August 26, 2009

Amazonas adventures

Foto: Felipe Arteaga

Some weeks ago, FAZ newspaper asked me to go to the Amazonas and check the situation there between the indigenous groups, the oil companies, and the ecoturism. I am still working on my report, but Lloyd Alter posted something already about our trip in the famous blog Treehuger, as well as some pics of the fauna we saw there.

The sloth on the picture is important. While swimming in a little lake full with piranhas and caimans, the people in the shore started yelling: "Caiman, caiman!". Two guys jumped out of the water in half a second, but it was this sloth you see there. It had fallen into the water, was exhausted and close to get drowned, so some guys saved him.

The thing is that caimans eat fishes (specially piranhas) and small mammals. They rarely attack humans. And they sleep during the day. Piranhas just attack if there is blood. Since there was no blod and it was during the day, I swam for more than 20 minutes in the lake. An experience full of adrenaline, in any case.

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