Our guide said it’s because blood flows to their faces when they’re excited. But I’ve also read it could be from scar tissue when they fight as youngsters—they’re born gray. We also spotted a red-tailed boa constrictor hanging from a tree, adorable squirrel monkeys, and giant lily pads. Haley from Hamilton Elementary—you’ll love this: the lily pads can actually hold a human baby! Locals sometimes put their babies on them while they fish or gather food from the river!
The Amazon River is essential for the people who live here. It’s their main source of fish, which is the most important food they eat. The locals also have some interesting beliefs. For example, they don’t eat sloths because they believe it will make their children lazy. Yes, New Albany High School and Gavin, Callum, Sydney and Josie from Hamilton Elementary, we saw a sloth today! It was hanging from a tree, only eight feet up. It was so cute!
People here also farm rice along the riverbanks and grow all the vegetables they need. They only go to town once or twice a month to trade chickens for sugar, salt, cooking oil, bread and kerosene for their generators. The villages don’t have electricity, so they use their generators for just one to two hours per day to power fridges and lights—no iPads, Wi-Fi, or TVs here! When kids finish 5th-grade, they have to move to a nearby town called Nauta to continue school, which is why many kids stop after 5th-grade and stay in the village.
