jungle

Jungle Bowl

 in Peru / Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Aguas Calientes / Amazon River basin / caiman / cocaine / football / Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica / jungle / medicinal plants / monkeys / Peru / soccer / Tambopata by

My favorite bowl game took place in the Amazon River basin in Peru. The ball was round, and the “crowd” didn’t speak much English, but they gave us the best seats in the house. We only heard about the game because our jungle guide mentioned it as we returned from an excursion to see monkeys, caimans, and medicinal plants–complete with instructions for making cocaine. The game might have been better if the field had been longer since the players generally kicked the ball from one end to the other.  We didn’t get to see much tricky dribbling. We also didn’t get to see anyone score. […]

Sloth Blockage

 in Snowbirding / Wildlife/animals  tagged Columbia / jungle / sloths / travel by

“Sloths look sweet but they can tear your jugular out with one swipe.” Our volunteer trainer at the Denver aquarium reminded me of a photo shoot I had with a sloth in Columbia.  As you can see below the little guy’s claws did put me on edge. The handler wrapped the sloth’s legs around me slowly as if its limbs required extra time to move, and they did feel stiff, almost creaky. Sloth is not a weakness in the sloth’s case.  It’s about surviving in a predatory jungle.  An animal that moves slowly and sparingly is hard to spot.  Sloths do have […]