching himself English with the help of English-speaking tourists, Hoyos became one of the most knowledgeable guides in the Peruvian Amazon. He has often guided biologists, ornithologists and other scientists from the United States.
Nancy Hoyos, an American teacher, first visited the Amazon in 1984. She has a passion for the endangered areas of the Amazon jungle that is more than 20 years in the making. She and Orlando Hoyos married in 1985 and continue to spend eight weeks every summer in the Amazon rainforest. They currently live and work in Boston, Mass.
The Amazon Kingfisher Lodge in Yanamono is owned and operated on private land. The Hoyos live in the lodge during their expeditions, and it is maintained by Orlando’s relatives during the off-season.
“The Hoyos’ lodge near the banks of the Amazon River provides an opportunity to explore areas that most people only see in films,” said Combs. “An early morning walk often provides views of parrots and other colorful birds, basking iguanas, troops of marmoset monkeys and sloths high in the treetops.”
Combs and 30 of his students will tour in two groups with the Hoyos expedition this summer as part of a biology special topics course. The course, Topics in Amazon Ecology, was established to provide students the opportunity to research and plan for this summer’s expedition to the Amazon. This will be Combs’ third trip to the Amazon with the Hoyos.
“Orlando Hoyos was raised in a village along the Amazon, so he is the perfect guide for such an expedition,” said Combs. “He has an in-depth understanding of the jungle, plants, animals and people who live there. Nancy adds the perspective of an American who has spent many years in Peru.”
Combs holds out hope that his students will get to glimpse several wildlife species, especially one of several endangered Amazonian species.
“Two dolphin species occur in the river and its tributaries, and I have seen both on my previous trips,” said Combs. “One species is pink, and I hope that all of the students will see them on the trip this summer. The pink dolphins are among the most memorable and rare of all of the wildlife of the region.”
The presentation is in conjunction with TTU’s annual Nature Fest, a four-day celebration of the great outdoors presented by the biology department, the Cookeville Department of Leisure Services, the Cookeville-Putnam County Chamber of Commerce and the Nature Fest organizing committee.