Day 3 - 5.23.03
630AM - Last night was a lot of fun. We identified some constellations, and then the ladies danced the night away with the boathands while the guys kicked back with a Brazilian beer, "Skol." It was light, comparable to Corona, but not quite the same. On a less cheerful note, I think I was bitten on the ankle by a couple of fire ants...they really hurt. I didn't sleep very well either. The beer and beans had begun to exact their revenge on me. We are going on a jungle hike in a couple of minutes. It should only be about 2 hours, which is good because then we would be back before the real heat set in. But I am already sweating, and I haven't even put on my long pants and long-sleeved shirt yet...
9AM - I wound up not having to worry about the heat after all because I took an involuntary swim in a jungle stream. Stopping a moment on the side of a small stream to listen to our guide, I suddenly heard "slrrrrrpppp" as my left foot began to sink into the mud. Trying to yank it out, the rotten log I was standing on crumbled right beneath my right foot. Down I went. Although it was embarrassing and made my pants weigh 50 lbs., it did keep me cool. But with no real opportunity for laundry during the trip, I am going to have to trash both pants and shirt (they were beyond washing anyway). Did I mention I was wearing all white and they were brand new? Oh well. The rest of the hike was good though. We saw many of the things we learned of in class: buttresses, caulifory, epiphytes, strangler figs, oropendula nests, etc. We had to constantly watch out for spikes on the trees and the undersides of palms. Lacey accidentally backed into a plant with these very spikes, making her ass look literally like a pin cushion. We also saw armadillo holes and jaguar footprints, but the latter are usually nocturnal...thank God. Our guide also pointed out many of the plants used in making medicines such as the bark of one tree that makes quinone, an anti-malarial drug. It was very bitter-tasting. Among other unique plants were the Brazil Nut tree and the rubber tree.
12PM - Another swim in the Rio Negro, while the boathands began a roast on the beach. The water was pocked with warm and cool spots that would just come upon you unexpectedly. It was weird. I did find out though that reddish color of the water is the result of "tanins," which are released by leaves when they decay. It makes sense...the water is colored like tea, which is actually made with tea leaves...
3PM - We are on our way to the Ariau Jungle Lodge, which means we will be in "quasi-civilization." I don't know if I'm too thrilled with this because I quite enjoy sleeping in the open air and what not. No worries. I ate one of Brazil's staple foods at lunch earlier: "manioc." It is made from the root of the Cassava plant and is poisonous if not prepared correctly. It looked like sand, slightly more coarse than grated parmesan cheese. It was difficult to chew, but I enjoyed its unique taste and texture.
9PM - We just went caiman spotting. It was unbelievably dark out, so we used our flashlights to illuminate the shore (if you can call it a shore). Their eyes glow red when light is shined upon them, and they kind of freeze at the same time. The larger the distance between the eyes, the larger the caiman. I spotted at least 12, but we didn't stop...they were probably too big. Finally we came to a stop, and our guide suddenly jumped into the dark water! He came back up with a small caiman in his hands! Its skin was so leathery. We eventually released it and came back to the lodge. Earlier in the night, we had sat down to a nice buffet dinner and celebrated Meaghan's 20th birthday. People sang "Happy Birthday" in Portuguese and the cake was simply fantastic. And she thought we had forgotten!! We also took a tour of the lodge, which meant visiting the "Pyramid." This structure was built on the spot were locals and the builders of the lodge thought a UFO had landed...weird. Well, now it's time to go relax outside with the crew. "Kaiser" is the beer of choice tonight...hopefully it will be a little darker than Skol...
