4 posts tagged “jungle”

Today we saw ´The Lazy Animal´, a slough.  Antonio climbed up the tree like a monkey and brought the animal back down with him so we could hold him.  These are the funniest little creatures I have seen.  They sleep for 22 hours a day and live for upto 150 years!!!!

The slough looked at us with a huge grin on it´s face.... it looked as though it wqas constantly stoned.  Very amusing.  We put the slough back into the tree and got back in our canoe to go to our next place of rest...  an Indian´s house.

We arrived at the little hut made from palm trees and wood, where we were greeted by the indian family.  They were so welcoming and friendly.  They showed us the plant they extracted war paint from and how they made their flour.  They make it from a Manioc plant and it is a vital part of any Brazilian meal.  Everyone covers their food in it.  It is a cross between cous cous and flour, me and Tony call it rocks...

We slung our hammocks up in their hut and drank with them.  We really enjoyed ourselves, even though we didn´t speak the language.  You know what they say, drunken actions speak louder than words. 

Today we trecked into the jungle to look at all the different trees and plants in the Amazon.  Our guide (Antonio) explained all the different plants and what they were used for.

The first thing we came across was a natural insect repellant.  It was a termites nest.  You had to put your hand on the nest, let the termites crawl over your hand and then you rubbed the insects all over you and then brushed them off.   We didn´t try this one, but the guide showed us.

We found a plant for abortion, one for Malaria, a plant to make candles and insence with and a water vine, which when cut, you can drink the water from inside.

Me and Tony got stung by wasps in the Jungle.  It was very painful.  These aren´t little wasps at all.  I don´t think they would have bothered us but Tony decided to walk right through the wasps nest, which they weren´t too happy about and proceeded to chase after us stinging us numerous times.  We managed to find a plant in the jungle which was like an antiseptic and it took the sting away.

There is a tree in the Jungle called the SOS tree.  It is an enormous tree and and has an extremely wide trunk.  If you hit the trunk with a piece of wood, the sound can be heard across the forest.

We asked the guide how he didn´t get lost in the jungle.  He told us about an Indian tradition.  The Indians found a wild boar and cut off the nose.  On a friday, the child takes the nose of the boar and watches the sun set through the nose.  The child continues to do this for seven days and after this, the child will never get lost and will always be able to find his way back.

we got back to camp and made some coffee.  We learnt a new trick to get the coffee grains to settle at the bottom of the pan.  The guide stirred the coffee with the embers of the fire.... it worked....

I hate mosquitos.  I have been bitten so many times and they seem to be ignoring the insect repellant I have used.

Today we got back into our canoe and headed for our next camp.  we stopped at a floating shop on the way to pick up some supplies of water and biscuits.  I managed to fall out of the canoe while trying to get off it, so everyone then decided to go for a swim.

We arrived at our next destination late in the afternoon, and set up camp.  We had to make a frame for our hammocks out of trees and put a taupe on top in case it rained.  We made a table and set up a camp fire to cook food on.  Tony was delighted as he got to use his Machetti!!! 

I was very tired and went to bed early but Tony and the guide went spear fishing at night.  They didn´t manage to catch any fish, but Tony did catch a small Camen, which made him very happy :)

Today we are setting off to go into the jungle.  Firstwe had to get a taxi to the port, then got a speed boat accross the two rivers.  Where the two rivers meet can be seen, as they flow next to one another.  One is the river Negro which is very dark and one is the river Solimoes which is muddy.  Because of the different speeds and temperatures of the rivers, they do not mix together straight away.

We then got a VW campervan from the port to our motorised canoe which was waiting for us.  We all got in the canoe and sailed down the river to where we were staying for the night, in a jungle lodge.

On the trip is me, Tony, Yan and a Swiss girl Simone and a Brazillian guy Marcus who we met on the boat.

We had dinner at the jungle lodge and went off in our canoe to catch some piranas for tea.   I caught one, and didn´t know how to get it off my line, so Tony went to get the pirana and caught one on his line.  He took his off his hook(so us tourists could get a picture) and caught yet another one!!!!  So we had lots of fish for tea.  After fishing we continued in our boat to a lake where we watched the dolphins until the sun set.

In the evening we went Aligator spotting.  The guide caught a small aligator which we were able to hold.  After an exhausting day we went back to the lodge to sleep.