48. 8-18th April. Falling in love in the Amazon!

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8/04/09
Its an automatic reaction for your eyes to open when the bus stops and the bus stopped in a shanty dirt town for about an hour around 6am. I have no idea why? We all woke up, looked out the window and then looked at each other with confused expressions on our faces. It wasn't long till they started playing movies so the movie marathon had begun. Looking out the window all you could see was desert and baron mountains. Come around 11am we came to a stop. There was road works taking place and and it didn't take long for us to realise we were going to be there for a long time! Like many others i stepped out the bus to stretch my legs and notced a couple getting out of the bus infront of us. It was the Ozzie couple who had their bag stolen in Copacabana, Bolivia. So there i was in the middle of nowhere catching up with a few friends when i heard a voice shouting out, "Barrie!" The road we were on was a windy road on the side of a mountain. I looked up and saw my good friend Andy waving his hands! I travelled with Andy in Argentina for about three weeks and i hadn't seen him since Iguazu Falls which was about two and a half months ago! I ran up to the next level and there we stood, in the most baron place you can imagine, swapping stories and hugging! It was a very emotional moment!ha We were chatting away when i heard a ladies say, "i thought i recognised voice!" I turned round and it was a lady i met in La Paz, Bolivia!ha Talk about a small world!ha We were there for about an hour until we started moving again and we didn't get into Lima till 8pm. The first hostel we tried, Locki, was fully booked but we got directions to another hostel nearbye. We checked in there but poor Mike was feeling really sick. He had spent the last hour of the bus journey in the toilet. Matt and I went out for dinner and found a cool little restaurant where we stayed for hours people watching. Ok, more like watching all the beautiful women walk past!ha

9/04/09
Mike was still a poor man. Spending more time on the toilet than he did his bed!ha Matt and I took a walk around Miraflores (the best area of Lima and safest) and done a bit of shopping. Matt bought a cap very similar to mine and when we arrived back to find Mike munching on plane crackers with a sad puppy look on his face, he looked at both of our caps and said in a pathetic voice, "i want one." So when all three of us went out for lunch, (Mike just had a drink!) Mike also bought a cap making us look like boy band wannabes walking down the street!ha It only felt right to take another hapy birthday photo for my Mum with us wearing these caps. It sounds easy but i think it took us about half an hour to get the camera angle right as we were using the timer mode. The other problem was that we couldn't stop laughing! I think they came out well though. Mike still felt like he couldn't leave the toilet for more than two minutes so it was only Matt and I who went out for a few drinks. We went to Locki hostel, played pool and gulped down a few beers. I bumped into a German girl who i met on the train as i entered Bolivia. Matt and I done a bit of bar hopping that night and watched some very impressive live music. There was one girl who sounded exactly like Shakira. We didn't intend on staying out till late but as everyone knows, once you start to drink, its bloody hard to stop! We ended up in a club on the sea front which was so expensive. A fun night though but we did feel a bit guilty throughout the night as we knew our good friend Mike was suffering and getting more emotionaly attached to the toilet by the second!ha

10/04/09
Today was laundry day. A very important day for travelers. Even though Mike still wasn't functioning properly he joined us in our quest to find a laundret. We left our hostel with our huge plastic bags full of dirty (and smelly due to the Inca Trail!) clothes and walked down the street. The place felt like a ghost town. There was nothing open and hardly anyone walking around. We stopped to ask a local for directions and thats when we found out it was Good Friday. Nothing was open. Didn't we look stupid! We spent the day in the Locki hostel playing table tennis. Yeah, i was undefeated for about two hours!ha Back at our own hostel we had paid for a late check out as we were flying to Iquitos in the early hours of the morning and Mike still needed as much bed time as possible. That night Matt and I fell in love with a restaraunt. Well to be honest it was more like falling in love with all the waitresses. It was like a Steak House and the Playboy House combined!ha Our waitress kissed us on the cheek as we left and we both said we were not going to wash our cheek for a month!ha We both went to sleep that night with huge smiles on our faces!ha

