Amazon Rainforest

Rolling on the River......

Dec. 9th and 10th

The rainforest is absolutely full of wonderful animals, plants and humidity! We canoed down the tributary our lodge was on. I had a great time with Parviz and Myleene. We enjoyed the adventure of exploring the waterway via canoe.

We also went to visit a typical Ecuadorian Quichua tribe home along the Napo River. The mother, Christine demonstrated how she dug up roots for their dinner with a machete, cooked in their primitive kitchen, harvested plaintains and other foods they grew around their home. Their daughter Ruby was four years old and was not in school yet. Her older daughter was seven and attended the school we visited a couple days later.

Christine using a machete.

See the plastic they use to collect the rainwater for drinking?

Christine and Ruby in the kitchen cooking over the open pit fire.

Christine chopping down the plantain.

Byron showed us how to use a blow gun. I am trying to blow a dart at a melon on a stick. I am not very good at it! The Quichua tribe use this weapon to hunt monkeys. Three Quichua hunters will shoot the darts simulaneously at a monkey. The darts have the poison from a poison dart frog . They will roast the dart frog on a spit of fire and the poison will come to the surface of the frog. They roll the dart on the frog's skin and the poison is transferred from the frog to the dart. Then when the hunters shoot the monkey the poison will paralyze the monkey's heart. It does not kill the monkey but rather stuns the monkey and then the monkey will fall out of the tree. The hunters then kill the monkey when it lands on the ground. Sad but that is how it is done. This is a picture of a poison dart frog.

We also went on night hikes to see the wildlife at night. We were able to see owls, caiman, birds, irridecent bugs, toads, and many more animals. The most fascinating were the caimans. We could see their red eyes reflecting back in the water. We then went closer to look at them and you could see their entire body reflected in the shine of our flashlights. They were not as large as aligators but it was still erie being that close to reptiles in the wild at night.