Saturday 22 March 2014

Amazon part 2 fishing madness

Im going to start dating the entries a little because i have lost track of what day I've done things....Tuesday the 18th, so me and Adam were all ready to head into the jungle for round 2, when Ralf asked us how deep we can dive. Thinking back to swimming at central pool in Reading, I could get to the bottom of the diving pool which is 12 feet, so I said 4 to 5 metres maybe, Adam likewise. He said " great can you give us a hand?" , we have a fish on the bottom of the river we need to hock and get up. We said sure thing, got changed and headed off on a small fishing boat. On route we asked him about the task, he said the fish had been harpooned, and to try to get away had swam into the weeds at the bottom of the river. Our task was to follow the harpoon rope to the bottom whack a fish hook in its mouth and then come back up. Sounds easy right. Well the part of the river that the fish had flew into was in the flooded forest, so it has weeds on the surface and it had also gone under a tree. So we slipped into the water,and I got the task of going first. First go was to get to the bottom and find the fish, I didn't hit the bottom but I got some nice scratches up my arms and legs. Next go I got to the bottom popped my ears, open my eyes and see nothing and I don't know what I am feeling for either. Adam's turn, he gets to the bottom both times but can't see a thing and doesn't know what to feel for either. Ralf's English in this respect was kind of limiting what he could tell us. Then Ralf stepped up to the plate, first go he came back up and said he saw the fish and could get the mouth. So he went down and hooked the mouth, then the older guy who had harpooned the fish in the first place started pulling it up. Watching the rope go by the fish was roughly 13 feet's under the river, then the head appeared, mouth open and you could fit a mans arm in it easy ( I know this because this is how I carried it later). The fish kept on coming, hitting almost 2 metres long. Don't believe me pictures below :) In the evening we headed into the jungle to sleep again, in the evening we headed out in the boat to find more caiman and ended up missing a huge one but found one at 1.3 metres not huge but bigger than last time, they are very soft to hold. We also came across a green tree boa that we resting in a tree.
Wednesday the 19th. We headed into the jungle to find monkeys, sloths and other jungle creatures, ended up seeing a few moustache monkeys, basically they look like they have a big white moustache. Rested the rest of the day as it was raining heavily.
Thursday the 20th. Hunting day, we started out as soon as breakfast finished and went back to where we were the previous day as there was evidence of wild pigs, followed the trail for hours till lunch time then we failed to start a fire as the lighter ran out and it had been raining more overnight and so everything was very damp. However this turned out well as we ate with Ralfs family instead which was very nice and had everything authentic, plain rice with manjoca flour which they make from the roots of the manjoca plant which if eaten raw are poisonous. In the evening we went spear fishing which was much more complicated than I thought but on the second chance I got a snakehead fish, no pictures as I forgot the camera again, sorry guys.
Friday the 21st. Morning started with a second chance to learn to do cast fishing, which went well as i caught another snake head fish. This time i got a picture of a happy me with the fish. So its the end of my time in the jungle but I am very happy with the time I have spent here. Time to get ready and plan for Venezuela.......

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