Our last morning at the ARC we explored upstream again vainly searching for the Giant River Otters that frequent the area and are typically seen. (The Parkinson's boat had a few people luck out and actually see them - so lucky) We took solace in close views of a band of Brown-Faced Capuchin Monkeys. There’s not always a ton of color beyond green in the rainforest which makes the fruits and blossoms stand out. The bromeliads and orchids catch your eye and along with vines constitute a significant portion of the vegetation mass that grows on or from the trees. As our boats pulled out we realized that Laurie's boat was always filled with all the little kids other than Emmy and sometimes Hazel. We started calling those two little buddies twins from different mothers. They had such fun and really do look so much alike.
We pulled the canoes back into the flooded forest to an area where the guides knew a pygmy marmoset resided. They rarely move beyond a 100 meters from their home tree and within 5 minutes the guides had located the hand-size creature high up in a tree. Remarkable!
On our way back to the Tahuayo Lodge we encountered a female Common Wooly Monkey, named Turilla, that had been released from the local black market a few years back. A male was subsequently released and a son was born to the couple. Traditionally they live a little further from the river’s edge but appear to be thriving.
Back at the main lodge we could easily see how much the water level had dropped in just two days. One of the boardwalks previously submerged was now passable and there was no longer enough water for fish to swim beneath our rooms.
In the afternoon we cooled off by swimming at an oxbow lake that is frequented by dolphins. A few members of our group caught glimpses in the distance but the water felt great and we were content to cool off and stretch our legs after many hours in the boat during the week. Several fish jumped right over us as we played. There were pockets of warm water sporadically in the refreshing lake. Brett did an epic back flop as he tried a back flip. Kate was reluctant to get in and had some life vest trauma when she eventually did. Several said they felt fish nibbling their toes. That night the guides got a well-deserved break from evening activities. On the way back we passed a boat of locals heading downriver. One of the ladies had a bright green parrot riding on her head while another was breast feeding. It might have been better had we swam in our clothes as some of our crew wore their single jungle outfits every day. I wore each of mine for 2+ days and that was more than enough.
On our boat ride back to the main lodge Lily's water bottle leaked all over and through her suitcase. We quickly set all her clothes out to dry but with the humidity we didn't have much hope of success. We took to moving the rack around to find the sun and little by little some items dried but her slightly damp clothes were the very last things we packed before we left the jungle.
The night off didn’t stop the guides from spotting animals—they found the resident Amazon Tree Boa overhead on one of the walkways connecting rooms. We all gathered beneath to watch it. As we watched Laurie asked me what would happen if the snake dropped down to the walk way. We had a laugh imagining the choas. When there was a sudden lurch and Laurie screamed loudly. The entire bridge had sunk 4-6 inches under our weight—we hadn’t noticed that there was a lot of lumber on the bridge as well and the combined weight was too much. We were all spooked but very fortunate that it didn’t collapse and no one was injured. Andrew stayed up for another hour talking with the staff. I could see him volunteering or working for a summer at a place like this. In the morning someone told Natali that Andrew had said he was “working on getting a girlfriend.”
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