Trevor's South America Trip: Predators of the Amazon

Day 22 - 20 de Junho: Manaus and the jungle

Yup, another 6am wakeup call and Im ready to go. My jungle gear (that had been hanging overnight) was (mostly) dry from yesterday's downpour. I swear, that rain was the closest i've been to swimming without being in water. Anyway, I got dressed, packed my things and hit the road with Jeffson. As the sun was rising in front of us, I pulled out my glasses to find they were so dirty from yesterday's rainstorm that even after cleaning them, i put them on and felt like I needed glasses. So, i put them away and we carried on to the marina. Today, we would be going in Jeffson's bigger boat. It was very nice - since it's expensive, he doesn't let his other staff drive it (hence we were in the smaller boat yesterday. Bonus, when we got to the correct dock, the boat was waiting for us (no rickety obstacle course like yesterday). We met one of the other staff at the marina and all got into the boat and on our way. We would be going to the same lodge as yesterday to pick up our next client - a man from Spain. On our way, we passed the same spot that we stopped at yesterday to talk to the random guy - apparently he was one of the indigenous people and acts as a jungle mentor to even these experienced guides! The young man who was making the fish net was the guard of the island we visited and sews fishnets in his free time. In a few minutes, we made it to the lodge, tied up and got out to meet the new hiker. He seemed eager and ready to go, however his light, brown loafers did not seem like they could pull off being hiking boots - we'd have to see. Before leaving the lodge, we joined into their breakfast buffet where we ran into the same family as yesterday. Not seeing me, but noticing the Jaguar shirts, they went to talk to Jeffson first. Being in earshot, I heard them saying all sorts off good things about me - success! I then joined in and said hi to them again. They were a really nice family - i'm glad my first tour was for them. Finally, we finished up and made our way to the canoe. Again, 4 grown men on this leaky, rickety canoe was a bit nerve racking at first but they obviously know what they're doing. We took the same route, rowing in between the sunken trees, not a single industrial sound to be heard - we were in the heart of nature. We hit land and started the hike. It was cool to watch Jeffson at work, demonstrating the same things that I was doing yesterday. Orientation with the sun, how to climb a tree, identifying medicinal plants, automatic animal traps. After a fair bit more walking than we took the family on yesterday, we were suddenly told to stop talking and be as quiet as possible. The guides had spotted something that they didn't want spooked. Slowly, step by step we silently caught up with them and looked straight up a tree, so tall that you could probably climb it to heaven. Looking up as high as I could, I saw a black mass on one of the branches - a jaguar. Such a cool sighting - i still don't know how the guides saw it so high up. Even with my camera on full zoom, I couldn't take one recognizable picture. You'll just have to take my word on this one - it was really cool. We then continued all the way to a different clearing than the one yesterday. A table and fire pit were already set up from a previous demonstration, and with the materials on hand, Jeffson taught the guy all the different methods to build the fire. Again, just like before, there was also a clean creek to refill the water bottles in and soak our heads. With a bit of effort, the fire was started and a large amount of skewered meats were cooked over the blaze. This campfire bbq is so delicious - i wish I could eat it every day! Jeffson had also brought hammocks for everyone, so after the feast, we actually had a bit of a siesta in the middle of the jungle. It was perfect since I was tired from being up early 2 nights in a row. After this nice rest, we made our way back to where we started. However, after a bit of trail walking, we started to hear thunder and the guides figured we'd get back faster by bush whacking our own trail back. This would typically be a fun adventure (and it was), except for these annoying plants that seemed to take a liking to me. Basically, if a palm tree could have sex with a porcupine, their baby would be this plant. Scattered throughout were palms, covered in thorns and I was always their victim of choice. It's ok though, i'll start to accumulate little battle wounds and be able to make up more manly stories about the jungle when I return. Out of water, I was relieved when we finally made it back to the canoe. The ride was fast, even with the guide trying his luck at spearfishing on the way out. No luck, so we continued to the lodge to drop off the guy. It never did rain the whole time so I can actually say I returned from the rainforest dry this time around. With only a quick stop to the floating gas station (much like the one we have in vancouver), the ride and drive back home were quick and uneventful - which was perfect since that meant I could get to the big glass of water I so desperately wanted quicker. Back home, I sent out a few emails, watched the news in Portuguese (they still talk way too fast on the news) then had some café da tarde. It was dark outside but we sat on the dimly lit patio to eat. All of a sudden, my left foot started to burn - at first I brushed it off, thinking it was one of my mosquito bites acting up, but then it got worse and I realized my left foot was right in the path of a colony of fire ants. That sure is fun when you stop! Luckily, this whole trip, i've been completely unaffected by the after effects of bug bites (no itching or pain or anything) so I wasn't surprised that after a few minutes, my pain was mostly gone. After that whole fiasco, i got in a good Portuguese lesson on future-tense verbs from Jeffson and in turn, did a vocab/pronunciation lesson for the family in english. Yup, i'll say it again, our language is stupid - there's not a single accurate rule or tendency; you just need to know everything. Oh well, glad I grew up with it. Also, tonight I was finally able to learn how to use the family's washing machine to do my laundry. I'll be glad to have a bunch of my clothes back. It's funny, as I hung my clothes up to dry, the use of a clothesline and pegs seemed so old-fashioned, even though it isn't really that outdated. Well, got that all done, and now im off to bed. No work tomorrow so I get to sleep in a little bit. We'll see what happens tomorrow!