Up at the crack of dawn, well actually before the sun came up. We meandered down the river looking at birds – actually black spots in trees. After the sun came up we could see the birds better. We stopped by the lake – Laguna Grande – to catch part of the sunrise in the clouds, and the herons fishing there. There were a few Carmen hiding in the water as well.
We stopped in a similar spot as yesterday and the water level has dropped since then. The herons were walking across it. There were more silly gringos going to look at the anaconda in the hollow tree – again silly gringos going to get stuck.
We didn’t go there, once was enough!
We saw a lot of birds and a couple of Cayman. Back to the lodge for breakfast. Lots of fruit and scrambled eggs with peppers and onions.
Then into the canoes and off to see the Shaman. We went in the other direction, so up river I guess. We travelled for a long time stopping here and there to look at birds.
And, guess what??? We saw an anaconda sitting in some dead trees right beside the river. We didn’t even need to get our shoes muddy. We also stopped to look at the pigmy m monkeys and some coffee trees. We squished the coffee bean and sucked out the juice, kinda sweet. Then we ate some gegauva after Nasar balanced on a stump and knocked down the big pods. About 3 feet long. Then twisted it like an indian rug burn, and ate the white cottony stuff on the inside around the seed pod.
From there back in the canoes and off we went. It started to sprinkle a little, and we pulled to shore under some big trees and had our boxed lunch. Beans and chicken with rice and a little salad. O so good. Just sitting there listening to all the birds.
Then off again. We passed a couple of small villages with about 150 people in each. We finally stopped and all got out and trooped through the jungle. I am so glad I put on my boots. It was a muddy trek to the old buildings. We left 3 people at the buildings and the rest of us went farther into the jungle looking for a poison dart frog. We had success. We found a toad first but quickly gave him up for the frog. Hopefully he didn’t get trampled in the rush to see the frog.
Back to the buildings to see the shaman and his ceremony. He was very soothing. He had a lot of necklaces on. With jaguar teeth and other teeth and beads. He explained about how he became a shaman and then did a little ceremony with 2 volunteers. I asked one of them if he had cured them, she said no but she felt really good about it.
While there it started to rain, actually pour for a bit. The breeze was very refreshing.
The we started back to the canoe. Along the way we spotted a Turtle morello. American yellow footed one. We took him with us because our guide said the shaman would have probably had him for supper. So we saved a turtle.
Along the way back we stopped at a little village. There we went out into the “field” and harvested manioc root. We came back into the town and the lady then shredded the root. After which she put the stuff into some braided Palm leaves and twisted to get out all the juice which has cyanide in it. When it was dry like flour, she put it on flat clay in the fire and made something like a tortilla. When it was done, Kurt put some salt on it and ripped it into pieces so we could try it.
We headed back to the lodge at top speed. Not stopping for anything. It was getting close to sunset so the bats were out, skimming along the top of the water.
At the lodge we slowly made our way back to our rooms. We had hot water for the first time – Yahoo!! A nice shower was refreshing.
While we were just relaxing there was a big shadow around the light. The shadow stopped and it was a butterfly. About the size of your palm. We called other people from our tower of rooms to come take photos. It posed for us for a while. After everyone was finished I turned out the light and used my flashlight to try to get him on my hand to take home outside. No luck, but he decided to jump on the strap of the flashlight, which was good. And out he went.
We headed to the main building for supper.
It was soup followed by fish – bummer. I ate the soup and red cabbage a little rice and some fried manioc root. Like a potato pancake. We laughed and laughed at the table. At one point we told someone they had to ride in the other canoe because their boots smelled like turtle poop. The guide had tried to shove the turtle in her boot. The boat did smell like what salamanders smelled like. Chocolate cake for desert, OMG, so good. I was stuffed.
Because it has been cloudy the last 2 days the batteries are getting a bit low. So they turned on the generator so we had lights to eat by.
On the way back to our room we were met by one of our guys who wasn’t staying in our tower. We all asked why are you here? His excuse was he found a tree frog. So he showed us, took a photo and left. The frog promptly jumped from the rail to someone’s pants. No screaming except – don’t move until I get the photo. We took a couple of photos and he jumped to someone else who brushed him off onto the floor and he then jumped back on the first person. More photos and then he jumped onto the floor, all the flashlights went off and we went to our separate rooms.