Bioluminescent Mushrooms

Courtesy of Anthony Lacagnina

Courtesy of Anthony Lacagnina

Surrounded by vibrant plant and animal life such as the above moths, lifeforms encountered in the Amazon became almost a competition of dazzling one-upmanship. Of course, to call it pure competition would be to deny the awe that lasted me through nearly the entire two months. From the darkness of night came the strangest creatures, drawn to our lights for reading and playing spoons. Nevertheless, when a rumor began to circulate that shaman/guide/carpenter Bartolo was going to take us on a night hike to find bioluminescent mushrooms, this seemed to be the show-stopper.

One day soon thereafter, it was announced that the hike would take place that night. We thirty eager students (the vast majority of those at the field school) piled into pickup trucks for the short drive to Tod’s property where we would enter. As Tod unlocked the gate, he sarcastically told us, “Enter the enchanted mushroom forest.” He must have sensed how overblown this whole plan had become.

Once inside and a fair distance from the road, Bartolo lit a banana leaf cigar and blessed us with its smoke by blowing it onto the crown of our heads and through our thumbs. He explained this as a spiritual cleansing, but actually tobacco smoke covers the human scent, making us less vulnerable to insects and more likely to see larger mammals. Before we began walking, Bartolo bade us walk very slowly as we might have a chance to see night monkeys. But given the huge line and whispered translations, the message didn’t pass very quickly; it would be a pretty dumb monkey not to be able to hear 28 Americans in rubber boots anyway!

Nevertheless, we kept fairly quiet, stopping only twice: once to hear Bartolo’s story about survival in the jungle, and once to examine a plant which changes color from green to white at nightfall. The entire hike took about two and a half hours, and returned neither the howls of night monkeys nor the eerie glow of bioluminescent mushrooms. Nevertheless, as I noted in my journal from 18 June, “We continued to respect Bartolo, his teachings and rites, even as we cracked a few jokes about snipe hunts in English. For me, the experience was equal parts mystic and comedic…”

Though you might never get what you expect in the Amazon, I will give you some catharsis: I took the above photo of Brazilian bioluminescent mushrooms from here. While I couldn’t find any photographic evidence of Ecuadorian mushrooms of this type, I’m sure they must exist somewhere there given the vast variety of species. (Biologist’s input?)

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