Sept 21.  A long, marginally successful day of running errands in Peru.  Dodging taxis instead of snakes.  Everything takes forever.
From our team, Tammy and I are here now, Alex Basaraba arrives late tonight, the others tomorrow eve.
After a meeting with Kike, our Peruvian guide, we decided to depart Lima Monday afternoon to give ourselves one more day of flexibility on the river.  It seems the distance from Borja to the Huallaca River on up to Yurimaguas and on to Terapoto is much farther than it looks.  Must be an upstream issue.  We need several days to complete it but are undaunted.

I’ve been told to beware of the fertile ants.  This left me confused.  I thought I prepared well for the hazards that await us, but never imagined fertile ants could be a problem.  Could I be that clueless?  What would fertile ants do anyway?  Are they like rutting Elk… only much smaller?

So I let down my pride and just asked outright.  “I’ve never heard of the fertile ants of the Amazon.  Please elaborate.”

My friend said, “What?”

“The fertile ants you spoke of,” I repeated.

“I said the Fer De Lance,”  she replied.

“Oh, that!,  Thank God.  You had me worried about something horrible.”

Fer De Lance; Definition. Also known as: jergón de la selva, macánchi (Alto Marañón), machacú, marashar and nashipkit (Aguaruna names)  “An aggressive, easily agitated, venomous pit viper common to the Maranon river basin.  Its bite can be lethal if not immediately treated.  Its neurotoxins also destroy short term memory.”

Yeah, right.  Nothing to worry about……. At least I already know how to battle the second set of symptoms.