A trip to the Amazon River Basin

Facing the option of taking an 18 hour bus ride that utilizes a section of road that is literally known as "The Death Road" or a 50 minute flight, our next move was to spend a little extra money and fly to the jungle. What we didn't know: the condition of the airport we were headed to.

Just a dirt path. For this reason, sometimes the flight is cancelled when rain turns the landing strip into a mud field. We were lucky enough to have a sunny day and no problemas!

This was just the beginning of the interesting things we encountered. On the shuttle ride to our jungle river tour, we discovered a pitstop that was grilling a particularly interesting piece of meat. That would be an armadillo. Apparently, it actually does taste like chicken.

Moving along, the real reason we went to the jungle was to go on a river tour in an area known as the Pampas. Here we have arrived at the Yacuma River, which eventually drains into the Amazon. Boats are being readied for our journey. Each boat has enough space for a driver, supplies and gear, and eight people.

After we got moving along the river, it took very little time to realize that we were surrounded by wildlife. As we saw them, they saw us. In the water is a spectacled caiman, the most common type of caiman we encountered. We saw all sizes of them from young one footers to adults that were 6 or 7 feet long.

There was an abundance of birds along the river. The one below is a type of duck that is drying itself off in the sun. The reason for this is that it doesn't have a type of oil in its feathers common to water fowl, that creates a waterproof coat. The reason he gets so wet, is that without the oils, he sinks farther in the water, getting very wet. They are expert fishers. The first time we saw one of these swimming around, we thought it was a snake, because the only part sticking out of the water was his neck and head, which look a bit snakelike without the rest of the body.
Another animal we saw frequently was the capybara. The largest rodent in the world, the capybara looks like a giant guinea pig. They didn't do a whole lot, but they are funny looking. For perspective, they are about the same size as a full grown pig.

Continuing on, we see more caiman. Many more caiman. Hungry looking caiman.

In the first hour or so, we probably saw a few hundred lurking in the water. They were out in the open, under brush, floating at the water's edge. Everywhere.

Main objective: STAY IN THE BOAT!

Here's a quick shot of our group. We were lucky that we ended up with a really fun group of people on this tour, as we had to spend the next three days together. As a group, we were one Bolivian(our guide, Erick), two Americans(us), two Kiwis, a Brit, a Swede living in Australia, and a South African, also living in Australia. Luckily for me, everyone in this group spoke English, unlike our salt flats trip.

Further down the stream, our guide pulled over to the side of the river. He had spotted some very curious squirrel monkeys. We were instructed at the beginning of the tour to not feed the animals, but no one said that we couldn't just show them a banana and not give it to them. Well, this is the result. They see and smell it from pretty far off, and jump right into your boat.

They scurried around us following wherever Erick held the banana. At one point, he held it just above my head, and one of them tried to jump onto the brim of my hat to grab it. He just didn't realize that it wasn't such solid footing as he yanked it down in front of my face!

We traveled along the river for a total of four hours on the first day, and arrived at a cabin that we were to stay at, complete with beds, hammocks, and a kitchen staff. We were cooked a nice meal by the staff, and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The next morning, we headed to a nice lookout to watch the sun come up over the river. Even though we had to be up early, watching the sunrise never gets old.

After that, there were plenty more exciting activities that were planned for us. But first, a boat ride. Along the ride, we saw the first and only toucans of our excursion. There's three in this photo. See if you can spot them.

Another common bird along the river was the hoatzin bird. These were really funny looking birds that have a sort of spiky mohawk. If you've ever seen the movie "Up", the hoatzin looks a bit like Kevin. For this reason, we began calling them Kevins every time we saw them. It seemed easier, because we didn't exactly know their name at the time.

Once we landed back on shore, our next activity was to go looking for anacondas. We weren't sure why we were going to go and actually search them out, because we weren't necessarily comfortable with the idea of an coming upon an anaconda in the wild, but Erick assured us that they are not aggressive, and if attacked we could always bite them. WHAT!!??! Yes, if they wrap themselves onto you in any way, your best defense is to bite the snake. Our saliva is apparently venomous to the snake. I then asked Erick, as our guide, if we were to be attacked, if he would bite the snake for us. His reply, "No". Better be prepared to bite a snake today.

