October

In the rain forrest the flood waters continue to recede.  Every day a little more land appears on the forrest floor.  And October is the month of the butterfly!  For days on end small yellow butterflies fly in an unending stream up the big rivers.  Right in the middle between the now exposed banks they fly.  It is an amazing spectacle.  Any place along the way there may be a recently exposed rock or mud bank,  myriads more will be gathered. I think  the butterflies are looking for some kind of nutrient left behind by the receding waters.  I have a guess as to where the butterflies are going but it’s just that, a guess.

October’s afternoon’s bring violent thunder and lightening storms usually blowing from the East, which happened to be a straight shot down the river. If you timed it just right you could step outside your house and stand letting the wind blow the blood sucking insects away while you revel in the breeze.  This is literally one of the very few occasions you can be outside without being attacked by these clouds of hungry  insects.  Of course you have to ready to duck back inside before sheets of rain catch you and you get fried by lightening.  On a more serious note a number of Tribal folks are struck by lightening each year though in a context other than enjoying the breeze.  As to the insects, although they are always a real nuisance  one does get used to them, sort of!

Even though the real dry season is still a couple of months away it isn’t too early for the jungle dwellers to begin working on the garden site they will plant at the beginning of the next wet season. For better or for worse slash and burn is the only method for gardening employed by the tribal folks.  At the front end of the work the underbrush is cut down, then the big trees are felled followed by a period of weeks or months during which everything dries out so it can be burned.  Then close to the start of the next rainy season the crops are planted between the stumps and logs which were too massive to burn completely.  October is too early to fell the big trees but the underbrush machete work can get started.  Though slash and burn may not be the best way to preserve the jungle eco system, along the big rivers I’ve not observed the jungles catch fire from the burning garden plots. And in the end the jungle takes over again.  What isn’t helpful is when the same areas are used over and over again for garden plots without waiting for the jungle to fully recover.