Fishing for Piranhas (or as G´N´R would say "Welcome To The Jungle")

Ok, so it´s the jungle for tourists, but it´s still out in the back of beyond and has no electricity. Took a flight to Puerto Maldonas which is totally different from any other Peruvian place I´ve been to...no-one drives cars, everyone has a motorbike adn even the taxis are these wierd things called moto-cars that are a 3 wheeled motorbike with the passengers in a canopy at the back. We were picked up in what must have been one of 10 cars in the whole place, which I guess counts as luxury travel. Headed down a dubious road for about 45mins then got on a boat for another hour before reaching the lodge. On the short walk from the boat passed a small hole with a sign proclaiming it as the home of ´Simon the Tarantula´! The lodge was basic, but fine, rooms had no doors or windows only curtains, at night it was lit by gas lamp or candle. It also has a pet monky called ´Pepe´ who was actually quite cute.Headed out for an evening walk, which took in alot of trees, some birds and then what amounted to tarantula baiting! The trick to getting them out of their holes seems to be to get a twig with only one leaf on it and then poke it down the hole and get the tarantula to come out...it works, but is slightly freaky the 1st time. That night it pissed it down with rain (they do call it the rainforest after all) and there was a massive thunderstorm which meant no-one got much sleep and also meant we couldn´t go bird watching that morning. Instead we went for another walk through the forest and saw a load of spider monkeys and then started easting fruits of the forest. Started with Bananas, then Star fruits, coconuts, yams and then found a cocoa plant. Seeing where chocolate comes from has nearly put me off chocolate. The outside is orange, which is ok, but then you open the fruit and there´s something that looks like a white alien foetus. It´s actually seed pods, but looks really grim and before the cocoa seed dries out it´s purple and not very appetizing. At least when it dried it looked a bit more like chocolate, but still a bit wierd. That afternoon we headed to a lake called something like Tres Chimbondas (not named after the French defender). Our guide came armed with fishing rods and we got on the world´s most basic catermaran and once we had found the key to the padlock headed off into this lake where our guide Wilson said we could go swimming if we wanted. Then we found out we were going fishing for piranhas...apparently they are the least aggressive type, but no-one was tempted to swim. Anyway, baited up the rods and went fishing, unfortunately although there were a lot of nibbles, the bastards refused to bite, so there´s no photo of me holding up a piranha, however...we then went looking for caymans, which are a type of crocodile/alligator type thing. We soon spotted a lot in the distance, but it was getting dark and hadn´t seen any close up when our guide jumped off the boat onto a tree branch and grabbed a baby caymen and brought it back into the boat. Somehow despite saying no, I ended up holding the thing, so much for health and safety and no cruelty to animals, don´t think Peruvians have ever heard of risk assessments.if I get the chance I´ll post the photo. Anyway back in Cusco today and about to head off to Puno tomorrow, it´s about 8 hours by bus, not overly looking forward to it as will probably be forced to watch another dodgy film dubbed into spanish on route.