Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Day 4: Amazon river Canoes, Traditional home, and Cocoa beans


It started out raining this day, which is sad cause we were going to go on a hike, but oh well. So we jump to breakfast; pretty good, I tried a strange melon; which is what they called a sweet cucumber. It was watery but tasty; I couldn’t finish it but I gave it to my dad.

So as we were about to get on the bus to head out for the day; our guide learned the news of a mudslide that happened on the way. He made us wait for about a half hour, then we were told the road was clear. But when we got to the spot we were stopped. Our guide got out to go check on it, he ended up walking 2 miles to where the slide was at; they were letting cars through but only one lane at a time. We ended up being there for about 2hours. I didn’t mind, I got through my book :)

 that's the line up the mountain because of the slide


Once we got through the slide, we passed at least two others but we passed them pretty quick. As we drove we passed through a forest called Cloud forest. Which was cool cause this forest constantly filled with clouds and that is how they got most of their moisture. It was really pretty.

After the long bus ride, we finally arrived in the Amazon basin and the Amazon river. We had to get into canoes to get to our hotel. Which was pretty fun, the canoes themselves  were long and had to have a motor cause the river was pretty strong.


Well, as we were on route to the hotel, buzzing along on the swift current of the river, I remembered my fear of canoes. Also the fact that my Dad, most discretely said that if the boat capsized that we should just swim to the edge. Yeah, very comforting. I lived though and it was totally worth the view.

We had lunch at the lodge and then we headed into the rainforest.



We had to get into the canoes again; to go to a traditional home. We also had to put on boots, because of the ants and mud.
 that's the cocoa bean
There they showed us how they cook, and they gave a piece of a fresh cocoa fruit. They let us try their special drink, it was fermented and smelled horrible. But it was kind that they let us smell it. They also showed us how they kept the mosquitos away, they roasted termite hives over the fire, the smoke would keep the insects at bay.  They then had us learn to hunt with them; we got to try out a blow gun and shoot a fake monkey in a tree. Dad and Tasha got to try and both hit the target which is awesome!

After we got back to the hotel we were given free time. So we decided to walk around and explore our surroundings. It was beautiful, there were rare or at least unique flowers everywhere and as it got dark there started to be chirping. We couldn’t see what was making the chirping; I think it was insects; but I’d like to say was birds… maybe.




To finish off the day my family and I started to play fivedeck. We played it next to the pool, where the lights attracted moths and various other insects. This ended up attracting bats and that was this evenings entertainment. I sat there watching the bats fly around the pool at least a half hour waiting for my family to come to the place where we would play the game.

It was a great evening; even though it was super humid and there were giant moths everywhere.

 I'll leave you of my dad hunting and killing a wooden monkey :)


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