Tuesday, May 28, 2024
We woke up at 6 am, and quickly got dressed. As we were opening the curtains of our bungalow, Nathan shrieked. It’s a spider. I go to take a look and it’s the biggest, hairiest, non-tarantula I’ve ever seen. We’re both a bit flustered. Do we kill it? Shoo it outside? This very much feels like a place where it’s frowned upon to smash bugs.
I left the room to find some assistance and came across a boat captain. He followed me to the room and attempted to catch it. When he was unsuccessful, he asked our guide’s name and went to fetch Francisco. Francisco came in and told us it’s a palm spider. It’s probably named that because it lives in palm trees, but it’s easily as big as my palm, so it could be that too. Francisco did with it as I would have; Killed it with my hiking boot, and then took the carcass away.
I’m glad we found it this morning, and not last night before bed, but still, I’m not sure how I’ll sleep tonight…
Breakfast was eggs or omelets, fruit, yogurt, bread, juice, and coffee. After breakfast, our first tour this morning was on the boat. We were told to have our swimsuits on so that we can swim in the Amazon. Yesterday, Greta told me she would if I did, and we met a couple at dinner last night that had already done it. They said you came all the way here, you might as well get in. Plus, both our shower water and handwashing water is straight from the river, so what’s the difference? Good point. I’m glad we’re still taking the drugs for the freshwater bacteria.
Our boat left at 7:20, and we slowly motored down the river. We saw sloth after sloth after three toed sloth, including a male three toed sloth with the orange spot on his back. We saw micro bats resting on a tree, iguanas, a small yellow and black frog, a small green frog, squirrel monkeys, and so many birds: Blue and Yellow Macaw, parakeets, yellow headed Caracara, vultures, kingfishers, Great Kiskadee, Wattled Curassow, Wattled Jacana, and Horned Screamer, aka Donkey Bird, because that’s the noise it makes. Like a donkey.
The Yanayacu River, where Muyuna Lodge is, is black, and in the local language the name means Black Water. The Amazon River is brown, and you can actually see the black and brown water mixing. We traveled just a bit down the wide Amazon, and then paused and we tried to spot dolphins. The gray dolphins were easy to spot with their characteristic dorsal fin, and they were playing in the water near the boat. The pink dolphins took more patience to find, but eventually we all saw them. And they really are pink. The pink dolphins have no dorsal fin, and seem a little more cautious or less playful.
Francisco told everyone that we could get into the water here with the dolphins to swim. This is again one of those things I had not planned to do, I even told Kaiser that we wouldn’t get in the water, so I’m glad they prescribed enough antibiotics to cover the whole trip.
I jumped in and right away felt something brush up against my thigh. Ew. Gross. Everyone from our boat got into the water to swim, except the captain and Donaldo. Francisco gave us swimming noodles and we all floated and swam together with the dolphins all around.
We spent maybe 15 minutes in the water, and then got back in the boat for the ride back to the lodge. By the time we got to the lodge, its 11:15, and lunch was served at noon. Nathan and I quickly showered and dressed, and went to the dining room for coffee.
Lunch was shredded chicken in a mild sauce, a Peruvian dish known as aji de gallina, served over rice, with salad and crepes for dessert.
After lunch, we were given time to rest until 3, so Nathan and I went back to our bungalow. He snoozed in the hammock, and I wrote. Eventually, I got tired too, so I laid down for a bit before we needed to leave at 3.
At 2:45, Nathan and I started to gather our things for our 3 pm excursion. We wore rubber boots over our pants, and brought our backpacks with rain gear, sunglasses, water, etc. At 3 pm, we all hop in the boat. There are seven tourists; four Americans, a couple from France, and Greta from Austria, guides Francisco and Donaldo, and our boat captain, Miller.
We motored up the river to see some giant lily pads, but before we got there we motored through an area that has literally hundreds of white Snowy Egrets and Great Egrets. Our boat disturbed them, and they flew in front of us and it made for quite a scene.
After the lily pads, we took our boat to another section of the river and tried our hand at piranha fishing. Our fishing poles were sticks with fishing line and a hook attached at the end. Francisco baited our hooks with chicken gizzard, and we all tried, but only one of the other tourists caught a piranha. It was small, like two and a half or three inches long, and has a red underbelly. We fished or attempted to fish until 5 when the mosquitos came out, and then we quickly motored back to the lodge. Dinner is at 7.
Nathan and I prepped for our evening tour, and then went down to the dining room to have happy hour, Cama Camu sours again, and so that I can write. As is customary, Nathan gets to chatting with people and I couldn’t concentrate, so we just enjoy the company.
Dinner was fish kebobs, pesto noodles, salad and dessert was a sweet graham cracker and sweetened condensed milk sort of cake.
After dinner, at 7:45, Francisco takes Greta, Nathan and I on a night walk. Nathan and I wear our rain jackets as an additional mosquito protective layer, but we also applied bug repellant, not that it seems to do any good.
Right on the property we saw a giant frog. It’s a small one Francisco said, a juvenile. Then we saw a small Tropical Screech Owl, a pink-toed tarantula, a dead moth infected with the brain-eating fungus, a lizard, leaf cutter ants, bee killer beetles, and an even bigger frog. The mama, Francisco said. No snakes thankfully.
The walk ends at 9 pm, and Nathan and I read for a bit, but go straight to bed.
