We've been away from internet for awhile now, time to catch up on here! Andrew already posted a blog about Bolita but it didn't include pictures so here you are!
It was such an interesting little place, exactly what we were hoping for. I won't re-describe everything for you but there were a couple of things I wanted to add to Andrews notes.
We had so much time to hike around and watch wildlife near Bolita. The picture here is from beside our table at breakfast. Hummingbirds, bees, monkeys, macaws, doves, geckos, etc. were always nearby.
It was such an interesting little place, exactly what we were hoping for. I won't re-describe everything for you but there were a couple of things I wanted to add to Andrews notes.
We had so much time to hike around and watch wildlife near Bolita. The picture here is from beside our table at breakfast. Hummingbirds, bees, monkeys, macaws, doves, geckos, etc. were always nearby.
This picture shows the nearly finished product of our volunteer work. We were asked to build a shelter over the clothes-line. We used bamboo which we cut down from a nearby bush, and some scraps that were lying around from previous projects.
It took us two days (4-5 hours per day) to build and was very fun! We learned a lot about working with bamboo though didn't have any instruction - all by trial and error.
It took us two days (4-5 hours per day) to build and was very fun! We learned a lot about working with bamboo though didn't have any instruction - all by trial and error.
At one point Andrew got a bamboo cut on his thumb. At first he looked at it a bit nervously and insisted that he was ok when I asked. After a few minutes, he got off of the stump he was standing on and wobbled to the kitchen sink. I knew he was going to faint so I grabbed a stump for him to sit on while I held onto him from behind. (Note from Andrew - it was a really hot and sunny day of hard work, I was really just quite dehydrated! =P)
This is not the first time I've had to do this so was pretty routine, lol. When he was feeling up for it we cleaned it out well and stuck a bandage on it. It really wasn't too bad, but he said he got disturbed when it began to ooze dark blood. lol, funny day. The next day I got a couple of bamboo cuts as well (nothing bad) but it is worth noting that bamboo can be pretty dangerous for that! Super sharp! We wore gloves after a few warning cuts.
This is not the first time I've had to do this so was pretty routine, lol. When he was feeling up for it we cleaned it out well and stuck a bandage on it. It really wasn't too bad, but he said he got disturbed when it began to ooze dark blood. lol, funny day. The next day I got a couple of bamboo cuts as well (nothing bad) but it is worth noting that bamboo can be pretty dangerous for that! Super sharp! We wore gloves after a few warning cuts.
On one of our free days we went for a 6 hour hike up one of the trails to a waterfall, and then headed back following the river to town, then hiked back up to Bolita.
The trails were well marked and took us through thick rainforest, around an overgrown valley, and down into the rainforest again. We saw many monkeys (spider monkeys, howler monkeys and squirrel monkeys) as well as some macaws, toucans, a tiny snake, some cool bugs and frogs.
We actually hiked for at least an hour every day, but averaged more like 3 hours per day! It got a bit tiring to tell you the truth, but it was hard to resist heading to the trails to try and see some creatures.
The trails were well marked and took us through thick rainforest, around an overgrown valley, and down into the rainforest again. We saw many monkeys (spider monkeys, howler monkeys and squirrel monkeys) as well as some macaws, toucans, a tiny snake, some cool bugs and frogs.
We actually hiked for at least an hour every day, but averaged more like 3 hours per day! It got a bit tiring to tell you the truth, but it was hard to resist heading to the trails to try and see some creatures.
On that same river hike we came across a few guys panning for gold in the river. Bolita is located near the town of Dos Brazos which is a historic gold mining town and many of the people there still make their living off of gold panning.
Two of the guys we passed called us over, eager to share with us their techniques, and demonstrated their skills for us. They both grabbed a seemingly random scoop of sand, swished it around explaining that there wasn't that much gold there, I assume in order to keep our expectations reasonable before showing us the nuggets they got, just in case they were small.
I was really impressed with the size of them! They each pulled out a couple of nuggets that were at least 100x bigger than any I've ever pulled out panning in Dawson City. We were thinking about hiking with a couple of these guys to a hotspot somewhere in the rainforest but we decided to hike in the Corcovado National Park instead. The park was incredible, but to be honest I am sort of feeling that we may have missed out on a very unique opportunity. Maybe we will have to go back someday!
Two of the guys we passed called us over, eager to share with us their techniques, and demonstrated their skills for us. They both grabbed a seemingly random scoop of sand, swished it around explaining that there wasn't that much gold there, I assume in order to keep our expectations reasonable before showing us the nuggets they got, just in case they were small.
I was really impressed with the size of them! They each pulled out a couple of nuggets that were at least 100x bigger than any I've ever pulled out panning in Dawson City. We were thinking about hiking with a couple of these guys to a hotspot somewhere in the rainforest but we decided to hike in the Corcovado National Park instead. The park was incredible, but to be honest I am sort of feeling that we may have missed out on a very unique opportunity. Maybe we will have to go back someday!
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