[Aroid-l] When is a rain forest not a rain forest?

From: ju-bo at msn.com (ju-bo at msn.com) on 2008.05.04 at 10:43:39(17545) ________________________________ > From: Steve at exoticrainforest.com > To: aroid-l at gizmoworks.com > Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 17:53:27 -0500 > Subject: [Aroid-l] When is a rain forest not a rain forest? Dear Friends, Im MY silly opinion there are rain forests on BOTH sides of the Ecuadorian Andes. Any person who has actually visited these areas will have no doubt. I worked in the Ecuadorian Amazon for a couple of years, our center was in Lago Agrio, and to travel further East one had to put ones vehicle on a barge (the "Gabara") which would motor you across one of the fast-flowing branches of the upper Amazon. In this and surrounding areas it rained several times daily. Then at one rare moment in time, the rain stopped! No rain fell for one week, and the rivers ran dry, the trees in surrounding jungles began to wilt! Huge gravel trucks were actually able to drive across the bed of the now-dry Amazon! The usually muddy streets in Lago Argo were turned to dust, and the human waste (which was thrown out of doorways from chamber pots every morning) was churned into this dust. At the time I had contracted a cold in Quito, and this quickly turned to a BAD Pneumonia from breathing the dust/waste! So please don`t try to tell me that there are no rain forests in Ecuador! Some may make these fine definations after pouring over some illustration in an Atlas, but visit these areas, see the rain AND the Cacti growing on trees WAY up in the canopys, THEN talk. Julius +More > Michael, I've only been to Ecuador once and that was 20 years ago. So I can't speak with any accuracy, but I did receive this note today, "There is a true lowland tropical wet rainforest down near Tinalandia in Ecuador................. so the answer is no to the proposed question. The Choco certainly is a lowland wet forest also." > > Steve > > > Steve, When I was in Costa Rica I noticed plenty of Epiphyllums growing on trees in areas of Tropical Moist Forest. They grow alongside Philodendron, Rhodospatha, Monstera, Anthurium, Syngoinium etc. etc. NOT a true rain (pluvial) forest, (Doesnt Colombia contain the only true lowland rainforest in South America?)... but not exactly a dry forest either. > > Michael Mattlage

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