A cruis BELEM — So there we were, 800 miles up the Amazon, on a night black as a jaguar’s coat, leaving the comfort of our air- conditioned ship to slip up a creek in a tiny rubber boat for a spot of caiman-hunting, Po John Harwood, our intrepid leader, it was all a bit of a dark. What he didi’ know was that some of us haa left farewell letters i our cabin. Caimans, vou see. are like alligators, and the black anes can grow to 20 feet in length. Spectacled caimans, we were assured, were tiddlers of not more than 10 feet. The plain was to shine a powerful light to pick up the retleetion of their red eves. “Norhing to worry abe nit, said Johny a Hemingwavesque character from England who has lived on the civer tor 20 years. “But don’t let your bottom hang over the side of the Doar just in case, As we chugged off into the moortess, humid night, cight ta boat, there were nervous refer: ences to our din- ner, billed as “Steve’s rimeus (inst ever) water buttalo ragout” along the fines of this being our first (and lasty caiman hunt. After 10 minutes we picked out the outline of white fishing boats moored on either side of the creek, and as our eves became accustomed to the darkness, we could pick our birds such as hawks and herons. Then we saw the eves, lots of them, all red and in pairs, mostly at the water's cdge. John made his selection, drove the boat towards the muddy bank, and before you could say “would- n't it be nice to have a nighteap back on the ship,” John reached down and GRABBED A CAIMAN. It was a spectacled caiman, about a year old and just three feet long burt it had a snout and teeth meant for business. John held it up for pho- tographs, then radioed the three other boats to come by and take a look. “Would you like to hold id” John asked a woman as if he was holding a baby rabbit. Even in the darkness, [ could swear she went white. the Amazon So Mavbo we shewdb putat back berore ats . mother comes fookuss for at 7 sand the woman The first Zodi outing took as tad ubage where women washed them clothes mi the river and men shed with bow and arrow. But the Scoite Age scone insduded brows ars with Caste watehes and Christmas Gift Suggestions SILVER ENTREE DISHES 1632 Lony Davin WisHART TRAVEL TALK tO And se he did, and on our way te the | ship did. some star gaging [remember Jupiter bemg rather braght. but most of | ns were not looking up, but watching, } aur backs. | Aostirf drink atthe bar conchided aneth focernight with Marine Expeditions of ‘Poronte motte: “To the ends of the earth” which had chartered the Danish thuteed vessel Dako tora 2000 inh: pas sage up the Amazon trom Belem on the Atlantic coast to Equitos in the foothills of the Andes == almost right across South Amertea. Four Zodiac rubber boats were carried te visit Indian villages and poke around Amazon uibutarics looking tor wildlite. and while evervone had their particular interest, such as birds or the planet's largest raintorest, T just wanted to be on the mighty Amazon, river of legend and myth, whieh with its 7,000 tributaries make up the largest river svs tem in die world. We boarded the Disk in Beles a sweltering equatorial city which yrew rich on rubber and has been choking ever since on people. Buses and trucks belching digsel tumes jostled with ox carts on narrow streets lined with tall mango uees Decay is in the airy it’s a place to buy a $2 straw bat and keep your hand on your wallet. One day's sail from Belem, deep in the jungle (from the Sanskrit word jan- gala, or impenctrable) the Amazon is the only highway, and the simple wooden houses on stilts scattered along the high bank are home to Indians who paddled to our stout, 2,100-ton red and white ship in dugout canoes, just as they might have done when the first Portuguese explorers came this way 500 vears ago. One dugout had a woman with a uiny Authorized Brew King wasatellite EV dish parked invonmgraously among pie palin trees. Another morning we cane on deck to tind pink dolphins tralicking around the ship. pertarmance thar would be repeated many times until we were more than 10090 miles upriver and well past Manaus, where sharks have alse been scen At the Boca Do Guajara tributary, Harwood taked toa firmer who came to the river's edge with pins following him like dogs. 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