Amazon Jungle Diaries Vol.4

Yes, people do eat armadillo in the jungle. I can´t think of a more disgusting animal to eat! Well, atleast our guide and his family cooked us very good food that I could digest. Picture: Smoked armadillo prepared by a fisherman.

As we passed by the creek late at night we came across a fisherman who was climbing up the riverbank . He and his wife had been fishing all night long and appeared to have a lot of luck because his fishing pale was full of wierd looking fish. He also tossed a smoked armadillo at my buddy and asked us if we wanted any armadillo. He grabbed the animal and flipped it over and started picking out the meat from it´s underside. He and his wife had been snacking on the armadillo while fishing in the boat. Pretty grose.

Picture: Unloading our gear from the canoe.

Yes, the waters near our campground were very murky and full of piranas and electric eels. Before we realized what kinds of animals lived in the creeks and rivers, we were very tempted to go swimming after our long treks into the jungle. You couldn´t have paid me a 1,000 dollars to swim in that water.

Picture: An orange-bellied pirana that I caught with a fishing pole.

Picture: Piranas laying on our oar.

When you catch piranas they make a lot of noise, much like the noise a catfish makes when caught. They are beautiful fish and have very sharp teeth. My friends were daring me to stick my finger in the piranas mouth but had second thoughts after our guide thought I was crazy. He said that the bigger ones can bite off your finger.

Picture: Spear fishing late at night in our canoe.

Our guide would paddle around the creek late at night trying to spot caimán alligators. We didn´t have any luck seeing caimán, however, we did have some luck spearing dog fish. For breakfast the next morning we ate all of the fish that we caught.

Picture: Pit viper on canoe oar handle.

This was the second venomous snake that we encountered on our excursion. As we fished into the night from our canoe we came under some branches where we saw this guy. Our guide said that is was some around the 20th most venomous snake in the jungle and probably wouldn´t kill you but make you sick. He told us that lots of fisherman get bit by these snakes because they hang over the creeks from the limbs and if someone wasn´t careful and their canoe crosses paths with the snake they tend to bite for the head. It was a beautiful rose colored pit viper that stood out against it´s green background. I want to find out it´s name.

Picture: Man with his pet bird.

It was very common in Iquitos to see people with exotic animal pets. They tend tend to be birds monkeys or big snakes and most of them are tied up with a lease. Pretty sad because they are taken out of their habitat and used like circus animals to make money.

Picture: Tarantula on Bamboo

This picture was taken next to our base camp. The spider looks like the tarantula´s we have in Oklahoma exept our guide told us they are poisnous. It sounds like most insects and snakes in the jungle are venomous. Maybe it is becuase there is more competition to survive?