The rain poured down on us last night and into this morning here at Blue Creek. Although we all awoke early to bird, we did not leave the comfort of the roofed deck. As Russ says, “it is the rainforest
At around 10 am the rain finally subsided for a brief period of time. We then followed our two guides, Geraldo and Eusebio to some nearby farmland. Eusebio leases the land from the government and plants both corn and beans there. He demonstrated how he clears the land using his machete, then made a small hole using a stick. Each time a new hole was made, Eusebio tossed five seeds in, never missing. The rain returned, but our guides came to the rescue. They quickly chopped down a nearby cohune palm tree and used the long leaves to create a shelter. After the rain calmed down, we ventured home.
This afternoon we journeyed through thick mud in our bathing suits further down the creek to do some “Iguana shaking”. Iguanas often nest in thick trees that hang out over the water. Once we spotted an iguana in a tree, one of the guides would climb up the tree and shake it, forcing the iguana to fall into the creek below. We shrieked and hollered as we attempted to catch the iguanas. The iguanas were very quick and agile swimmers for such a large and usually sedimentary reptile. Cameron was the true iguana whisperer of the group, with barely any battle wounds he snatched both iguanas from the stream.
Satisfied with our catches, we trekked back through the mud. Upon our return we all immediately jumped off the dock at our site and scrubbed all the dirt off in the stream. The rest of the afternoon we swam and relaxed as the rain came and went.
Maravilla holds up a prize iguana.
In the evening we met our host families and spent the night with them in the village. All of us were split into groups of three and were immersed in the culture of Blue Creek. We each had individual experiences and developed a strong bond with our host families when we left.