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Aug. 24, 2005 [Summer of 2001] Before I had made plans to go to the Amazon, I had talked about it for ten-years. Just ask Diane Horton, my friend, who just retired from being a school teacher. I’ve known her for 19-years, and she said: “You’ve talked about it long enough.” She’s shared my many exploits around the world with her class. Anyhow, it was all and more of what I expected. I cannot share every minute of it but I will try to high light some of the journey. I flew from Minnesota to Lima, Peru, than caught a small plane to Iquitos; there I went to the famous Iron Building. Constructed during the peak of the rubber boom and the architect for the building was none other than the famous man who designed the Eiffel Tower, Mr. Eiffel himself. It seems I hear his name wherever I go nowadays; he also designed the Iron Market in Haiti, Port de Prince, where I spent a few weeks. I met the ex president of Peru there, Garcia. But let’s get on down the river. Actually I went with a group into the rainforest called “Explorama.” The staff was good, and everything went accordingly. They have some powerful ‘rapido’ boats that rush up and down the river. We went about 125-miles down river, and into the forest, flora and fauna, were the lodge was, again surround by the rainforest. The jungle is never quiet, and at night I played the guitar, at the Tahuampa Bar, at the lodge; about 20-people at the lodge. This area gets about 140-inches a rain a year. This lodge is built on the Bushmaster Reserve, in Peru. It is next to the Yagua Amerindian Reserve, with 4,000 acres of tropical forest. I caught three piranhas and ate them; I swam in the Amazon River, I went at night searching for, and found tarantulas, and what a treat, we woke them up from their nest under those big giant trees (the giant Ceiba pentadndra). Most structures are on stilts, to aid in ventilation. At night when I had to go to the bathroom, outside ones, like in Vietnam, I had to share it with big toads. We also went hunting in the middle of the night for those big snakes, down the tributaries of the river—anacondas. There are also pink dolphins in the Amazon, I swam by one. I also saw a capybara, the world’s largest rodent. In addition, I saw the peacock katydid, a butterfly, with wings that seem to have eyes on them. But the main event for me, besides seeing villages, and so forth, was going to the ziz-zag canopy, walkway even deeper into the forest (trying to find your way back at night is a trip); it goes 120-feet above the ground, to overlook the green sea of the Amazon. The walkway span connects to platforms, levels, and is close to 1200-feet long; hooked onto 14-giant trees. I walked the whole 1200-feet, it was amazing. Well, I could go on and on, but Rosa my wife, and I had the time of our lives there, and we ate well. It was an all inclusive trip; expensive, but again, you put your money where your heart is. ------------ About the author: Mr. Siluk is a world traveler, a lover of the mysteries around the world, and has visit many World Heritage Sites, his most recent being Easter Island, the Galapagos and Mesa Verde. His books can be seen on/at Barns and Noble.com, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Abe.com Alibis, Boarders and several other sites and book stores. Many of his books can be purchased through the English Bookdealers. He spends his time between Lima, Peru and St. Paul, Minnesota, and has just finished working on two new books: "The Macabre Poems,” and “Perhaps it’s Love,” and continues to work on "Curse of the Abyss Worm,” a suspenseful mystery, and “Cold Kindness,” a tragic love affair. Visit http://dennissiluk.tripod.com Email: dlsiluk@msn.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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