Monkeys, frogs, anacondas... oh my!

Dia 28-34
After survival camping we returned to the lodge for wildlife watching and some spearfishing and blow gun making thrown in for fun. The big things on our agenda to see were frogs (because I am a tad bit obsessed with them), more monkeys, an anaconda or two, and pink dolphins. We accomplished all of this and managed to stay away from the other tourist for quite awhile by going to stay at the research center deeper in the rainforest and by going camping (but not survival) again.

Highlights:
1. Canoeing at night through one of the lakes engulfed by the sounds of at least 6 distinct frog species calling. It was a constant chorus. And we caught a few little guys.

2. Dropping a 3 ft long caimen in our little canoe, which promptly crawled its way back to Jimmy, who´s first reaction was to jump off putting us in a rather precarciius position.

3. Finding a pygmy marmoset family who after deciding that we were not a threat, let us sit in our canoe a few feet away and watch them suck sap from their tree. (Marmosets farm saps from tree, killing them in the process make them the cutest parasite I have ever seen).

4.Chasing monkeys through the maze of trees on canoe. Spider monkeys are awesome to watch swing and jump from tree to tree.

5. Finding a 9-10 foot anaconda on the trail, which our guide spotted and promptly backed into us. The snakes like the shallow water, making it absolutely necessary to always watch your feet. Christian quickly decided that we must pick the snake up, fashioned 2 sticks to hold the snake in place, told Jimmy to grab the tail, had me hold the head in place and then went for the head. At this point, I thought he had told me to move the stick, when he was really telling me to move but keep the stick still. Well, that ended not so well with the anaconda breaking its head free and all of us running away. We told Christian that we could leave the snake alone, but he wanted to get it now more than ever, so he harassed for at least another half hour before finally giving up.

6. Searching for posion dart frogs and being very sucessful at finding them. They were so bright and beautiful and I think the coolest part was seeing them hanging out in their bromeliad homes in the trees, calling out to the world. Yes, this was probably my favorite day.

7. Watching Jimmy trying to spearfish, nic a fish´s head and then find the fish floating a few feet away, dead. We collected it and then brought it back to Pablo the lodge´s cat, who promptly rejected it. Maybe it wasn´t quite big enough for him.

8. Watching the Amazon change. It was so neat to see the seasons change around us. When we arrived at the lodge, it was engulfed by water, when we left we were able to walk around its perimeter on dry land. Each day you could see the water line drop on the trees (as the brown line of where the water had been grew larger and shrubs appeared underneath. It was simply amazing at how fast the water left.

We definitely have more stories, but we have probably overwhelmed you with information over the past few days so they shall have to wait until you see us again.