Amazons: Part III Feeding Monkeys, 9 ft. Anaconda, a Sloth, and a walk through the Amazon Forest!

Today was just another awesome day here in the Amazons! I swear I could stay here forever and do something crazy every day for the rest of my life! Today we started off with a boat ride to a specific point of the Amazon River where two different types of water meet. One is the Rio Negro (Black River), and the other is the Rio Branco (White River). The Rio Negro is denser and moves slower, whereas the Rio Branco is faster but less dense. Because of this, you can see a specific divide between the two waters. It’s actually pretty cool.

Shortly after, we headed off to lunch on a floating restaurant. It seemed a weird concept, but on our way there we saw a lot of homes that actually floated. The water rises and falls so much that a lot of people just put their homes on huge logs and let them float. We got to the restaurant and we found monkeys! Monkeys, if you didn’t know, are my favorite animal, and I was preeeeeety excited. We were able to get some bananas and feed them. It was AWESOME. We then ate lunch and I, knowing the monkeys were waiting, stuck a lot of fruit in a napkin and pulled Cindy with me to go feed them some more! It was way fun and I swear one day I will own one. Seriously.

On our way back from the restaurant we stopped at this random floating house. A boy was sitting outside, and as soon as we got close he went inside and brought out a 9 ft. anaconda and a sloth. Apparently they catch them and let them stay in their homes to take care of rats and other little animals. Yeah, the kid was the only one home and he probably weighed about 100 pounds. I can’t imagine him babysitting that giant snake. But, I guess that’s just the norm in the amazons! The sloth was way cool too and he seemed really cute until he started trying to claw my head. I tossed the snake right on my shoulder after and held him for a pic. Yeah, it was way fun!

When we got back, we ate more awesome food then headed out shortly after for a walk through the Amazon forest. It is crazy how thick the forest is and if a jaguar came to attack, I would never know what hit me. Thankfully, they hunt mostly at night. Anyways, we saw some cool things such as leaves that the natives chew to cure malaria (they taste nasty btw), ants that you let crawl all over your hands and when you smash them they smell like perfume that also acts as insect repellant, and different traps that natives use to catch animals. It was pretty cool and out guide was a way funny guy.

Today was awesome and I am glad we had the chance to see more of the Amazons. These are things that few people will ever get the chance to do. I know for sure I will be bringing my kids here. This has been such a great day!