I guess one learns to live with the critters or be consumed! Must have been an awesome time for you as a kid!
WELL, YOU'RE JUST TAUGHT FROM THE GET GO, THAT WILD ANIMALS ARE NOT TO BE MESSED WITH. (YOU DON'T RUN EITHER.)
I'll bet the parrots stole your heart, and helped make you so intuitive with them!
NO, THEY PRETTY MUCH KICKED MY BUTT AND PUT ME IN MY PLACE ON THE DAILY... I BECAME A PARROT PERSON YEARS LATER, IN SPITE OF, MY EXPERIENCE WITH THESE GUYS.
That 7' rattler your dad is holding must have been a fright, and I imagine there were a variety of giant crawling/flying insects. Checks off two of my worst phobias!
I CAUGHT 9 FOOT DIAMOND BACK ON MY WAY TO SCHOOL ONE DAY. SNAKES WERE PRETTY MUCH A FACT OF LIFE...
WHAT SCARED ME WAS THE FACT THAT WE HAD BUSHMASTERS AND CORAL SNAKES... I NEVER RAN INTO THEM, BUT MY DAD ENCOUNTERED A RATHER NASTY BUSHMASTER...
THE THING IS, THE NEAREST ANTI-VENOM WAS PROBABLY NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO GET YOU THERE IN TIME, EVEN IF YOU WERE AIRLIFTED. SO, YEAH, SNAKE STICKS WERE NOT OPTIONAL!!! AND YOU LEARNED HOW TO USE IT... GRAB THE HEAD, FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THE MACHETE. LEAVE IT WHERE YOU FOUND IT. SOMETHING ELSE WILL COME ALONG AND EAT IT...
INSECTS?! DUMMY HERE FELL FOR THE "PITCHERS MOUND" TRICK. STAND ON THE PITCHERS MOUND AND THROW THE BALL. (IT WAS AN ARMY ANT HILL! I HAD A FEW HUNDRED BITES...)
AND WE HAD A FAMILY PICNIC ON SOME OLD INDIAN STONE RUINS... UNTIL A FEW HUNDRED SCORPIONS CAME OUT FROM UNDER THE STONE RUINS BECAUSE THEY DIDN'T LIKE US TROMPING AROUND ON THEIR NEST!!!
TO THIS DAY, THE ONE THING I CANNOT STAND IS SCORPIONS!!!
Beautiful Greenwing, did it ever become tame? Were you able to import any of the birds upon return to the U.S? (recently read Howard Vorin's Jungle book on the challenges of wholesale importation!)
NEVER MORE THAN SEMI-TAME, AND I NEVER COULD GET NEAR IT. THIS WAS SOOOO NOT MAGGIE... THAT BIRD DID THE MACAW BULLY ROUTINE. I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND IT AT THE TIME...
JUST BROUGHT ONE ZON BACK. THEY WERE WILD CAUGHT, AND WE LET THEM ALL GO. THAT ONE WAS BONDED TO MY MOM, AND REFUSED TO LEAVE WITH THE REST OF THE FLOCK, SO WE BROUGHT HER HOME WITH US. AND IT WASN'T THE SAME BIRD WHEN SHE GOT OUT OF U.S. QUARANTINE.
Did not spot any of the poo-monkeys for certain; no doubt they are experts at camouflage with a great aim!
I COUNTED 6 OF THEM IN THAT PHOTO... I'M SURE THERE WERE MORE YOU COULDN'T SEE. YOU WOKE UP TO THE HOWLER MONKEYS. THEY WENT OFF AT SUNRISE, AND YOU COULDN'T SLEEP THROUGH IT.
Finally, found some history on that stunning Avensa DC-3. Based on a Google search of the registration YV-C-AVE, it was Douglas construction number 4179, purchased through the Defense Supply Corporation and delivered to Pan Am 2/7/1942. Went to Avensa 12/7/1945 and then to Lucaya Beach Air Service 2/2/1973. Last reported in storage at Madrid AFB in Columbia as of 9/1997. Yes, the DC-3 is an historic machine!!
SO THAT PLANE WAS ONLY AROUND 24 YEARS OLD OR SO WHEN WE FLEW ON IT... THEY FLAP THEIR WINGS ON TAKE OFF... JUST LIKE A BIRD!
It started off life as a WW2 Defense Dept. (probably) supply or transport plane... most likely Marine air cargo through Pan Am.
WW2 ends in September, so it's sold to a South American Airline, probably as surplus, twenty-plus years later it's still in service.
Lucaya Beach Air Service, the leasing agent for 3rd world puddle jumper airways...
Now, it's a Columbian Air Force Plane. No doubt a mothballed Army jump plane being parted out or scrapped... I'D ACTUALLY LOVE TO JUMP FROM A DC-3!!!