As mentioned, we stopped at a couple of animal reserves or little informal zoos were I got to interact with a bunch of jungle creatures. Which I have to admit was really fun, even though I feel uncomfortable with the concept. There were wooly monkeys...
...an anaconda (I let someone else go first to make sure they weren't going to die before I agreed to pose for this pic; and let me tell you, that snake is serious business--SO heavy and SO strong; I wouldn't have stood a chance if it had been hungry enough to want to eat me)...
...a scarlet macaw! Its wings weren't clipped, but they must feed it to keep it nearby, along with its friend, Green Parrot (not pictured)...
...my new ABSOLUTE FAVORITE ANIMAL, the three-toed sloth (and, fun fact: the bottom part of my shirt is wet in this picture because a matamata/prehistoric turtle had just peed on me)...
...and an animal that I hope never to meet in on its own turf: the piranha. We went fishing for them, and this is the one I caught. And then I immediately retired my fishing line, for fear that ghost piranhas might haunt my nightmares in the future.
On a night hike, guide Edwin very diligently made frog calls till he got an answer and found this guy, knocked him out of a tree, told us it was a poison frog, and then put it on my arm. AFTERWARDS, he explained that it can't hurt you unless you ingest some part of it. Sheesh. I've since looked it up, and it's a cambo frog. Pretty fascinating, actually, especially for the folks at Psychedelic Times, which I've learned is actually a publication that exists. Put "cambo frog" into Google and you'll get all kinds of interesting stuff.
A couple days later we saw cambo frog eggs on a walk through the forest.
On that same walk, we also saw a way MORE poisonous (says Edwin) poisonous frog. He did not try to put this one anywhere near me, and I don't think it would have allowed me that close anyway.
When Edwin found out I was interested in seeing some really old/hardwood trees, he took me to see this beauty, across the river. (Sadly, the side of the river we were on was loooong ago completely divested of all of its hardwood.)
We also slogged through some serious marsh/bog that was much more of an adventure than you can really tell in this picture. I was so focused on not falling in that I didn't even notice the dozens more mosquito bites I was getting.
On my last morning, I got to see a real stick insect. It's crazy. I know it's in the name. But they REALLY. Look. Exactly. Like. Sticks.
I'm also amazed at the extremely effective deterrents various types of palms in the jungle have developed to prevent animals from climbing them and eating their fruit. Yikes.
I wish I had a video from this one. Edwin found a termite mound. Scraped the outside of it off till the termites were running around insanely. Put his hand on it so they swarmed his hand. Then rubbed his hands together as if he was lathering them with soap, killing all the termites and releasing their very interesting, woody smell. And then rubbed that all over his face and neck. Natural mosquito repellent, he said. Already itching from SOOOOO many bites, I followed suit without thinking twice. Hard to tell at that point if it worked, though.
He also showed me a bunch of other natural jungle remedies, medications, etc. This one he released by whacking this tree with his machete. It's supposed to make the insect bites you already have stop itching. Again, I'm not totally sure whether or not it actually worked, but it did dye my shirt a bright orange that has faded to poop-brown with washing, and left a stain on a spot of the skin on my chest that I'm starting to worry might be completely permanent. Luckily, I had no need for the tree that gives a sap that's used to cleanse the gut of parasites, or the anti-malarial taken regularly by people in the jungle, or any number of other Amazon concoctions.
Okay, this is really long now, so I'll call it done. But first, should we look at another picture of the sweetest animal on the planet, the three-toed sloth? I think we should:
Finally, as if on purpose, the rain clouds cleared to afford a brilliant sunset over the river on my last night out in the forest. Ahhh, Amazon. You did not disappoint. I hope we shall meet again.
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