QUILO QUILO IN YUNGAS

For weeks I have tried to go back to Quilo Quilo Alto, and stay enough to know the community well. Quilo quilo, is located into the valleys system of Suapi, which opens in front of the well-known town of Coroico, and just where the slopes begins their descent to the Zongo river. The territory of the community is extensive and in parts is very well preserved.

The 200 or so families who live here have almost all their lands in the slopes near the road, also have a small soccer field near the well-assisted village, and everywhere there are friendly people. After our first rough encounter, now I have who to visit, and who to call for help if I get lost in the forest and streams, such as the one that run along the top of the community (about 1,600 meters above sea level), and that is from long ago one of my favorite places to photograph, for various reasons, such as those shown below.

This is the river that runs at the highest part of the territory of Quilo Quilo. For nearly a mile, the river goes quietly, and then it falls through the mountain, forming beautiful waterfalls, virtually impossible to circumvent

This site is one of the best I know to see the cock of the rock (rupicola peruviana), an species quite difficult to photograph, they jump between the middle branches of the trees, which filter most of sunlight of the early morning and the end of the evening

A peculiarity of the very wet mountain forests like this, is that there is almost no open ponds forming clay clean of leaves and branches, this makes more difficult to find footprints here than elsewhere, and so much more difficult to identify what is living into the forest. In what may be considered a brief exception, a little exposed space, shows a single (and a little blurry) fresh cougar footprint.

One of the most interesting things about Quilo Quilo, and the Suapi area in general, is how well preserved it is, at least considering the number of people living along the road, and that most of them are engaged in traditional coca cultivation. I hope soon to find more time to learn why.

There is no space on the riverbanks absent of life. Even the rocky formations and "beaches" are alive, and change its shape every day, appearing and disappearing with the rain.

The torrent frogs (Hyloscirtus armatus) are the largest frogs in the streams, and are still plentiful here. In other large areas affected by human activities have disappeared

I have found three species of glass frogs breeding in this stream. The one in the photo is a Hyalinobatrachium cf. bergeri, which seems to be the most common. On one occasion I found two little glass frogs that I'm still trying to identify, probably a nymphargus sp, I'll write about them when I get more information. The third species is Hyalinobatrachium carlesvilai, rare here (I've only heard them sing), but more frecuently found in the largest rivers at the bottom of the slopes.