Meet John. 1/2 tour guide. 1/2 Tarzan. A whole lot CRAZY!
John quickly gained our respect as he escorted us out on one of our very first excursions in the jungle. As our boat left the resort one afternoon....it wasn't long before John spotted a 3-toed SLOTH high up in the rainforest trees. First of all, these sloth's are difficult to spot because they blend in so well with their surroundings to survive in the trees. When we were in Costa Rica last year we learned that sloths rarely descend the tree...but only at certain times to defecate on land and then immediately return to safety high in the trees.
Enter Johnny Amazon!
The boat motored over to the tree....John looked up and pointed to the sloth.....he then looked at us and smiled.....and asked, "Do you want me to get him down for you?" Holy crap! Can you fart sideways too, John? This sloth was literally 25-30 feet above us in the tree. John simply grabbed the tree and began to climb. Higher, higher, and higher he went. At one point we thought the sloth had maneuvered itself out of John's reach. At another point we thought we might have to catch John if his crazy idea backfired and he came falling back to reality. Well, John certainly made sure we got our money's worth....catching the sloth and dropping it safely down to our awaiting boat driver, Manuel.
I'm sorry, but I'm sure there is a reason they call this animal a sloth. And it sure didn't sound like something I would want to hold....but Jenesa (and almost everyone else!) volunteered to hold this little creature for pictures. So the poor little sloth was passed around the boat from one person to the next for a photo-op. As you can see...he's the only one in the pictures not smiling!
No doubt I was impressed with John after his little tree climb...but my favorite Amazon experience would happen later this evening. We were scheduled to go out on a night cruise to hunt for caiman (smaller species of alligators) in the Rio Negro River.
Now meet Manuel. 1/2 boat driver. 1/2 Crocodile Dundee. Just plain NUTS!
As we cruised along the Rio Nego River in the pitch black darkness of night, John stood at the bow of the boat and used a large spotlight to locate the glare of eyeballs in the water. I think it was at this point where I began preparing myself to die this evening. This had all the makings of an R-rated Amazon horror movie. I was just waiting for something to rise up out of the Amazon and eat us all. Don't tell anybody...but I was scared! It wasn't long after this that John had Manuel motor over to a spot on the river. Our boat came to a stop beside some green vegetation floating atop the water. Nobody in our group noticed any eyeballs staring up at us from the water....but, of course, (we all knew) there was plenty lurking in that water!
As if watching John climb a tree and catch a sloth wasn't already enough today.....
....Manuel proceeded to the front of the boat. Took one look into the water where John was pointing the spotlight. And....BAM! Into the water he went. Head first. Clothes still on. No hesitation. Whoa! I think we all nearly peed our pants at this point. He did not reappear for 3 or 4 long APPLE seconds. 1 APPLE. 2 APPLE. 3 APPLE. 4! Finally, we see Manuel rise up out of the water and grab for the side of the boat near the back. He slowly pulled his way towards the front of the boat where he surfaced and out of nowhere handed John a 3-foot caiman (alligator/crocodile subspecies). Amazing!
John proceeds to explain that caimans are distinguished from alligators, their closest (and more widely-known) relatives, by a few defining features: their smaller size (male caimans rarely exceed 7 feet in length, but alligators, by contrast, regularly grow double that size), pointier head, shorter tail, and relatively longer, more slender teeth than those that alligators possess. Then, John turns to us and says, "Who would like to hold the caiman?" Are you kidding me? Laugh all you want, but it's true....if the damn thing doesn't have whiskers and four paws....I ain't gonna hold it. Of course, (almost) everyone else eagerly volunteered to hold this mini-alligator that was pulled out of the Amazon just minutes ago.
After all that...we watched as Manuel released the caiman back into the river by using a life jacket. A pretty cool way to end the day!
Luggage score after Day 2 (Leonard = 1, Jenesa = still, 0)
2 comments:
We are having fun reading your blog .. it's like we were there! Great photos and great narrative - can't wait to read more!
Hi Arlene (and family!). We enjoyed hanging out with you guys in the jungle. We're doing our best to catch up with our blog posts....but have been super busy in Rio! Stay tuned! :)
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