Day 15: Parrot Clay Licks and a Local Community
This morning, we took a motorized canoe ride to the parrot clay licks, where thousands of parrots gather to. literally, lick the clay. Along the way we viewed other activity on the river.
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| Some birds in a tree along the riverbank |
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| Some locals on the river |
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| A monkey hanging from a tree |
Eventually, we reached the clay licks. They were almost completely covered with green parrots, who made a tremendous racket.
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| The small green things are parrots |
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| A closer view |
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| Some of the parrots had blue heads and necks |
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| Tourists on another boat photographing the parrots |
We then headed to the El Pilchi community, on the banks of the river. The community is home to the
Mandi Wasi project, which is devoted to supporting sustainable tourism in the area.
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| Map of the community |
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| Another banana tree |
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| A couple of older community buildings |
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| The community school |
While we were there, a member of the community grilled a few local specialties for us, and demonstrated some of the cooking techniques.
One of the local specialties was huge slugs.
One of which Kevin popped into his mouth while still alive. I actually tried a grilled one, and it tasted pretty good, although I don't think I would eat them on a regular basis.
We spent a while wandering around the community and shopping for crafts at the community center.
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| A house in the community |
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| A newer dwelling in the community |
There was also a lot of interesting vegetation around.
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| A bathroom for visitors |
That evening, thanks to modern technology, we were able to watch the Super Bowl in the ship's bar.
Day 16: To Coca and Back Home
The next morning we boarded the motorized canoe for the ride back to Coca.
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| Back in Coca |
At the Coca airport, we spent some time in what may be the world's smallest airport lounge, along with a fellow Michigan Wolverine.
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| Part of metropolitan Quito |
