Piranhas and caimans, oh my!

At the ecolodge, we had the chance to go out on long narrow boats that were low down to the river. These boats were our main form of transportation while we were at the ecolodge, as of course, there were no roads there. One of the first things we did was head out to try our hand fishing. We weren't just fishing for any old fish, either. We were fishing for piranhas using big hunks of chicken on our hooks. Some of us could feel the piranhas nibble at the bait although we didn't hook any. One if our guides managed to catch one, though, so we had the chance to see one up close and even touch it.

While we were fishing, Megan spotted a caiman swimming toward us. He came quite close up, and then just stopped and stared. Caiman are smaller than alligators, but can still be deadly. This guy was about 4 feet long. Our guide dangled some of the chicken meat, and the caiman eventually came right up and snapped the meat right out of his hand. Them he slowly swam away, meat in mouth, until he was protected by brush, and we suddenly heard him snap up his dinner. Let me just say, after this display, it was astonishing that any of our students could be persuaded to swim in the river. But many did!