Low Water

The last few days have been pretty busy from dusk to dawn.  No wind and pretty overcast so no spare power for the computer.  A few of the boats got together and hired a guide to take us on a tour of the jungle.  We set off at 7am.  Early enough to still see the birds, but late enough the mosquitoes would not carry us off. Actually the mosquitoes were not all that bad. A little Deet and baby oil seems to keep them away for most of the day.  Our guide was amazing at spotting the wild life.  He would hear a bird call; tell us what it was, and start calling back to it. We all wanted to see a Toucan and when he heard one calling out we decided to follow its calls. In a few minutes our guide pointed up in a tree and there sat a Toucan. We ended up seeing a few hawks too. Along with many very colorful birds I can't remember the names of.

There were several frogs too, including the poison dart frog.  As we got further into the jungle it got denser, and the trees higher.  It was not long before the only way to make progress was to walk in the river. There we found an older gentleman with an axe.  A tree had fallen and it was just the right kind to make a bowel for husking rice. We watched him work for a while. I was impressed at what he was able to do with his axe.  The whole thing was about 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. I'll have to see if I got a good picture of it.

On the way out I spotted a banana palm with a nice bunch of bananas that looked close to ripe. With a quick whack of a machete they came crashing down. I filled my backpack full and one of the other boaters grabbed a bunch too. I think we had over 50lbs of bananas. Paths sure seem to get longer when you are carrying a heavy load. I am pretty sure those last two miles were closer to ten.  Luckily there is a swimming hole just before entering the village. Us wimps climb down to steps in the clay; the kids of the town (and Teggy later on) jump the twenty feet making a great splash. There are little fish in the pool that just love to feed on you.

They also have a type of fresh water shrimp. One of the villagers caught a few and cooked them up for me. Not being a fan of shrimp I politely took a small one. They were so unbelievably good I ended up eating several. They are boiled with some local roots, and a little oil. You may be asking yourself how big were the shrimp. Well a small one is about 5 inches long, big ones over 8.

Today we are headed back towards the Perlas Islands.  Departure will be at around 6am with the outgoing tide. It is so nice moving at 7kts with the motor just over idle.

Until next time,
Loyal