Amazon Jungle Escapades- Take 3

Nearly finished- this will be the last post about what we did.. there may be more of pictures though...

Sunday: We got to sleep until 730 that morning- wonderful sleep. Our room stayed fairly cool actually (compared to other people's)- we had a fan going all day/ night until the power shut down. From about midnight until 5AM, the power shut down on the boat. It got a little stuffy then, but I was so tired I was able to handle it. Sunday morning we went for a long canoe ride to another place we were going to hike. Hiked around a while. We built a shelter out of palm fronds with our bare hands, so that was pretty fun. Then we got back in the canoe- it was probably 11AM. Some people fished for a little while (there were only 2 fishing lines though and the bait- grubs- had to be found in the forest so there was a limited supply). I left the fishing to the others because I tend to get frustrated and impatient if I'm unable to catch anything (especially if there are bites). After a while of that (and no luck), we headed back to the boat. The Jungle Discovery was returning to its original place since we were heading home the next day. I think we had about an hour or hour and a half canoe ride there. During that time, I took my rubber boots off (yes- we got to wear rubber boots on every hike- pretty stylin'). I went to take my socks off and ended up launching one into the river somehow. Oops. Our guide asked if I wanted to go back to get it, but it was no big deal. I have left my mark on the Amazon (I think some people would call it littering, but it was completely unintentional...). I rolled my pants up to just below my knees and relaxed for our long canoe ride in the sun. It was perfect- it was breezy because we were moving and sunny and oh-so-wonderful. We got back to the boat, ate lunch, and then had a bunch of free time before the next activity (basket weaving!!). So I put on my swimming suit and some shorts and laid on the deck reading my book. It was then that I discovered the TERRIBLE tan line I'd gotten from the canoe-ride. My shins were bright red (burnt), and there was a very definite line right below my knee. Nice. Some people went swimming, but I wasn't too keen on doing that, as I'm not the best swimmer (I can stay afloat, but I'm not great) and the current was quite strong. Then it was time for basket weaving. Ha that was fun. Tim and I were basket weaving partners and our basket turned out okay. Our teacher was the head guide, and he wasn't too impressed with our basket, but it was our first time- what can we say? I believe it was after seeing our basket that he said that some people are born basket weavers, and some people are born basket cases. Obviously he meant we were the latter ;) We took a night hike that evening. Saw LOTS of bugs- BIG bugs. I wore a long-sleeve shirt so that I wouldn't get anymore bugbites on my arms, and I'm so glad I did. All the sudden, I felt something crawling up my arm- something large. I was afraid to look, so I peered down and out of the corner of my eye, all I saw was legs- long legs. I believe I jumped up and down frantically, flailing my arms about. (You just never know what could be "attacking" you in the jungle at night). It turned out to be a giant grasshopper. Our guide was right behind me and told me, in Spanish, that there was no reason for me to be afraid- it wouldn't have hurt me. Yes, I said, but it was HUGE. We saw some spiders, cockroaches, and other bugs. At one point, our guide had us extinguish all our flashlights and just stand there in the dark, listening. Not going to lie, I was a little scared something was going to come out and eat me. Thankfully, nothing did. That night when we got back to the boat, we had a farewell dinner- DELICIOUS, but what else did we expect. Oh, it was so sad everything was ending. 

Monday: We took the same way back that we took to the Jungle Discovery. In the beginning of the canoe ride, we stopped at this native woman's house/ farm- type thing, and she showed us what sorts of things she grew, etc. It was kind of interesting, but it was SUPER hot on Monday, so we weren't really wanting to be there. We had been blessed with amazing weather the whole trip- not too hot or rainy. After we left, we had our 3 hour canoe ride and got out at the same place we'd stopped on the way for lunch. The place without bathrooms. And I had to go to the bathroom before our 3 hour busride. Oh, I was so torn- did I really want to do that which I had vowed not to do or did I want to spend the 3-hour bumpy busride in a very uncomfortable state? I got clear directions on the best way to go about relieving oneself in the wild from my experienced group-mates. Then I wavered for 5 more minutes. I finally decided that I was going to do it. I could do it. I did do it. Sheesh. Big deal, huh? Anyway, from there on out, it was traveling until 9 that night. 3 hour busride and 2 planerides, with some lengthy layovers in between. 

That, my friends, was my jungle experience. I highly recommend it to everyone. 

Pictures to come later- they're taking forever to load.

Picture 1: The cylindrical thing hanging from the branch on the left side of the picture is a wasps' nest, as are the bulges on the trunk. They make a marching noise if disturbed. 

Picture 2: One of our guides, Eduardo (I think that was his name) in action. He explained that the tree he's next to was used for punishment- people were tied to the trunk and the pointy things sticking out obviously hurt them.

Picture 3: There were some good tree roots- I couldn't resist.

Picture 4: LARGE wolf spider- they're very aggressive, we were told. That was during our night hike.

Picture 5: Giant grasshopper, much like the one that was crawling on my arm.