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  • Day 5

    Sloths and Amazon river swim

    September 20, 2016 in Peru

    Been a while coming this one so apologies for the delay in finishing it!

    We were all pretty tired from the early starts and the morning zip lining and as it was such a hot day, we all opted for a boat ride down the river to see if we could find some sloths and perhaps have a swim! I think we were all a little apprehensive about the swim, scary tales of pirhanas and parasites and all that jazz, we would see how we felt when the time came.

    The boat ride down the river had us seeing lots more wildlife as always, a squirrel cuckoo, yellow headed cacara, white eared jacamars, greater ani, swallow wings, black collared hawks and kingfishers! Oh and we successfully spotted a sloth hanging out in the top of a tree! Andy gave an eagle like whistle to make him look up for us which was cool, he didn't seem fussed about the potential eagle threat though.

    After a short while on the boat, we came to a section of the river which the guides said was slow enough for swimming. We pulled up, anchoring the boat by simply ramming it into the sand. There were a few moments of us all just sitting there, waiting for the first brave person to get in. In the end, me and Jess had a deal that if one went, the other would and after a couple of other people got in we went for it. It felt a little cold getting in but once you were in it was actually pretty nice. The ground felt weird, think smooth, clay like mud that your feet would sink into, so I tried to avoid that. You also had to watch out for any branches that were lying around on the riverbed from being swept away. It was a slower current here though so there weren't many. Saying that though, the current was still crazy strong and I found myself putting my feet in the weird mud just so I didn't flow too far away from the boat. I shouted for the boys to join in and Rich came in next. Rob, unfortunately, was a little too bruised and sore from his earlier fall though to get in.

    Rich ignored my advice about the current at first and swam downstream, not too far, but not sure he realised just how much effort would be needed to get back. He managed though, and some of the guys then decided to swim to the other side of the river. Was pretty funny watching them climb out and then start sinking into the mud, glad they didn't get stuck!

    After a bit more swimming I got out the water to dry off a little. It was so lovely though in the water, really enjoyed it and very glad I did it. I watched some of the others swim back from the other side, including Rich. The tactic was to swim diagonally in order to make it across straight due to the current, which for a weak current was exhausting just to watch! Dread to think how strong it is elsewhere!

    We were soon all back in the boat and feeling refreshed and much cooler which was nice. We were discussing the piranhas and parasites and Alfredo, one of the guides, didn't really seem convinced on the parasite front. He is a biologist so knows they exist, but had yet to meet anyone who has suffered.

    We floated back up the river to the Lodge, enjoying the breeze and with the sun on our backs to dry us off. So relaxing and once again we were occupied by watching the beautiful birds.

    All in all, so glad we can say we went for a swim in the Amazon....well, a tributary of it, but I reckon it still counts. Awesome day all in all!

    Hammock time followed the crazy day we had had and I think Rob needed the time to recover. He had a bruise and bump that had come up on his head, a couple of bad bruises on the back and leg and another on the arm, which I think felt worse than it looked as it was this which seemed to be causing the most pain. We had some coca cola and chilled out before tea, which was catfish in passionfruit sauce...yum. And as if they knew we had an invalid, we had jelly for dessert! Oh and not forgetting the cockroach that joined us for dinner...by flying into Rob's beard!

    More critter news for the evening...two praying mantis'. One tiny (like the size of a thumbnail) and the other as large as a finger...amazing! Oh and a massive spider right above Richards bed, safe to say he moved beds that night!
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