Gators and jaguars and snakes, oh my!

For our second day in the jungle, our guide took us on a trek through the woods, to point out flora and fauna. Two of our group members were on a holiday to photograph various dragonfly species of the Amazon, so our guide took extra note to point out every dragonfly in en route. Only 5 minutes into our journey we had to cross a large ant mound, belonging to some giant Amazonian variety, which our guide warned us were very painful, and Mr. Dragonfly stopped in front of me, blocking the path, and leaving me standing in the nest. As the ants started crawling up my shoe, I frantically started trying to kick them off. Their extra large mandibles held on tight, and they progressed further and further. I sprinted out of their territory and kicked my shoes off as I ran. From that point on, I determined that Mr. Dragonfly was an idiot.

On this night, we were going to string up hammocks under a canopy and sleep in the jungle. Ironically, Madam Dragonfly didn't like bugs, so she and Mr. Dragonfly stayed at the cabana and left the 3 aussies and us to spend our evening in the elements. We arrived just before sundown, and set up our camp. As the sun set, Shamir took us out in his dugout to spearfish for dinner. We passed a few alligators in the night, and Shamir caught one fish. When going for his second, the fish darted in the black waters out of danger from our spear and into the safety of a giant anaconda. Shamir, seeing the snake started saying "big big big anaconda", as he started to paddle away from the area. I couldnt see the snake, but being armed with only a small spear, Shamir decided that it was time we went back to the dry land, where we would only need to worry about jaguars. I asked him what a jaguar sounded like, and he told me he'd point it out when we heard them from our hammocks later. It didn't make for easy sleeping.

We survived the night, and headed back to the main camp that afternoon. We had a siesta, some lunch, and some last minute pirranha fishing, before starting back for Manaus. A dugout brought us back to the mainland, where we waited for some hired buses to bring us to the port for our boat home. It was a really hot day, and Shamir had us wait at a small local bar for our ride. After about an hour of waiting, he asked a friend of his if he could borrow a car. The night before, all the locals were out all night partying on the river, and now everyone was too hung over to come get us. Shamir's friend agreed to let him us his van, and so Shamir shuttled us over to the port in two loads. It was a much rougher ride leaving than coming, and we kept swerving all over the path. Shamir dropped us off with an apology for the delay, he would've driven us over sooner, but "Today," he said, "is my first time driving."