First Night Adventure
Yesterday was my first day at GVI Amazon base camp
after a two day journey from Quito (the capital of Ecuador) on local buses and
a canoe. I had heard that the showers were cold here and I was dreading it.
Around 9:30pm, I decided to it was time to take the plunge and go for a shower, as I wanted to go to bed soon.
Going down the stairs to the showers, the only light
brightening up my path was my head torch. I was being careful, looking around
to make sure nothing dangerous was in my path. As soon as I got to the showers. I saw a snake on my right hidden from above by a dip in the ground. It was
curled up and not moving about two meters away from me!
I decided to postpone my shower and tell the staff team, as earlier that evening we had received a presentation entitled The Dangers of the Amazon, which included information about snakes. As soon as I told them about it, they quickly came down to assess the situation.
It turns out the snake was the biggest Fer-De-Lance (Bothrops atrox) that had been seen on
the reserve in recent years. This was indeed one of the deadly poisonous snakes
that we had talked about in our presentation, so the staff went about catching
it with tongs, putting it in a secure plastic bin and removing it from camp. I
feel lucky I had the chance to see it, and on my first night at camp. I wonder
what other adventures are in store….
Chrystine Cadieux, GVI Amazon volunteer, February-March 2012
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