Life On The River

The "locals" above are their own advertisement for the easy lifestyle in many places in the rain forest. This series of pictures was taken in the river village of Misahualli Friday. This is one of the places the "teachers day out" included. This village was once the entry point to large Indian land area. The river had huge canoes that were used to ship things in and out. Today, it is only a small tourist town with one company giving motorized canoe trips up and down the river. It is out of the way and even the tourist trade is down from years back. The monkeys are just around town and down by the river looking for a handout.

The canoes hold 12 people. The trip down and back up the river was very pleasant under sunny skies.

Of course, a true tourist area has to have connections. The canoe people take you down river and stop at an Indian village where a good tour was given. A dollar tour goes a long ways.

You can audition for life as an Indian hunter. The guy in the red shirt tried out using a dart blow-gun. The target was a fruit pictured below. This guy may not be a perfect shot, but if the dart had poison on it, you will just have to take your chances. (I did just nip the skin of the fruit.)


Ok, it is confession time. Actually, my first shot was a little wild. I hit one of the teachers in the forehead. (See below) He is so hard headed, it didn't even phase him. Just look at his smile.

The picture above shows one white Indian that apparently has been lost for some time. We think she thinks she is some sort of "queen of the jungle". Nobody had the heart to tell her otherwise.

The scenery a long the river is spectacular looking in any direction. Misahualli is at the fork of two rivers. This means below the village the river is much larger.

Additional posting of this trip will follow.