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We spent seven nights in the Amazon and it was
unbearably hot, incredibly wet and you will probably never have felt
humidity like it until you have been in the middle of a jungle!
To get to our lodge we took a four hour
boat-trip from Iquitos, as this is the only way to get there. The lodge
itself has no electricity, no hot water and the water for the showers
comes straight out of the Amazon! Bottle gas is available just for
cooking and drinkable water is brought in by boat! However, after a long
day in the jungle the showers were surprisingly refreshing, but you had to
remember to keep your mouth shut!
The lodge was right on the banks of the river
and our room, which was surrounded by trees, looked straight out over it.
The only noises you heard were birds and various other strange
unidentified jungle noises!
This is a summary of what we got up to:
Indigenous Village
We spent an afternoon at a remote village where
they held a market, played soccer and we had a drink at the local pub.
The "pub" was a wooden shack, on stilts, with an unpowered fridge that was
merely used to lock the beer in.
Shaman Ceremony
The local Witchdoctor. We were blessed by him
and given good luck for the year.
Shaman House Visit
Later in the week we also went to visit him, by
dug-out canoe, at his house and he took us into the jungle to show us some
of the plants he uses for medicine. These included cures and relief for
things such as arthritis, diabetes, the shits, or not in some cases,
hernias, etc. I had some really itchy bites which he rubbed with the sap
from a tree and they totally stopped itching almost immediately.
On the way back from the Shaman's house we
passed the lodge staff all heading to Chino, the local village where most
of them live. They were off to play soccer and we could see that Hosias
was desperate to join them. We told Hosias that we would be fine canoeing
back as it was only about a kilometre and the water was very calm.
Unfortunately I was sat at the front and Angela had no idea what she was
doing. I tried, unsuccessfully, to get Angela to understand the basics of
canoeing, but we just careered from one side of the riverbank to the
other, much to my increasing frustration! We really must have paddled
three kilometres, just to go forward one! It turns out that as we were
going round the first bend, where the current was quite strong, I told
Angela to do the same as me, but then as I didn't say go back to doing the
opposite to me, she then continued to copy me for the rest of the journey
home! You cannot image how knackered I was, or how my arms felt!
Terra Firma
We had a three hour hike on the high ground,
which the local Amazonians call Terra Firma. This is because, unlike the
lowland and secondary level, it does not get covered in water in high
season when they have a water level increase of up to six metres!
We saw Poison Dart Frogs, a huge Leaf Frog and
a very long and very quick Whip Snake.
Hosias made us a backpack and hat out of
nothing but Palm leaves and vines, it was not only amazing to watch him do
this, but you could easily carry a pretty heavy load in it.
At lunchtime we were invited into a local house
and given some soup. We did not ask where the water came from to make the
soup, or what the meat was, but as we are still here it must have been ok
and it tasted pretty good! We also got to hang out with her "adopted"
Woolly monkey.
On the way back to the lodge, by river, we got
caught in a huge rainstorm. We were the only ones that forgot to take
their ponchos and now know what the meaning of a rainstorm really is!
95 Feet High Zipline
Hosias, who weighs about ten stone, hoisted
both Angela and myself 95 feet up in the air to a wooden platform in the
canopy of a tree about thirty minutes walk from the lodge. There were
three towers and four ziplines in total and an abseil at the end of it
all!
The views were incredible, being able to see
over the top of The Amazon canopy and also watch a huge thunderstorm head
our way!
Just getting Angela 95 feet up in the air was
impressive as she hates heights, let alone the fact that she did one of
the floating ziplines and managed to abseil down at the end. A floating
zipline does not go to another platform, but just out to a distant tree
and back again.
Swamp Hike
Whereas the Terra Firma was really hard to walk
on due to the heat, the swamp was hard as you could easily sink into the
mush that you were trying to walk across! In some parts it felt like you
were walking on a huge airbed due to the thick mash of leaves underfoot.
The trees were also completely different, not hard woods and straight like
Palms in the Terra Firma. The Walking Tree in particular, as it spreads
its roots out above ground as far as possible to soak up as much water as
it can.
We were lucky enough to see Saddleback Tamarind
monkeys, a Squirrel monkey and lots of different birds. We had breakfast
overlooking a lake whilst eating bacon, cheese and egg sandwiches that had
been stuffed in a wide-necked flask and also a fresh pineapple Hosias
picked on the way!
Fishing
Before we could set off on our fishing trips,
Hosias had to catch our bait, Sardines, which he caught with a small pole
and line using tiny bits of ham on the hooks. The lodge cat, Pablo, also
liked Sardines and climbed all over us trying to get the fish as Hosias
caught them. As we left we tossed him a fish and he ran off with it
looking very happy with himself!
The first time we went Angela caught a Pacu
that must have weighed in at a mighty four or five kilograms, as well as
all of us catching White Piranhas and some small Catfish.
Hosias barbequed some of the fish which we sat
on the boat and ate whilst we carried on fishing. Later, back at the
lodge, the chef made a delicious soup from the Pacu and different jungle
vegetables which we enjoyed for dinner!
The second time we went, after the usual fun
and games with the cat, I caught a huge White Piranha, only to be shamed
by Hosias who landed a Pacu twice the size of the one Angela caught. We
also again caught some Catfish, a couple of Ciklas and a big old Woodfish.
Not to be outdone by the chef, Hosias cooked us
a soup, but this was in the middle of the jungle, with the Pacu and
Piranha, flavoured with Garlic and Plantains. Hosias collected some wood
and made a small fire for the soup. We thought we would be there ages,
which we weren’t keen on due to the amount of sand flies, but it only took
20 minutes due to the powerful heat produced by the wood he used. Hosias
then barbequed the rest of the fish so we could take it back for everyone
else at the camp. We knew Hosias was a good fisherman, but as we got near
the lodge literally all the staff came running down to the riverbank to
see what he had caught. We were almost thrown off the boat so they could
get to the fish and enjoy it!
During the fishing trips we also saw a White
Caiman, an Electric Eel and a huge River Rat.
Early Morning Walk
This was round the Secondary Level between the
Swamp and Terra Firma and we again had some great sightings. We saw some
Pygmy Marmosets, a Red-Tailed Squirrel and some Wire-Tailed Mannequins.
The Mannequin birds are absolutely incredible, they moonwalk backwards and
forwards at a speed that is much quicker than the human eye can see. We
also were shown The Medicine tree, Poison tree and Rheumatism tree.
Night Walk
Unfortunately we did this the night before they
released a ten foot Boa Constrictor behind the lodge! However, we saw a
couple of big Tarantulas, a huge Hissing Cockroach, a highly venomous
Monkey Spider and a Stripped Woodcreeper, which is a small bird that
shelters upside down in trees at night.
Other Sightings
We also saw:
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Turkey, Black and Lesser Yellow-Headed Vultures
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Green, Pygmy, and Ringed Kingfishers
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Black Collared and Slate Coloured Hawks
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White-Bellied Humming Bird
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Fireflies
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Macaws, Parrots and Paraquettes
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Loads of other birds too numerous to mention!
Unfortunately, we didn't find any Anacondas as
the water was too low! Gutted!
IQUITOS
When we got
back to Iquitos a week later where we checked back into our five star
hotel for one more night before our flight to Cusco. We had to have
everything cleaned and words cannot begin to describe the stench of
clothes that had been worn in the Amazon and only hand-washed in the river
for a week. We were so embarrassed handing over the laundry bag to the
concierge, but he assured us that everyone who comes back from the Amazon
is the same! |