Here we are trodding through the tall grasses and the marsh looking for snakes.

When we started this little hike, I was a bit worried that it might turn out to be a little like the jungle night tour we went on in Costa Rica. There were about 5 tour groups of people out in this marsh looking for the Anaconda, and I was worried that we were going to "find" snakes that the guides already knew where to find. But no, it was a genuine search. There's really only a slightly better than 50% chance of finding one.

And out of the forty or so people spread out with eyes glued to the ground, I spotted an anaconda! Dumb luck really, but as I was walking, I saw a slimy 9-10 foot snake slithering through the grass. At first I almost wet myself, but stayed a decent distance from it, and managed to call Erick over to confirm if it was what we were looking for.

And this is just the first foot or so of her. It was a girl.

I didn't know it at the time, but there was a prize involved in spotting the anaconda for the day. Or at least, Erick made it sound that way when he presented me with a bottle of wine and a cake that was shared with everyone. Though, I think it was just an excuse for him to request these things from the cooks.

I mentioned the spectacled caiman earlier, but there is also a black caiman in these waters. This breed grows to 12 feet at its biggest, but are generally as big as this one below, around 9-10 feet.

They are monsters.

Later in the day, we attempted what felt like the dumbest possible thing we could be doing in this river. We swam in it! With caiman in full view, no more that 50 feet away from us on the shore, we swam in the water. And, oh yeah, there's piranhas in this river as well! We were even told not to put our hands or feet in the water while riding in the boat.

The reason we attempted this ridiculousness is because there are pink river dolphins that patrol the river where deep enough. They are the only reason this is safe. They eat piranhas, which won't actually attack unless you are actively bleeding (as if that makes me feel safer), and their presence in the water keeps the caiman away.

We though it would be kind of fun to take a picture of us in the water with a caiman in the background, so here we are. My words: "He moved. I swear he just moved. Laura, he moved."

He didn't move.
We were told that there would be dolphins and they would want to swim with us. However the two dolphins that we did spot stayed pretty far from us, only giving us periodic glimpses. The disturbance in the water below, was a dolphin. I guess he was pink. The murky brown of the river doesn't allow any visibility either.

After a busy day of doing things I never thought I would, we headed to a riverside bar and soccer field. We were the first group there, so Erick and I did some practicing before the other groups arrived and full field games began. It was a lot of fun.

Next day, back in the boats. On our way to the next stop, we spotted an Amazon King Fisher bird. This was my favorite bird to spot. There weren't many of them, but their colors were really pretty. The head and back were forest green, with a white neck and a red belly.

Today's activity: Fishing for piranhas.

No one caught anything big enough to eat, but it was fun anyway. We caught quite a few and can see why this activity is held AFTER the swimming. For the most part, we were only able to catch them by quickly tugging the line, and flinging them into the boat where they flopped around, but Laura managed to actually hook one.

As always in this river, a caiman laid nearby. I think he had his eye on the fish we were catching. As we continued fishing, our fearless leader, Erick, hopped off the boat and approached the caiman. We all held our breath a bit, but he knows what he's doing, right?

Then Erick waved a few of us over, and I did something that made swimming in this river seem like no big deal. I touched the caiman on the nose. It took me a while to complete this, as I kept imagining him taking off my entire hand, but I did it. I don't know why, but I did. Not that it was any easier as a result, but Erick explained that the animal actually liked being touched. It seemed plausible, as it shut its eyes when I got closer, almost submitting itself to touch. Though, I shall never test this theory, as I don't currently plan to pet any more crocs.

To finish off the tour, the river was full of turtles. There was something new every time we hopped on that boat!

Well, that's about the whole tour. But just the exciting parts. (There was very little down time on this one)

And in then end, we took the long bus ride to get out of the jungle that we previously avoided, and saw something I don't expect to ever see back home. On the side of a country road, a man and woman stood by a pile of bananas. The bus stopped, the driver and his helpers got off and purchased three or four bundles. They loaded them up, and we continued on our way.