11/04/09
After a few hours sleep we were up and ready by 1.45am. We got a taxi to the airport and with everything going smooth we were on the plane before we knew it. There was quite a lot of turbulance during the flight and a few screams. Some may have even come from Mike!ha The man we booked our trip through had arranged for his younger brother, Alfred, to pick us up at the airport. And as planned there he was waiting for our arrival. A very friendly bloke who had obviously lost his voice from to much partying. He took us to our hotel and it amazed me how much the place looked like Thailand. There were even loads of Tuk Tuks. We caught up on some sleep and were picked up again around 10am by Alfred. He took us shopping, we had lunch together eating caimen and tasted just about the best ever fruit drink my taste buds have enjoyed. The fruit was called Cam Cam. Amazing! He gave us our options for the day and we decided to go to the animal sanctuary to get us in the Amazon mood. We jumped into two Tuk Tuks and raced to the docks. I love Tuk Tuks! It was time to swap land for river so we stepped onto a long boat and jetted off to the animal sanctuary. The animal sanctuary was great fun. We got the chance to hold an anaconda. The not so friendly snake gave me great value for money by showing me form no extra cost how hard it can squeeze a human neck! I think i felt the squeeze for about an hour afterwards. There was a crazy white dog running around with a cheeky monkey treating it like a horse. We also got shown some very strange turtles, electric eels, caimen and some parrots. My favourite though was an animal that suprised me by its beauty. I fell in love with this animal as soon as i saw its face. Its big round friendly eyes and a smile that couldt light up even the most dullest of days. The animal im talking about is a...sloth! I know this sounds crazy but they are awesome creatures!ha I held a baby sloth for about ten minutes and when the keeper came to take it away i felt its sharp claws digging into my skin, hugging me tighter. It was an emotional farewell!ha They are natural born huggers though which is hard to find!ha As we were about to leave one of the monkeys and the dog started to play fight. It was hilarious. Just watch the movie i have on the blog. After leaving the sanctuary and wiping away the tears from saying goodbye to the sloth, we visited a local tribe. There i was picked as cheif and we danced around with half naked people. It did feel slightly uncomfortable at first! On the way back to our hotel Alfred asked us if we would be interested in meeting some of his university friends for a few drinks later on. He mentioned that they were good looking girls as well so that kind of sold it for Matt an I!ha Mikes not gay, hes just in love. So that night we met up with Alfred and his friends from university. The girls were beautiful but after dinner, when the bill came, we noticed none of them reaching into their pockets. Mike, Matt and I were swapping stares. We ended up paying for everyones dinner and after that Mike headed straight home. He was going to have an early night anyway to make sure he felt a hundred percent for the trip tomorrow. Matt and I walked towards the clubs with Alfred and his friends. Matt and i were talking about the situation in hand and we came to the joint decision that neither of us were willing to pay for eveyones night out. It wasn't the cheapest place in the world but it was more down to the fact that it felt like prostitution. Neither of us have never paid for sex and we were not about to start. Not even in a round about type of way. We pulled Alfred to the side and told him straight. He understood and appologised for the confusion. Apparently we were the first group of lads he had looked after that didn't go through with it! Matt and I walked back to our hotel with our heads held high and when we walked into our room we got interrigated by Mike. He was proud of us as well. Like i said, they were good looking ladies!ha

12/04/09
We met up with our guide, Ricky, at 8am and jumped into a taxi. We were in the taxi for about an hour an a half which gave us the chance to get to know Ricky. Basically within five minutes we realised that all he cared about was women and...more women!ha He told us some of his sex and army stories...as you do?! At the docks waiting for our boat, we sat in a little hut watching the worst and cheesiest music videos on the planet! It amazed us how the local kids watched them loooking fascinated. The boat ride was two hours and even in them first two hours we saw loads of wildlife. Our cabin like hotel was basic but what can you expect when your in the middle of the Amazon?! It was set in beautiful surroundings and you could hear all the wildlife whilst having lunch. What more would you want?! After lunch we jumped on a long boat with our guide and jetted down the river. From the very start your amazed by the amount and different species of brids flying around. I found a dead turantula skin in the water and that was on the way to find pink dolphins to swim with. Within half an hour we spotted some. So the time had come to jump in. We turned to Ricky and asked him if it was safe to swim here. He looked at us, shrugged his shoulders and said, "it should be, the locals swim here sometimes." With that we all looked at each other. Within seconds Matt made up his mind he was staying dry. Mike and I were a wee bit reluctant to take off our clothes until we heard the sound of the dolphins coming up for air by our boat. That was all the encouragement we needed! Excitement took over and we jumped in...then the fear came back when things kept knocking against our legs, but that was short lived. As soon as we saw the dolphins pop up again it gave us a huge buzz. We celebrated the day by having a beer in the local bar (a hut on stilts with a fridge). That night we had a good dinner and played cards whislt applying loads of mosquito spray! Tucked into bed praying my mosquito net that looked a hundred years old would work i drifted off to sleep listening to the sounds of birds and insects. What a first day in the Amazon!

