Amazon (Día 2)

Okay, are you ready to hear about my second day in the Amazon. If not then stand up, do 5 jumping jacks, sit back down, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and start reading (make sure you open your eyes back up in order to read though).

At 5:30 a.m. on Saturday our alarms went off.  We got dressed and ready for the day and we were in the canoe with Nilton and Roland by 6:10.  Nilton and Roland rowed away in the boat while they looked for different wildlife for us.  As we were in the boat, we got to see a Kingfisher (a type of bird).  It actually had a fish and was in the process of killing it.  It does this by holding the fish in it's beak and beating it against the branch that it is perched on.  It seemed like it was taking the Kingfisher pretty long to do this, but it was cool to see that aspect of nature, even though it was a little morbid.

We then stopped at our first site on the side of the river, where we got to see the Renaco tree.  It's huge and probably thousands of years old and also you could see the water line where the river gets to in February.  You can't tell just how far the river raises because you can't tell where the river is at now, but trust me it's a lot.  I think it would be cool to go back to the same site and February and see the difference.  Also, there are no mosquitos during that time of the year so it would be perfect!!

Then of course we all had to "climb" the tree, too. :)

Anyway, we got back on the boat and suddenly we heard a motor starting.  Tonisha and I both looked at each other like "When did we get a motor?" because Roland and Nilton had been rowing.  It was a pretty funny moment, but you probably had to be there. :)  Anyway, we headed to our next spot, by motor, where we found some monkeys.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the monkeys because they were really far up in the tree and I couldn't zoom in enough to see them, but it was fun watching them jump from tree to tree.  Then, it was back to the lodge for breakfast.  Can you believe it?  It was only breakfast time!  It already felt like we had been up for hours (well I guess we had been, but yea).  We got eggs and bread for breakfast, but Nilton brought out his breakfast for us to try and I did...

Yum..pre-historic fish breakfast soup :)

It tasted like any other type of fish so it was okay, but I wouldn't want to eat it all or for breakfast.  Anyway, after breakfast, I got the machete this time.  I felt so cool with it and pretty much attempted to chop everything down that was in my path.  I say attempted because I think I only actually cut one thing. 

We headed out again and found this other REALLY cool tree.  It grows and plants it's own roots in the ground.  It's huge as well..see...

 Sorry, I don't remember the name of this one though. :(  But, anyway, obviously we had to Tarzan swing off of it, too!

We then went on an adventure to a swampy area to go and see the lily pads that are there and boy was that an adventure all right.  It started off okay, but then we got to some pretty muddy areas.  I was the first to get stuck.  I literally could not move my feet.  Luckily the mud didn't go up past my boots though, but Nilton, our guide, literally had to pull me out.  We then got to areas where there were branches laid across the mud and we had to side step on those to get across.  The guides macheted us some walking sticks however they weren't to helpful because you would go to lean on them and they would just sink, so you couldn't even rely on those for help.  Tonisha was the first to actually fall in, but I fell in soon after.  We then held on to the guides for the rest of journey.  I felt bad because I was definitely throwing Nilton's balance off by holding on to him.  It was funny though, I kept telling him that if he fell in I wouldn't be able to help him.  Well, come to find out, Tonisha was purposely trying to make Roland fall in. :)  That's what I should have done!  Anyway, I don't know how Sheila was doing it, but her balance was great and she didn't need any help.  Well, we finally made it to the lily pads and it was pretty cool to see.

Tonisha and I with our muddy pants from falling in :)

Roland and I by the lily pads

Anyway, I actually learned a lot about lily pads that I didn't know.  Number one, they can grow to be huge.  The ones that are behind us are actually fairly small from what Roland said.  Number two, the flower is what turns into the lily pad.  I just always thought that the flower was separate from the lily pad, but the flower actually becomes the lily pad.  Lastly, lily pads have spines on the bottom of them to protect them from fish, because some fish like to eat them.  Once we got to see the lily pads, we unfortunately had to go back the way we came.  Sheila led the pack since she had the best balance, but unfortunately she ended up falling in like the rest of us.  Then, we headed back to the lodge where we all same in the river.  Tonisha and I swam with our pants on in order to wash them, it was perfect.  And the water felt sooo good since it was so hot out!  I don't think I've ever sweated so much so it was nice to get in the cold water and it was a good workout because we had to tread water the whole time.

