Day 3: Jungle Evening

After lunch was free and easy time till the evening. We used our time arranging our chicken coops, catching up on what the other groups saw and bathing. It began to rain. Thousands of drops were caught by thousands of leaves, thousands more fell into the lake and all the rest came hurtling down in fat cold torrents. Exhilarating. I had my umbrella and went about a little, looking at the water surface and the contented pigs and their snuffly noses. By the time the rain cleared it was time to man the boats to watch the jungle sun set and along with it, see the birds as they hurry along to settle before the light faded. This was a quieter, more peaceful trip compared to the morning one. All across the river, birds flew. We saw our hornbills, the eagles, more oriental snake birds, egrets. The monkeys were as always, very easy to spot and plenty in their numbers. No crocs, sadly. The moon came out, silvery bright while the sun was still up and it climbed slowly over the tree tops during our ride, till by the time we were returning, it was the brightest thing in the sky, the sun giving only feeble rays from behind the skyline of trees. The mist was beginning to form. They would have a mistier night tonight than yesterday.

The new tourists arrived just before we left and they were sitting about striking acquaintances amongst each other when we returned. They would go out for their night ride around the same time we'd head into the jungle. In a misguided attempt to make us more enthusiastic, our guides told us what we were to expect. Frogs he said. That's fine, frogs are pretty cool. Snakes, he said. Even better, I adore snakes. Scorpions, he said. Perfect, Take me in now. And yesterday we saw 8-10 species of spiders.

In unrelated news I began to feel a little sick. I casually informed my fellow trippers that I was feeling a little queasy and wasn't sure if I was up for the trip. I was scared. I am terrified of spiders. of late, I've grown a little better, as in I don't startle when prepared and I don't startle as much when not prepared. But on the inside, I'm scared, scared, scared. God only know why, I've tried to sit down and explain it to myself. It doesn't work. I've only saved respect for myself by completely ignoring my fear. So I told myself sternly, spiders or no spiders, I had to go. I would be most angry with myself in the future if I didn't (and future Ipshita says yes, she would have been angry indeed).