Chicken for lunch

After desayuno consisting of chocolate Quakers, chips and eggs, a local villager took us by boat to an opening in the Aguajales. The boat trip took 15 minutes.  This walk was much easier than previously. We walked for an hour or so, got to over 1km and took some peat cores. They showed a lot of mixed soil – peat and clay. Also there seemed to be more peat further down. I took pictures of the cores next to a measuring tape. Freddie noted down the core texture, colour and descriptions. Freddie thought the pattern could be due to flooding events as the swamp is next to the River Marinon. These flooding events may occur every 50 years causing a high biodiversity in the area. From this point we made a plot of 200m x 25m. We walked back 200m and on either side included all the trees that were 12.5m from the path.  Louis identified the tree species and I measured the heights of the palm trees. We also took pictures of some of the tree species. We then speedily walked back and got back to the majors house at around 1. His wife had cooked us spaghetti with tomato sauce and bits of chicken as well as rice. We then set off in our speed boat to our final destination – Santa Rita. This village is much larger than the previous two.  We are staying in a hostel here with actual beds and a mosquito net. As well as a clean toilet (which still doesn’t flush) - and there is a shower. When I say shower I mean a room with a vat of water and a bucket in. But still, there is a wash room and a clean toilet!! Beautiful!! All my clothes smell now however. Not sure if it is worth washing any of them - not much point now.