Nov 12 - My landing deserves at least a 10 from the Peru judge

Peacock Bass I caught

Okay, I'll warn you, this is long. But it's been an adventurous last day.

Orlando is bound and determined that I catch a fish (okay, I can't give up either), so we left at 6 am for a 6 hour trip. Finally, after about 5 hours (I guess Orlando has figured out it's a long shot), I caught a fish - a peacock bass. Orlando was so jealous, he took my spot and caught a bigger peacock bass (men!). I caught several babies piranhas, which I threw back - I began to wonder if it was the same poor guy, following the boat upstream. Finally, I almost caught an adult piranha ... Well sort of. As I pulled him in and tried to get him in the boat, I overshot and threw him over the other side, allowing him to escape. I may enjoy fishing, but obviously, like volleyball, I am VERY bad at it.

In the afternoon, we went for a hike in the jungle looking for "creepy critters". But we saw lots of several other animals - a hummingbird whose wings sound like someone's stomach is growling loudly, several large bats, and a white-crested eagle (very rare find).   

Spider or Star Wars character?



Spider or weird version of the joker?



Spider or graham cracker?

Crossing similar to one where I fell

Just as we were starting our hike, we crossed a creek that had risen due to the rain, so the logs we use to cross it were wet. Now before I go on, you need to know that we have to cross this creek somewhere at least twice every time you hike, so I've crossed this creek several times. But this time, I slipped and fell, landing straddling the logs, sitting in water up to my butt (wet logs and rubber boots do not mix well). I laughed harder than I have all week. Orlando helped me out of the creek, laughing the whole time. Then I stood on one leg at a time, emptying my boots and squeezing out my wool socks. We continued on, and I only had to empty my boot one more time, mainly so I could stop squishing and alert animals to us.

After we got back, I showered and joined Bill and Dave for one last glass of wine on the balcony.



The end of the hike

Orlando and I went for inequality last hike after dinner, focusing again on creepy critters. We saw some cool insects. We were about 2/3 through the 2 hour hike when my flashlight gave out. So Orlando gave me his to carry and light the path for both of us (he's so good to me). We were going over a log in this big mud hole (which keeps us from sinking knee deep as I did earlier this week), when, you guessed it, I fell in again. This time I fell flat in the mud, getting soaked all the way up to my hair. To make it worse, I was still carrying Orlando's flashlight. I think Orlando was more concerned about getting stuck in the dark in the jungle than that I was once again soaked. Luckily it was both waterproof and mudproof. However it took us at least 5 minutes to stop laughing enough to continue.

When we got back to the center, I was walking to the bathroom for the 2nd shower of the day when I heard Orlando enter his shared room, and a few minutes later everyone burst out laughing. At least I'm not likely to be forgotten, and I had a memorable end to a great week.