In to the Amazon Jungle

Rio Preto de Eva

Saturday, March 5, 2016, Worrall Travel R Day (WTRD) 57

We are both excited, and me a little apprehensive, about our jungle adventure.  The more we know about our guide Luis, the more at ease I feel. I think we are in good hands. Luis spent 12 years in the jungle with the Brazilian Army learning how to survive in the jungle and fighting Columbian drug dealers.  His main concern is to keep us safe in what can be a potentially dangerous environment.

Russ and I pack our "jungle stuff", deet, long pants, boots, hats, mosquito nets, a few clothes into small bags.  Luis picks us up a little after 9:00 am.  We stop at a market and purchase, beer, wine, and a few snacks, then we drive north for about three hours to a small town Rio Preto de Eva.    As you can see on the photo below we are only 31 miles as the crow flies to Manaus, but we aren't crows, so it took us a little longer to get here by car.

There is a market in town where we meet up with Alcides,,(pronounced Alsidges) our river boat pilot and owner of the jungle lodge where we are headed.

Alcides and his family are descendants of indigenous people of the area.  He his tanned brown, barefoot, wears shorts, and a T-shirt that is a bass tournament souvenir.  The jungle lodge is a base camp for bass fisheman.

We pick up some fresh fruits and fish at the local market,

load the aluminum boat and head down river and small tributaries for an hour and a half.

Downstream we travel

When we return, the trip will be slower as we head back up river, but our trip to the lodge is speedy.  It is amazing how Alcides reads the river and navigates us through the trees and sandbars.  We see a few birds, but it is hot, steamy, and most of the wild life is sleeping or hiding.  Luis says if we think Alcides is great reading the river with twists, curves, snags, currents, and low water sandbars during the day, we would really be impressed with his midnight piloting.

Around 1:30, we come into a large clearing on the river, more like a lake and the lodge sits up on a hill, the Tucuna Rio Preto.  Alcides' four year old daughter Maysa (Myeesza), bounces down the hill to welcome home her daddy.

We are introduced to Alcides wife Marta and then shown to our cabana, which is a large room with six single beds and two bathrooms with showers.  There are screens on the windows.  Alcides, closes the wooden shutters and turns on the air conditioning for us.  Archie is a few cabanas down the board walk.

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I am vey much relieved when I see our beautiful accommodations and not a mosquito or spider present in our room.  The lodge is only about six years old and in excellent condition with paintings, jungle motif reliefs, and carvings.  We are the only ones here.

Immediately, we take cold showers and wander down to the outdoor dining area.  We are served fresh fish, beans, rice, salad, and tropical fruits.

Marta is an excellent cook.  As we finish our lunch, wild boar is set up to smoke for six hours on the bar-be-que.  Russ and I return to our air conditioned room.  I lay down on the bed and fell fast asleep.

It was quite warm and humid when we awoke.  Initially, we were going hiking, but the weather conditions indicated that perhaps we do something different.  Large black clouds were on the horizon and it looked like rain would soon be upon us.  Luis and Alcides decided to take us to a floating barge/bar where we could cool off and relax.  

We boarded our little boat about 4:30 and headed this way and that up different tributaries for about 20 minutes.  No sooner had we got on our ride, when the clouds opened up.  I had just enough time to put on my poncho and protect the camera.  The cooling rain felt wonderful, and we were thoroughly drenched within 2 minutes.  We were in the rainforest after all.  It rained hard for 10-15 minutes and let up just as we arrived at the barge.  We were reminded of the soaking rains in Samoa where on a daily basis we could shower on deck with a bar of soap, clean the decks, and completely fill our water tanks within a few minutes!

The (indigenous descendants) family-owned barge is a bit of eveything, bakery, gas station, general store, and bar.  Grandfather is a fisheman and chats with Alcides, along with the son-in-law, and another friend who has come for gas.  Grandma is baking bread, their daughter, and mother of three is busy nursing the nine month old then washing and hanging laundry.  

The eldest son is disabled with one blind eye and a body that is very quiet, perhaps partially paralyzed.  There are three dogs, one of which is a fluffy puppy.  Cute now, but he is certainly going to suffer in the heat and humidity with his thick coat of hair.

 We sit down in the open air area and drink beer as the sun sinks into the jungle. The daughter has three children.  The middle child stays in his room. The older son is the caretaker for the baby and his little brother adores him.  Another child, a blond boy is perhaps a cousin.

The barge and its inhabitants reminds us of Polynesia and a simple happy livelihood of family community.  We enjoy spending time with them and watching the sunset.

By the time dusk was falling, we were back in the boat heading to the lodge.  Alcides was navigating by starlight.  A meteor streaked across the sky.

Luis was shining a flashlight along the shoreline looking for alligator eyes.  We spy something red shining along shore and glide toward the reflective eye.  Alcides runs the boat on shore, and Luis quietly gets out with his flashlight.  We wonder what he is doing as he looks into a fallen tree trunk.  He returns to the boat with a five year old alligator in his hands.

One hand grips the alligator around the neck and the other supports the body.  He climbs back in the boat, gator in hand.  I'm tense having a gator in the boat with us.

He explains to us that alligators, unlike crocodiles, do not have tongues.  They must come up for air and must keep their mouths closed while under water.  When the gator attacks its prey, it can close its mouth and dive slapping the victim back and forth before drowning it.  The gator that Luis has in hand is less than a meter long.  When fully grown, the gator could be up to 3 meters in length. She (Luis shows us how to identify males and females) is a beautiful specimen, very feisty, and he says very angry,  Her mouth is wide open and she is ready to bite.  Female gators do not lay eggs until they are 16 years old, and can live to 100 years.

After our gator lesson, Luis very, very carefully, lays the gator on a boat paddle and releases her into the water off the boat paddle.  See ya later, alligator.

We continue along the river back to the lodge where smoked, and crispy crunchy wild boar awaits us for dinner.  We enjoy the evening, listening to frogs, crickets, and night birds.  It's been a full and fascinating day.  Tomorrow we are trekking through the jungle.

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All is well with the Worrall Travel Rs in the Amazon Jungle.