No planning permission, no council tax and no sewage bills

Dried and drunk like a tea this plant is hallucinogenic, took the photo just for reference!

The tarantula was as big as your hand but apparently only a young one.

The forest was full of mahogany, rosewood and teak trees.

Always fancied myself as Tarzan, swinging on vines in the jungle.

For such large wild animals they were remarkably gentle.

The floating houses are built on huge tree trunks to provide the buoyancy.

We had literally been in the water with the dolphins 10 mins early. The weather came in so fast.

Never seen her look so pleased with herself.

It was so dark, really difficult to get a decent picture with a phone.

Our guide must have had small hands, the alligator looks much bigger than when I held him.

Were playing until gone 10pm, they might be Brazilian but I reckon I could have given them a game.

A Day In The Jungle

January 22 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

Today we had a full on rainforest experience, all 11 hours of it. Which after the hour drive to get to the village kicked off with a boat ride along the Rio Negro, to a point in the forest.

We then set off on what was to be 2hrs 40mins of hiking, in sweltering, mosquito infested conditions, with at times challenging terrain, just what we'd all signed up for. Though perhaps with the exception of Carol's sister who only had hip surgery 4 months ago. It was tougher than we had expected, though she soldiered on womanfully. Towards the end of the hike it did rain for 15 mins but we couldn't have got any wetter anyway. In fact probably felt drier because we weren't sweating as much.

After a very nice fish lunch on a floating house it was off to spend time in the river with the some of the local pink dolphins. The dolphins are wild but know if they turn up for the tourists they are guaranteed a fish supper. There is a platform around 4ft deep that you initially stand on and before you know it or see anything you can feel something large in the dark waters below brushing up against you and then another from the other side. Rather disconcerting at first but as they continued to mill around, you could start to stroke their backs and relax a bit. Though as I found out you don't want to be floating behind one when the fish is on offer and they flick their tail to get some upward leverage and one came very close to catching me in the nether regions.

After having to wait 30 mins for some bad weather to pass through we then went piranha fishing. A stick, nylon line, a hook and some bait it couldn't be any simpler. However, all I managed to do for 45 mins was feed piranha. They somehow managed to nibble all the bait off the hook without me snagging them, time after time, after time. Carol managed to catch one though which made it all worthwhile. We may have to review our hunter gatherer roles.

Then finally as it got dark we went looking for alligators, a rather eerie experience. Seeing their eyes reflecting red when the searchlight hit them, as they lay near the bank. Then instead of going the other way, heading straight for them, that was a bit spooky. We did this several times but they all swam away. Until at one point close to the bank in shallow water the guide jumped out the boat, grabbed a 2ft alligator and brought it back into the boat asking if anyone wanted to hold it. So I thought I'd have a go. I was surprised how warm it was, how soft it's underbelly was and how relaxed it was. After holding it for 20 seconds or so it suddenly whipped it's tail violently from side to side which took me and everyone around me by suprise. Fortunately my reaction was to grip tighter rather than let it go running around the boat. It did make me realise I prefer my alligator interactions to be me holding them rather than them holding me!Read more