January 18, 2007
Today we took a hike around Tinalandia. This secondary growth forest contains more birds than we have seen at all of the other sites combined. We were delighted to be greeted by toucans and cuckoos at breakfast before seeing parrots, tanagers, and more hummingbirds on the hike. We hiked high and low through jungle trails visiting the Tinalandia River and only being stopped by a huge tree blocking the trail. Since we had been hiking along a steep ridge, the only option was to turn around and double back taking a walk through a pasture. 
After lunch we visited a shaman of the Tsachila people, nick-named the Colorado Indians, in the town of Santo Domingo. These people dye their hair red using the lipstick plant that we painted ourselves with earlier in the trip. The Shaman played a xylophone made of bamboo and told us about the medicinal properties of plants in the jungle. He then brought us into his bamboo hut, showed us his sacred rocks and
called the gods to protect us in the future. Tee Jay volunteered for a little fortune telling session. Don’t worry Christina- you have a healthy man and all is well!Since we only had one night to get our games in for the Tinalandia round of Uno, we started before dinner. The updated scores are… Keri/Amy- 14, Bob/Grace- 10, James- 9, Tee Jay- 6.
1 comment:
Whew! Nice to hear that the shaman had only good news for Tee Jay - did he mention whether or not Tee would start to actually be a worthy competitor in the Uno standings??
I am thrilled to see so many updates all in a day. As you embark on your journey towards the Galapagos, be safe, have fun, and keep trying new things!!
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