Fishing for Piranhas in the Amazon

A plane, a car ride, a boat ride, another car ride, and another boat ride and we finally made it to the Amazon forest!

The meeting of the two rivers! When you touch the water, you can actually feel the difference of temperatures!

We arrived to our humble abode for the week.

We excitedly dropped our things in our room and jumped into the hammocks. So peaceful so watch the river flow. Though not before long we were out onto the boats again – it was time to catch some piranhas!

We used pieces of raw chicken as bait and long branches as fishing rods.

Fishing for piranhas is a bit different than normal.

You’re not supposed to patiently and quietly wait while the elusive fish nibble at your bait. Instead, your supposed to use the tip of your rod to bash about the water sometimes, as these crazy little fishies actually enjoy live bait!

I managed to catch three of these.

One of which was the red bellied one – the most violent kind. Think James Bond movies and tanks full of them. We held up a leaf against it’s mouth and it snapped away at it!

After a dinner, it was time to go search for some alligators.

As if we hadn’t had enough of sharp toothed animals. We set out in our little boat into the night, flashlights in hand, filled with excitement.

Didn’t take long, as our guide Matthias leaned out the front with incredible agility and scooped a baby cayman from the water! So brave.

The alligators tend to play dead as a defense, but this fellow decided it was time to crazily wiggle about just as I was holding him.

No worry though. We made our peace and he settled down back to being my friend in no time.

This day was so packed with fun and adventure – and it was only our first day there!

I went to bed (with my bed covered by mosquito net, of course) and wondered what more excitement waited for me. And boy oh boy, I was not disappointed!