making my way south...

so i just saw andy and ben off yesterday. it was really a blast to have them here, hopping on random buses, putting back a couple cheap brahmas and taking just about every form of transportation they've got to offer here. We spent four days in the jungle, cuyabeno national park to be more precise, where we saw a dead anaconda, caught a few pirahna (really just ben did this, master ichthiologist that he is), ate them, saw four types of mokeys, a few cayman eyes at night, and tons of big nasty spiders.

Probably the most notable moment was when we were supposed to head out looking for caymans after dark. The family's normal sturdy fiberglass boat was out on a trip so we set out in the smaller, wooden canoe loaded down with just about everybody that was left at camp - some seven or eight folks. Any time one of us moved, the rest of us tried to compensate making for a very shakey ride. And as if this wasn't enough, the boat was sinking. yes. sinking. i turned on my light to look at the water level inside only to notice a gaping hole through which water was pouring into the boat. Sometime around this point patrick, a delightful german fellow noted "this is just like the titanic" only, perhaps it more closely resembled an Evel Knievel stunt given that the water was full of caymans, pirahna and watever microbial beasties we had no idea how to avoid... Our guide divided his time between paddling and bailing us out and eventually we had to stop and wait to hop on the motorboat as it was due back from "town" (read bridge with a shop and a park station). Luckily it was before anything got a bite of us!

here's a quick video of some incredible flintstone style technology...



anyway, it was a blast having them here as it's always better to share a place with someone else. now i start the rest of my trip, making my way south to peru for a few days, possibly bolivia, and possibly chile... we'll have to see. me mum always says to let her know when i'm leaving the state, guess the same goes when i cross national borders...