The official decree is that you are not to be on the street unless you are going to or from the grocery store, the pharmacy, or the bank.
In Lima, it would appear that these rules are being strictly enforced by the police and military. Here in little Iquitos, not so much… yet.
Today we birded about half the length of the Malecon for an hour or so. We did not get harassed by anyone in uniform. As long as you keep a facemask on, they seem to not care. Not sure what they would do if you didn’t, but you will definitely be approached by people trying to sell you one of their handmade masks.
We still have some targets here. Most Wanted #1 is an ongoing Nemesis Bird that we have looked for across South America: Red-bellied Macaw. Not today. Also need Red-and-white Spinetail, which has been reported from Malecon. Not today.
But, at one point I heard a distant, bouncy-ball song, and immediately thought Barred Antshrike. Claire called out a dark antbird with no barring. Then I remembered that Castelnau’s Antshrike has a similar bouncy-ball call. YES! Got him recorded and took a crappy photo before he flew off, showing us his white wing patches.
If I can get at least a lifer here every day, I don’t care how long they leave us. (Kidding!)
Any chance you can move down and stay at Allpahuayo Mishana for a few days? They have a dormitory there. It’s not nice, but could suffice for a few days? Just read through your posts on all this, absolutely brutal and really sorry for you two. That’s exactly what we were fearing in Tanzania. It sounds like a nightmare. Hopefully you two can get out soon.
Great idea…. but that won’t happen. You cannot move or change lodging at this point.
That’s insane. Couldn’t even imagine that nonsense.
Insane indeed. It kind of makes me want to never come back to this country. But we need the birds. The bulk of this trip was to be from Tarapoto to Jaen, and I had gotten a guide, with good references, all set up. He was coordinating everything and I wired him the full payment back in February. It was a lot. We still intend to come back and get what we paid for, but it may be years from now. We were going to try to ride it out, back when the lockdown end was set for March 31, but after they extended it to at least April 12, we decided to get out ASAP. Now it turns out that ASAP is not an applicable concept…