The Jungle

The boat ride down the Rio Arara (a tributary
of the Rio Amazonas) to our jungle lodge

The long shallow skiff cut through the cold water of  a tributary of the Amazon, speeding  us to the jungle lodge. We (Ian, Sal and our new traveller pal Jin from Seoul, South Korea),  sat with our bags between our legs, looking out across the water to the open grasslands punctuated by trees. The landscape was not as thickly covered with jungle as I thought it would be. Rather a collection of sparse almost savannah like hillocks in parts.  The overwhelming feeling was of tranquil peace, the whir of the motorboat engine apart.

The Ararinha Jungle Lodge

Jin and Ian swimming in the river

We found the lodge on arrival to be a set of round wooden shacks. We were in the main (shared) dormitory. Simple beds with mosquito nets. A cafeteria downstairs. A few other travellers milling about. Our guide Sean (I am pretty sure this isn't his birth name but one based on his love of P Diddy aka Sean Combs...) told us he was taking us out to see the wildlife. And so we did, as the sun set we watched both grey and pink dolphins move and leap in pairs, playing and chasing one another, the water of the Amazon so purely reflective it gave the impression of an endless mirror. Water stalks took off and landed with their exaggerated syncopated action, the air was alive with the singing of birds.

If there was one thing I had always promised myself I would never do it was swim in the Amazon - infested as it is with crocodiles, swimming snakes, pirhana fish. But we couldn't turn it down, so pale and innocent it looked, and found it to be refreshing and cool, even if you could not see what was beneath your feet.

Below the canopy of the jungle

The next day we went for a hike through the forest, Sean always with his eyes forward and on his feet checking for snakes. They have had a few people bitten over the years, and this is rather unpleasant for him as it necessitates the catching and killing of the snake, and then the calming of the bitten through telling him/her that the snake is not deadly poisonous (even if it is) so they don't hyper ventilate and push the poison further into their system. After that he then needs to arrange for an emergency evacuation back to Manaus for anti-venom treatment. One of the guides at the camp still walks with a limp from a bite 3 years ago. So I can see the reason for Sean's cautiousness.

Arachnophobes, Look away now!! 

As we walked he would fish out tarantulas with his bare hands from inside logs and divots. Jin, our South Korean friend and intrepid photographer, would get close to the arachnids with his camera. All the more alarming when Sean said the tarantulas could jump 6 feet to sink their fangs in you. Still the tarantula didn't bite him, but I made sure I wouldn't be by standing behind him all the while he took photos.

Sean, with his machete close to hand made a bracelet
from the tree bark

Sean made Sal a bracelet from the bark of a tree, which she still has (I am about a month behind writing these), and we spent a breathless fifteen minutes running through the bush trying to spot a cappuccino monkey way up in the trees, which we did eventually.

Catch of the day- Amazon Piranha

In the afternoon we went out on the boat and made fishing rods out of canes and string with hooks baited with tiny pieces of beef which we sank the into the water. Piranhas were biting in no time and we pulled them out and put them in the boat, bleeding and showing protruding jagged fangs. We resisted the urge to swim. The next day Sean cooked them for lunch, pretty tasty (if fearsome looking) they were too.

...which made a tasty lunch

Sal has always been a succulent target for mosquitoes - quite good for myself as they ignore me completely for a tastier morsel. Sadly Sal had a huge reaction to being bitten by the Amazonian breed. Her arms and legs swelled up. And then, unfortunately, she got bitten three times on the eye. It was like she had gone four rounds with Mike Tyson. She has an impressive slide show (available on request) tracing the emergent swelling, and her face turning into a balloon. All better now though I am happy to say.



At night Sean took us out Cayman hunting. Something very easy to do in the dark as you only need to pass your torch over the water to spot the fiery orange reflection of crocodile eyes. On approaching the cayman fixates on the torch light and becomes almost hypnotised, and as a result Sean was able to just pick one up and hold it from the neck. He passed it round the boat so we could all hold this smooth, sleek, vicious and cold creature, which also manages to be quite beautiful in an efficient sort of way. I was worried Sal would drop the beast and it would bite my toes off, then when I was holding I was even more terrified that I would drop it and it would bite Sal's toes off. Luckily neither scenario came to pass.


A floating house, with the local football team's kit
drying in the Amazon sun

 

On the last day we went out to meet the people who live around the lodge. Some houses are lashed to logs so they can rise and fall with the water level, which varies extremely from season to season. Others go for the stilt option and their abodes look imperiously down on the river. Electricity only arrived here in 2009, and that - alongside government programme and schooling - has brought the community of Rio Arara and others across Amazonas closer to modern life.  Flat screen TVs abound, as do stereos and satellite dishes, even if none of the houses have what you might call a "proper" bathroom.





A jackfruit - tasted somewhere between a
banana and passionfruit

Before modernity arrived life was simple - so bountiful that a fisherman can put down his net for an afternoon and catch 20 or more large fish, enough to feed his entire family and have more to sell besides. Fruit of a bewildering and tasty varieties grows on every bit of dry land. The weather is clement and cool. Now there are welfare payments like the bolsa familia, and fishing unions which pay people to not fish certain species to protect them, and everyone is saving money for advancement by working for the eco lodges. It is changing, but Sean and the locals say it is for the better. Interestingly he said that few were attracted by moving to the city. Indeed those that had moved to the city for work were looking to move back to the countryside where life is easier, and more fun.

Man of the Match - Juan Horsman

We ended our Amazon, and Brazilian, trip with a visit to the local football stadium, perched on an island in the river. Complete with clubhouse, a full size pitch, and even a couple of stands. There I managed to finally get a game of football before we left Brazil which made me incredibly happy, and Sal because at least I would bloody stop going on about it.....