my legs with the gaiters on
sap tasted like bubble gum
ready to explore
lots of mushrooms
ant nest
The 3rd day we had interesting scenery from the canoes on our way to the forest:
it was a bit like a magical forest....
the reflections were particularly stunning
arrival on land....
our boat driver
black sponge
"you said there would be elephants...where are the elephants?"
skeleton
huge tree trunk
mushrooms
Souza
more mushrooms
tree frog
not a great shot of an Amazonian Trogon
the hiking "path" Souza often used his machete to clear the way
Greg
pretty red mushroom
yet more mushrooms...
Souza in a "natural hammock"
small spider on a leaf
Day 4 took us through more flooded forest to see tarantulas and more mushrooms!
Edi explaining about the tree
insect nest
tarantula nest
Edi coaxing the tarantula out
it came out
insect on tree trunk
another tarantula nest
Edi coaxing it out
bird eating tarantula
it quickly went back in
false scorpion (spider) that lives outside the tarantula nest
large ant nest on tree
it felt like paper
getting back on the canoes to return to the Tucano
Then we went to a place for swimming and here are some of the sites along the way:
Edi jumped in clothes and all....
interesting shot that looks like a floating head...
Betsy
Betsy & Andrea
Day 5 took us to another village with some ruins:
arrival on land
Greg
I got non stinging wasps in my hair
wasp nest
boat building area
Souza explain the different fruits
rubber tree
we tasted the "white chocolate"
Nun bird
mushrooms
walking to the cemetery
walking to the village
they brought the boats to meet us
we went back out for another swimming stop
this time I went in...it was really warm
the color of the water was like copper and it made our bodies look like they were glowing under the water
Andrea
The hike on our 6th day brought us more tarantulas!
bats chew the leaves to make shelter for themselves
egg sack?
Cocoi Heron
Our last late morning excursion brought us to the Lago Janauari Ecological Park with the Giant Water Lilies and then to the Meeting of the Waters. The leaves of the giant Amazon water lily grow over 2.5m (8’) across. The flowers are 30cm (12’’) wide and the leaf stalks grow with rising flood waters to exceed 6m (20’) long. We were scheduled to see the Meeting of the Waters after lunch, but rain was on the horizon and the boat captain and guides moved it to late morning and avoided the rain. I can't say enough about the captain, the guides and the whole crew!
Ringed Kingfisher
we parked the boat here and got off
the boardwalk
Greg
small caiman below
the head of a larger caiman
Squirrel monkeys galore here
Giant Amazon Water Lilies
Striated Heron
Striated Heron on lily
boardwalk
craft market
wasp on a tree
nice teeth.....
this guy had a bag of bananas
sights along the way to the Meeting of the Waters
cormorants
Large Billed Tern
Large Billed Tern
Rio Negro and the Amazon flow side by side and eventually mix
Pictures really can't do it justice. It was pretty amazing seeing them flow side by side and start to mix. It looked a bit like someone poured cream in coffee. While there wasn't a lot of wildlife seen on the forest walks they were quite enjoyable and nice to get off and walk around to stretch our legs. Of course seeing the tarantulas and the mushrooms were pretty interesting!
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