Day 21

So we just arrived in Manaus, Brazil after a cramped, sweaty, expensive 4 day boat ride from Tabatinga, Brazil/Leticia, Colombia. Rum and vodka were the main course, tempers flared but we survived.

Before the Trip....
We arrived in Leticia no problems we stayed the night and left for Porto Marino, Col. About 2 hours back upstream. It was a very clean very fun little village on the Amazon. The next day we woke and traveled up a tributary to a small lake filled with river dolphins. They are hard to see but pretty cool, pretty strange creatures. On the way back our boat engine(about 5hp.) broke down and we sat in the blazing sun for a while. We eventually made it back and caught another boat downstream. About an hour later we were dropped off on the shore near a sign that read Lake Marasha (Peru) with an arrow. We met our guide and headed off into the black night time jungle. There was about 6 to 8 inches of mud and an equal amount of sweat. We hiked about 2 hours to a very solitary resort where we were the only guests. On the way there I spotted extreme amounts of wildlife more so than even our guide. I found giant frogs the size of plates that would jump about 10ft in one bounce. They are really cool looking and really heavy. They were everywhere. Also everywhere to be found were large armored millipedes. Other creatures included: Tarantulas, spiders, beetles, birds that glow under light, pretty much everything but snakes which surprized me alot. When we arrived we were given juice and immediately got in a bot to find caimen. We saw alot but couldn´t get close. In the morning we woke to someone knocking at our cabin door. When I opened the door my feet were attacked by a large tucan! It scared the hell out of me. This bird would literally chase us around trying to attack our feet. There were also macaws, parrots, large black birds the size of turkeys, some kind of heron, another fishing bird, the diabolical tucan, and the most friendly capybara ever. His name was papito and he is cooler than any dog I have met. He is my best friend. Anyway we went on a 20min hike to see a massive 400 year old tree and when I returned I took off my boot to find a dead tarrantula inside. I took it out and asked the guide about it. He said it was very poisonous and even deadly. Mark this as Death Evasion #2. I am getting good at this now. Anyway I have a good picture of it so I can identify it when I get home. There were all kinds of crazy things out there. Truly a realy jungle experience. So as we packed up and left that night we made the hike back out to the Amazon. As soon as we started I fell right in the mud. It was a good laugh. Once we made it out of the jungle we were met by a man in a boat who had a pet ocelot which we were all allowed to hold and pet and get bit by. It was amazonian. I mean amazing. It was amazing. Never did I think I would get to hold one of the rarest cats in the world. Soon after we took a small boat back to Letica which is apparently illegal since it was night time but still fun. We spent the night and left the next day from Tabatinga which borders Leticia and so began our luxurious jail cell boat ride. Here I am now in Manaus trying to find a cheap flight. Until the next post, Adios.