These Bamboos More Biggers

Luke came to Ecuador with only a few specific wants and needs. The top two on his list: touch or ride a caballo (horse) and see some monkeys in the jungle. So, when Eduardo turned up at breakfast one morning talking about a horseback riding excursion into Machalilla National Park to see howler monkeys...we obviously had to go. Parque Nacional Machalilla is about a 30 minute mototaxi ride outside of Puerto Lopez in a dry cloud forest. So although it wasn't the rainforest, we had high hopes to check jungle, monkeys, and caballos off the to-do list.

Kyra with her saucy yellow boots

When we arrived at the designated meeting spot to start the tour we were greeted by our trusty bird guide, Wilmar, once again! This time, however, he had some friends to help herd the horses along. The other people on the tour were ready to go, so we were promptly given mud boots and hoisted up onto the horses without further instruction. Once on her "horse" Kyra figured out it was actually a mule (mula) because of the smaller size and shorter hair. We later joked that she was "sitting on a lot of moolah" (probably funnier at the time). Before we headed into the forest, Wilmar and the other guides were talking quite seriously about something and motioning to the different horses. As it turned out, Liz got the feisty problem horse who didn't play nice with the other horses, and especially not with Luke's. So like always, Kyra played mediator, walking with her mula between the two horses to make sure nothing got out of hand.

Elephant leaves

A monkey!

We set out straight up the mountain with 7 of us on horses/mules, at least 5 other workers to help encourage the horses along the trail, and one machete to clear the way when looking for monkeys. During the 7 hour trek Wilmar explained the many uses of various plants, went into detail about the different types of bamboo (these bamboos more biggers...he said), and was eventually able to track down a group of howler monkeys for us. The horses definitely earned their keep climbing and descending tons of steep hills. Although we felt a little bad for the horses, it was fun to get to sit back and check out everything around us while covering some ground. 

 

Wilmar was somewhat facinated with the two of us



We even got to sample some jungle fruit along the way. Although we can't remember the name, we all really enjoyed the taste. It came with a yellow peel and looked similar to an orange divided in sections, but you were only able to suck off the spongy white outside before spitting out the huge seed. 

Explaining the uses of the Tagua nut

During the tour Wilmar explained about a special nut (the Tagua nut) found in the jungle that people use to make various things including buttons, jewelry, and figurines. Before hard plastic came along, the Tagua nut was used to produce most of these things commercially. Always working on his game, Wilmar offered the Tagua nut to whoever could give him the best pick-up line. In the end Kyra won him over wth some classics. We'll see if we can figure out how to make anything out of this nut!

Explaining the different plant species