Sue's Travels: El Toro – 30 April 2010

I didn’t have a good night’s sleep. I kept waking up thinking that it was 5:30 and time to get up. I did get up and into the zodiac at 6:00 AM. I was in JJ’s boat. We started up a relatively narrow stream, but the smoke was intense. Apparently now is the time when the Indians burn the fields for slash and burn agriculture. The smoke was so thick that JJ commented that he had never seen it that thick before and we headed up a different, wider stream. Shortly after we entered the stream, we saw red howler monkeys in a tree. I couldn’t get a picture because there were too many leaves in the way. I, really, only saw a red blob. As we continued up the stream I saw a corral with cattle. On either side of the stream, I saw a line of trees with a clearing behind it. Apparently, cattle ranching is being introduced into the area in significant numbers. In an almost leafless tree, I saw three or four Hoatzin (pronounce Hwatson) Birds. They are considered to be rare in this area. Next to the leafless tree was another tree that the Hoatzins flew to. I think that I got some decent pictures, which I would like to be able to enlarge. Further along, we saw another troupe of red howler monkeys. Since there were fewer leaves on the tree, they were more visible. At about 7:30, we returned to the ship for breakfast.

After resting for a while, we headed into the village of El Toro. It consists of about 40 families with about 5 or 6 children each and about 65 buildings. It has the same type of walkways as in Curiapu, but it is smaller. Behind the village was a significant cleared field. Hugo Chavez has provided running water and electricity. It is a subsistence economy. If they have anything left over, they sell it in a larger village two and half hours upstream. The ship delivered some school supplies to the head teacher, who will distribute it appropriately. The number of “Direct TV” satellites never ceases to surprise me. The people were friendly. After walking the full length of the village, I headed back to the ship as it was quite warm in the village. I took a short nap!

After lunch, I headed up on to deck 6 to watch as the ship headed to Rio Arroya. I can sit in an air conditioned room anytime back in New York, but I can’t see jungle scenery. There was nothing spectacular, but I enjoyed watching just the same. When the ship dropped anchor, the nice shady spot that I had found became very sunny; consequently I headed to the aft of the ship to deck 5 where I was able to sit under an overhang. There were quite cool breezes blowing as well. At about 3:15, I headed for my cabin where I put my sneakers on to be ready for the excursion. We went up one of the side streams until one of the zodiacs encountered vegetation that couldn’t be driven through. We saw more Hoatzins and I hope I was able to get some pictures. I did take some pictures of flowers that I considered pretty. I really enjoy the zodiac rides whether or not we see birds or any other animals. I took a nice warm shower when we got back and am ready for the evening program.

Tomorrow’s program will be long on lectures and short on doing. There will only be one zodiac ride in the morning.