Maddie Crowell's Blog (6)

After two days of traveling I am home. I am back in the place I so well understand. I know the mountains like the back of my hand, the secret trails that wind like the wrinkles in my knuckles. The people and pace of life has not changed and I can feel myself being pulled back into the race. Looking back I was so concentrated on preparing myself for the change of climate, culture and overall standard of living. I had been nervous to enter a forest that would be so foreign to the pines and leafy a… Continue

Do We Ever Fully Comprehend The Complexities Of Our World? Upon our return from Rio Camante we had one more day of peaceful bliss before we departed the jungle town of Quincemil, which had so quickly become our home. Although the prospects of discovering the mysteries of Machu Picchu and other ancient speculations lie ahead, I was sad to leave for Cusco, where we would spend our remaining week. When our last day arrives in Quincemil we are bemused by where the time has gone. We stroll up to a b… Continue

Could plants, biodiversity and the natural world be the answer? Perhaps 510 million years ago, pollinating itself from water, algae was the first plant to exits on earth. The evolutionary process of vegetation from its first state as algae has grown immensely complex eventually incorporating briophytes, genosperms, angieosperms ect. As I stand beneath the largest tree I have ever seen, I wonder how it is even possible to evolve to a stage this massive. The tree is a “Coba” or Tornillo (Fabacea S… Continue

Why has humanity come to depend on others for knowledge when independent discovery can fulfill all questions? In scientific labs students are told what to do and follow instructions from a piece of paper. In the jungle of Peru, it is hands on experimental field work. For me this is where the real learning is. Science can’t not be taught from book, it must be discovered and theorized in the field. When we arrive back from Cadena we have about a week before we leave for Rio Camante, the ten day e… Continue

Can society thrive without always understanding every detail? Everything and nothing is significant. Finding happiness must be true to oneself. We must be one with each other, nature and our own souls. Everything I expected and more greets me with each new day in Peru. This opportunity helps me grasp new adventures and reach out beyond personal borders. There is so much to learn and I am lost in thoughts filled with a million questions. After a few fireside chats with Dr. John Janovec, who is on… Continue

Does Time Really Matter In The Scale Of Life? Americans have come to evaluate everything as a measure of time. Most teenagers come with a cell phone in hand, an iPod in one ear and possibly a watch, all depicting a relay of minutes and hours they should be living fully. Here below the equator, where life may be considered to some “simple,” time is put hold, and the people treat the moment as a delicacy, accepting everything as a whole, as it greets them. Nothing could have prepared me for our i… Continue