Sunday, November 01, 2009

Amazon Tour Day 2

Up at 3:30, at 4:00 left on the boat for the clay lick, about a 1.5 hour boat ride up the river.The parrots and macaw's here can't eat the green fruit, it's toxic to them. So, they have to come to the clay lick (an eroded cliff along the river that exposes some sort of clay), to eat the clay, which gives them the minerals they need to eat the fruits safely. Lots and lots of brightly coloured macaws, red/blue ones and light blue/yellow ones, the parrots very green. Very timid, they just hang out in the trees until they feel it's safe to come down. We waited for over 30 minutes, and they weren't coming down, so Sonia, our guide, took us on a jungle walk for 45 minutes or an hour. Periodically she would take her binoculars and peer back at the clay lick. She finally said that the birds are getting ready to eat, so we headed back. Sure enough, just as got back, the first of the macaw's started eating, but the parrots (which are more scared than the macaws) were nowhere to be seen.We left the clay lick about 8:00, went back to the lodge for breakfast, then some rest time. The lodge has a resident macaw that they are rehabilitating. He's not tied down or in a cage or anything, he just hangs out in a tree at the lodge, and is very friendly. I went over to his tree, and as I walked over, he was eyeing me up. He was probably 25 feet up, on a branch. I stood under the tree with my arm raised, he sized me up for about a minute, then decided to make his was down. He can't fly yet, so he climbed down in the rope with his two claws and beak. Took him about 2 minutes to get down. He climbed on my arm, and he loves to be rubbed on the back of his head. After a few minutes, I tried to get him to go back, but he wouldn't. So hung out with him for a few more minutes, then tried to get rid of him again. This time he was more willing to part with me, and he climbed back up into the tree.At 11:30am, headed to a cascade for some swimming. The cascade was super muddy, Lisa wouldn't even go in. The shore was all muddy as well. Because it was so muddy, we moved to a different swimming area on the Tambopata River, with a beach. The Tambopata River is quite murky too, but nice and cool, and Lisa swam too, despite the stories of the orifice fish and the threat of piranhas.We went back to the lodge at 1:30 and had lunch, some rest time, then did a jungle hike at 3:30. Our guide, Sonia, explained a lot of the plants in the jungle and what they're used for.At 7:00, we had a boat trip to look for caimens, similar to crocodiles. At night, they hang out on the banks of the river, and you can see their red eyes reflecting in the spot light from the boat. We'd go up to shore, but they'd usually retreat into the water when we got close. One little guy didn't retreat, we came right up to him, and Sonia tried to go on shore and catch him, but he skirted into the water pretty quickly.Big storm approaching, lots of lightning, this evening.Had supper at 8:15, chicken cooked in a bamboo shaft. With my diahorea, my appatite comes and goes, so didn't eat much tonight.

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