V. The Jurassic

October 29, 2018

Iguazú River Hello there!
We've been staying at Yacutinga now for a while. As a result, we've been getting more and more used to the surroundings, the atmosphere, the people who work here, the sounds, the animal presence (which undoubtedly includes trillions of mosquitos), the cycles of the day, the harmonious routines of the jungle. For us, it means the most necessary detoxification from London's concrete jungle and we are embracing this opportunity with all our hearts and souls.

Kayaking on Iguazú River
Trekking
Guazú Trek at the Reserve
A Capuchin Monkey
Lizards, lizards everywhere!
Polenta
Fruit and fresh herbs smoothie
Buddha bowl from the jungle
Lizard!!
Inside Yacutinga Lodge
Kayaking on the River Iguazú
A weasel!
Black bean brownies
Filming the cooking class!

Yacutinga, our home for a month

One of the innumerous great things about volunteering at Yacutinga Lodge is that we get to join some of the activities they offer the tourists. For as many times as we want, we can join the educational guided tours through the jungle (inside Yacutinga's Nature Reserve), which are amazing opportunities to get to know the fauna and flora that share this beautiful jungle. As some examples, we got to see Tapir and Jaguar footprints, innumerable Weasels (those quite often come into our areas looking for food), massive Vultures (precisely at the same spot where we felt the strong smell of putrefaction), many groups of Capuchin Monkeys looking curiously at us from the tops of the trees and even some Hauling Monkeys too, being these rather rare to see. But from all the activities we get to do here our most favourite is, no doubts, kayaking! It's no extreme sport, the waters are quiet and the stream quite calm. But being there at the middle of the Iguazú River (which has 1km width), between the raw jungle, the serine waters and the immense sky, with birds of prey flying high and Tucanos crossing the air from tree to tree, just makes us feel SO alive! Besides, it also makes us feel somewhere between Indiana Jones and Bear Grills, which is kind of cool.
Regarding the work we've been doing, between all the many things, we've been developing kind of a catalogue with the faces of Yacutinga (all the people who work here, we call it "La Familia"). Also, we've been dedicating some time to all the cookery that has been done at the kitchen: photographing the wonderful dishes and drinks from the bar and kitchen (and then eating them, best part!); sharing our knowledge of vegan and healthy cuisine (we're also preparing a cook book to leave behind), producing and recording some cooking lessons with Yacutinga's skillful Chef, and of course preparing all this material to be launched online.
But these all feels like nothing compared to the wonderful experience we've been having in here, everyone is so genuinely nice, everyone has their experience and knowledge to share and there's no volunteer work that can pay for that.
Thanks a million for reading!
Love,

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