We spent 5 days out in the Amazon Rainforest and had an amazing time. The plane from Fernando arrived in Manaus at 11:30 pm and by 7 am the next morning we were on a bus to the mouth of the Urubu river. From there we took a boat up to Amazon Antonio's jungle lodge. It's located right on the water edge and is used as a staging ground for many adventures.
Upon arrival, our guide Francisco asked us if we wanted to leave immediately for a 3 day backpacking trip in the jungle. Of course! So we packed up and headed out to the sweaty jungle. We stopped by a local farm and set off into the woods.
We went on the hike with a lovely French brother sister duo: Fabien and Capucine. He was kind enough to send us the photos (since our camera suffered an untimely demise). The trail itself was not very well-traveled and Francisco was constantly helping clear the way with his trusty machete. As we made our way through the brush, Francisco would stop to show us cool things around the forest. A tarantula, drinkable water from a vine, medicinal trees, and various types of ants.
After about 3 hours of hiking we arrived at our campsite: A very small clearing with a fire pit and a place to sling our hammocks for the night. We started roasting chicken along with rice and potatoes over the fire. It was truly a delicious meal! I think the smoke of the various woods used in the fire really lent a good flavor to the chicken.
The next day was spent exploring the jungle more, searching for elusive animals. It's quite hard to see animals as they're either high up in the trees or hidden by the foliage. Nevertheless Francisco was able to get us close to Spider Monkeys and Red Macaws.
We also had fun exploring more on the forest floor. Long twisting vines hung from the canopy, so we had fun climbing up them. We also found a frog that was laying very still on a leaf, almost all of us had walked by the frog before Capucine spotted it!
Next morning we hiked out and took a boat back to the lodge and set off for another excursion: dolphin spotting and piranha fishing. I'll break from the normal chronological narrative here and just go through some of the highlights:
Piranha fishing was more fun that I thought it would be, since they nibbled away at the bait almost as quickly as you could throw a line in. Through a combination of perseverance, timing, and luck Rash and I were able to catch a few which made a tasty soup!
Caiman spotting in the evening was an experience out of a Crocodile Dundee episode. As night fell we boated out to a shallow swamp area. Francisco looked around with his light and then jumped out of the boat and into the water. He sloshed away, then plunged his hand into the water. A few thrashing moments later and he comes up with a caiman in his hand! The ones in the area tend to be smaller but it was still very exciting to see it up close.
We spent an early morning paddling along the calm river and tracking dolphins. The Pink river dolphins tend to be shyer than ocean dolphins and were constantly moving about. Every so often they would breach and we'd catch a glimpse of fin or belly. Although we didn't get a full view, it was a very atmospheric experience to be out there in the morning with them.
Francisco helped us make some local items as souvenirs. A set of Jacaranda spoons was first carved with his machete from a downed log. we spent time sanding it down and oiling it and I think it will be a piece of kitchen-ware that we'll use for a long time. I also had a chance to make a miniature blowpipe and darts out of the local plants. It was amazing to see the many uses of plants as tools in the whole process.
Finally, perhaps our most memorable portion of our time out in the Amazon was simply our hike behind the grounds the morning we were to leave. The first excitement was a rustling in the leaves that sounded like a sharp vibration. We had just enough time to see the shaking end of a snake tail before a pit viper dashed away into the forest. Later on, as we walked back, we heard a loud crashing in the bushes nearby. The three of us froze as we saw 2 tapirs, a mother and child, were only 15m away from us. It was hard to see them, but they continued trampling through the brush directly at us! The pair stopped about 5m away (close enough to these LARGE creatures) before sniffing the air and promptly turning away. It was slightly scary as they are very big animals, but it was a very rare sighting. Francisco even mentioned that it was the closest he had gotten to Tapirs in his 15 years of guiding! We were very lucky indeed!
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