030119: Rio Ibare

We had breakfast with Daniel.  Kevin had double eggs and there were lots of fruit on the table - papaya, melon, oranges and pineapples.

The boat moored last night by a small holding.  So this morning we went for a walk there.  It wasn't quite the indigenous settlement described but a read of the description of our itinerary reveals it is called Villa Soledad.  There was just one old man living there with the thinnest dogs and cats we had ever seen.  He had a few timber structures, but nothing resembling a house.  A few small fires burned to keep away the mosquitos which were everywhere.  There were fruit trees including cocoa.  Most of the fruits were strange to our eyes.

The main thing he seemed to be growing was sweetcorn and pumpkins together.

Daniel said that he lived here all alone - hence Port Solitude.  He certainly did not seem to have much.

Cocoa pod

There was a sign calling it a community, which seemed a bit frivolous.

Next we sailed on a little more down the river.   We  seemed to steer into a tree.  Daniel asked if we would like to go for a walk but there was not anywhere to land. Plus we had already had our share of mosquitos that morning.  The boat turned round and sailed past Los Puentes where we had boarded.  We moored at a junction with another river.  Day boats from Los Puentes came past searching for pink dolphins, which we occasionally got the most fleeting glimpse off.

For lunch we had three types of carb again  - rice, masked potato and yuka with a cauliflower cheese.  After we were offered the chance to go horse riding.

Daniel and the ship's helmsman, who seems to be called Bambi, took us in a metal speed board through narrow, winding channels and then onto a wide stretch for about 30 minutes to Estancia Carmen cattle ranch.  (Though we saw no cattle.)   There were a few horses and Joan was given a small one who looked a bit sad.   The saddles were a makeshift arrangement.  Off we went with Daniel but once we got outside the coral,  Joan's  horse refused to go further so she stayed at the ranch whilst Kevin and Daniel headed off.   The ride was meant to be 90 minutes but it was more like 15 as Daniel didn't seem to know the way.

There were a few piglets hanging round and a friendly kitten.

 xxxx

On the way back, the skies opened and it threw it down.  There was no cover and we were drenched when we got back on board.  This would become an issue as we did not have many spare, clean clothes for this part of the holiday.

We saw some turtles on the way back and hit a huge  trunk of a tree that was partially submerged.

A day boat full of school children was sheltering from the rain behind our boat.

After dinner, we were asked if we would like to go looking for alligators but it was still raining and we did not want to get our only clean clothes wet. So we declined.