Amazonia
Day 3 — A New Home

There is an abandoned old waorani hut down river that my guides had pointed out as we passed its location. My challenge is to survive out here and eventually make my way down river back to the tiny village …

The hut is still here and still standing though it is crawling with army ants. It has a lot of leaks but it’s big — about twenty by twenty with no end walls and a thatched palm leaf roof. There was even some left over firewood, damp but not wet …

The hut is full of roosting bats who seem to enjoy peeing on me, but this fire should help to keep them away. It should also help to ward off snakes and jaguars. So, here comes the night. I’m closer to the village now but this makes me more nervous. There are typically more jaguar close to a village because they come in for the dogs and chickens … and visiting tv producers …

In truth, I am in a very vulnerable area. It is surrounded with salt licks which is where the Tapir love to hang out; the principal food of the jaguar …

Tonight, I sleep on leaves on the ground, which is not so good. For all intensive purposes I am still quite out in the open of the jungle and vulnerable to snakes, spiders, ants, scorpions, various creepy crawlies, peccaries and jaguars. There are even caterpillars here that can kill a person with one touch. I’ll remake my platform tomorrow. It’s getting quite dark now and all the sounds are new. I will have to get used to them all over again...

For the full story, go to Les Stroud's Official Blog.