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Published: October 25th 2016
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Onto day 2. We awoke early for a pre breakfast cruise in the skiff. Weve been told the majority of the activities will be early morning and evening to avoid the heat of the day. After lunch is reserved for siesta, which suits me fine!
The temperature is lovely that time of day, so even though I'm not a morning person it was an enjoyable ride. We saw lots of colourful birds and just cruised wround enjoying the morning. Then it was back for breakfast before we took the skiffs to a local rum distillery.
Upon arrival at the rum distillery we were shown the still, it's pretty old fashioned but obviously works a treat. We met some baby buffalo which are farmed for meat. By this stage we were all dying of heat exhaustion so were glad to be welcomed into the owner's home for a tipple.
There was white rum or a darker rum which had been infused with spices. Shots were poured and I got the brown rum. Usually I'm not a rum fan, especially straight at 9am when all I want is a litre of water. However this rum was good! Sweet and
kinda like port. The people sipping the white rum didn't look as happy so I went up the front to try one of the spare shots. It tasted like acid and I was wondering how I was going to finish it without insulting the owner. Then he walked out of the kitchen with lime and salt and demonstrated the traditional way of drinking it, down the hatch followed by lime rubbed in salt. This was much more my style so I downed it and smiled. Suddenly all eyes were on me and the owner was pouring me more... it'd be rude to refuse wouldn't it? After my second white rum shot, suddenly the owner is bringing me more - this time white mixed with brown. Not a great combo but down the hatch. I quickly returned my glass before he brought me any more and bought 2 bottles (750 and 375ml both for AUD $16). Needless to say i quite enjoyed the rest of the morning and the annoying tour mates were somewhat more bearable!
After lunch and siesta we docked at a local village and met the village leaders. We learned about medicinal plants - I was
the volunteer to have a random plant juice squeezed down my throat - it was sour but good. Pretty sure it'd go well with rum! We met a trained parrot then went into the village butterfly farm. Here they breed butterflies and release 70% into the wild. Amazonian butterflies are great pollinators but have gone from 4000 to 2800 species. I got to release a recently captured butterfly into the enclosure for breeding. Next we shopped local handicrafts (to support the village of course, not because im a shopaholic). The villagers make some amazing crafts and jewellery all from natural fibres and seeds. They even use fish scales! Hopefully I'm allowed to bring my purchases into Australia.
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Vicki Howe
non-member comment
Wow
Loved reading you blog, hoping there's more to be posted.