We have been paddling our three canoes for well over week now and most of that time we have not seen a lot of other people. In the past few days that number has increased dramatically. As the river widens, we notice less flooding, fewer animals, and we are encountering many more people. The other day alone we passed about nine other canoes, all going upriver, all under paddle power. Interestingly, all of the canoes are full of men. The only other woman we've encountered on our journey was the ribereno woman we met a few days ago. Most people are friendly and return our 'buenas dias'. One man was particularly hurried and unfriendly when Warren tried to speak with him. Warren told us that an old superstition is that Gringos (white people) are evil and will try to 'steal your face'. We aren't exactly sure what that means, but it demonstrates what kind of silly ideas people can develop when we don't have the opportunity to learn about other kinds of people and their cultures. We certainly weren't looking to steal anyone's face (except maybe in a few pictures!).

Warren is very friendly and always paddles right up to say hello and get any helpful information he can from the people we meet. People carry everything they need in their canoes--some people even gave us some ripe bananas and fresh papayas they had--probably the sweetest and juiciest papaya I've ever tasted!

At one of our stops we heard there was a man making canoes out in the forest. We decided to hike out and find him, following the distant sound of a chopping axe. We discovered Luis Sanchez working hard on his latest dugout canoe. He has made over 30 canoes in his lifetime! All of the canoes we encountered, including the ones we are paddling, are made in similar ways.

I asked Warren to help me understand the canoe building process a bit more--he has built six canoes himself. First you must select your tree, then dry leaves are put around it and burned about 6 feet up the trunk to dry the sap up. Then, the tree is cut down. While it is lying in the forest, the shape of the canoe is drawn on the log. If it's a really long log, you can make two canoes from it. Then, using only an axe, the canoe is chopped, or "dug out" from the log. It must be dug carefully, keeping two inches on each side for proper thickness. Once it is shaped, it is turned upside down and logs are burned underneath it to heat and dry it for four hours. While it is still hot, if it's too narrow, it can be turned over and stretched into a wider shape. Then you are ready to get a bunch of friends together for drinks and they will help you carry the canoe out of the woods and onto the river.

We watched Luis making his canoe for a while, and I asked if I could give it a shot with the axe. It's really hard work, but the end result is the main mode of transportation in this rainforest!

-Jennifer

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We met this friendly man while paddling along.

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Here is Luis Sanchez working on his newest canoe.

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Jenn tries her hand at canoe building.