More in Misahualli

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year.

The night we returned from Banos one of the ducklings; my favourite, whom I had named Jemima, disappeared. We searched all morning in the garden and under the house because Celso was convinced it must have been a Boa Constrictor since we heard no noise and found no trace of her, not even a feather. However later, when we had given up our search, we saw a cat sitting on the garden wall which Celso expertly hit with a flying rock from 10m, and we now suppose that he must have been the culprit.
I have sort of lost track of the last few days, what happened when etc so I will just have to write about what I remember and it may be a little bit out of order.

On the Monday Mum, Celso and I went in to Tena to try to finish off the car papers and to get my cedula (National Identity document). first stop the police station to get my passport number in the system.. but of course NO... not possible... all data must be entered in Quito. Then to the cedula office... Yes, they could find me in the system, but NO I couldn´t have my cedula until I had a paper from the immigration office confirming that I still had residency status... AND where is the Immigration Office... of course... it´s in Quito. Another waste of time!
However we did manage to buy mum a Tshirt having visited practicially every single stall in the market. All the clothes here are so small. Firstly the people here are quite small and secondly the women like to wear their clothes so tight!

On the Tuesday it rained and rained, mum and I did some washing, we are not very good at the old hand washing bit but we did our best. I noticed that occassionally Carmen or Filemon would come by as if checking on us! Karina arrived on the bus at around 6pm with O´mara the dog who had been drugged to enable her to travel! Later Darwin and Juan Carlos (more of Carmen´s grandchildren) arrived. They had intended to travel with Karina but missed the bus! Pablo was also meant to come but his school had decided to add 3 days to the end of term due to some government initiative which is intended to get all the kids to the same point in the curriculum.... can you imagine the outcry in the UK if at the last minute the school dates were changed?

On the Wednesday we had organised with a motorista (a guy with a long boat with a motor) to go down the river to walk in primary jungle and to visit a rescue centre that is situated on an island about an hour down the river. We had met an English guy earlier in the week and invited him along so that he could pay at least $25 of the $90 cost of the trip! (A bit cheeky but he loved the trip.)
So.. there were 9 of us in the boat, Celso, Tris and I, mum and Carmen, Karina, Darwin, Juan Carlos and Justin (the English guy).
We stopped about 45 mins down the river at a jungle camp/ hotel where we left all the food we had brought for lunch. We walked for around 2 hours through the jungle, the last 20 mis of which was in the pouring rain. It was very muddy and slippery under foot and there was so much to see that our progress was very slow but really enjoyable. Loads of insects, incredible vines and plants, and the non stop sound of crickets and cicadas. Of course you will all have to wait to see the photos! Then back to the camp to have lunch which Celso whipped up, Tuna salad, cheese, mortadella (a kind of ham), chifles (thin slices of green plantain fried), the juciest of pineapples and a granadilla each. The camp was full of things to see too, amazing butterflies, lizards, huge grass hoppers and amazing views out over the jungle and down to the river.
Then on down the river to the rescue centre. The centre is run mainly by volunteers, students from Europe who are studying conservation. We had a German girl who showed us around but we were also accompanied on our tour by a Trumpeter bird (it looked sort of like a guinea fowl) and a Kuchucho, a small opposum like animal with a long nose. The rescue centre receives unwanted pets and injured animals, they manage to rehabilitate about 25% and get them back into the wild. Another 50% have to remain on the island as they do not have the skills to survive on their own, some are loose (like the Kuchucho and the Trumpeter bird) and some have to remain in cages. The other 25% unfortunately die. We saw Marmosets, Tucans, Howler and Spider monkeys, Kapibara, turtles, tortoises, Jaguarundis (a small black jaguar like animal about the size of a cocker spaniel), Ocelots, dwarf Caymen, a Boa and loads of parrots.
On the way back up the river the sky was absolutely incredible with huge fluffy clouds in enormous towereing formations. Just near Misahualli we stopped at a small indigenous village to look at the crafts they make and take a sneaky look at their houses and their children at play