Critters
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| A caiman lurking along the shoreline... |
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| A lizard hiding among the leaves in a branch hanging over the river... |
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| This gregarious bug let us take pictures of it for twenty minutes! |
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| This is probably the coolest bug we saw in the jungle. It would make a great prototype for a horror movie! |
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| In this picture our guide, Antonio, has just returned to the boat after climbing a tree to catch a sloth. He set the critter down for a moment to swat the biting ants that had crawled up his arm! The orangish-red spot on the back of the sloth indicates that it is a male. |
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| Kathrina holding the sloth. |
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| Kelly holding the sloth. |
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| Antonio let out a sharp noise that broke the stillness of the water and sent these birds scattering. |
Boat Rides
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| Off we go into the Amazon... |
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| These giant lily pads are fairly common in quiet water and can support weight of several pounds! |
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| A close-up of the lily pad flower. |
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| Antonio pulling a caiman out of the water during a nighttime boat ride. Did I mention that Antonio is pretty awesome? |
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| Okay, so it's not as big as the one in the first picture, but you've got to start somewhere, right? It's not the size of your caiman, it's how you pose for the picture! |
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| Iris holding Schnaps, the quintessential jungle poodle. |
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| Schnaps, jungle navigator. |
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| Sunrise in the Amazon. |
Camping and Hiking
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| Arriving by boat at our jungle campsite. |
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| Our camping hut in the jungle. |
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| While staying in the jungle, we all slept in hammocks covered by mosquito nets. |
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| Kathrina posing with the most delicious chicken ever made. You might say the secret ingredient is Amazon river water... but I'll never tell! |
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| Jeremy pantomiming what a piranha might do if it encountered these chickens. |
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| Jade, warrior princess. |
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| Peace Corps Jungle Club Back row: Jeremy, Andrea, Kathrina and me Front row: Michelle, Iris, Jade, Kelly and delicious chicken |
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| "while we're on this hike, step where I step..." |
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| Firefly larva: they said it was supposed to taste like coconut milk, but I might describe it more as mucous. |
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| Jeremy posing with the soon-to-be-digested firefly larva. |
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| Antonio also catches tarantulas from holes in the jungle... |
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| This was our trail on the hike. Antonio wanted to show us what it would be like if you didn't have a trail to follow in the jungle. |
Village Visit
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| A cacao plantation in the jungle? Kathrina's in love! |
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| Baby pineapples growing on a jungle farm... |
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| This is a cooking surface for making cassava bread, a local specialty. |
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| This local woman makes jewelry and crafts out of jungle materials and sells them out of her home on the river. |
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| Happy (slightly early) fifth anniversary! |
Fishing
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| Piranha fishing in the Amazon. |
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| Antonio cleaning Andrea's piranha. |
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| Kathrina caught her first piranha. We went to several places to fish but had only a little luck. As it turns out though, the best place to fish for piranhas is off the dock of our lodge... where we went swimming the day before. |
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| I didn't catch anything the whole time. But I still had fun. |
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| The staff at the lodge cooked up the piranhas that everybody (else) caught. Then it was time for photos... |
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| Jade and her piranha. |
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| Kelly and her piranha. |
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