I may be the only one here most horrified on that trip through the South American jungle by the mosquitoes. Oh my God!!!!!!! (Note: I am catnip to mosquitoes, and my skin develops allergic hives when they bite me.)

Reply to post #46 (show post):
The mosquitoes were horrible. It was the description of them walking this cloud of mosquitoes everywhere that stuck with me.
Do the mosquitoes beat the water snakes, tho, when you're paddling a boat? I presume they would have to get out to pull the boat ashore or get unstuck every now and then.

Piranhas. Why was there no mention of piranhas? I'm pretty sure if the snakes and gators didn't get you, the piranhas would have?

The mosquitoes sounded like a true plague, although they usually see me as a last resort, for which I'm incredibly thankful (either that, or they do bite me, but I don't react to their saliva, don't develop welts and therefore just think I'm not being bit much). Given the number of nasty viruses mosquitoes transmit all over the world (Nile, Murray River, Zika, never mind malaria) and considering the descriptions of how the men were so bitten they swelled up, it's again astounding that none of them reportedly suffered any lasting illnesses from their time down the rivers.

Reply to post #48 (show post):
Piranhas eating people is a myth, I believe.

Nope, not a myth:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01650520600630683

and for the more tabloid take on it:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2938059/Six-year-old-girl-dies-eaten-PIRANHAS-grandmother-s-canoe-capsizes.html

Reply to post #50 (show post):
Ah, but the non-tabloid take doesn't have shoals attacking and stripping the flesh from bones...

Reply to post #51 (show post):
No - definitely not the old horror movie piranhas, but definitely not to be dismissed. I'd rather have a mosquito bite than a missing pinkie toe because a piranha was feeling peckish. ;)

Reply to post #52 (show post):
Brings new annoyances to fish nibbling at your toes