Lucky Day #7

One week into the trip was rewarded with another late wake-up for the gang…6:45am; and to think, we struggled with 8am classes all semester. There was a slight hiccup at breakfast, as the local water caused one of our members to be at less than her full strength. She, however, soldiered on; unwilling to miss her chance to SWIM WITH DOLPHINS.

Positives- Plantains

Negatives- Vomiting in a urinal 

After a 15 minute boat ride, we arrived at our destination. All eight of us being eager to participate in this particular adventure. We stripped down to our bathing suits and put on life vests to keep us afloat; one by one we venturing into the mouth of the legendary Amazon River, home to our aquatic buddies. Fortunately, there was no need to worry about any other possibly dangerous sea life that we had heard of the days prior; as the dolphins scare away/eat all the others. The group was overwhelmed with delight; the combination of the scenery, the refreshing temperature of the water, the warm sun, and the presence of the dolphins cemented the beauty of the Amazon in each of our minds.

We quickly realized the local dolphins differ a fair amount from the oceanic dolphins we all fell in love with at Sea World when we were younger. The pink dolphins as they are called, due to their coloration once adulthood is achieved, have a longer snout used to navigate through the Amazon River for food. Interestingly, their anatomic structure allows them to quickly turn in a different direction as opposed to the oceanic dolphin which must make a U-turn in order to do so.

We were able to not only see and swim with the wild dolphins, but actually touch them as well. It was a good thing that Maria was such a trooper because she became our link to the creatures. Apparently, she is a dolphin/human translator. Cries of “I touched it!” and “Come play with me!” were said by all as the dolphins swam between us and surfaced to eat the fish being provided to them. Another successful morning in the memory bank and it wasn’t even 10am yet.

Positives- Joe’s underwater digital camera

Negatives- Maria still wasn’t feeling well

The morning was not over yet! We quickly came back and changed out of our bathing suits to prepare for a ride through the flooded area. We were all initially confused because half of our hotel was already submerged so we thought why we would need to venture elsewhere. We soon realized that our tour guide planned to show us the beauty of the area during the Wet Season. On the ride over, whispers of the long trip home were quickly silenced; we opted to enjoy the day worry-free. The area was gorgeous with “roads” that went through forested areas. We stopped at a lovely 300 year old tree to take a group picture together. Dr. Samra continued to capture the beauty around snapping pictures left and right. He was starting to give Kevin a run for his money (for all of you who do not know, Kevin is a professional photographer along with about 8 other careers).

The ride back to lunch, however, was the highlight of this excursion. Our tour guide, Mike, decided to give a few of us life advice. Having been married 5 times and having 14 children he had acquired some wisdom to bestow upon us, which we took willingly. The following are some of Mike’s top lines from the conversation.

“My idea of happy is away from the city.”

“Don’t stay with a nagging woman. When she nags, give her something to nag in the bathroom!”

“Always have a getaway fund in case you ever decide you need to leave your wife.”

“He who hates doesn’t destroy what he hates but himself.”

“When people become complacent, everything falls down.”

“The women here look like flowers but sting like bees.”

Following lunch, we had a three hour break. This is was a needed blessing. The members either decided to nap or sit out in the dock to get some color. For those that opted for the latter, they were pleasantly surprised when the resort employees brought lounge chairs and cool beverages without even being asked. Yes, we are living large here in Ariau.

Our final activity of the day began with yet another boat ride. In store for us was an afternoon of piranha fishing. There are 3 indigenous piranhas to the Amazon; the red belly piranha was the most dangerous.  Kevin actually caught an upward of 10 fish but due to their lack of size he decided to use what were in his eyes, “inferior” piranha, as bait for  larger game. Excluding Kev Boy from the equation, I took an early, epic lead. Yupp, we are going to leave it at that.

The last night in the Amazon we decided to be fancy. Annie suggested the idea of dressing up that evening. This, of course, led to a bonding session between the ladies of the group exchanging dresses. During dinner the lights once again went out for 10 minutes. The group then took pictures on the adjacent yacht. En route I had a traumatic experience. Unaware of what awaited me outside the restaurant, I walked out causally finishing my apple. Within seconds, I was attacked by multiple monkeys hungry for what I had in hand. I proceeded to scream and drop the apple as the too-close-for-comfort wildlife devoured it immediately with almost a smirk on their faces. The next few hours were spent relaxing and reflecting on the days past and the days to come. Dr. Samra discussed two of his favorite topics: gold and oil. Each of us took turns saying our favorite part of the trip. As the evening was winding down, the group played cards and spent some time staring at the gorgeous night sky. (We were actually able to see stars not being in the city!)