It\u2019s difficult, in this Wikimedia Commons public domain photo taken in the Peruvian Amazon, to tell that this is even a dolphin. But it is. And at least you can get an idea of its skin color.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I mentioned freshwater pink dolphins in my previous post.\u00a0 I should say something else about them and their position in local lore.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
At least some of the local tribes here in the Peruvian Amazon regard them as thoroughly evil.\u00a0 How so?\u00a0 Evidently, pink dolphins will occasionally transform themselves into very attractive male humans and use their looks and their dolphin charm to seduce human females. \u00a0(Some say that they have this ability because they were once human themselves.) \u00a0But there is a way of detecting when a stranger is actually a shape-shifting pink dolphin: He retains the blow hole at the top of his head.\u00a0 He\u2019ll try to hide it by wearing a hat, though, so a curious investigator must somehow get a suspicious stranger to uncover his head.\u00a0 Then you can tell by inspection.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just the water, however, that offers such menacing creatures.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thick jungles such as those surrounding us here are very easy to become lost in.\u00a0 And matters aren\u2019t helped much by the fact that the rainforest is inhabited by goblins.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
These goblins love to lure hunters to their deaths in the jungle.\u00a0 They do so by appearing in the guise of the hunter\u2019s brother or best friend.\u00a0 \u201cFollow me!\u201d they\u2019ll say.\u00a0 \u201cI know where there\u2019s excellent hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The goblin will lead the hunter on for five hours or more, although the time will only seem five minutes to the enchanted victim.\u00a0 Suddenly, the \u201cfriend\u201d or \u201cbrother\u201d will vanish, and the deluded hunter will look around him, only to find that the supposed paths that he had followed have all vanished and that he\u2019s completely alone in entirely foreign territory with essentially no means of finding his way back to his home.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
How can one protect oneself against such goblins?\u00a0 They always have a limp.\u00a0 If you ask them about it, they\u2019ll respond that they\u2019ve twisted their ankle or that they were injured by a rock, or something of that sort.\u00a0 But the limp is a dead giveaway.\u00a0 You shouldn\u2019t follow limping hunters in the rainforest.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019m relying for all of this on our extremely good local guide, himself a member of one of the indigenous tribes.\u00a0 He grew up in a jungle village, roughly 125 to 150 miles upriver from Iquitos, and goes by the improbable (but evidently genuine) name of Percy.\u00a0 I recommend him very highly.\u00a0 His knowledge of local flora and fauna and of local lifeways has been quite impressive.\u00a0 He works for the company that manages Ceiba Tops Lodge, which is (I believe) called Explorama.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Written in the Peruvian Amazon<\/p>\n
Posted from Cusco, Peru<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 I mentioned freshwater pink dolphins in my previous post.\u00a0 I should say something else about them and their position in local lore. \u00a0 At least some of the local tribes here in the Peruvian Amazon regard them as thoroughly evil.\u00a0 How so?\u00a0 Evidently, pink dolphins will occasionally transform themselves into very attractive male […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>