Day 116 - Deep in the Rainforest

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Waking up for our last morning in the jungle, I wasn't really sure what else we could do today as every other day had been so successful. Not put off by the rain first thing, Elso had a plan for another canoe trip to see some special flora. Our private tour continued and we headed out in the boat, putt-ing along the river for about an hour. The lack of sun did mean it wasn't too hot, but my boney ass is not designed to sit on a wooden plank for that long! On our journey we spotted another hawk resting and several more macaws scared into the air by the sound of our canoe.

Deep in the jugle we pulled onto shore in front of the biggest tree I have ever seen. I thought Sophie had hugged a big one on our trek the day before, but that was nothing compared to the one before us. I reckon it would have taken about 30 people holding hands to get all the way around it. The tree was also huge upwards with huge branches mainly starting at canopy level. Nestled in these branches was a vulture stretching its wings but it flew right off when we arrived. Walking around the tree, our boatman noticed a hole in the roots leading down to the base of the tree from about 3 metres up, shimmying up vines he looked into the hole and saw that the vulture had made a nest here and.. had an egg nested at the base of the hole!

As soon as we finished playing with the tree it started to drizzle, then back on the boat it started bucketing it down. Rain, rain and more rain most of the way back! I guess that's why they call it the rainforest! We stopped off at a boat mooring and two parrots flew over... speaking to each other. We heard "hello", the guides heard "hola"... but definitely chatty! And lucky Soph spotted a river dolphin arcing out of the water as we were boarding the boat.

Back at camp after another dousing with rain (weather had been perfect until today) we discovered toilets blocked, no running water and 34 people arriving imminently. The perfect time to leave! Our journey back with about 8 others was eventful in the fact that the minivan journey along the flooded dirt track was now like driving on ice, skidding all over the place. Reminded me of Samaipata. And to add to my run Soph and I had role reversed this time - she was comfy in the back and I was trapped in a fat sandwich between a Brazilian man and Colombian lady.

Arriving back in the office, Pedro was impressed with our stories, so much he wanted a copy of our photos, especially Sophie with the caiman as it was about 4 times the size of the ones they usually catch for tourists! We picked up our bags and headed back to Pensao Sulista for a final night in Manaus.

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