Our first afternoon our guide Wilson took us on a short 30 minute hike that wound its way through the jungle. We eventually arrived at a stream where there was a dugout canoe waiting for us. The canoe was about 12 feet long and was literally a hollowed out tree trunk. There were three roughly made benches and some clay packed against a leaky spot. We climbed into it and Wilson paddled through the flooded forest for another 30 minutes until we arrived a village.
It was by no means a "traditional indigenous" village, but it was an example of the way the poor people in this part of the world live. The houses where rectangular is shape and were partitioned into two or three large rooms. They were all raised up at on stilts at least two feet. Most of them had some sort of covered porch on one side. There were a variety of pens next to them for pigs, ducks, chickens, and geese. There were also dogs around, but it was very apparent that people in this part of the world didn't care much about them. They were all VERY skinny and parasite ridden.
The villagers were used to have tourists come through and so they had collected examples of jungle animals to let us see and hold. Wilson said that this group of people traditionally kept these types of animals as pets even before the tourist trade. Needless to say, my overly cynical self didn't believe him.
Anyway... On with the cuties!
Baby Three-Toed Sloth
Squirrel Monkey
Coati (His name was Bruno.)This little guy is closely related to raccoons.
He really liked the camera.
Parakeets
No comments:
Post a Comment