Our American friends had moved to Reyes four months ago. They gave us grapefruit (toronja) from a tree in their yard, and we gave them Snickers bars.
They also had a cacao tree and took us to try some. Inside the cacao pod was a sweet and slightly sticky substance, covering the little nuts inside. Nature’s Snickers.
They also had a cacao tree and took us to try some. Inside the cacao pod was a sweet and slightly sticky substance, covering the little nuts inside. Nature’s Snickers.
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We went upriver to the entrance to the Madidi National Park entrance and met a park ranger and a wild tejón. The rangers had cared for the lost tejón until a group of other tejóns had come by. It joined the group and left, but after 2-3 days it returned. (Please don't play with wild animals. Although the tejón climbed on the guide, it was continually trying to bite him.)
The tejón was playing with what looked like tiny, undeveloped coconuts. Jon remembered that the tour guides knew about eating grubs and, after Jon asked him, our guide went off for a moment and returned with several large nuts, about twice the size of a large walnut.
Breaking open one of the nuts, the guide pulled out a grub. Here’s what happened:
I tried one too:
I might try it again one day. The guide said the grubs were also good when roasted like marshmallows. Coconut-flavored roasted marshmallow grubs on a stick. Yum!
Later on that same tour, we hiked through the jungle with our indigenous guide. He showed us some edible fruits, which we sampled. He explained how to use some of the plants and leaves for medicinal purposes. He helped us identify several rubber trees and we rubbed some of the sap between our fingers until it formed a tiny rubber ball.
The last plant we found was a vine called uña de gato. Cat’s claw. You can drink the water inside the vine, you can filter water through the center of the vine, and you can boil the bark in water and drink it. This bark-infused water is used to help heal various ailments including, among other things, Lyme disease.
3 comments:
Grubs! Wow. Well, I suppose they're no worse than the camel hoof soup or fermented goose eggs we had in China.
Somehow I didn't realize you were already on your trip. You look right at home, happy. :D It's good to see you that way.
Also, I'm pretty sure your Spanish is better than mine now, but I understood everybody in the video clips.
The actual eating wasn't nearly as weird as eating camel hoof soup. The hard part was dealing with the idea of putting a living animal into your mouth and killing it with your teeth. And it really did taste like coconut milk, which is not a very strong flavor in the first place.
As for not knowing I was gone -- I try not to publicize when I'm out of town. I enjoyed the break from cooking and cleaning, and I would have been just as happy to have gone to southern Utah or something. But working on my Spanish was really great, since I have a limited vocabulary and equally limited grammar skills. I have a long way to go still, but it was a confidence booster and a little practical understanding that, when it came to things that really mattered, I could get by fine.
I should have clarified -- I went on the trip and am back now. I don't want the whole world to read my blog, knowing that I'm not home to keep them from doing whatever they want with my stuff.
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