Once we were done swimming we all took showers and while I was in the shower, Roland found a tarantula!  So I rushed outside so that I could see it.  By the time I got out there it already had a name, Rosita.  It was cool to hold.  I actually held one in High school biology class so this was my second time holding one.  Apparently, there are tarantulas that can be bigger than your hand.  I wish we would've seen one of those!  Now that would have been a new experience!

Then we ate lunch which consisted of a kind of chicken version of lomo saltado, but it was a little different.  While we were eating lunch, we were joined by another group of people which consisted of a Texan couple who are here in Peru for business and then a family from the Netherlands, who I'm pretty sure didn't speak English.  Anyway, then Sheila, Tonisha, and I decided to do a little dancing and gymnastics on the front lawn, which was pretty fun.  I could've done that all day, but it was hot!

After relaxing, we headed out to see the pink dolphins, go to the beach, go sloth-searching, and to a small town that is nearby.  First, we looked for pink dolphins and we saw them come up out of the water.  They hang out at the mouth of the river to catch the fish that flow out of it.  Also, everytime we turned on our motor they would jump, so we made a few circles around the area to see them.  Then we went to the beach.  Who knew there were beaches in the Amazon.  Obviously, it's all covered up in February, but I'm glad we got to go.  We also same here, too.  The sand at the bottom of the river was weird.  It was like quick sand.  You're feet would sink into it.  I didn't go to far out in fears of getting swept away by the current, which almost happened to both Tonisha and Sheila.

 After a short while of swimming, we headed to the nearby town of Pueblo Miguel.  We got to see some yuca plants (it's kind of like a potato) and rice.  And I'm pretty sure I've never seen rice in person, so that was cool to see.  And then we went searching for sloths.

Sun setting over a rice field

 On our way to find sloths, Roland and Nilton pointed out a huge cameleon in a tree.  Which was cool!  And then they made a bet that whoever found the first sloth got a free beer from the other.  I thought this was a good bet because then it motivated both of them to look for sloths for us!  And Roland won!

Sloth #1

 Roland found this sloth high up in the trees and we stood there and learned a little bit about sloths from Nilton.  Like the fact that they are actually pretty clean creatures, despite the bugs that crawl on them.  They climb all the way down the tree and dig a hole to go to the bathroom even though that puts them at great risk of being caught and eaten by a predator.  Anyway, we were off to look for more sloths and Roland found another one.  Jokingly, we all told him to go up and get it.  Well, next thing we knew, Roland was climbing this ridiculously high tree.  The following are pictures and a video of this event.  No animals were physically harmed in the making of this video.  It's possible though that the sloth was a little emotionally terrorized.

Roland at the top of the tree



And then of course, Roland had to be all macho and just grab the nearest vine and climb down it.  I would like to thank him for sacrificing himself and he did get some nasty bites from ants, so thanks Roland!

The sloth and I had a special moment together

The sloth was placed back in her natural habitat

 We then headed back to the small town of Pueblo Miguel.  Here is what it looked like.  There was a small discoteca there (where Nilton bought Roland his beer), a school, a church, a soccer field, and a jail-type place.

 The picture above is the "jail."  I took a picture because when Nilton was describing it, I found it really funny.  He was explaining that there is a leader (mayor) of the town and that this person solves disputes between the people.  The little rooms that you can see in this structure are jail-like places where a person might have to stand for a couple hours if they are in trouble.  An example that Nilton gave, that was funny to me, is if a guy steals someones chicken then he will have to stand in the box for a few hours. :)  Anyway, we headed out and got back to the lodge just in time for dinner.  I don't know how to describe the meal except by saying fish nuggets.  Literally, picture a chicken nugget, but then make it fish and that's what we had. :)

After dinner, we went out again in hopes of finding anacondas, boas, or alligators.  This time we out on the boat, but again we had no such luck.  And yes, I am upset that we never got to see a snake.  They said they only find snakes once every two weeks with their guests.  Although we didn't find snakes, our guide did catch two pre-historic fish.  One of which was the type that was in the breakfast soup.

Once we got back to the lodge, our dear/nice friend Sheila showed her evil side.  I never would've thought that she would kill a living creature, but when we got back, Nilton had his flashlight and pointed in the water and WHACK!  Sheila macheted a fish and I'm sure they ate it for breakfast the next morning!

What a day it was!  It was long and hot and WONDERFUL all wrapped into one!  I hope you enjoyed reading this blog, too!  And I hope you liked the many pictures that I included!  It was so hard to select the pictures to include!  Anyway, I hope you're ready for Amazon Día 3 tomorrow!  Last day in the Amazon was a blast, too!  I hope you all are having good nights!  I will talk to you tomorrow. :)