Friday, April 22, 2011

Napo River Journey - Part 1

Snake skin, hard to believe how large they must be, hope I never met one.


Our guide told us about several of the plants the natives use. Some are used to heal, some are used to kill, and some are used to get a high. We are having problems in the mission right now because thieves are using one of these plants to control minds, causing people to give over all their money.


One of the traps the natives use. There are traps for large fish, small fish, small animals, large animals, snakes, and people if they want to capture them alive otherwise they shoot them with a poison dart.


Blow gun demonstration, the natives still use these, they make the poison from a plant in the jungle. The tribes used these in 1995 in a border dispute with Peru. I couldn´t believe how long they were, must require some great lung power. Our guide said in 5 minutes the victim is dead.


More of the wildlife, an anteater of sorts I think.


Beautiful Parrots, be careful their beaks are dangerous it really hurts if they bite you.



This cute little guy is full grown.


It is hard to see, but if you look close you can make out the head and some of the body of an anaconda, he is only about 12 feet long.


Getting to know the ocelot.


Preparing for our river adventure. I wondered about the live jackets, seemed to me we would be eaten by something long before we would drown.

The next morning Elder and Sister Geldmacher went to check apartments; Dad and I walked around town and tried to find some travel/tourist information. The Geldmacher´s had to get some furniture for the missionaries so we were delayed and could not make it to the tour we had arranged. We took off on our own and took a short trip up the Napo River by canoe. We visited an animal rescue center and an Indian village. Someone is helping them to develop these areas into tourist destinations. They were interesting and we enjoyed the trip very much. We learned a lot about the Jungle animals, native tribes and plants. It was fun and a journey we will remember.

1 comment:

Linda said...

It looks like you are having very interesting experiences! Love your pictures, videos and blog, you are doing a great job!