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.