Monday, January 25, 2016

LOCAL CULTURE AND A CANOPY LOOKOUT!!!!

Culture and Nature day :

This morning started with a 0600 meet on the sundeck for a bit of birding. We were able to see egrets, swallows, flycatchers, weavers, and parrots on their way to the Clay Licks. 

Next was breakfast followed by a short canoe ride to the Sani Warmi Organization. This is a local community where we were divided into two groups. Our group was lead by one of the local ladies. We were escorted to her garden, where we saw coco plants, banana, papaya, we harvested and sampled heart of palm , and yucca root. We next made our way to the community school where we visited a 6th and 7th grade class. Here the students were studying math, social studies, language, literature, and many other subjects. Next was a stop for folks who wished to do some shopping for local crafts. Lynn bought some  jewelry and and a carved toucan for the Adventures Club. Some of the local ladies were doing some traditional cooking for us to sample. The items included plantains, a fish cooked with heart of palm, white cocoa, and grubs. (yes they are slimy yet satisfying). 

Following our snack, several of our fellow folks played the local kids in a game of soccer. The score was one to one and the sudden death ensued.  The local kids won with a score of 2 to 1. 

We returned to the boat and enjoyed a great lunch of shrimp,  Babaco fruit and ice cream.   

The afternoon started with a motor canoe to a landing. From this landing we walked about 800 meters to a small tributary. Here we boarded paddle canoes, ( we did not have to paddle) for a about an hour ride to a landing deeper into the rainforest. From this landing we hiked about 15 minutes till we arrived at a very large tree where there were 202 steps leading to a viewing platform.  We were treated at the top of the platform with cool drinks. 

The primary adventure this afternoon was the paddle canoe ride. The water was low and we got stuck on logs every now and then. This required us to rock the boat to free ourselves.  

While on the platform we observed many birds, parrots, and a pootoo .   We reversed our route to return to the boat and darkness fell upon us. This was pretty neat in we got to see fireflies and Fishing Bats. 


Back on the Anakonda we cleaned up and went to briefing for the next day and dinner. All in all another great day. 
































2 comments:

  1. What's a pootoo? And how bit was that moth? Bigger than a salad plate?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is a bird, kinda like an owl, camouflaged in with the bark on the tree very hard to see at times.

    Moth was about 6-7 inches across

    ReplyDelete