I went for a hotel breakfast around 7.30, then hung around for a while, until an appointment I had made yesterday to have breakfast at an excellent place we had been for lunch, Green's organic bar. I had a second breakfast of granola with fresh banana and strawberry, and actual milk!
Not everyone is going to the jungle; only Tom, Alison, Steve, Claire, Katie and I are left now.
We got back to the hotel around 9.45, as our transfer was supposed to be at 10.30 for an 11.30ish flight. Seemed a bit tight, but we trusted Leo. Our transfer actually went around 10.10, which was lucky: we got to the airport around 10.40, for an 11.05 boarding time!
We got to check in in the business class line, and through security the same way, making it with a couple of minutes to spare! Talk about stressful. Of course they then changed the gate, and boarding wasn't until about 11.45, so we didn't actually need to hurry.
Once we actually got on the plane there were people in mine and Katie's seats, with tickets identical to ours. We had to stand around for a while, but luckily the plane wasn't very full, and we got to just take other seats. We then sat around for an hour while we waited for a chance to take off. All in all the worst flight ever!
Once we got in the air it only took us 30 minutes to reach our destination, pretty silly given we were an hour and a half late . The view from the window was pretty crazy though, trees stretched from horizon to horizon, interspersed with red rivers, and to think this is only a drop in the ocean of the whole rainforest!
When we landed it was scorching (37, per the forecast), and a man called Luis had a transfer for us to a place we could store our big bags in what I can only describe as a jungle bus. Those of us who wanted had a chance to change into shorts, and another short ride had us on the shore of the river, where I saw the biggest beetle I have ever seen, at least 2.5 inches long!
The river trip took about 1 hour 20 minutes, and there was a lot of wood floating in the river which we had to avoid. There wasn't too much in the way of wildlife, though a flock of parrots (or something) did shadow us for a short while, and I also saw a very high flying bird which was likely a harpy eagle or hawk of some kind.
The lodges are exactly what I expected funnily enough, thatched roofs, covered walkways and everything. We had a buffet lunch, then we got a boat across to monkey island. We walked through the jungle for about an hour, and saw 4 different kinds of monkey, including black spider monkeys which were pretty big! We fed bananas to them, and Tom got a great video of one yanking Steve's head! We also saw plenty of insects, including some butterflies with wings as big as my hands.
We boated back to the lodge again for a too soon tea, before which Katie and I played some table tennis. Despite claiming she wasn't very good, she was pretty good, and I managed to win, but only very narrowly. We then had a night boat ride along the river, looking for caimen (like crocodiles with thin snouts). We found some, and when the lights were shone on them their eyes shone like terminator, and you could spot them from a way off.
We went to bed upon getting back, as tomorrow wake up time is 5am!
The most powerful river in the world (and by that I mean discharge. The length is debatable)
It was sunny
My little lodge
A spider of some kind
A black spider monkey
Sun-something (can't remember if it was set or rise)
Another sun something
The most powerful river in the world (and by that I mean discharge. The length is debatable)
It was sunny
My little lodge
A spider of some kind
A black spider monkey
Sun-something (can't remember if it was set or rise)
Another sun something
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