Caiman and Friends

Last night I think I only got about 4 hours of sleep, but I do not regret getting so little. I woke up at 5 am because C. needs over a half hour to get ready. I had planned on sleeping until like 5:20, so giving ten minutes to put clothes on and walk to the dock, plenty of time. It was cold on the river so I was glad I had long sleeves on, my light blue over shirt, and my rain jacket. I am amazed at how often I am getting cold now. The float was pretty much a bust because we did not see any of the animals we were suppose to see. We were suppose to see taparers as well as lots of parrots and monkeys. Instead what we did see was two large caiman. Unfortunately I was only able to take pictures of one. We also saw some king fishers and howler monkeys leaving a salt lick. Because we saw so little, we went on a little hike to some salt licks. At these salt licks animals will come to lick the water from a spring off the clay or just to eat the clay. Again we didn't see any animals at this salt lick licking up the salt, however, I did try a drop of water from the spring right where it comes out of the water. It was a little salty. We then were allowed to explore around the salt lick area. There were some streams that joined with the spring running nearby so I searched the streams and found fish. I saw lots of the usual little minnows and then I saw two bigger fish. One was about four inches and the other was about eight inches in length. They were the same kind, but I have no idea what kind that is. I really enjoyed exploring. 

After that we went back to the station for lunch. While on our way back on the boat the engine was really loud so I was thinking and I had a realization. The temperate forests and the jungle are very similar, more so than people realize. The way the forest looks from a distance is the same. How the river banks look is the same, here the scale is just a little larger. I have noticed a number of places were the trees with the different layers of under growth is the same as well. It was an interesting realization.