Clay licks!

We were up early- for a 5:30 departure. We left the lodge and went up river fifteen minutes in order to observe the activity of the macaws, parrots and parakeets feeding on the earth. La Torre Clay Lick is a mud bank about four meters high and twenty meters wide criss crossed with veins of mineral rich clay essential to the diet of these birds.

On site we were in a hideout at a distance of  about thirty meters which keeps us hidden while at the same time allowing us an unobstructed view of the display in front of us.
We watched a lot of birds fly over but none of them went down to the lick.  After about an hour we gave up and went back to the lodge for breakfast. We had mini pancakes, eggs and fruit- good jungle food.  A few hours later Victor told us it was time to go back as the Macaws should be at the lick now- they are late eaters.  We left the girls at the lodge as they wanted to chill and we headed back up to the lick- we sat across from the lick this time and saw pairs of Macaws begin to appear- they mate for life and stay together for everything.  We watched for a while from across the river and then got up quite close, it was pretty amazing to see these stunning birds in the wild.

Back a the lodge we got to relax and read a book in the sunshine, then it was lunch.  We had a rice, with egg and chicken in it, all wrapped in a leaf.  After lunch we got ready for a visit to the local farm.  We took the boat and were there in no time.  The local farms don't have a regular field of one or other type of produce, but rather it's all grown together.  We tried bananas, limes, lemons that tasted like oranges.  There were so many plants to see it was amazing.  We even tried a cocoa pod bean- the pods are orange when ripe and when broken open there are slimy seeds inside, trying one we were so surprised they tasted like chocolate. 

By the time we got back it is was dinner - another delicious meal was had.  After our bellies were stuffed, we all trudged down to the boat after that in search or camen.  There was a huge light in the boat as we cruised on the river and all we could see were red eyes- yikes.  Next thing we knew our guide had wrangled a baby camen into the boat, we got to touch him and then it was back to the water.  After a while we turned off all the light and watched the fireflies dance against the milky way- pretty magical sites to see.