My holiday week was spent on an eco-location in the rainforest, a former USAF radar tower, that functioned between 1965 and 1995, on top of a hill overlooking the rainforest and the famous canal. It was starting to fall apart when a conversationist who was looking for a location to host eco-friendly tourists and birders found it and restored it. It felt like a scene of a Tintin adventure. From the tower's deck, you could see tankers and huge cruise boats progress through the trees at the same time as hearing howler monkeys call nearby. The 360 degrees view was magnificent. It is a very unique experience.
The tower can accommodate about 20 people, with tiny rooms looking like very basic cabins, shared bathrooms and toilets. Most of the people there were elderly, birders, mostly American, Canadians or British. The local guides were very knowledgeable and welcoming, making you feel at home.
Every day, I would check on the sloth that was living on a tree close to the tower. I made friends with a couple in their 80s. They had travelled to 140 countries throughout their lives. They did not have children, so as soon as they had a couple of months off work, they would travel. They told me all kinds of stories about their travels, we had very interesting conversations. He was a birder, she was the “slother”. She was a very witty old lady, suffering from athrosis, and she farted, oh God, she did. The first times she did, I had to bite my tongue not to burst out into laughter, but since no one reacted and all pretended nothing happened, I got used to it. They very nicely called me the “bugger” (what a great sense of humor!), since my mosquito repellant was called “bugger off” and was pretty useless, mosquitoes, ants, and other bugs feasted on me through my clothes.... I looked like I had measles. (To be continued).
The tower can accommodate about 20 people, with tiny rooms looking like very basic cabins, shared bathrooms and toilets. Most of the people there were elderly, birders, mostly American, Canadians or British. The local guides were very knowledgeable and welcoming, making you feel at home.
Every day, I would check on the sloth that was living on a tree close to the tower. I made friends with a couple in their 80s. They had travelled to 140 countries throughout their lives. They did not have children, so as soon as they had a couple of months off work, they would travel. They told me all kinds of stories about their travels, we had very interesting conversations. He was a birder, she was the “slother”. She was a very witty old lady, suffering from athrosis, and she farted, oh God, she did. The first times she did, I had to bite my tongue not to burst out into laughter, but since no one reacted and all pretended nothing happened, I got used to it. They very nicely called me the “bugger” (what a great sense of humor!), since my mosquito repellant was called “bugger off” and was pretty useless, mosquitoes, ants, and other bugs feasted on me through my clothes.... I looked like I had measles. (To be continued).
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