13/04/09
Today was a big day. In the morning we got booted up for our jungle treck and both Matts and Mikes boots had holes in them. As you can imagine i gave them loads on sympathy. It was the three of us, our guide Ricky and his young apprentice, Calypso who we all called Bruce Lee. To our suprise we were given a paddle each. We were like, "whats the matter with the engine?" We had been demoted to a rowing boat! As we were quietly floating down the river we witnessed two tiny birds defending their nest against a falcon. We pulled up onto dry land and started our treck. Within the first two steps we saw a dead turantula covered in killer fungus. Every five minutes you pass an army of fire ants carrying leaves and dead insects that were unfortunate to cross their path. Nature is an incredible thing. I love to learn about relationships between two different species. We passed a fire ant tree and Ricky got out his Rambo style knife and banged it against the bark. Within seconds the tree was covered in fire ants. Basically the tree lets the ants treat it as a home and in return the ants attack anything that threatens the tree. Including other plant life fighting for sun light and thats why nothing grows within a certain radious of this tree. We found some jaguar tracks as well that were about two days old. Bruce Lee lived up to his name and climbed up a vine to the point where if the vine snapped he would have been a brown bread! I could go on forever about the things we saw it was that good. As we climbed back onto our boat i got the idea of dipping my finger in the water then writing a happy birthday message on the dry wood of the boat for my mum. Mikes seat wasn't fixed so we used that. He asked that i mentioned he sacraficed his seat for my mums photo!ha I loved these photos and i think they are my favourite from the batch for my mum. The mosquitos were out in force and i swear these guys were on steroids so we were eager to get back to safety and have some lunch. We went for a power nap after lunch and as soon as we were drifting to sleep we heard a huge bang. I looked to my side to see Mikes bed in pieces on the floor with Mike crawling out of the mosquito net. His bed had collpased! We were on the boat again by 3.30pm and after a while we found a family of monkeys that climbed aboard and ate our food. I was holding the baby monkey thinking it was really sweet until i realised it had done a number two on my shirt...great!ha Also that evening we saw some sloths and a prehistoric bird. We were also on the hunt for caimen and Ricky managed to catcha few. We came accross one to big to pick up! I did have something jump onto my chest which scared the hell out of me but luckily it was only a frog. We slowly made our way out from the trees and just made it in time to watch sunset. Amazing! It was then time to turn round and make our way back home. Well that was the plan anyway. The engine decided not to play ball and wouldn't start. So there we were in the pitch black, with tiny torches trying to fix the engine with one tool! We picked up the paddles and started our long journey home. It took about 45 minutes but Bruce Lee got the engine going again to everyones great delight! The best sound i have ever heard!ha The journey back was amazing. It was pitch black which made the stars up in the night sky and the fire flies in the surrounding trees glow that much brighter. At times it was hard to define where the fire flies stopped at the top of the tree line and where the stars took over. We also saw two satelites moving accorss the night sky which felt wierd seeing sat in a basic wooden boat, as they both represent the two opposites of the technology scale. We arrived back thinking the days adventures were over...we were wrong. The three of us stepped into our room to find the biggest wasp i have ever seen flying around! Bruce Lee came running in after hearing all the shouting with a few of the other guests. Its the first time i ever saw Bruce lee look scared. It took about half an hour to kill this thing and then afterwards we found out what this thing hunts...turantulas!ha No wonder why it was so bloody big!

