Mata!!

The "mata" is the thick jungley rainforest that surrounds our city.

Our friends Diego and Vania took us to the mata behind Diego's family farm.

First we had to walk through the overgrown fields that were already turning back to into mata.

Diego was an amazing tour guide. He showed us lots of cool things. He knew a lot about the plants and creatures.

Diego is pointing with his machete to this tree that can walk!

He told us these trees have been found to have moved up to 5 meters!

Mom really liked the colorful back on these trees.

If you stick your hand in this ant nest and then squish the ants, they can be used as an insect repellent.

That there on the tree is a bullet ant, Diego told us that it's sting is the worst in the world.

Diego helped us see these capybara footprints on the path.

An alligator had been through here recently.

Jerica was exited to see this armadillo hole.

Diego also pointed out cool things to taste and hear and smell.

He showed us how you can cut into one kind of tree to find water.

And these hairy blueberry kind of fruits.

It's quieter on this video, but we could hear howler monkeys!

They can be heard from several kilometers away.

There isn't really a way to digitize the hot green smell.

 

Exploring the mata with Diego was also a great challenge course.

There were vines to swing on.

A hunter's rack to climb.

Old rotting logs to cross.

Big spiders to avoid when going under other logs.

And big logs to find a way to get over.

We turned around at this beautiful lake covered in colorful lillypads.

Then it was a long walk back...

walking...

walking...

walking...

...it was worth it!