Captions
Sea turtle
Pat and Cornelia enjoying a dugout canoe ride
Piranha
Shaman works on Tom
Enough about politics, I’ll tell about our experience. After meeting our friends Tom and Cornelia from Washington State at the Atlanta Airport, we all flew to Lima, Peru and took an extra day to explore the city. Next we flew to Iquitos, in NE Peru, a town with a million people, all zipping around on 3 wheel motor/bike taxis. A two and a half hour motor boat ride up the Amazon and its tributaries took us to a jungle lodge where we spent six nights. It was very hot and humid and after our first hike in the rainforest, I didn’t think I would make it through the trip. Fortunately, it either cooled down a bit or I got acclimated. In addition to these hikes, we took boat rides looking for wildlife or went fishing for piranha with raw meat. At night we might go out in small dugout canoes looking for wildlife we could sneak up on. It was amazing how the guides could spot critters that the rest of us could not see until we were right on top of them. In the rainforest, a zip line was set up in the forest canopy; it was quite a view from the top. We visited the local villages where we were always the biggest attraction for the children. They found our binoculars particularly fascinating. One village was participating in a project to reestablish sea turtle nesting areas. They received dozens of turtle eggs and raised the turtles until their chance of survival improved, and then they were released on nearby beaches.
Natural remedies are still used in the villages. We visited with a herbalist who showed us her garden and treated Tom’s arthritic thumbs. He was quite impressed with the results. On another trip to the village we met with the Shaman -first she purified her potions with smoke and she treated his chigger bits with camphor water. This considerably relieved his pain and itching. We also saw a dugout canoe and paddle being made. For $110 you could buy both.
In between these trips we ate. Most Americans have to be very careful about what they eat or drink south of the border, but at the lodge treated water was brought in and used in food preparation. As a result, we had plenty of opportunity to eat the local fruits and vegetables. I ate so healthy I actually lost weight.
Natural remedies are still used in the villages. We visited with a herbalist who showed us her garden and treated Tom’s arthritic thumbs. He was quite impressed with the results. On another trip to the village we met with the Shaman -first she purified her potions with smoke and she treated his chigger bits with camphor water. This considerably relieved his pain and itching. We also saw a dugout canoe and paddle being made. For $110 you could buy both.
In between these trips we ate. Most Americans have to be very careful about what they eat or drink south of the border, but at the lodge treated water was brought in and used in food preparation. As a result, we had plenty of opportunity to eat the local fruits and vegetables. I ate so healthy I actually lost weight.
No comments:
Post a Comment