I am sleeping better here in the jungle better than ever. The beds or pillows are not so comfortable but the sounds of the frogs, the fresh jungle air-whatever..it is wonderful!
In the morning we went to the closest village by boat. It has 16,000 people, which surprised me. Before we ventured into the village we were taken to a dock where they feed pink dolphins. They are not held captive, they just come in from the river for "feeding time" twice a day. They were so cute but something about them not really being in their own habitat made it not as enjoyable as I thought it would be-think Disneyland.. However, I did get to pet one of the 16 dolphins at the feed. I still love dolphins-pink, grey, river, ocean-it is all good!
Chilling' on the Amazon..
Afternoon, we went hiking in the jungled for about 3 hours. Our guide Robbie was wonderful! He pointed out probably 20 plants/herbs that could be used for medicinal and practical uses. A huge medicine chest all over the Amazon jungle! "Injuns", the term for the indigenous people can easily live off the land..also teak and many types of wood can be used for furniture. Leaves are stripped and weaved into baskets, etc..Robbie made me a crown of woven leaves..I was queen of the jungle?
All of a sudden, the guide was in front of me and stopped short and caught his breath..his eyes opened wide as he stepped back towards us. Slowly, he pointed to the ground just beside the trail. A snake! he said. Ok, I have seen snakes before. However-he told us quietly that this one was a deadly snake- "Fer De Lance", one of the most poisonous in the jungle..that was enough for me to step as far as I could away without getting off the trail. I never saw it with my eyes, it blended so well into the brush. The guide however, took my camera and took a great close-up shot of the little guy..holy smokes! H saw it, I never got close enough. The guide had warned us at the start of the hike that there were several deadly snakes in this jungle. The Boa constrictor is interestingly not one of them..that surprised me. Robbie said since it is "dry" right now, the snakes are more prevalent. Yikes!! I guess so!
Fer De Lance snake. One of the most poisonous snakes in the world!
After that I stayed right behind Robbie. I stepped exactly where he stepped, walked exactly his pace. I did not want to accidentally run into any more new Amazonian reptile friends! We hiked until the turn around. The wind started to blow and we heard loud thunder. Again Robbie looked concerned and said We better get back quickly. The dead branches could fall on us from the wind.." OK, another adventure at hand. We quickly walked back to the boat as it started drizzling a bit. The wind howled. Once in the boat we saw the river and it was amazingly choppy for a usually calm, still river. Short ride back to the pier and we were safely home..
After lunch, the storm had passed. We went for a swim in the river..I was nervous because when H was swimming, I saw his limbs had an orange tint under water. This, as explained to me by Robbie, is the acidic nature of the river water..it is "tannin"(sp.?). It is good for your skin, hair, detox. I jumped in and the water was so warm and lovely. I swam about 200 yards and I was pooped..it seems my new sport archery, has made my arms weary! I found myself thinking if this was close by in ABQ, I would be swimming in it everyday..home seems VERY far away these days..
I felt so refreshed after the swim.,I miss not being able to go for a run, but you would not catch me dead (or not dead) running in the jungle by myself after the snake incident! Well unless I was running from a snake! I am making this my "rest week". The food is good and I am trying to stock my body up with vege and fruits to make up for all the meat and potatoes I gorged on in Argentina! The desserts are just OK, so cutting down on that too is not a problem right now.
At night, H went "night spotting" again, they had one extra spot in the boat:
The lodge has some interesting and annoying features. The Anavilhanas Lodge charges for any drinks, including water. They leave a liter bottle in your room for "free" per day, then charge you for any water consumed beyond that. For such a nice, otherwise first class Jungle Lodge it just seems weird! I would much rather pay up front for all the extras then not have to worry-like a cruise! :)
Not a big deal in the scheme of life in the jungle. We are having such amazing experiences that we will probably never see again-I can't complain too much!! Dozed off to dream of spiders and snakes..
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