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Tickets for our boat are booked. Phew! We leave tomorrow at 7am and arrive at Tefe at 6am on Saturday morning. So now we just have to get Laura a hammock.
We got the tickets of a friend of our Hostel Owner who came to the Hostel and gave us the tickets there and then. Apparently he will take us to the boat tomorrow morning and introduce us to the captain who will give us a place on deck. We shall see. He gave us the tickets for 100 reals when the actual boat company says 155. We have been warned about a scam where the tout will sell a grossly marked down ticket and then the punters are charged the difference once on board. Still, its all about adventure, isn´t it.
The afternoon was spent in the Bosque de Ciencio (?) where there are some captive Manatees, Camens, Monkeys and Otters. We waited ages for the bus and then the ride itself would best and very accuratley be called bone shaking. Old bus, bad roads, great fun. We did get to see agreat deal of the city though.
The guide books certainly talked BdC up as when we got there the reality is not 100 sq km of rainforest and the animals are not running wild but are kept in a terrible state. The giant otters seem to be very unhappy. In fact we saw one lying in a ditch in its cage curled up in a ball groaning and chewing its tail. But if I was that otter I wouldn´t be too happy either. Its a big animal, about the size of a very large dog, but its enclosure was 3m by about 12m with a third of that being taken up by a white tiled pool with about 6 inches of water in it. Not enough depth or length to have a swim even though the poor creature was trying its best too. Given the hot weather I can imagine how much it wanted to be able to dive into the water. Similarly the Manatees. They are huge animals but they were crammed in to 3 seperated pools of about 6 meters diameter. Again with very low levels of water. The same treatment is given to the other star attractions the Caymens and the Monkeys. Very small enclosures with no shade and shallow water. Even their fish species, including an electric eel, where living in pools so shallow they had to swim of camber to stay under water.
The free animals I saw were the best thing about it. There was two seperate troops of different species of small monkey chasing each other around the trees we were having lunch under. We also saw two Maccaws flying above us too and every pool was full of turtles sunning themselves.
So I wouldn´t recommend Bosque de Ciencio unless they can improve conditions for their animals because all you feel when you see them is pity and guilt that the entrance fee (1.50) will never be enough to make their lot better.
Chris
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