Dia Tres = "Paint the Face"

Tonnes of rain and some thunder and lightning overnight had us worried that we wouldn't be able to navigate up the river today. But by 7:00am (yes, up early, as we were in bed by 6:30pm) the rain had stopped and a tiny bit of sun shone through the clouds. After a quick breakfast at Hostal Ambassador we made a quick trip to the Malecon boulevard. Too bad we didn't realize how close we were to it last night; it was pretty neat and overlooked the vast Amazon River.

At 9:00am we were at the travel company, ready to depart, and by 10:15am we were officially on our way down the Rio Amazonas (Amazon River). At Amazonas Sinchicuy Lodge we were met with fruity welcome drinks, were shown to our quaint open-air rooms, and then departed to visit the Yagua tribe, where we got our faces painted and learned how to use blow guns. Our faces were painted as to male, female, single, married, or "looking for love." Lol. The blow guns, about 7-8' long, are used against enemies or on animals for food.











Back to the lodge for a wonderful lunch of salad (with a great local fruit & lime dressing), rice & beans, catfish (yum!), fried plantains and watermelon.

Then it was mandatory nap time (not kidding! Haha) until 3:30pm, before heading into the nearby town of Santa Maria to learn how to make sugar cane juice and visit a shaman. We drank the delicious sugar cane juice, the not-so-delicious sugar cane rum, and at the shaman's we had "seven root," a combination of seven barks in liquid form used to heal all ailments. We'll see if Mom gets over her cold now!

A quick boat trip out into the river to watch the sunset (or at least set to the tree tops!) and a quick flash of a pink dolphin (that we missed) before heading back to the lodge for dinner. There is no electricity here so the walkways were all lit with kerosene lamps - neat!

After dinner we had a night walk, where we identified some of the jungle life. We saw insects, fireflys, caterpillars, frogs, etc. and were very lucky to see things like a tarantulla and a viper snake. We also identified some of the noises we were hearing, like owls, bats, birds - should be a much more peaceful sleep now, especially as they assured us the anaconda and jaguar were deeper into the jungle ; )

Tomorrow shall be an eventful day as well!

Much Love,
Krystle & "Debolah"


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Location:Amazonas Sinchicuy