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Published: July 27th 2008
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Our Amazing Amazon Adventures! We had to fly from Lima to Iquitos as Iquitos is the Worlds Largest city that can’t be reached by road. However, on arrival we were so surprised at the traffic in the town. Most of the vehicles were 3 wheeler motorcycle taxis, making an astonishingly loud noise and pollution. The vegetation and climate reminded us of the Philippines; it was so very hot and tropical here, a complete contrast to Lima!
Our stay in the Amazon was an hour and a half away by car from Iquitos and another hour on a wooden boat. Only us, the tour guide, the boat driver and a few food reserves, we motored down river. It was a relaxing journey, absorbing the landscape of muddy banks and luscious tropical vegetation. We were excited to be on our way deep into the Amazon jungle.
Arriving at our lodge we were greeted and given some jungle juice, made from a jungle fruit, rather refreshing. The whole lodge was built on stilts, due to the river levels which I was relieved to see, as I thought we’d see less bugs too! However while having our jungle juice we were told
Tarantula on the mosquito net.
The other 4 were crawling around the room! about the tarantulas living in the roof of the dinning room. This wasn’t a joke, I could see them!!!
Settling into Amazon Jungle Life Our room in the lodge was very basic. No electricity, no hot water, no air-con, no comforts what so ever. The room was a cone shape with a mosquito net capping off like a ceiling, our bed was also in another mosquito net. The floor was bare wood, and the bathroom, just very basic, and had big cockroaches crawling around in the evening (and with no lights, that’s; not funny!) To be honest on the first day, we weren’t sure if we could suffer this jungle environment for 5 days and 4 nights, it was such an experience. However, after 24hours we were loving living in the Amazon jungle and enjoyed all our trips around the Amazon.
So, what did we do in the Amazon? During our trek in the jungle, our guide followed the jungle leader who carried a big machete, chopping off vegetation in our way, and for our safety I guess. There wasn’t really any path until we reached closer to the lodge. Along our trek we dodged the tree
and plant branches in case they were poisonous, we rambled across the undergrowth swotting mosquitoes along the way.
As we trekked through the jungle we saw some fascinating things;
*Huge termite nests clinging onto tree trunks. Our guide broke a side off a termite nest and ants scattered everywhere, he then covered his hands in the ants and rubbed them together. A natural insect repellent!
*Brilliantly coloured mushrooms
*Monkeys precariously jumping from branch to branch, following us to be fed oranges.
*Massive rainforest trees.
*Large Snails
*A bat sheltering in the trunk of a tree.
*We chewed on some fruit from a ‘chocolate tree’. A soft white coated bean, not much like chocolate.
*A fresh Armadillos home in the ground. Bushmaster snakes live with them, but we didn’t see either.
*Drank pure water from a tree vine. This was quite an Amazon thing to do!
*Cotton from inside a fruit, used for poison darts.
*Saw numerous trees, which have leaves or bark that help with digestion and stomach problems.
Other activities we did in the Amazon *One evening we went off in a little wooden boat in the pitch black darkness to go alligator catching. The stars
Phil swimming in the Amazon.
Quite safe, the pirahnas stay near the river banks! were so bright they reflected in the river. On river banks we noticed illuminating insects like fire flies, these were such a sight. Our guide found an alligator on the river, by spotting its eyes. It wasn’t a large one, about 1 metre in length. It was beautiful.
*Bird watching on the river. This was enjoyable as the birds were so colourful, larger than at home or more in quantity. We saw kingfishers, herons, hawks and many others.
*Pink dolphin watching. Not pretty dolphins though, quite a prehistoric shape about them.
*Phil went swimming in the Amazon River, he was reassured that the piranhas are only found by the banks! I was still in shock from my fall and decided to watch!
*Night Jungle trek. Now this I can’t say was a purely comfortable experience. The jungle was completely pitch black and the bugs loved to fly towards our torch lights. We followed the sounds of a giant ball frog, he was huge!
*Piranha fishing. I really enjoyed my fishing lesson. Off we went again in our wooden boat. We anchored the boat to some weed and sat fishing for piranhas. The rods were hand made of a piece
of wood and line, with a metal hook and slices of beef bait. It took Phil seconds to catch a piranha and me ages. For lunch that day was piranhas! It was rather strange having piranhas on my plate, especially with such fierce looking teeth!
*Visits to a couple of villages. We travelled on our boat to these villages. One main path was aligned with dwellings built on stilts made on wood with palm tree leafed roof tops. Basic living, one room for a living space, an area for a fire and cooking pots some with hammocks hanging up. The villages had a school, church, a small store and such a community feel. One of the villages had a DVD room, and advertised the next film showing, just like a cinema!
At one of the villages, was a tall watch tower. It was an impressive modern construction, being it was located on the Amazon. We climbed to the top to appreciate a magnificent view of the Jungle and rivers, a huge expanse of untouched lands. A few local ladies were selling their handicrafts on the third level up, to which I bought a bracelet, made from porcupine needles.
Others were made of snake skins or beans. While admiring my purchase, I suddenly fell through a floorboard! My left leg fell straight through, leaving me dangling through the floor. Phil ran to my rescue and pulled me back up to safety. It was a terrifying experience, leaving me shaking, holding my breath to prevent the tears, and a massively bruised left thigh, (it’s the biggest bruise I’ve ever had!) The other people around me were in shock about what just happened. On inspecting the broke floorboard, we found it was riddled with termites. How long will the tower last??
We had a super time in the Amazon, and it feels even more incredible now! I mean we’ve been to the Amazon!!! A truly memorable experience!
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