Eco Amazonia lodge has a wonderful lounge area with a bar adjoining the dining room. We played several competitive rounds of foosball in here until a special visitor, who puts in a daily appearance around this time, stumped us. A hefty Amazonian Tapir(looks like a huge dark grey pig) barged into the lounge making a beeline for the bar as shell-shocked admirers started to throng around. Talk about surprises! But wait, he wasn’t headed to get a drink, only his favorite snack of miniature bananas. Soon after, the guests were taking turns feeding the Tapir and capturing Kodak moments.
Percy interrupted us during dinner that evening. Again, we only had "five minutes" to meet Elmer outside if we wanted to see Caimans in the dark. Elmer was sporting a gigantic flashlight as he guided us to the boat in pitch darkness. Some distance from the lodge, the boat was powered off and the dead silence provided perfect acoustics for the jungle chorus. We were not the only ones listening. A zillion stars studded the sky on this perfectly clear night. Our Norwegian friends were quick to point out the Southern Cross. This is truly a stargazer’s paradise!
Caimans are smaller cousins of the crocodiles usually found along riverbanks, slyly awaiting their innocent prey. Elmer swept his flashlight along the banks hoping to get lucky. And then we spotted one… no two bright red glowing dots on the surface while the rest of the creature lay submerged in water. We held our breath in excitement as our boat sneaked up as close as possible. Mission successful, we returned to the lodge.
There’s no electricity in the cottages except in the dining hall, where you can charge all your contraptions. At dusk each day, a lantern is set outside each cottage and needs to be placed back out before you go to sleep. Finally, it was time for us to detoxify from the deet and sweat. No shower has ever felt more satisfying, but the joy was short-lived as we sprawled out on our beds dreaming of air conditioners.
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