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This morning saw us gearing up for another 3 hour trek around the island we are staying on. We were guided by Matildo and Sergio, both are native amazonians. Matildo could not speak any English but Sergio could translate most things.
We were shown countless plants and fungi that are used for food and medicine, including the sap of one tree that translates to 'dragon blood' in english. This is used both internally and externally for many ailments and skin conditions. Matildo used his giant machete to cut the trunk of the tree and get the sap out. It looked exactly like blood and tasted horrible. Matildo seemed to like taking the piss out of me so he used the 'alto flaca chica' (tall skinny girl) to use as his example. He had me try out a trap the catches small birds and put this stupid flower on my nose so I looked like a toucan and stood there laughing at me. Bloody smart arse. I also tried this delicious plant that tasted like lemons, and another that was like apple.
These people are amazing how much they know about the trees and plants, and each one has it's use in their lives. Lastly, we were shown a number of intricate traps to capture ground animals such as deer, birds and fish. All were made using plants and vines. Later that day Sergio and Matildo showed us how to make woven baskets, fish traps and fans out of flax, similar to Maori.
The people at the huts cooked us a special dinner for our last night here - palapia fish in banana leaves cooked over the fire with jungle potatoes, yuko (a type of root vegetable) and baked banana...so delicious!
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J Love You lucky b*****