Raft Making Antics

In the afternoon of our second day in the jungle we had to make a raft. Well, Stu and Action Man made a raft and I supervised. Chopping down trees and making rope is man's work (it's actually very hard and I was pretty useless). I thought the raft was for a bit of fun on the river, but then as Mario got quite serious and pensive about the type of wood that was being used and where the wood was being placed, Stuart realised that this was no 'bit of boy fun' but actually our means out of the jungle. By late afternoon it was taking shape and as the heavens gave way to some proper jungle rain, we took it on a trial run on the river and floated back to camp. Mario was quite funny and happy to whip off his shorts to reveal his little, tight, semi see-through, white pants at any given moment to go into the river. I didn't know where to look! That evening we did some fishing and watched the tropical storms over the mountainous jungle in the distance.

When Mario came to his tent that night, he had encountered a monkey in the camp. We heard a bit of scuffle through the trees and Mario had said that we had to get out of the tent. 'Peligroso! Peligroso!' he shouted, which to means 'Danger!'. I panicked once again and was ready to run for my life in my nightdress, but the excitement was soon over. He kindly informed us that monkeys can be very dangerous in the jungle, but a rare sight. Unfortunately it was pitch black and we didn't manage to see him.

The next morning we were a hive of activity. The boys went off to finish the raft and I washed up. A lot of work went into that raft and in the end it was really impressive. It had to be finished by 9.30am so we had enough time to get to the meeting point. All the camping equipment had to fit on the raft and be kept dry along with all three of us. The raft finally took shape and looked great with a shelf for all the equipment and a little place for us to sit down. We wrapped all the luggage and camping gear up in a plastic sheet and fastened it tight to the shelf. Mario seated his passengers and we set sail. Three hours of sailing, a bit of fishing off the raft and some crazy rapids later we reached the little beach where we were being met, safe and completely dry. Our only tale to tell was sunburnt feet and knees!

Sailing down a river in the Amazon Jungle on a raft that you've made is pretty cool thing! It will be one we'll remember. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of our little journey as the camera may have got wet, but the photo above is of the half made raft.