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Published: August 7th 2010
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Sophie woke me early as she had suffered sore eyes yesterday and after a night's sleep her left eye had gunked over and was plastered shut! After a dozen rinses with mineral water she was able to open it again, but it was still puffy and swollen. Not fun in the sweltering heat.
The morning's activity was a trek into the jungle, requiring long sleeves and trousers...
sooo overkill in this heat but a definite requirement with all the mosquitoes. We went the whole hog and looked very hot with our trousers tucked into our socks! But at least the bugs could only go for our hands, necks and faces... 95%!D(MISSING)EET to take care of that (thanks Lucy!) Luckily most of the time we were shaded by the thick foliage; the plant growth was just unreal... some of the trees had roots growing 2 metres above the ground! Whilst most animal wildlife was hidden by the oversized plant life, we spotted caterpillars nests (reaching 2 metres deep into the earth), Elso found us a red tarantula's nest and subsequently ousted it, and we explored termite and ants' nests. Amongst making us souvenirs from palm trees Elso was also able
to treat me to tree sap used as a tuberculosis cure and a grub which would have eventually grown into a firefly except I ate it! Tasting of coconut and cream it would have been alright for most, except I don't like either!
After lunch, everyone we had gotten to know over the last few days left, and replaced by 15 Portuguese speakers! Over lunch, after Elso taught us a new card game, Soph and I had decided that he was our favourite South American guide (maybe after Hanzel from the Galapagos).
We soon realised the change over had effectively worked to our advantage as we headed out on what was now a private tour with Elso and our boat driver. Our downsized canoe still had enough double seats for Soph and I to have one each. And what a private tour it was.. our first task was sloth hunting as Sophie had expressed a desire to see on closer. After riding up alongside the shore in the canoe, we entered another area of sunken forest and Elso eventually spotted a sloth in a tree above us. So, engine stopped, our driver jumps up and starts climbing the
tree... 5 metres, 8 metres, 10 metres up, right up to the sloth! Better still, took rope with him, looped it round the sloth and lowered it down! Poor thing probably had no idea what was going on but ended up safely in Elso's arms on our boat... whilst holding a baby! So Sophie and I had the opportunity to hold the sloth (and baby), definitely meeting Sophie's desire to see one closer! The baby, apparently male, had black spots to prove this, and was good as gold. Their faces were so funny, they constantly looked like they were smiling (probably bemused!)
On returning the sloths to their tree home, taken up the way they came, and satisfied with our afternoon, the trip continued. We spotted another toucan, as well as a host of vivid red macaws relaxing in the trees until the 6 of them took flight and disturbed the jungle, revealing a collection of tamarin monkeys, squirrel monkeys and capuchins surrounding us. What a crowd surrounding our boat! On our journey back to the lodge we also spotted a water lizard, 3 more iguanas, an Amazon hawk, jacana and hudson birds and, delightfully, after hearing them so
often we finally saw the infamous howler monkeys (one with a baby on its back!) So much wildlife, I could not have imagined it in my wildest dreams (especially after everyone else's stories of nothing!) and as Elso put it "There is no more to show you!"
Approaching the lodge we saw a saw a 5/6 year old girl gutting fish for dinner; everyone in this area is involved in the family upkeep. And a final treat before a shower and sharing a beer with Elso, a coati (a mammal that looks like a cross between a racoon and an anteater! It is actually a member of the racoon family) disappearing into the undergrowth by the lodge.
How Sophie Sees It Sloths are now my favourite animals! I wish we had had more time to just stare at their cute little faces. They just blinked and smiled, blinked and smiled; so docile! That and the experience thereafter was my highlight - when the macaws took off, squawking for the next half hour as they flew from treetop to treetop, the jungle became alive with sound and movement. Truly captivating. I should note that when Chris says we
saw 3 more iguanas, we did not see the iguanas themselves, we just got wet when they plummeted into the water beside us.
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