Lion's Eye Favorite: Bringing Harkness to Peru

Biology students prepare to travel by cable zip line through the jungle. Photograph by Aaron Podolny '08

When 12 students and two science teachers returned from a field course in the Peruvian Amazon, their stories were of amazing things: poison dart frogs and sloths; pygmy marmosets and giant ants; needle spines spiking the sides of trees.

"We chose the Amazon because of the richness of species diversity and, of course, for the adventure!" said science instructor Chris Matlack, who supervised the field course with colleague Rich Aaronian. Matlack says the students shone as biologists, using and perfecting skills learned in the classroom. "Some of the kids caught fire, taking a keener interest in biology and even thinking for the first time about biology as a possible career as a result of this experience."

Adventure abounded as the group traveled by zip lines through the jungle canopy of the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Reserve, and perched on platforms 200 feet above the ground. They even swam waters populated with piranha. "The students had a lot of myths busted during this trip," said Matlack. "If you swim with piranha they don't get you.  Poisonous snakes are not lurking at every turn."

There really are poison dart frogs, though, and Dylan, a senior, was proud to have spotted the elusive creature before anyone else, including their guide. She was struck by the intensity of the Amazon environment and says, "The jungle enveloped us. Sometimes I wondered how our guide even knew where we were, knew which branches needed to be cut with his machete."

And though the whole point of a field course is to get out of the classroom, the students learned that you never forget you're an Exonian, even in the jungle. Liani, a senior, explains, "At our lodge, there was a 'Hammock Room' where about 10 hammocks were hung on a pole, forming a circle. We napped, talked, read and listened to the sounds of the Amazon in this room. We called them the 'Harkness Hammocks' and we felt even more Exonian, for we had brought Harkness to Peru."

The students also brought the Exonian value of non sibi. ESSO funded the purchase of school supplies that were distributed to local villages. The students carried 300 lbs. of Exeter T-shirts and game balls with them on the plane as well, which they gave out to children in the villages of San Pedro and Chino. Tentative, at first, about how to connect with the local villagers, the Exonians ended up playing soccer and singing songs with them. "Despite the puddles of water and the tall, uneven grass, the bare-footed children triumphed over us," said Andrew, a senior, of the soccer game. "We left the village exhausted, enlightened and in high spirits. We felt like we had crossed a barrier."  

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