Amazon Finale

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The next day we started with a canopy walk through the treetops, along 9 rope bridges. It was really pretty and lots of fun - hard work in that heat though! We saw a poison frog but not much other wildlife.

Lunch was a buffet feast in a local village where we had steamed catfish, huge piranha, mashed plantains among other things. Oh and an absolutely disgusting warm local jungle beer. Eww. We ate with our fingers in the traditional style. The food was surprisingly good.

In the afternoon we started a village visit which after 10 minutes became a flooded village as we experienced our first Amazon downpour. Within minutes the ground was under 15cm of water! We took shelter and watched on from a local house as the kids continued to play soccer in the rain and the groundskeepers cut the grass with a machete! Apparently a big celebration was happening in 2 days so nothing was stopping them. The guide eventually borrowed a tarp and we made our way back to the boat under it. It was a great experience! The people who stayed in the boat missed out in my opinion.

Before dinner the band (the crew, who perform with a different band name each night) played and we had a few cocktails on the bar deck. I had a dance with a few of the ladies but luckily the bartender was busy pouring drinks as last time they played he pulled me up to dance and I have been avoiding him since - luckily my roomie has been running interference as my anti-wingman!

The next day we went full jungle. The guide mentioned we were going sloth spotting on the sloth trail. But the 'trail' consisted of him and his machete cutting a path through the jungle! I loved it, feeling very Bear Grylls again, and we saw 5 sloths.

After a quick change we headed off and went piranha fishing! We tried 2 different spots and people were pulling them in left, right and centre! We used raw beef as bait. I caught 3, 2 which were size. All the undersize ones went back. For lunch we feasted on our piranha catch! They tasted really good, much better than the larger piranha we had the day before.

In the afternoon we went out in the skiffs again searching for the elusive anaconda. We saw plenty of monkeys and birds but not much else. Close to sunset the guides tied the boats together and whipped out bottles of champagne for our last evening together. Afterwards we went back to the boat for music, dancing and then after dinner we had a crew meet and greet.

The next day we departed early for Iquitos but on the way visited the Manatee rescue centre. Manatees are integral to the Amazon but are endangered. The centre rescues and rehabilitates manatees and tries to educate locals not to eat them. They are so cute but nearly blind. We got to feed them leaves and pat them. We also saw sloths, otters, monkeys, caiman and turtles. 2 of the turtles put on a show, see the pic haha.

After that it was back to Lima all too quickly. The Amazon is absolutely amazing and a true travel highlight for me. All that sweat mixed with sunscreen and bug repellent was worth it!

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