Piedras Blancas ...continued

The sounds of the rosters and the smells of gallo pinto cooking in the kitchen below my room woke me up at 5 am for a day of experiences like none other. As we ate our gallo pinto and fried plantains, one of the 18 lopez family members decided he was going hunting in the rainforest for a delicacy for the big fundraiser fiesta for the community - Tepesquintle or in English, Paca.

I've never hunted and never have had a desire to do so, but I figured it would be an interesting experience to hike through the rainforest after this animal that I had never heard of, so I decided to go. There were four of us total, we quickly traversed up a steep path with the two hunting dogs as we were on our way to capture this large rodent. I was a little uneasy because I didn't have proper shoes nor pants fit to hike through dense rainforest. My main concern wasn't coming in contact with plants, but snakes. The night before we had discussions about when snakes are most active - yea, you guessed it right - in the morning.

We made our way well up into the mountain side as Hermides called out and whistled to the dogs in search of the big rodent. All the sudden the dogs made a distinct bark and we ran down them to find two relatively large holes in the side of the hill. The dogs were yelping and barking with excitement - we had found the home of a paca. After digging three extra holes about 6 feet into the hillside, we were able to see the animal inside. I don't need to go into the details of what happened from there, but it was intense to say the least...

We then had to carry the carcass back to the main house where Hermides skinned and prepared the rodent for cooking.

The day continued on, we hung out near the river, rested in hammocks, and prepared for the fiesta. Day turned into night and we danced under the stars and enjoyed the makeshift bar in the rainforest.

The following day we made our 18k hike out to Brujo where we hopped in the best surf car I've ever seen. The journey back to base took about 8 hours total - pretty rough with a goma (hangover) but well worth it.