Christina,

The live quail dinner is something I do when I take groups of guys out for "survival camp". My daughter has heard about this many times. I once had a group out in the "mato" during rainy season and they were kind of whining about conditions. I told them "You guys aren't doing anything my 11 year old hasn't done and she dosen't complain." They stopped. Of course I told her this and she ate it up. She hadn't done the quial yet so this time she bugged me about it. Personally I didn't want to do it on this trip because it meant going to the central market and buying them, 50 cents each. She just wouldn't let it go.

I gave her every out imaginable to let her off the hook if she wanted to back out and she just flat out told me she was going to do it. It is actually very quick. We hold the bird against a log and swipe off the head with one strong cut. It is about as quick an end as any poultry product gets.

It's all in the attitude. I just think of them as meat that stays fresh as long as you store it near food and water. My four-year-old dosen't quite have that point of view yet. I don't think she will ever participate in that aspect of "survival" and she never will be forced to.

Most people on plant earth over the course of history have had to kill and prepare their own meat. I just tell the guys I take out there, "Look, it's really cruel to just start plukin'em." When I show the guys how to do it I don't even mention how to kill it. I just do it and then show them how to prepare it for cooking.

Pictlet and I have a great time. We get out as often as we can. This last trip freaked her out in that we slept in hammocks and I set hers up about 10 meters away from mine.
That's how the trees worked out. The hammocks were each covered with a black plastic tarp rigged like a tent so she really did "feel alone" at night. The first night she did a great job of hiding her fear. I let her pop one of her two lightsticks, two sticks for a three nigth stay. I was proud of her she came back with the other stick.

Currently we are planning a hike to a high, cloud covered ridge above where we normally camp. Next Thursday we are going to scout out a route to the top. It's too bad this forum dosen't support photos. I took some really good ones this last trip. Mac