Day 19: 19/7/12
Woken this morning to what we thought was rain but it was drops falling of the trees and a russet-backed olopendula bird (sounds like a drop).
By the way, our day attire leaves a lot to be desired! Muireann has stayed in the same clothes- sleeping and living for the last four days- she feels mank, as you can imagine! I have changed at night but mostly the same day clothes. We wear our trousers tucked into our socks so the ants won't get into our pants- not just normal ants: fire ants, bullet ants, army ants, soldier ants.... Way too many of them!! We wear our raincoats all buttoned and zipped and tightened at the sleeves- no aerodynamics around here! It's not cold but were making sure we don't get bitten- our lovely Irish blood. My hair is kept back with a hairband and has gone curly at this stage. Muireann's fringe is like an s hook, greased to her head- like the Fonz!! Looks like there's WD40 in it! She could cut it off and oil a bike!!!
As you can tell- this is her description. She is a born comedian- she has me roaring laughing here in the dining room, while a group of bird watchers all kitted out in the khaki green outfits, with binoculars and massive cameras think we are mad!
We got the boat to the clay lick this morning- its a mound of clay. We saw some parrots and parakeets. They were in the trees for ages and then went down to the clay. They eat lots of seeds and nuts (seeps an nups, according to our guide) which have lots of alkaloids which are bad for them so they come to the clay lick to have sodium which neutralises the alkaloids. It took them a long time to go onto the clay as the were afraid of hawks coming to eat them. They did a few fly-bys to check the place out! The parrots, parakeets and macaws mate for life. Parrots and parakeets stay in big groups and macaws stay in pairs. If their partner dies, after a few years they may find another at the clay lick- its their dating scene!!! Muireann was very empresses by free love stories!
Walking back we saw tamarins, an olive olopendula bird (lovely green colour with a pink neck, they make a cool sound that sounds like a drop), a rufous motmot (orange brown colour bird with a long tail. Also saw Another big black bird with a red neck. (quang?)
We saw lots of trees- a fibre tree- the wood is really pliable but strong.
We also saw a Sacred tree- black ceiba. Local shamans use the leaves and bark of the tree for medicines. People believe that an elf (chullachaqui) lives inside. He his small and has one human leg and one leg of a deer. He appears to people on their own, disguised as friends or family members and he makes them get lost.
Then we had rest time. I went into the dining area for some water and met Lucho, the guide who was watching a king vulture- he flew away when I came. I asked him for spellings for some of the things above and for other legends. He told me about the Common potoo bird.
There were two adopted children who lived with step parents. The parents punished them all the time so the children ran away. The pacha mama picked them up and made them into one bird called the common potoo. Locals call it Ayaymama- which means why have you left me mama. They sing a very sad Song.
Then there was great commotion because the king vultures returned and we could see them flying in the air. Through the binoculars you could see the white on their wings.
Then we went for another walk through a different trail. We saw more birds. The guide stopped at one tree (cecropia) pulled a leaf off which looked like a horse chestnut leaf. There was kind of juice inside the leaf and you wouldn't believe what was in it! Deep heat- no less! Shell and dad this is where ye need to come. The locals smell it when they are hurt. Our deep heat has some of that stuff in it.
We heard a laughing falcon, which is their version of a banshee. Legend has it if you see one near your house someone is going to die. He is laughing because you are going to go down a hole, ie a grave!! We moved on fairly quickly incase we would see him!!
We saw a kapok tree which is the tallest tree in the jungle. The one we saw was about 60 years old, only a baby. It was 75m tall- we couldn't even see the top!
After all this walking we were drownded wet! We had the jackets on the whole time incase we got bitten! We were like two turkeys in turkey bags- closhes everywhere...... No need to explain I presume!
Then we had lunch. Noisy yanks doing a lot of talkin!!
The other guy in the group didn't do the canopy tour yesterday so we had free time while he went. We lied down for a while. Muireann read for a while and was so tired she resembled Mary nearly falling into the fire while trying to read a book (she skips the boring parts and goes onto the love story). The two of us fell fast asleep! I dont know if it's the walking or the peacefulness out here but every time we lie down, we are completely out for the count! We've had the best nights sleep of the whole trip out here in the jungle- very surprising!
THen we went to a farm- it took a few minutes to get there in a boat. There was a wooden house on small stilts. There were hens and roosters and chicks around, but no farmers. We walked around and saw bananas, papayas and avocados growing on trees. We saw a dragon blood tree. The guide hit it with a machete and red sap came out. It is used for medicinal purposes, to stop bleeding. Our guide stopped us suddenly again and told us all to gather together. I thought it was going to be a snake. But it was a rare animal called coati. It's like a jungle raccoon.
Halfway round the farm Lucho told Muireann there was a mosquito on her. She half wiped her neck- thinking yea right. Then he wedged his finger into her neck and removed him, guts and all! Luckily it hadn't bitten her!!
We hung around the dining room area then for a while and then went on another night caiman search. There were two new guests- two older yanks who seemed to be already complaining. Lucho didn't think he was going to enjoy them!! The stars were out for this boat trip so it was gorgeous sailing down the river. However the boat was full of people this time- the crowd of bird watchers I mentioned earlier. They had no interest in caimans. We saw over 6 caimans swimming around and sitting on rocks in various places. We saw a common potoo bird, the one from the legend. The bird watchers nearly capsized the boat with excitement, trying to take photos with cameras bigger than themselves and blinding us all with flashes!!
The meditation and sailing back In the dark wasn't as good this time as there a house somewhere with music blaring!
Had dinner surrounded by bird watchers!! Emanuel was full of chat because the British people werent there today. We were chatting to Lucho and I was asking to spell all the words of the trees and animals do I would know what they were. Emanuel was making in of me looking for spellings- oh well! We went to pay out bill with the barman and he started copying Emanuels mmmm-hmmm noise! We were in fits laughing! We think he had heard us saying it and was actually copying us!!
When we got back to bed the new Americans were already asleep and the woman was snoring like a foghorn- was hard for us to get to sleep!!