Piranhas @ MindSay

Don't pee in the river. "You'll get bacteria that will climb up
your urethra and spread out its fangs." Oophs. Hopefully my inner
organs will still work tomorrow.



I just spent three nights sleeping in a hammock on the Rio Negro and
the Amazon River. Great water to look at, scary to swim in. You can't
really see more than 2 inches under the surface of the black water and
there are piranhas, alligators, sharks and who knows what else. Our
tour guides, Fabio and Sid, took us to a "beach" ( a.k.a. a place with
no piranhas to go swimming in). As soon as you get in there's this
stuff that clings to every little hair on your body darkening it so
when you get out everyone looks like hairy monkeys. It wasn't til the
last day that I asked what it was and it wasn't really the answer I
wanted to hear. Many people thought maybe it was iron because it looked
like little reddish rods, turns out its bacteria and decomposing
organic matter. Fabio said during the wet season it's so active that
you can't go in because it itches like crazy.



The next time we went swimming I kept my pee to myself but I was still
pretty freaked out about what might be in the water. There were about
20 of us wading around when someone pointed out ripples in the water
coming towards us. Simultaneously all of us moved backwards towards the
land thinking we were about to loose a limb to some Amazon monster… it
was a dolphin. It jumped out of the water a few times to check us out
and then went on its way.



The Rio Negro also has an acidy ph of about 4.5… a natural exfoliate
according to Fabio. I wasn't always sure if Fabio was telling us the
truth but he was one funny guy. One time as we were hiking through the
jungle… yes the jungle, we ran into a wasps' nest. I was in the front
with Sid who of course got bit since he was the lucky one to walk right
into the nest. We took an alternate path and so the story goes that
when Fabio, who was towards the end of the line (30 people behind me),
said "oh they won't do anything" and poked the nest… he said "don't
worry." 3 seconds later they were engulfed in wasps and he yelled
"actually, RUN!" Needless to say, I always double checked things
with Sid from then on.



The wasp nest under the leaf and Sid


In reality, both of them knew what they were
doing. Sid was born in a small village on the river and Fabio had been
doing the jungle thing for about 16 years. They took very good care of
us and I felt totally protected even when we were hunting for
alligators. Thankfully though, what we found was a baby alligator about
two and a half feet long. Super cute. We each got to hold it; one hand
around its neck, the other holding its tail.






There was one lake they
took us to with giant lily pads and that lake had lots of alligators in
it.



The Giant lily pads


It was a pond because we were in the dry season, but during the wet
season the water rises say about 3 or 4 stories high and covers
everything, including the trees. All of the trees by the banks of the
river are conditioned to live underwater for about half the year. As
you sail passed the tallest trees you can clearly see how high the
water usually goes because the bottom ¾ of the trunk is black from
being submersed and the top of it is a much lighter color. It's like
someone took a giant paintbrush and walked across the forest painting a
straight line along their path.



Because of this constant change in the altitude of the water all the
people who live on the rivers live in floating houses tied to a tree.
So they move up and down with the water and travel by boat and canoe.
We did a lot of traveling in canoe because the water was too low for
our boat to go in many areas.



Canoes on the Amazon River


We went piranha fishing twice. Well, I
should say, most people went piranha fishing, I went piranha feeding… I
caught a total of zero fish, they just kept stealing my bait. But I
tried. The boy next to me caught 7, got bored and stopped fishing. I
made him switch poles with me. I tried everything anyone suggested,
except putting my finger in the water. I guess it's kind of better that
I didn't because I felt really bad for all the fish that did get caught
and I probably would have felt guilty if I had hooked it in the eye or
something. The lucky ones just got hooked in the lip and still I wonder
if the other piranhas ate them. Well, I think mostly I was afraid I'd
fall in and they would eat me.



A piranha



I have to run to class now! Remember I said my religion teacher was
crazy? Yeah well, she's totally nuts and proves it every time I see
her. All teachers eventually end up with a description… the older
teacher who lost 2 fingers in the war, the tall guy with the pony tail,
etc. She's the crazy blonde one. The funny part is, the
other adults and teachers on the ship also use the same descriptions. I
gotta go… Here's more pictures to ease the pain of me being gone:





Fabio climbing a vine, yes thats a vine!






The meeting of the rivers, amazon and rio negro






The hammocks I was sleeping in.






Us in canoes on the Rio Negro

Hello all.

Check out kez 's latest blog to find out who's licensed to kill (almost!)

louiseinegypt posted a picture of the pyramids and surrounding landscape. Amazing :)

Seanessie tells a haunting tale about being hunted by piranhas, alligators, and dolphins (?) in the Amazon jungle.

Egali has experienced a life-altering moment and describes the essence of being alive in a philosophical manner that would make Socrates proud.