Ariau Lodge

We then spent 4 days at a lodge built on stilts in the middle of the rain forest. They have 7 towers containing hotel-like rooms, and half a dozen individual tree houses where Tarzan and Jane stay. Similar to Maya's tree house in Wisconsin, but MUCH bigger, with a flush toilet, hot shower, air conditioner, and comfortable bed. This is the base of our house, the rest is so well hidden in the tree we could hardly see it from the ground, and found it impossible to photograph. Suffice to say it was VERY nice!

As I said, the whole lodge is on stilts. Currently the water is several meters above normal dry season levels. Last year there were record floods in the area, and in June the river was one meter above the walkways and first floors of the lodge. Roughly 16 meters variation from dry to wet. Spread out over the tens and hundreds of kilometers of width of the flooded forest, it is an unfathomable amount of water, all moving rapidly towards the ocean.














We didn't see a lot of wild animals, but those we did spot were a lot of fun. Monkeys are pests to the staff, but source of great amusement to guests.

This last picture is on the porch of our tree house, after Margie tried to take a piece of cake home after lunch. It almost made it!





We did several of the same activities as we had at Ceiba Tops Lodge and aboard Delfin II, but each was different, also. We're 1,000 km downstream from there, and actually 40 km back upstream on the Rio Negra, the largest tributary to the Amazon.

One night while coming back from a walk in the jungle, our boat guide spotted a cayman, and jumped into the water to catch it. These are the same waters in which we had previously caught piranha! He brought it aboard and let everyone that wanted to hold her. She's about 5 years old, had her tail bit off by a piranha last year, and is in the process of growing it back. Very docile and friendly, as long as you keep a tight grip on her throat and jaw.


While on that hike our guides told us to walk single file, and keep a sharp lookout for anything that moves, might move, is bright colored, or camouflaged. Sometimes the guides don't see everything, so the guests need to be vigilant, too. Some guests were nervous at this, but we weren't, as all our guides had always been able to pick out things that we would have never seen. So, while Margie and Phil were bringing up the rear of a 10 person column, led by 2 experienced guides, Phil spotted this little cutie a foot off the trail. Neither guide knew what kind of snake it was, but between them they were pretty sure it wasn't poisonous. They also were very upset that Phil was taking pictures instead of backing away in a big hurry.













Turned out to be a harmless vine snake, but several guests decided their blogs/email would omit that detail.

Another critter seen in the jungle is the firefly. She will lay her eggs in the flower of a relative of the coconut. Then when the fruit grows the egg is already inside, and can hatch into a larva totally undisturbed. At the appropriate time the larve will drill itself out and emerge as an adult firefly, ready to repeat the cycle. So if one knows where to look, it is possible to find nuts without holes in them, and these often contain larva. This little guy has spent it's whole life inside a coconut, eating nothing but said fruit. So is it just another form of coconut? Phil decided YES, as when he bit off the head and ate the rest it tasted exactly like a coconut creme candy!

And then came the dolphins! Dolphins eat piranha, so swimming with dolphins is usually relatively safe. And when the guide brings a bucket of fresh fish, is a LOT of fun! They are such big, powerful, graceful and beautiful animals!!!








Rubber was to Manaus and Brazil as gold was to California. Source of initial boom and exploitation of land and people, followed shortly by bust and further exploitation. The whole history can be found any number of other places. Here, though, is the heart of it - a rubber tree and the sap from which it derives it's fame.