2nd day in the Amazon jungle

At 5:30 am, it was time to watch the sunrise. We got up tired and positioned ourselves on the observation tower! It looked amazing as the sun peeked out from behind the light cloud cover. Then came a sound, it was incredible. We asked what it was and the guide said it was howler monkeys. They sound like countless lions roaring non-stop.

After breakfast, we went on a three-hour jungle trek. We were accompanied by seven dogs from the lodge! I wanted to know why the dogs were coming along, as I thought it was dangerous for them! We were told that the dogs can sense jaguars, pumas, and other animals and would therefore protect us. Well, that's reassuring! The guide also said to me, 'Anke, you don't have to be afraid of spiders now, they're all in their burrows and sleeping, they only come out at night'. And it was true, we didn't see a single spider in the jungle during daylight. The guide told us a lot about the plants. He showed us, among other things, how to make drinking containers from palm leaves. Then he held up a small nut and said the inside tasted like coconut. We could eat it without worry. He cracked the nut and held it out to me. I was looking forward to eating the almond-like fruit and brought it to my mouth when Matheu laughed and said something about larvae. The guide also laughed and said, yes, that's true, but not a problem, 'they're delicious and full of protein'! Ugh, disgusted, I passed it to Daniela. She politely declined as well. Matheu overcame his hesitation and put a larva in his mouth. He confirmed that it tasted like coconut. Hmm, okay, I gathered up all my courage and put a larva in my mouth. I bit into it and chewed, and yeah, the little thing actually tasted like coconut. I even had another one afterwards. Daniela was surprised and asked me, 'who are you and what have you done to my friend'? Motivated, we continued through the jungle. The guide showed us the largest ant in the world. He tapped a tree and they came rushing out. Boy, they were really big. The bite of such a giant ant is extremely painful for humans, but not lethal. It made my heart stop almost every time, as the dogs dashed through the jungle like crazy and jumped onto or behind us on the trail! We always thought it was a puma or something similar :-)!

Then we got to swing on a vine. The wind blowing against us felt so good. It was incredibly hot and we had 90% humidity. Whenever the guide stopped to explain something, the sweat would just pour down our bodies. Since there were always areas flooded from the Amazon, we had to balance on tree trunks several times. It was a very wobbly affair for everyone. Fortunately, no one slipped. We learned so much about survival in the jungle that we were afraid the guides would disappear and make us put theory into practice ;-) What you can eat and what you can't, how to climb the trees, how to get water... we even built a trap to catch animals.

On the way back, we saw a large sloth in a tree canopy. It was great and also funny to watch how slloooowwwly it moved. We didn't want to continue, but we had to. :-)

After lunch, we traveled along the Amazon in a motorboat in the other direction. We explored small tributaries and observed various birds and listened to the sounds of the jungle. Then pink river dolphins appeared in front of us. There was a mother with her baby too. We watched for at least fifteen minutes as they surfaced and swam around our boat. After that, we stopped between the trees and underbrush to cast our fishing lines. We were supposed to catch dinner. Daniela actually caught a piranha. But she was very sad about it and wanted the fish to go back into the water.

I found fishing to be very relaxing. I had my feet up on the seat and cast out my fishing line. The fish didn't interest me at all. I much preferred the sounds and the monkeys and the macaws that we could see from time to time. It was an amazing feeling.

At dusk, we reeled in the fishing lines. The catch was five small piranhas (and one thrown back) :-)! We continued with a spotlight on the riverbank to look for caimans. We were still relaxed, thinking, ah - just like in Pantanal... when suddenly our guide threw himself down in the boat and fastened his feet to a rope. We were puzzled about what he was doing. After five attempts, he suddenly pulled a caiman - caught with his bare hands - onto the boat. He explained the characteristics of the animal to us and we could touch it. I found it sad, I didn't want to touch it either. Daniela says I should mention that he didn't harm it :-)! The caiman was released back into the water and we continued to the lodge. We had another hour-long boat ride in the darkness ahead of us. It felt like a different world, simply magical. There were so many bright stars in the sky, a dreamlike sight for all of us. And there were also flashes of lightning, illuminating the sky above the Amazon. If it were up to us, we would have kept going all night... After this incredible 2nd day, we fell into bed completely exhausted.