"Mom, that's probably the only time I've heard you use 'spectacular' when talking about butts." - Mom and me, 27 May
Monday, May 27, 2013; 12:30 PM; lobby of Refugio Amazones (hotel)
This morning was very interesting, despite having to wake up at 5:00 AM and only sitting down a few minutes ago.
Breakfast was good - fruit, eggs, and really good (but really strong) coffee. Then we headed out on the trail - it gets light enough to see in the forest by 6:00 AM; we were on the trail by 6:30. The hike was not terribly long until we got to the tower, which is really just a bunch of wooden steps and metal supports with a wooden platform on the top. There, we qualified for Extreme Birdwatchers, as we stood on the top for a good half-hour. We saw some predatory birds, I think, and some toucans, and some tannagers (tannigers? Not sure how to spell that). Those were the ones that Mom was talking about the rump. The predatory birds, as we found out on the lake a few hours later, are nicknamed "stinky birds," because they eat foul-smelling leaves, which go through their three stomachs and ferment while they're at it; when they poop, they're acting in self-defens. We also saw a tarantula while we were heading to the tower. On the way to the lake, we saw a poison dart frog. Apparently, the fathers carry the tadpoles to moisture, not the mothers.
Stinky birds! (we didn't smell anything)
(photo cred to Lesley)
When we got to the lake, we took a boat across to the other side of the forest. It's a moderately wide and fairly long body of water, not counting the floating grass that's located at each end. The lake, apparently, is shrinking. Slowly, but it'll be gone in 2000 years.
On the other side of the lake, we saw a parasite tree - a fig tree that commandeered another one and grew around it. The tree inside eventually died, leaving the innards hollow. It wasn't difficult to slip through one open part and go in - it fits four or five inside. It was really cool - it was probably what being attacked by Old Man Willow would have been like. Except it was a fig tree. And not in Middle-Earth. And consensual. And it didn't hurt.
(the middle photo - cred to Lesley)
After the fig tree, our guide, Yuri, challenged us to try to climb this vine outside the tree. It didn't work for me. I tried, but it didn't work - I'm not a good climber, I guess.
A cool thing we saw on the way were roots. Well, a single root in particular, which stretched nearly 200-ish feet, from a certain sort of tree, across a stream bed, and across the path. It's very shallowly located within the soil - apparently, the lower layers of rainforest soil are not very nutritious, so the roots go out instead of down. Since this particular tree is several hundred years old (and is at least as tall as it is old; which is to say that it's SUPER TALL), it's spread out a lot. Manchika trees - the ones with the spreading roots - are also really good pee trees, because the roots go up the trunk. It's proportionate to most trees (like, the roots stabilize the trunk like on most trees), but since the trees are super-tall, the roots go up to about my middle, probably higher. The roots also form this nice sort of alcove-y thing that gives you a lot of privacy.
On the boat back, we fed the fish. Including the piranhas. I didn't actually personally see any.
Now, it's time for me to eat. Will write tonight.
Well done! Love, Mom
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