Wake-up call at 5:30 was brutal. But Sylvia and I were ready by 6:00 to see some animals. We saw quite a few birds and one sloth. So a bit less than last night but still impressing.
We returned to the boat at 8am for breakfast and started at 9:30 with the jungle tour. The picture is from the beginning of the tour when I still thought we had the ultimate experience ahead.
Personally, I hated it. The rainforest is full of large mosquitoes, no animals as far as I could see and 100% humidity (in my opinion). The sweat was running in little rivulets down my back. The repellent was mixing with the sunscreen and made sure everything was super sticky. We could hear the rain in the forest but due to the humidity didn’t feel a difference. All in all the rainforest experience is overrated in my eyes. Once we stepped back on the canoe it started raining in earnest.
When we arrived at a local farmer who produces manioc flour, we were wet. We looked around and during the long winded manioc production explanation we started to dry a bit. Lots of happy chickens, starving dogs and little pigs were running around at this place. We also saw a tree with the cupuaçu fruit.
You can see the manioc root in it’s original form on the boat.
Back on the canoe it started raining once more. By the time we reached the boat for lunch, we were wet again. A praying mantra jumped on the guy’s arm behind me and I got a close-up with my camera.
Lunch was a tasty affair and then we had some free time due to the cancellation of swimming in the Amazon. I would have gone, just so that I can say I did it. But the water looks disgusting and I don’t want to know what kind of diseases are lurking in there. Anyway, all cancelled due to strong currents.
After a long afternoon nap
we woke up to sunshine and blue sky. Piranha fishing was on the program. We found a nice and shady spot with the canoe in the brushwood and started to put beef (or cat or dog) on the hook. The piranhas are swimming close to the ground so have to be careful to get your line just above ground. I could feel them nibbling away on the line, but when I took the line in, the meat was gone and no fish.
We changed twice the fishing spot, still no success. One of the guest’s caught a mini catfish though which he let free again. Then we changed to a spot without shade cause in between the sky got overcast. Just a minute later a downpour started and we were drenched to our bones within minutes. I was so miserable that it started to be funny again. At least it was not cold.
With no fish but soaking wet we decided to return to the boat.
After changing in dry clothes it was time again for night watching the animals. This time we met with less success. Just one sloth and a couple of birds. I think also the lamp on board of the canoe was weaker cause the animals were not enough illuminated for me to take pictures.
At 8pm we had dinner and an interesting conversation with the American-Indian guys.
I finished ‘Between Shades Of Gray
Until tomorrow, Pollybert
Some more pictures from throughout the day
