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Published: August 5th 2010
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Today started with an unexpected awakening at 3:30am with our guide asking if we wanted to get up and watch the sunrise... of course we did, despite Sophie's protests that we had not been given warning the night before. Our night in hammocks with howler monkeys screeching though the night hadn't been a great night's sleep anyway so might as well get up. And it was worth it; spectacular reflections on the water.
After breakfast we jumped back in the canoe and headed off to an indigenous family to see how they live on the river. Elso, aka hawk eye, spotted a three toed sloth up in a tree on the way so we stopped for a closer view. Sloths, like jungle iguanas, are known to jump out of their trees if scared, whether over water or land! They then "hurry" (if a sloth can hurry!) to the nearest tree for protection.
At the home of the indigenous family, it was separated into two areas, the living quarters and working quarters. In the working quarters, the family takes the root of the manioc (also known as poison cassava) and first peel it, then leave it to rot in the
river before grinding it and squeezing out the poison. They then sieve the substrate and mix it with the squeezed liquid from another batch (to retain its yellow colour; you can produce and sell the white variety more cheaply by omitting this stage) and heat it for 1-2 hours to make a crunchy flour like powder. This cereal is a staple ingredient in the local diet, served alongside or sprinkled over fish and meat dishes. This is one from 6am to 6pm for about 1.5 weeks to create 500kg, which only sells for about £150, to be split between many workers.
Walking back to the small living quarters Elso explained the uses of a number of jungle plants. He found medicinal plants to treat cataracts, swollen muscles and malaria (agitating the liver and causing the patient to vomit) and showed us orange peel drying in the sun for use as stomach medication. There is also a fruit with red seeds that, when crushed, forms a dye that fishermen use as a 24 hour insect repellent and that girls use for make up! One berry tree was stolen by the Japanese, planted there and claimed as indigenous, much to the
Brazilian president's disgust, resulting in him banning Japanese visas for a year! Elso also explained the origin of palm hearts, which we had eaten in the Galapagos and thought were artichoke, literally the heart at the connection of a branch to certain types of palm trees. So many plants in the jungle; all with native uses of some description.
After all this information, me and a couple of other guys "treated" our guide and the local lads to a quick game of 3-a-side. And when I say treated I mean treated.. final score 20-8 to the Brazilians! Arriving back at our lodge, soaked in sweat and exhausted from the excursion which had barely tired the locals, I dove straight off the jetty into the cool water. Bliss! Better than a shower!
That afternoon we went piranha fishing, baiting hooks in the Piranha infested waters with red meat. There are 25 species of this fish, of which only 5 are actually carnivorous, and there are only 3 colours: red, yellow and white. Sometimes they even hunt in packs of 250! So my impressions of being a real man, living off the river, were nearly dashed when in our first
spot I failed to catch anything, them escaping with all my bait whilst everyone else was catching them around me! Luckily I was patient and when we moved to a second spot my luck was in! In the end Soph caught 3, I caught 5 and as a group we caught 17. Not bad for an afternoon's work! One of the most entertaining moments was when I caught one but as I was bringing it into the boat, it jumped off the hook into the area occupied by Sophie's and my feet, flapping around, teeth snapping, causing the two of us to jump around in the same space to avoid it. Elso just laughed. Heading back to camp with our catch skewered on a stick to eat tomorrow, we spotted a blue/black beaked Toucan and after turning the engine off drifted into a river area occupied by a family of dolphins!
After a quick dinner we were headed out again, this time in the dark. Armed with just a torch, our guide found a caiman (whose eyes reflected the torch light) and lay on the front of the boat as it was driven into the short grass before plunging
his hands in and coming up with a rare black caiman over a metre in length! Caimans can grow to 6metres, stopping at 50 years old but capable of living to 80-100 years, when their teeth begin to rot. The one Elso had caught was about 10 years old and we took the opportunity to hold it, with a firm grip, for a quick photo! A slightly scary prospect after just being told if you don't hold them tight enough they squirm and bite and are known to kill at least one fisherman (who has fallen asleep in his small boat) a year.
Back to camp we headed to bed after another very satisfying and successful day!
How Sophie Sees It "Sofiaaa, would you like to watch the sunrise?" Elso whispers as he shines a light into my hammock. I grumbled about the bloody South America lack of ability to plan ahead, until I saw the sun on the horizon and shut up. Chris was right - we would never have got back to sleep with the howler monkeys' chain-saw like morning call on our doorstep anyway.
The explanation of the jungle's medicinal secrets was fascinating,
after all, most drugs do originate from plants. The local's methods here were certainly more reliable than those of the highlands of Ecuador, who used guinea pigs to diagnose disease!
Piranha fishing was hard to begin with - they were exceedingly good at swiping the bait without getting caught on the hook, you had to pluck your line out very fast to catch them, but in a controlled manner so as not to end up being the bait yourself when they jumped off! I was very smug at having caught 3 when Chris had caught none, but I spoke too soon! The funniest bit for me was when Harry spent a good few minutes struggling with what he thought was a huge piranha but what Elso was adamant was just his line getting caught up in the reeds and roots. He refused to accept this, and after a tedious argument of "No, it's a fish!" "No, it's just the reeds" "No, it's a fish!" etc etc... Harry pulled so hard on the line it flew onto the other side of the boat, screaming "It's a fiiiiish" in slow motion! And low and behold, a huge piranha sailed over our
heads!
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