Los Llanos and a ton of animals

April 8th, 2010: This place has made a spot for one of the top places I have been to the past 11 months and 15 or so days. I had some great company and saw a ton of animals. Okay...a ton might be a slight exaggeration. Remember to take in consideration that men like to double the size and amount of almost everything...so I actually saw a 1/2 ton of animals. From the anacondas, caiman, pink crusty ill looking dolphins, colorful birds, not so colorful birds, frogs that lived in the shower and toilet that enjoyed traumatizing my friend to the three legged turtle with some extremely sharp nails and the capybara which I think the largest living rodent in the world who looked like a guinea pig on steroids...it all totaled a 1/2 ton of animals.

I even had the rare opportunity to feel like a hero, saving the life of an iguana that was too slow from a dog that had a death grip around its neck as I chased it through the fields of ticks. Later the next day I saw that the dog grabbed a baby capybara to fill his appetite instead of the iguana as his drug it though the fields with its umbilical cord and placenta still on its body. I will have to next time perhaps just turn my head...or pull out my camera for some good photos.

Who wants to catch a piranha when there are caiman?

April 5th, 2010: Well actually...my intent was to catch a piranha with teeth, but somehow I caught an extremely large caiman with teeth...lots and lots of them. When I realized the tug pulling me toward the water was a much stronger tug than a small piranha, its head surfaced with its mouth open about 8 feet away from me. I don't think he was too happy with a hook in his mouth. I didn't stand there for long nor did I put up a huge fight with my wire-like line and my one foot bamboo stick that I was using as a rod. This bamboo stick quickly became a baton such as they use in track in field as I backed up away from the shore handing it off to my guide. Cough - cough - since we were a team and he wasn't catching anything I thought he should partake in trying to get the hook out of his or her mouth.

Hunting with Elmer Fudd

April 4th, 2010: Today our guide Elmer Fudd (Looney Tunes) and our group skipped huntin for wabbit and instead went huntin for anaconda. Given a dull stick that wouldn't even be able to pierce the heart of a an open chested vampire, we went out into the muddy grassy area poking the ground trying to find a soft object...if it was hard, that meant we hit a caiman and not the anaconda which would obviously not be a good sign. Locating some anacondas, the guide, his helper and myself enjoyed pulling the snake from its tail since it had no hair out into the open, exposing it. Thinking about it now...I am not sure if my brain was working really well. If they were small...I might not have been doing this. The big ones just seem to be so slow and dumpy looking.