August 31, Iquitos

So I am out of the jungle. I am covered in mosquito bites and have a huge scratch on my leg but otherwise no worse for wear.

The cutest thing in the world is a baby sloth. A much better pet than a cat. In fact, I met the sloth just after being rejected by a loner cat. It is the size of a teddy bear with a shapeless torso, a long neck topped by the placid smiley face of a turtle and four long flexible limbs with three sharp claws that wrap themselves around you and cling until you prise it off of you. It has a tiny arrow-shaped tail and all its sexual bits are hidden (at least on the female). It is covered in brown course fur that is surprisingly human like and when upset admits little squeaks. I haven´t wanted a pet in a long, long time, but I want a sloth so badly! Like all animals the baby is cuter than the adult, but I want a pet that does nothing but clings to me and lets me pet it. I bought a disposable camera so hopefully I will have photos of me and the baby sloth.

In the jungle I swam in an Amazon tributary, camped in the forest, walked, canoed, had my whole body and face licked by monkees, played with puppies, and ate huge meals of delicious vegetarian food cooked by the natives who hosted me and my guide. I didn´t, however, walk for hours and hours a day, which is what I had wanted. Though whether I could actually have handled it, I´m not sure. It wasn´t that hot but very, very humid and I was pouring sweat and itching from mosquitoes the whole time.

I think my romance with the Amazon is now over. It is the Amazon but it isn´t as beautiful as Australia´s rainforest or even the cloud forest in Colombia. It isn´t that palmy or ferny, isn´t that dense, has no waterfalls (there are streams but they were all dried up as it is a very dry dry season). Maybe it is because the Amazon is a basin and not in the mountains. Also the river itself is enormous, so not that beautiful. The Orinoco and the rivers in Canaima in Venezuela were much narrower and therefore more beautiful because you felt the forest about you on both sides. I admit the Amazon is great for bird and animal spotting, though. A, my very knowledgable guide, showed me monkees and eagles and kingfishers and bats (cute little furry things) and ants and spiders.

The question, of course, is did I have sex with my guide? Guess!