Day 2 - sunrise, monkeys and extreme numb bums!!!

---

Geo: -3.0616, -60.0516

Today was sunrise day in the jungle! However with no phones with us, we had to rely on my old Casio watch for an alarm! It worked, but maybe a little to well as could not work out which button to press to turn the damn thing off!!!

We were on the boat just as it began to get light and the birds and frogs began their morning chorus. The river was ridiculously still, like a mirror for the hour we were out. The colours changed from monotone to a vibrant orange and red as the sun appeared over the bank and peaked through the clouds, all reflected back up to the heavens in the water. An Amazonian dolphin also decided to swim by, making it a perfect morning!

In true, unorganised or laid back..... Whichever you want to call it.....south American style, breakfast which should have been at 7.30 so we could be out on our jungle walk by 8 was moved to a neighbouring community....almost in a 'let's share the westerners kinda style! It took an hr to get there once we had stopped at the river gas station too! Breakfast itself was delightful.... Bread, eggs, caramelised banana, melon, sweet potatoes and fresh mixed fruit juice.... there were also pancakes made of casaba which were not so great, in fact they were hard to get down so as not to be impolite. We had a guest book to fill in and then were offered to plant our very own tree! Now it sounded like it was an avocado tree.... So that's what I'm going with!! So there is now a 'Laura and James' tree in Amazonia!

By the time we had dawdled our way back to the lodge, it was getting on for 10.30! Oooops... Gilmar was not overly happy so decided to go on a little walk around the jungle by the guesthouse for an hr or so. So many Mosquitos... My god! We looked at different trees and how they were used to make roofs for houses etc. and some that were used for various medicines.... We also at a brazil nut fresh from the tree! Gilmar was in a playful mood and with his animal noises and great suspenseful tone, made the Chinese couple believe that a bit of moss was a baby armadillo .... They have so many photos of this bloody bit of moss!

By this time it had started to thunder .... 'Quick lets run' shouted Gilmar, as the heavens opened and we were drenched in seconds! There was no point in running then! Only embrace wet season! We were the other side of the community too, so took shelter in what only can be described as the community bar! They gave us seats and chatted to us about life their and mosi bites as James had one above his right eyebrow that had swollen up to Eddie the Munster proportions! The boys were still playing football even in this downpour!! As it eased off it was lunch time so fish and rice it was again!!

In the afternoon we were planning on being on the boat for 2 hours so did not need long trousers or long sleeves .. Happy days! We went to monkey island where Gilmar 'knows' some monkeys!! He calls them and they know he has food for them so running they come. We fed a few too.... Very cute, although the alpha male was a fatty so got the majority of the Cheetos! We then headed off to do some piraña fishing. En route Gilmar spotted some 'lazy monkeys' (sloths to you and me!) I have no idea how he saw them, he'd just stop the boat and then we would eventually see then perched in amongst the branches! They were lovely though and looked at us with such distain!

Piraña fishing was not that successful, we all had bites, James got his out the water but it fell off the line mid air... Gilmar caught one though, ugly looking thing, with BIG teeth! He then put his knife through its head and put it at the bottom of the boat for tea later! This was 3 hrs since lunch!

It was a long way back from there!! It was dark as we got nearer and then using his flash light we started looking for caymans! By this time I had lost all sensation in my bottom cheeks as we were only sat on plank wooden benches on the boat. I wasn't bothered about finding a croc, instead I was star gazing as the light pollution was zero! Sooooo many stars. It was breath taking! We found our mini cayman... Gilmar being a young 20yr old wanted to wrestle a big one so seemed quite disappointed with the half metre one we got but by this time.... 5.5hrs since lunch, we wanted to just get back! Dinner was waiting for us as was a new addition to the group, a Norwegian girl, who's English was perfect. We had a quick chat over dinner but we were all so dead it was time for bed!

Went to bed with 2 bites on my hand....

---