Day 285 – Amazon Jungle Day 2

Day 285 – Amazon Jungle Day 2        06/02/11       Mileage: o

We were up shortly after 6am and we all slept surprisingly well….all except for Ian that is. It seems there was a malfunction of sorts with his mosquito net on his hammock, because the mosquitoes used his back for a pin cushion. Poor bastard.

Morning everyone….

Here’s a closer look on how the shelter was built…pretty cool…

Packing up camp…

In case you’re wondering what 200 mosquito bites look like….now you know…

After packing up camp we headed back to the natives house for breakfast in our trusty wooden canoe…after we bailed it out of course.

Next on the agenda was a short jungle trek with Antonio pointing out many interesting things about the Amazon jungle. He pointed out trees and plants that were used for everything from medicines for different ailments to poisons for blow darts and even a particular ant that hunters would smear on themselves to mask their scent while hunting.

That is one %#$&% big spider!

He pointed out some monkey’s but they were too high up to get a picture of. After a few hours we arrived back at the canoe and started making our way back towards the base camp. Along the way Antonio spotted a sloth high up in the trees along the river. With a branch Antonio tried to get him to come down…but then with a splash the sloth fell from the tree into the river. Amazingly it just started swimming back towards the trees….who knew sloths could swim?! Antonio picked him up out of the water and we all had a closer look.

 He’s a shy fellow for sure and looked ready for a nap despite being roused from his perch. How Antonio saw him up in the tree in beyond me….all I can say is Antonio is the real deal when it comes to jungle guides. Back at base camp we unloaded the canoe and had another nice lunch and were entertained again by the “house” monkey.

We all relaxed for a while as well but soon it was time to head back to Manaus the same way we arrived….first on the small boat back to the van to another boat across the main Amazon River to a car to take us back to town. All in all, it was an amazing experience that I’m glad I didn’t miss. Later that night Ian, John and I ate and drank our body weight in pizza and beer…a nice little capper on two very memorable days in the Amazon. Bucket of beer…yep, that’s for us, gracias…