Jungle Day 3

In the middle of the night last night, I was awakened by torrential downpours, which is a cliche I have used before, but now I know that I have never meant it. The lightning and thunder were constant, for at least an hour we were in the most devastating part of the storm. It sounded just like Iguazú falls on the corrugated metal roofing. My mosquito bites were killing me, and I lied halfawake for a few hours going in and out of dreams that everything I owned was drowning.

At 630 am, Marco woke us up. There was a large group of squirrel monkeys in the tree on the camp's edge; the same place we spotted a pair of red macaws the night before. The squirrel monkeys were like squirrels with long, thin tails and flat faces, and they were hanging out with 2 capuchin monkeys for protection. They bounced around in the branches, circling the camp and eventually diving for the bananas we left out for them.

Our breakfast was a delicious cake with fresh mango, after which Kelly and I braved the shower stalls where bats hung from the rafters. Smelling wonderfully, we quickly covered ourselves in Fush!, our Argentine bug repellant. But Fush! was no match for the jungle, where clouds of mosquitos tirelessly trailed us.

Our first interaction with the animals came from a wild turkey, who rushed up behind me and pecked my leg. It was uncomfortable. Kelly thought this was laughable but she shortly got hers in a stealth turkey attack.

We spent the next 6 or 7 hours walking in the jungle, tracking footprints and drinking water from vines. It's amazing how well you could survive in the rainforest with just a machete. We saw many colorful birds, insects, and even more monkeys (including night monkeys). At lunch, we went to a salt lick and sat as quitly as possible as a herd of wild pigs came to feed. It was a small group - about 40 or 50 - and they were easily startled, making significant rucus when a branch snapped.

Unfortunately, sitting drew too many bugs, so we left and had a picnic. We trekked to our campsite where our boat was meeting us. To do so, we had to cross many streams, which was normally fine until we reached a deep one with logs suspended for crossing. I was fine until I put a foot on it and termites poured from every crevice. Phil and Kelly got across, with hesitation, but I froze. It was terrifying and I unfroze only enough for my knees to start uncontrollably shaking. Marco chopped down a really tall, thin tree to use as a pole and I made it, and we were off.

Now we're at our camp for the night which involves 2 tents, a boat, and a bench. And lots of bugs. We went fishing, but Phil did not participate because of the giant sores forming on his calves because he neglected to follow advice and wear pants. I caught 3 fish, mostly sardines, and Marco caught 2. Kelly caught nothing, and almost lost her sanity as we both got fed up with mosquito bites.