The Amazon Jungle (click title for pics)

First of all, thanks to Megan and Fuzz for obliging my comment fetish. Secondly - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Thats what my brain was saying as I gripped onto a very angry Anaconda as it did its utmost to free itself from my grip and bite me in the face and finish coiling itself around my neck. The Boa was a tad friendlier and the sloth was like a docile faced long armed teddy bear that just wanted a hug. Summary of what happened.....

Day One:

After getting onto what was known as the 'slowboat' we piled into a long wooden (roofed thankfully) canoe with an outboard motor resembling a whipper-snipper. After an hour of cruising down the main arm of the Amazon we suddenly veered into a very narrow tributary that required a chap at the front to prod us away from the river bank with a long stick. Upon encountering a fallen tree blocking our path we leapt out of the boat with a couple of chaps and after nearly being swept away managed to push the tree downstream far enough to let the boat pass. After arriving in our little village we dropped our gear in a hut and went for a walk along the river learning about the uses and dangers of a large number of riverside flora. After a swim with the piranahs to wash the sweat off and a dinner of jam sandwiches we jumped into a canoe, similar to one that sank that afternoon, and took a night time paddle down the river looking for something to scare us, nothing unfortunately. Mosiquito nets that enclose a hammock are the greatest invention known to mankind, you are transported into a tranquil world when inside one, and plagued by insects of every shape and size when not in one. Luckily we had them and slept like two sweaty logs.

Day Two:

Jam sandwiches and coffee for breakfast and we set off deep into the jungle. After four hours of walking, sloshing, balancing, falling and annoying sleeping tarantulas we stopped at a creek for some piranah fishing. Out of nine little fish we caught one genuine piranah, two big teethed little fellas, a couple of catfish and two randoms. Three hours back to where we had dumped our hammocks and it was time to sleep until dark before setting off a pitch black trek looking for snakes and tarantulas (yay!). Only one mid-sized tarantula that got away before we could catch it (what a shame), and a group of howler monkeys in the trees above our heads, who made an amazing noise. The it was time to escape into our mossie nets again and try to sleep to the sounds of 10 types of cricket (is that the right spelling?) and cicada, plus the tiger frog that growled all night, the few different monkeys letting off the odd scream and the drone of mossies and beetles dying the get through our net and destroy us.

Day Three:

A 5am wake up turned into a 6am wake up and departure. A 5:30am breakfast turned into a 6:30am conversation with some drunken men (one of them being our guide). A 30 minute boat ride to get our breakfast turned into a 3 hour boat ride crammed into slowboat with 50 sacks of oranges and other fruits, then a 30 minute trek in the midday sun with all the gear before collapsing in a wooden hut for 30 minutes as the rice was boiled for our lunch/breakfast. The worse things seemed to get the more I was enjoying it, had everything gone to plan it would have been very uncomfortable in the heat and sweat after not showering, eating or drinking for 20 hours in the jungle, but anticipating where the next glitch might come and seeing how many more monkeys and sacks of oranges could be loaded into our already overflowing boat was a far more interesting experience. Finally we got into a 'barco rapido' - speed boat and headed across the river to have a go shooting darts with a blowpipe, good fun. Then the part I had been waiting for the whole time arrived - Serpentario. A small zoo would be one of describing it, but really it was a bunch of pets that we were`playing with, including: Anaconda, Boa, Caiman (croc), prehistoric turtle, other turtles, monkey (great little mate, just wanted to be cuddled), some sort of baby tiger (didn't catch its name), and the sloth, plus there was a puppy that seemed to be an interesting cross of shitzu and another mongrel. I am preparing myself for some snake nightmares tonight, although I think I went someway in allaying snake fears as they put them on the ground in front of us after we handled them and I felt very comfortable (until the boa took of towards me, and I quickly leapt out of its way, which wasn't so cowardly I realised when the locals were dodging it too until it was finally caught again).

So much more to say about jungle life and its contrast to our cosy little lives in our towns with nothing to scare us except our own imagination and how little one needs to survive etc etc. But I think everyone knows that deep down already and we don't want to admit to ourselves the excesses to which we live or we might guilt ourselves into giving up some of our comforts - and who wants to give up their TV and sofa? hmmmm.