Dracena, continued

There are a number of these older dracena plants in this area. Almost a small jungle of them. Look at the size of the trunks.

Dracena

Dracena plants close to an old homestead site at Bosque Santa Lucia. I haven't taken the time to identify the species yet. This is the one that gets to be the size of a small tree. Image coming up.

Colors of Five-star fruit

Carambola fruit (Averrhoa carambola) is said to provide rich sources of potassium for our body system. Many Brazilian doctors recommend the juice of this fruit for heart functions. It's very acid to eat raw, but the juice is in a sweetened form is very delicious.

Cinnamon leaves

New leaves of canela (cinnamonum zeylanicum) show their colors at my friend Didi Macedo's place in Mararu. I remind my readers that it was the dream of cinnamon that drove our Spanish friends to leave the mountains of Peru to the Amazon in 1491-1492, thus becoming the first Europeans to discover the Amazon River. Francisco Orellana was leader of the group that eventually made their way back to Spain via the Amazon River.

Cashews

The necessary electrons needed to publish a blog post from my own computer have returned to my modem. I discover that the cell phone company had cut our subscription because the bill was due on October 10th and it was paid only on the 12th. We received the bill via the mail on the 12th! This happens a lot here in the interior. A credit card bills arrives late, making for some hefty fines. The company doesn't consider it their problem that the mail system is slow. To get around having to pay fines, one needs to call the credit card company to ask for the amount that is on your bill somewhere in the mail. Then one needs to go to a bank, stand in line for awhile to make the payment.

Image: cashew fruits partially eaten by birds. Technically, the nuts are the fruit. What we call "fruit" is the swollen stem above the nuts.

Cacauí quadrado

New blooms veil last year´s fruit on this cacauí tree (Herrania mariae). I´m surprised that even one fruit was left over. The monkeys like it very much.

Helioconia butterfly

I was surprised how close I was able to get to this helioconia butterfly. They normally stay one step ahead of me as I try to get pictures. The water was still drying off the leaves of this Triplaris tree, so it could be that the wings of the butterfly were a bit humid. Regardless, it´s the best shot I´ve ever been able to get of this little beauty.

Last of the fish, continued

I´m still limping away at one of the local internet cafes in Santarem, but I´ve discovered that things could be worse. The place is airconditoned, music from a radio station and pretty girls to serve the coffee. What? Me worry?

Getting back to the fish, I reported that my caretaker, Cleuson, and our neighbor removed around 400 of them from a drying up hole at the Bosque. They were taken to the Poço Branco water hole, attached image, across the road, where they won´t be lacking for water. It´s a dirty looking, muddy water, but that´s what these fish like. As we get into the rainy season, the water levels of the water hole will raise and eventually overflow into the old creekbed and ajoining depressions. As mentioned in other posts, there are no rivers or creeks in the immediate planalto area. This waterhole has served even Indian civilizations thousands of years ago. Over the last one-hundred years it has been the major source of water for homesteaders. When we bought the Bosque property back in 1981, it was still the source of drinking water for many families in the area. In the last decade, more and more wells have been dug and today it´s used more for watering the neighbor´s cattle.

Grrrrrrrrr

Hang in there readers, I will be back. One of the mishaps of living in the jungle is that there are times when nothing works. Internet services have always been touch and go here in Santarem. I have tried all of them, but I have resolved that there will be days when it is better to shut the computer down and get out of town. I am at an internet cafe now, which is run by the largest of the internet servers, Netsan. I used this server for several years but finally gave up on them. Later!

Last of the fish, continued

This is the waterhole, where Cleuson and Bimba removed more than 400 fish just two days ago. My picture was taken in June, when the ancient creek bed area dried up, leaving this small body of water. The area around it is very much bare, the result of being under water for about 5 months. The story goes that the community of Poço Branco got together to dig a well in this particular spot because there was evidence of a spring that would keep everyone in water for the long summer months. From what I understood of community lore, the volunteer diggers got into some discussion that could not be resolved, so the digging was abandoned. When we bought the property in 1981, the well was much deeper than it is today. Over the years, mud has almost filled up the old well. It's amazing that so many fish could survive in such a small area.

Last of the fish, continued

Another look at the two species of fish found in the old well in the ancient creek bed that gets flooded during the rainy season. The one at the top of the image is tamuatá, the famed walking catfish. A Brazilian biologist told me that this little mud-loving fish is capable of "walking" up to 18 kilometers. I guess a lot would depend on the terrain, but it seems like quite a distance. I can personally testify that I've seen them moving about on the ground around the old well. More recently I've been looking for them in order to get a photograph, but nothing. I appreciate Cleuson and Bimba holding back five of the fish for me to see. We placed them in a concrete water box next to the front porch of the reception center. Nearly 400 found a new home in the old Poço Branco waterhole. I'll see if I can find a photograph of that place.

Last of the fish

In earlier posts I've shown images of the ancient creek bed at Bosque Santa Lucia, now known as the baixada (low area - flooded area). Synchronized with our very pronounced dry season and rainy season, this area is either flooded, or completely dry. At the peak of the dry season, the surrounding area can be almost desert-like due to weeks and sometimes months without rain. As the flooded area dries up, many fish are left stranded. They become food for the vultures. The last survivors take refuge in a hole that used to be an open well. Some years this refuge also tries up, which is taking place right now. Cleuson and Bimba (care-taker for the neighboring farm) got together day before yesterday to save this lot of fish. Amazing, but they rescued more than 400 fish from that small hole. They were taken across the road to a spring-fed body of water called Poço Branco. Only two species of fish were noted, per image. The large fish is acari and the smaller one, tamuatá, the famous walking catfish. Next image.

Wild flowers

Beautiful flowers are not restricted to vases in someone's yard. The woods are full of them, at one time or another. I discovered these alongside the road going into the Bosque.

Flowers

One of many vases of flowers at the Franco home. One more beautiful than the next.

Bougainvillea flowers

A closer look at the bougainvillea bracts and flowers.

Bougainvillea flowers

The bougainvillea plants (Bougainvillea sp.) seem to thrive on very hot weather and certainly don't require a lot of water. They are at their best this time of the year. This picture was taken at Eymar Franco's place not very far from Bosque Santa Lúcia.

Russelia flowers

This is the first dry season for our newly dug well. Everything is getting watered now and it's showing. The russelia (Russelia sp.) plants have plenty of flowers and they attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

Holes, continued

A newly constructed underground apartment. An armadillo, for sure. Amazing how fast they can dig.

Holes, continued

These holes have been around for a long time. My guess is that armadillos were the original dwellers. I can also imagine that they are in the high rent district at Bosque Santa Lucia. Some day I'll stick around for awhile to see what comes out.

Holes

Knock, knock. Anyone at home?