14/04/09
We were up and in the boat by 6am to go bird watching. And this wasn't the bird watching im used to. This was with the ones that actually fly! There were no end of falcons, parrots, tucans, wood peckers and even some more monkeys. We went back for breakfast and to get the boat with the engine. Today we were going to see the source of the Amazon baby! On the way to the source of the amazon Mike and I jumped in again to swim with the pink dolphins. Matt stayed on the boat. We eventually got to where the two rivers combine to make one, the source of the amazon. Matt not wanting to give up the opportunity joined us and we all jumped in. We didn't stay in long though as there were loads of debris floating past and we couldn't tell what was brushing past our legs!ha On the way back we got caught in a rain storm. It made a two hour trip back fee like a 24 hour one. We did see a huge iguana jump into the river as we passed in the pouring rain. Back at our hotel some new comers had arrived. A group of French people and two Swedish girls. The girls were a great laugh but the French were hard to get on with. Whilst we were all eating dinner at the table one of the French guys started smoking. Who does that?! Shortly after dinner Ricky, Bruce Lee and the three of us put on our boots, grabbed our torches and stepped into the knee high water looking for...snakes! This was for sure the craziest thing we had done so far in the Amazon. We were brushing past spiders the size of our palms, Ricky was picking up snakes left right and centre and then, i gave my torch to Bruce Lee who came back 30 seconds later with a caimen! What were we doing?!ha I did see one of the funniest things in my life though. Mike had a head torch on and at one point this big flying insect, attracted to the light, flew into his forehead and started flapping away around his torch. I have never heard so many wierd screams come out of a mans voice before and he was flapping his arms around like a lunatic! I had tears running down my face i was laughing so much! We tried doing some pirahna fishing later that night but due to the wet season and all the rivers being flooded we didn't catch much. I caught two small catfish but nobody else caught anything. We were back by midnight to find a giant green frog in our toilet!ha Our own room was like a nature reserve!ha It had been a great last day in the Amazon!

15/04/09
We had the morning to do what we wanted so with the attitude of never giving up we went fishing...we failed again!ha We did see a red faced iguana though which was cool. Back at the hotel we said goodbye to the Swedish girls, gave a tip to Bruce Lee and said goodbye to our room that provided us with a few suprises during our stay. With Ricky we jumped on the boat to take us back. Matt was playing around with his flick knife acting all cocky when Ricky asked to see it. He reluctently handed it over knowing how small it was compared to Rickys Rambo beast. Ricky pulled his knife/sword out and said, "now this is a knife!" Matt was lost for words but the rest of us thought it was hilarious!ha I took the opportunity to take one of my 'bad arse' photos with the two knifes to add to my ever growing collection. We did see a very rare sight though on the way back. Two pink dolphins mating which was awesome. The taxi back to Iquitos wasn't without its moments. The driver was crazy and even overtook a police car around a blind corner. When he done it, he looked in the rear view mirror and gave us a wink!ha Back at Iquitos i took a happy birthday photo for my mum with Ricky and handed him over a tip for being such a good guide. Crazy...but good!ha We didnt have much time to spare before heading to the airport and flying back to Lima. I didn't bother changing and looked like a tramp! This time we had reserved three beds in Locki Hostel as well as transportation from the airport. Our driver was waiting for us and we were in bed by 11pm.

16/04/09
Today we didn't do much apart from eating, relaxing and playing loads of table tennis!

17/04/09
We decided to spend the day at the beach so we got sun creamed up and left the hostel in the morning. By the time we walked down to the beach the sun disapeared behind the ever growing clouds. That was that plan out of the window. So we grabbed some lunch and spent the day back at the hostel. Being a Friday we all agreed it was about time the three of us went out for a proper night out together. They were advertising beer poker in the hostel from 9pm so that grabbed our attention. Easy to say, come nine, we were sat with pints of beers in one hand and cards in the other. I have never played this game before but within minutes it made my top three drinking games. Such a simple game but genius! Instead of money you gamble beer. Raising by fingers, ie, "i raise you four fingers." You have to match it or drink what you previously bet. Towards the end I got dealt pocket kings and Mike got dealt...pocket aces! The flop came out with all low cards and we both knew we both got dealt high pairs as we were betting so large. Word got around in the bar and we had about thirty people watching us. It got to four pints before we layed the cards on the table. I couldn't believe it! It was hilarious though but downing the four pints wasn't!ha A load of us ended up in a club but i can't remember much after that. I do remember having fun though!ha



18/04/09

Needless to say i woke up with a huge hangover. I was even feeling to rough to play table tennis. All we had planned for today though was to relax until 9pm. At nine we were catching an overnight bus to Trujillo which was further up the coast. Thats where our surfing was going to begin! But as for today all we done we rest our hungover heads in the tv room. We got a taxi at eight and was sat in the bus within no time. We got the front seats as well which is always a bonus as you can stretch you legs out. For Mike it made no difference as, well, hes only a wee man!ha



The Amazon was a trip of a lifetime and something i will never forget. After all, thats where i met my true love, the sloth!ha

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Photos

Bruce Lee and I.
Luckily this was only a joke otherwise he would have kicked my arse!ha