Huito fruits and bows and arrows

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The end of another week in the rainforest. It is appropriately pouring with rain at the moment, so I think I will try and hide in the internet cafe until it stops. Hmm, now I am again having the problem of trying to remember what on earth I did this week...

I think it was Tuesday on which I went on a walk with Eugenio and two other volunteers. We have trails throughout the taricaya area, which are walkable in various degrees. But Eugenio doesn´t much like to stick to the beaten track, so we went on lots of "short cuts" where we just walked through the jungle. During our walk he picked up a little nut type thing, sliced it open, and then pulled out a maggoty type grub, which he held out to me to eat. I think he thought he was being funny, and that I would never actually do it, so I ate it to prove him wrong. It was kind of squidgy and moist on the outside and bitter and crunchy on the inside. It´s not something I´d necessarily reccommend... but I don´t know what all the fuss on "I´m a celebrity, get me out of here" is about. The grubs lay eggs in the flowers of the tree, and when it grows into a fruit (it´s kind of like a small coconut) the eggs hatch and the grub eventually hatches out of the nut to become a beetle. I think that´s what Eugenio said at least. My spanish is improving, but there are still a few crossed wires occasionally...

Another thing that Eugenio picked up during the walk was huito fruits. They are circular and round with a thick brown peel. Sarah, one of the other volunteers on the walk, said that it was a kind of natural insect repellent, and that when it dried it formed at blue powder that flakes off. That evening, Eugenio mashed up the fruit and painted it onto the skin of most of the volunteers with cotton buds. I was a little suspiscious when he started drawing a moustache on my face... over the course of the evening, gradually blue lines appeared all over the victims faces. We assumed they would be gone by the next morning... but the next morning they were still there. And all the Peruvians and the older volunteers were laughing manically. It turns out that it is not in fact a mosquito repellent at all, just a blue dye that takes up to two weeks to come off. I had morning obs with Eugenio that morning, and I refused to speak to him for the whole time. I can´t wait until there are enough new volunteers for us to get them with it...

Yesterday we went back to Enrique´s to make bows and arrows. As the dry season is now coming to the end, the water level of the river has dropped way way down, about 2 metres in two days. As a result, the banks of the river are very muddy. Whilst getting into the boat, I managed to slip down the bank, and ended up clinging on to Daniel´s (a Peruvian staff member) hand. I lost one of my flip flops, which will now be on its way to Bolivia (I wonder if it will reknew my visa for me whilst it is there...). I felt rather silly. We spent the morning shaving away at bits of wood to shape them into bows. On our way back to the lodge, the boat broke down, and we had to haul ourself over to the lodge upstream using branches on the river bank, but not until after we had had a good laugh at Richard jumping into the water with the rope to try and pull us in, and then dropping the rope on the way. In the afternoon, we completed our bows and arrows by wrapping thread around the ends of the arrows and the joings (mine are pink and white) and then they attached feathers on to the end.

That´s all I´ve got time for this week! Hope you are all well at home, missing you! xxx

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Comments

[M]

Gone missing
HELP! Someone has taken Alexandra's place and written the blog for her this week. I know she would NEVER eat a maggot, especially if it hadn't been washed and she didn't know its parents. So, whoever you are, please may my daughter have her chair in the internet cafe back next week?

[Joya]

Photo please?!?!
I WANT TO SEE THE BLUE MOUSTACHE!!! joya x