Saturday, November 14, 2015

Jungle Cruise!

Sorry for the long break between posts but the past couple of weeks have been filled with every day life normalcy peppered with some illnesses. Turns out that a submarine and a preschool have a lot in common in regards to passing around germs. Carlton has had the norovirus and Foot and Mouth over the past 2-3 weeks. So we have not been out exploring much due to illness and also his work schedule.

This weekend we joined a group from the boat and checked out the Jungle Cruise that is available (for tourists). There were about 20 of us, so we got to charter our own boat and enjoy a lovely cruise on the Talofofo River.
Our view as we left the dock
Part of the tour includes stopping at the site of an ancient Chamorro Village where you can still see the latte stones they used for structural support.
Shows the latte stones actually holding up the structure

Ancient latte stones

Replica of ancient structure
Our group!!

Of course we had to do a group photo in front of the structure! The tour continued with a walk along a path showing the various foliage in the area.
I used to have one of these as a house plant!



More latte stones

Banana spider-very common and harmless

Fire pit

Then we were directed to an educational area where there were a couple women weaving various items from palm fronds. Our guide also demonstrated how the people used to start fires and how they used coconuts and fire for insect repellent. One of our guys decided to try to start a fire as well and was able to get some smoke while being mercilessly harassed by all of us about going faster and harder. The other tourists and employees joined in on the heckling as well! Reshard took it all in stride...he is a sailor, so he's used to being pestered by his co-workers.
She's using her toes to hold the palm.

Fruit basket

Our guide making a fire

Working it harder!

Coconut insect repellent

Reshard trying it out

Getting a little smoke
Baby monitor lizards
We proceeded to get back on the boat for more cruising.

Traffic jam on the river

The kayak river cruise
At our turnaround point, we paused to feed the fish. Not sure if you can see them in the picture but they are stick fish (about 4-6 inches long) and they were a few catfish in the area too. They love their white bread! We also saw a couple crabs on the shore but couldn't get a picture.

It was a lovely excursion and we had a lot of fun!!

Our next adventure is going to be in the Philippines. We are heading there for our Thanksgiving getaway! We will be staying on Cebu Island for a few days and then checking out Manila for a couple days before heading back home. We are looking forward to scuba diving around Cebu and checking out the various sights in both areas. We should have plenty of pictures from that upcoming trip!!

I know it's early but I will say Happy Thanksgiving to you all now! Not sure how much we will be online while we are gone, so I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with your families and friends!!

XOXOXO