Pima Canyon Hike

Thanksgiving at Michele's and Todd's November 23, 2006

 

Heather (Patti's Cousin) at 14 Weeks-With Twins!

Pappas McCarthy Real Estate Portfolio Begins!

Yesterday at 4:30 pm Eric & Andrea became homeowners-Congratulations!!!!!

Sure is Nice Having a Pappas Around!

Home Sweet Home

Bikers Go The Extra Mile-El Tour de Tucson!!!

After a fabulous pre-race pasta dinner David and Jake rested up for their big day. At 6:00AM (5:00 Jake's time) they were off to the races with 8,000 other riders!

The neighborhood cheerleading section will converge at Tangerine and Thorneydale early this afternoon to cheer them on for the last 30 miles! GO GO GO!

The post race BBQ Feast and Celebration will be held at the home of Jose Pickett and Anne-Marie Longpre.

Congratulatory phone calls are in order!

(520) 572-4005

Slideshow -2nd day in Amazon -click on photo

CeibaTops2

Ceiba Tops 2

We left Ceiba tops on a small boat on the Amazon. The destination was a tea-colored tributary called, I think, Black River. On the way we saw pink dolphins and numerous birds including the greater smooth-billed Ani, Red Capped Cardinal, Caracara, Oriole Blackbird, Yellow-Headed Blackbird, Slate-Colored and Black-Collared Hawks- about 50 species of magnificent birds. Mike nearly jumped out of the boat with excitement.

Back at Ceiba tops we had a pancake breakfast and then we were on the river again to go Piranha fishing. On the way, we encountered native fishermen who were Juan’s friends. One had a cut on his finger from a Pirinha. Their boat was full of them plus cichlids, and a gorgeous Tiger Catfish.

Unfortunately, Jim was ill on the boat. We fished for Piranha with pieces of steak. They attacked the bait in schools and most of the time were successful in avoiding the hook. One member of the group caught one and Juan and the boat driver caught several.

We visited a native family. They lived in a thatched hut and had a pet 3-toed sloth in a tree in front of the hut so that evil spirits would attack it first. The mother showed us an Anaconda. The little boy, Christian, is an expert Anaconda catcher. We purchased some trinkets from the family. Behind the house was a beautiful pond full of hyacyths. At night, Caymans became visible. Gorgeous butterflies swarmed in the mud on the shore.

We had Piranha and fish chowder for lunch back at Ceiba Tops.

After Lunch we visited a primitive tribe, the Yagwa, and watched a welcome dance inside their beautifully constructed communal building with a thatched roof. They invited several of us to dance, which several of us, including Nancy, Jim, Mary Lynn and others, did. They were small, largely bare-breasted with a red paint on their faces to ward off the mosquitos. Some of them were on the sidelines, nursing babies.They had escaped, or refused, the Spanish-enforced Christianization of the area.

We had a blow-dart demonstration exhibiting tremendous accuracy. Jim and others tried it with less success. We then shopped among some of their crafts and took a photo of the tribe. On the way back to the boat, we observed he huge, whitish,beautiful Kapok softwood tree, used for making plywood. Juan gave us a demo of gliding ants, which when dropped from various heights, right themselves in mid-air and land on all six legs. Some saw an Iguana near the Kapok tree. While Mike, Juan and others were searching and beating the bushes in order to flush it, Jim and Robert, uninterested stood in back of the group. The Iguana dropped to the jungle floor, and making a tremendous noise with its feat on the jungle floor, rushed headlong between the startled Jim and Robert. They did not know what was coming at them out of the jungle – a Jaguar, perhaps?

On the way back across the Amazon, we saw many pink dolphins again. The pet Guan (turkey-like bird) awaited us near the dock. A gorgeous moth was on the railing near the dining hall.

Later in the evening, we saw a cute but poisonous little white caterpillar on the hand railings. After dinner some of us took a night walk with Juan and saw a huge Tarantula, walking sticks, a white boa with black spots, leaf-cutter ants and army aunts which we were brushing off our legs for half an hour when we returned to the dining hall. We had a great dinner of chicken, catfish, vegetables and fruit. Mary Lynn met her ex-colleague, Carol, Pigeon after dinner.

Slideshow -First day on the Amazon

CeibaTops1

At 5:30AM Sunday October 22, we were awakened by a knock on our door and at 6AM we boarded a small boat to Indiana It was s0named because a resident when to school in Indiana in the US and when he returned the town named itself.) The town was having a market day. Some of the villagers laughed at this weird group of tourists. Mangy dogs wandered among the stands.

We boarded a two wheel wagon with a cloth roof pulled by a motorcycle for a wild trip along what appeared to be a sidewalk to the Napo river, a huge tributary of the Amazon. In fact, it was a sidewalk, a bicycle path and a road for these vehicles (I’ll call them “surreys” though in place of a horse was a motorcycle.)The surrey careened past pedestrians, bicyclists and similar vehicles, passing numerous houses painted with political advertisements for mayoral candidates. We were being transported to a another boat on the Napo.

We were let off in a desolate place near a primitive dirt-floor house and several indigenous people nearby – or possibly mestizos. We began to wonder if we were going to be dinner for someone.

Walking a short distance, we then saw our boat waiting on the river. We were greeted by a Pedro who turned out to be the boat pilot. Twenty minutes later, the next surrey arrived. Gradually the rest of the group arrived. Apparently Juan had trouble hiring surrey drivers.

We boarded the Explorama boat on the Napo R. and motored to the Napo lodge for a breakfast of French toast with cane syrup and the usual array of fruits and juices, some of them unfamiliar. Here we saw a capybara, some trumpet birds and a yellow-tailed Oro Pendula bird. A light rain started.

We began the hike toward the canopy walk. We saw a viciously thorny palm tree, many epiphytes and a monkey pod tree on the way. The rain intensified.

We began our journey on the 13 separate suspension bridges connected by several “ stations” – partially covered platforms in the trees. Only 3 people were allowed on a suspension bridge and only 4-5 on a station at a time. The bridges gradually got higher, reaching 118 feet above the forest. A few people, including Nancy, had acrophobia and did not look down. The apprehension was increased by the slippery surface of the bridges and their swaying as we traversed them.

Drenched, we plowed through puddles and mini-streams to the ACTS research lodge where we wrung ourselves out, rested, observed a poison dart frog in Juan’s hand and then proceeded on the long hike through the downpour back to the Napo lodge. Robert remarked that this was “soaking the rich.” Many of us were shivering during our lunch at Napo lodge.

After lunch, we observed a medicine man describing his healing herbs. He performed a healing ceremony on a member of another group. A friendly green parrot decided to talk to Juan who talked back to him. It was hilarious.

From Napo lodge, we sailed for 1 ¾ hours down the Napo to the Amazon and then upriver on the latter, passing Indiana and numerous Amazonians fishing and their huts and boats on the way back to Ceiba tops.

Some of us took a water slide into a pool and frolicked their while two gorgeous red macaws flew overhead. Mike went bird watching and missed the macaws.

A great dinner was followed by a music and dance performance the indigenous youngsters in a group called Indiana Mia. Juan MC’d the event. The dances were emulations of rice growing and harvesting and making the liquor popular in the area.

Surprisingly, Mary Lynn met a Santa Barbaran ex-colleague, Carol Pichon – the 2^nd night in which she encountered Santa Barbarans. Juan pointed out a leaf-mimicking frog and a millipede near the lodge.

Happy Birthday Mary Lynn!!!

Trip to Boulder CO