Two Poison Frogs

Not even 73 bug bites can dampen this Christmas. Not even torrential down pour and walking through mud. Not even a new jungle food to eat at every meal. This is a holiday to remember.

The last two days have been jam packed, yes indeed, with hikes through the dense rain forest, tubing down the Napo River, dancing with the locals, and eating very strange and crazy things. Yesterday (Dec. 24), we began the day with a hike through the rain forest where our guide, Avel, pointed out lots of flora and fauna, taught us to make a trap for a rabbit out of vines, and caught a poisonous frog for us to take pictures of. The rain came and since we were unprepared without ponchos, he helped us find jungle umbrellas, not hard with leaves the size of large pizzas. For the last hour of our hike, we trekked through the rain. Daniel and I even saw a five foot black snake which our guide promised he would have been able to catch had he send it.

Favorites birds:
Chachalaca- sounds like a chattering bird
Russet-backed Oropendola- it makes a sound with it’s wings that sounds like a high pitched drop of water falling into a pool

Following that excursion, a great meal, and much needed nap, we went to the Healer Man. The Healer Man and Shaman serve similar roles but the Shaman has more power and can only see 2-3 people a day since he has to smoke or take a hallucinogenic to get his power. Healer Men, on the other hand, heal people all day and night, those with “baby illnesses.” They also provide cleansing, eliminating bad energy and replacing it with good energy. The boys did the cleansing while Mom and I took pictures. Afterward, we practice blowing darts into a papaya and chucking spears into a banana stump. Each took their own bit of finesse but Daniel and I made 2 out of 3 tries at the papaya. I was the only one to hit the tree stump (thanks Whitworth T&F for preparing me with Javelin) to the amazement of everyone including our guide. He had called for a competition, but after I nailed the stump in the heart, he lost his nerve and missed. No hard feelings but it did make him think twice about who would be cooking dinner if the woman was out hunting.

The evening wrapped up with a visit with the community Mondana at their Christmas Eve celebration. As I’ve been told numerous times that Christmas is a month long party so all of December is the time to celebrate. So while it was fun to dance and drink last night, the community had celebrated this way many times before. Therefore, when we went over expecting lots of hoopla and a exciting party atmosphere, the 2 light bulb lit mud volleyball court was interesting. The DJ, while working with skipped discs on a super old sound system, still had a few drinks before manning his position, so the music stopped, started, sputtered, and hesitated all night long. I would be dancing in no particular way, mainly just moving my hips and feet a lot, and then have to stop mid-step to stay with the music. No problem though, I had fun dancing with the locals and Avel in the muddy dirt until I was too sweaty to stay and the DJ too drunk to play. All the while children were whirling around sparklers in joyous celebration. Que bueno!