Sitings!

There's so much to tell because I haven't written for a couple of days! Thank you guys for your responses. I have missed home so much, and your comments are what keeps me going!

Yesterday, I was with Ellen, Vanda, and Karen taking down the traps. To do this, we have to undo the strings that we tied, roll down the plastic, secure the plastic fencing, place the lids on the pitfall traps, and secure the lids. After that, we have to place dried palm leaves on the entire trap line to protect the plastic from sun and animal damage. You should have seen me wielding the machete! It was awesome! I went into the wooded area, chose good-looking palm leaves, tilted the machete to a slight angle, raised it up, and WHACK! off came the branches! There is a short video of Karen and me being what I have dubbed as "machete mamas" while clearing a trail. I'll post it in the coming weekend.
In the afternoon, I was supposed to be with Ellen to collect turtles in the Salina, but she only needed four. I figured that, since I catch and release painted turtles in the summer, that I would trade with someone who has never caught a turtle. Besides, I hadn't seen an otter yet. So Vanda and I were all set to go with Manuel to paddle up the river to another oxbow. After lunch, we gathered in our meeting spot outside a little storage room by the truck, and Vanda disappeared. The next thing I knew, Manuel said, "It's just you and me," and we got into the boat with Edson, secured a canoe to the top of the motor boat, and away we went!
As we were traveling to our spot to get into the canoe, ahead of us on the right side of the river, Edson pointed. It was a little bump out of the water that bobbed back in. IT WAS A NEOTROPICAL OTTER! I quickly grabbed my camera, turned it on, and watched as the otter bobbed in and out of the water; then, it's curiosity got the best of it, and it started to swim TOWARD OUR BOAT! I was so excited! Edson cut the motor and we floated downstream with the otter. It came within 10 feet of the boat; when it popped up the final time, Manuel made a throaty "hhaa" noise, and it went away. That was okay, though, since I met the goal of being here. I will post pics of the otter this weekend; I took the faraway one, and Edson took the beautiful one of the otter up close and personal--his zoom is incredible.
Manuel and I got to the spot where we were going to canoe from, but travelled further up river to measure depth. The river was 5-1/2 to 6-1/2 meters deep (which Manuel said is higher than usual for this time of year).
We were able to get to our canoe, which was on what I would call a sand bar, but it was actually a submerged beach. There were benches where tourist sit to view otters in the dry season. We again paddled through the trees, to check one more oxbow, then took a shortcut home. Manuel stopped and tested me on my sense of direction, and I found our position without the help of GPS, but rather just using observation. I passed! Anyway, it was an eventful day and a great one!