Friday 11th December -
Was picked up from the hostel and taken to the port with two american girls, an american guy and a brazilian couple. We met Gero who runs Amazon Gero tours and he was such a nice guy! He was talking about the 'council estates' in Manaus that the government have given for th poor, the flats were so much nicer than the ones at home and they had a big, clean, park. He also said how he has 2 girls, one who is 3 that him and his wife adopted and then in the same month they adopted her his wife fell pregnant with his youngest daughter, crazy.
We got on a boat and went to the meeting of the waters - where the rio negro and rio blanco meet and you can see the black river and the light brown river running side by side, one is 6 degrees cooler than the other. We then got to a little village and were driven for half an hour before getting on another small motor canoe to the lodge. The boat ride to the lodge was stunning. The lodge itself is really quite nice. We are in hammocks and there are a few spiders around but nothing like camiri, it is very very hot here but cool enough at night to sleep.
We met our guide, Lewis, who is 25 and grew up in the jungle 5 hours by boat from where we are staying. He really knows his shit. I asked him if he had ever seen a Jaguar, he said, 'many times, I shot one once'. I said, 'that was a bit mean' and he replied, 'let me tell you what happened; I was 12 years old and my father had a gun but would not let me go out hunting alone. So one night, at about 2am, I took his gun and the canoe and paddled for about 40 minutes down the river. Then I stopped and went into the jungle. It was dark so i could not see very well but i spotted a big bird and was watching it, trying to get my aim. Then I heard a twig snap behind me, but it was dry season so even a frog jumping can make a twig snap so i wasnt worried. Then I saw a large dark figure with two big eyes behind a tree, its head going side to side. I froze with fear and realised that it was a jaguar and it was stalking me like prey. I was so scared, I wanted to run back to the boat and run home but I knew that if I ran, it would kill me. Then as it came towards me, maybe 6ft away, I shot it in the heart. And then I fainted. When I came round, I saw the jaguar and the gun and I tried to get up but my legs werent working because I was in shock, eventually, after 10 minutes or so, I managed to get up and get to the canoe and I paddle, paddle, paddle home. My mother aways said I am so dark, but that night I was pale and my lips were white. My father was very mad. The next day my father and brother and me went and found the dead jaguar (and the gun that I had left behind) and I still have one of it's teeth. I was sick with fever and headache for a week because I was in such a state of shock'. Crazy man.
He took us out on the boat and we spotted pink and grey dolphins in the river, two sloths and looked at a giant tree. Also saw lots of birds. It was hard to get a photo though as nature being nature, it doesn't tend to hold still for photographs.
We came back and had dinner and went out to hunt some cayman (basically alligators). There were spiders in the boat which freaked me out a bit but i got over it. We cruised around in the dark for a bit before he spotted one and him and the driver jumped out to grab it, they caught it but then dropped it and went racing after it, was hilarious. Should mention here that this was in the marshy area that was only ankle deep or so. We all took pictures of the cayman that was about 3-4ft for long. Felt bad for the little fella. Hope to see some more stuff tomorrow!!! t.b.c
12th December- Day 2 in the jungle:
Woke up at about 7am this morning and went down and had breakfast, lots of fresh fruit and I had my first cup of English tea since I've been travelling! Saw some little monkeys in one of the trees next to the lodge, they came down and got some bananas that the guides had let out for them, they were very cute. We set off for a jungle trek at 8am and walked round the back of the lodge along a path that leads through the forest. We didnt see too many animals but saw a couple of tarantulas and some birds. Our guide, Lewis, also talked about the plants and showed us the bark of a tree that looks like a black diamond on one side and burns and smells really nice like incense and helps keep the mosquitos away. Also tried some fresh brazil nuts that were yum and some other fruit that the monkeys eat that was really sweet.
We got back to the lodge after 3 hours of walking and ate some lunch and then I had a nap. It was so ridiculously hot. At 3pm we went piranha fishing, I caught 3 but they were too small to bring back for dinner. On the way back I was talking to Lewis about his life growing up in the jungle, its so interesting, he said he used to get picked up by a big boat at 3am in the mornings to go to school and it would take 4 hours to get there! They only spent 3 hours at school before they had to leave for home. He went to school from the age of 10-15 where he learnt how to read and write and he used to work with his Dad in the jungle collecting brazil nuts.
Had some dinner, which was cat fish, and played some shit head before heading to bed.
12th December - Day 3 in the jungle:
Got up mega early to watch the sunrise, went out in the canoe and it was so peaceful. Went back to the lodge then set off to meet a local family. They all lived in a big hut on stilts, three generations all together. We ate some fish that the mother of the household had fried for us and some potato stuff that was nice and they showed us around. Before we left the head of the house offered us some Caipirasca, a local rum drink, didnt want to be rude and say no so had a swig and chased it down with some weird creamy jungle fruit, it was gross, especially at 10am in the morning.
We went back to the lodge and ate the piranha we had caught the previous day for lunch. At 1pm I was taken back to Manaus, I was sad to leave the jungle :(
Off to Rio on the 13th, I cant wait to get to the sea, its been so frickin hot here, I sweat during the day and then sweat whilst I sleep its disgusting!
No comments:
Post a Comment