Me Tarzan, You Jane

After a stormy night with lightening the lit the sky and had us all running for the lower deck, we travelled along the river for hours, swaying in our hammocks. We stopped at Lake January to see the giant Lilly Pads named after Queen Victoria as she is alledged to have described them as suitable for her hammock when she visited the Amazon once. Crocodiles 3 metres long lined the banks and yawned lazily as we looked on from the safety of our viewing point. We were then taken to one of the only beaches that isn't flooded at this time, to swim in the fresh water of the Rio Negro. It has far less carnivourous fish population than the Solimoes, which apparently houses a fish that climbs into any hole in your body to cut it's way into your intestine. Nice.

After a tasty lunch of bean broth and bbq piranhas (oh the irony of eating Piranhas and not the other way around!), we went jungle trekking in the Amazon rainforest for 3 hours. The rainforest hides remedies and solutions to many medicinal and household dilemas it would seem. We saw trees that provide the inidians with milk, water, milk of magnesium, rosewood, mahogony, rubber and resin to mend boats and burn to keep insects away. We suspect nothing would keep the insects away from us though as they seem to like our English blood! We moored alongside the jungle at night, so far from civilisation that the night was darker than the Rio Negro but for the stars and moon.

Mosquito bites: Steve 16, Beth 29