CapitonsPat with Wooly Monkey named Darilla
Snack time open wide, spit the head out
Rainbow boa pees on Don
Caiman (photo by A. Santos)
On a boating trip up river we met Darilla, a wooly monkey that had been orphaned. It later became a village pet, until it knocked over a kerosene lamp and burned their community house down. It was banished to an island and now welcomes any boaters that stop to feed it. It instantly became Pat’s best friend as it devoured three apples.
Our guide, Edson, found a Rainbow Boa on the trail. While we were holding it, it displayed its displeasure by peeing on my hand. Now it’s Pat’s favorite picture. Later our guide challenged us to a grub eating contest. Believe it or not, Pat ate more grubs than anyone else, even the guide. Since Cornelia and I failed the grub eating contest, we made dye from the tattoo fruit. Our hands were stained bluish-black for about 10 days as a result of straining the liquid dye from the fruit.
Because our accommodations were basically a screen room in the jungle, you could expect to find just about anything running around your room. The large pet boa that roams the lodge dwellings never appeared in our room, but a loud shout from Tom indicated something interesting was going on in their room. Turns out a tarantula decided Tom’s pants made a good spot to spend the night. Tom shook him out of his pants, but now the tarantula was loose in the room. Cornelia grabbed the camera and tried to track him down.
In addition to a resident Boa at the main lodge, the research lodge had a caiman who made his home in the waters just off shore. This, along with the piranha, was enough to keep us out of the water.
For all our adventures we had a guide and a boat driver/assistant. While Spanish was their native language, the guides all spoke English, some better than others. The assistant guides, while not being too fluent in English, were experts on jungle survival. We were taught how to make a pack for carrying game in the forest and even how to make a thatched roof for shelter.
In addition to the six nights at the lodge where we had an extra large screened room with private bath, we spent an additional three nights at their research lodge further up river in a nature preserve. Here we could explore 80 km of trails laid out in a grid pattern. The grid was used to better document the location of the wildlife. After 15 inches of rain one night, the trails were a bit muddy, over Pat’s boots on several occasions. The preserve is where we saw the most monkeys. One morning a troop of spider monkeys were passing overhead in one direction, and larger monkeys were moving overhead in the opposite direction.
If it was not for the heat and humidity it would be a great place to stay long term. This is fortunate however, because like Northern Canada, with its mosquitoes and black flies, these irritations help preserve vast tracks of land from becoming vast tracks of second homes. Only the government can protect these lands from logging, mining and industrial development.
Our guide, Edson, found a Rainbow Boa on the trail. While we were holding it, it displayed its displeasure by peeing on my hand. Now it’s Pat’s favorite picture. Later our guide challenged us to a grub eating contest. Believe it or not, Pat ate more grubs than anyone else, even the guide. Since Cornelia and I failed the grub eating contest, we made dye from the tattoo fruit. Our hands were stained bluish-black for about 10 days as a result of straining the liquid dye from the fruit.
Because our accommodations were basically a screen room in the jungle, you could expect to find just about anything running around your room. The large pet boa that roams the lodge dwellings never appeared in our room, but a loud shout from Tom indicated something interesting was going on in their room. Turns out a tarantula decided Tom’s pants made a good spot to spend the night. Tom shook him out of his pants, but now the tarantula was loose in the room. Cornelia grabbed the camera and tried to track him down.
In addition to a resident Boa at the main lodge, the research lodge had a caiman who made his home in the waters just off shore. This, along with the piranha, was enough to keep us out of the water.
For all our adventures we had a guide and a boat driver/assistant. While Spanish was their native language, the guides all spoke English, some better than others. The assistant guides, while not being too fluent in English, were experts on jungle survival. We were taught how to make a pack for carrying game in the forest and even how to make a thatched roof for shelter.
In addition to the six nights at the lodge where we had an extra large screened room with private bath, we spent an additional three nights at their research lodge further up river in a nature preserve. Here we could explore 80 km of trails laid out in a grid pattern. The grid was used to better document the location of the wildlife. After 15 inches of rain one night, the trails were a bit muddy, over Pat’s boots on several occasions. The preserve is where we saw the most monkeys. One morning a troop of spider monkeys were passing overhead in one direction, and larger monkeys were moving overhead in the opposite direction.
If it was not for the heat and humidity it would be a great place to stay long term. This is fortunate however, because like Northern Canada, with its mosquitoes and black flies, these irritations help preserve vast tracks of land from becoming vast tracks of second homes. Only the government can protect these lands from logging, mining and industrial development.
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