amazon day 1 part 2

Later in the afternoon on our first day,  we went fishing for piranhas. We got on the boat and we went about an hour to a part of the river where there were “swamp like” places.  He attached the boat to a tree and we fished near the trees and bush.  We were given sticks with a line attached, and some meat. We were told to splash the stick around really hard in the water in order to attract the piranhas.  

After a few minutes, people started catching them one by one.  The red piranhas, known as the Caju Piranhas, were the one’s we most caught.  For those of you that do not know, Caju means “cashew”, and the cashew nut comes from the Caju fruit.  The Caju fruit is red, and therefore these piranhas have the same color as the Caju fruit. Apparently, those are the most dangerous because they live in packs of 200-300 and they can leave a person in bones within 5 minutes.  After we would catch one, our guide would unhook them and show us their teeth.  He said that one bite could take a person’s finger off easily. Yikes.

Jordan ended up catching 5 piranhas, but I caught the biggest. So I think we are pretty equal :P They kept the best piranhas in order to cook them...the people here like the taste of the piranhas.

After it began to be dark, we saw this..

Here is an excerpt from my journal that I wrote about that sunset.

“I’ve never seen such a beautiful sunset, nor do I think one exists, than the one I saw yesterday over the rio negro of the amazon river.  There aren’t much words to describe it. Honestly, it didn’t feel real. Literally, there were rays of orange, blue, pink. Distinct rays that you could point out, not a mesh of colors that a sunset usually portrays. Yesterday felt like a dream. At that moment, I wished that everyone in the world had a chance to see what I was seeing. I thought about the fisherman that live in houseboats along the river, do they realize how beautiful this is? or has it become something they take for granted? Jordan was sitting on the opposite side of the boat. I looked back at him and he waved at me to come sit next to him. I wish I could have remained in that moment forever. Sitting in boat, watching the sun go down on the Amazon River in Brazil, with the love of my life. My heart was full of joy.”

It was breathtaking and amazing.

When it finally got dark, we went searching for caimans.  You can see them in the dark because their eyes appear red.  Our tour guide would literally lean over the boat and try to grab them. He was unsuccessful, but the boat next to us caught one so we parked next to it and all took turns holding the caimans. I thought I was pretty tough at that moment, holding a caiman..but wait until you see the pictures of me holding a wild anaconda..yup.

I would say our first day in the jungle was definitely a success.

:)