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On August 7, Zoe and I headed off on separate journeys to La Selva (the jungle) - she with her grandpa Jack and me with Derek. Jungle photos 1 are from my trip to the Eco-lodge and 2 are Zoe's from the Amazon cruise.
Derek and I flew to Iquitos and from there took a boat about three hours down the Amazon toward our lodge. We had to take a second, smaller boat for the last 45 minutes as it is the dry season and water wasn't high enough for the larger boat to make it all the way in. We took lots of small boat rides to see wildlife and especially enjoyed the early morning canoeing and trip to see the giant lily pads. The jungle hikes were great exercise - like walking on a treadmill in a steam room - but not as good for animal sitings. Our ecolodge didn't have hot water or electricty, but the lanterns were pretty at night and the hammocks on our deck were very relaxing. The best day was the last one when we saw the pink river dolphins frolicing in the river and then joined them for a swim in the Amazon.
Zoe and Jack also flew to Iquitos and drove 2 hours to a town called Nauta to board our home for the next 4 nights - a four-deck boat with 24 passengers that cruises the Amazon. Every day we went on little mini-safari trips on small boats to see monkeys, snakes, caiman, dolphins, and other jungle critters. Sometimes we walked through the jungle but mostly we were on little boats. We caught pirahana, swam with local children and dolphins, and grandpa even reached into the water and grabbed a caiman (following the guide's example). We had excellent food and the last night we had a big dance with all the crew and passengers - and Zoe was the first one on the dance floor (thanks to Edgar the bartender). The crew were all impressed with Zoe's spanish and two people thought she was from Peru!
While in the jungle, Zoe and Jack won the prize for the most exciting travel story of our trip and special thanks to Jack for allowing me to post the evidence of his follies. The local villagers had caught a giant Anaconda and offered to show it to Zoe and Jack. One villager held the head and the other the tail, and Zoe stood in the middle for her picture with the snake. Jack had other ideas, however, and leaned froward toward the head of the snake (still about 4 feet away) and pretended to kiss it. The snake decided it wanted some serious action however and lept forward, biting Jack all around the mouth and delivering a serious "kiss." Zoe had to translate for the paramedic as he stitched Jack up - really putting her Espanol to the test. When asked what the #$%! he was thinking, Jack replied that he didn't think Anacondas had teeth as they are constricters! The scars have since faded, but the nickname Anaconda Jack is here to stay.
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