Taming alligators

Water skiing in Doctor's Lake as a kid always seemed pretty crazy to me, but when your mother assures you that its totally safe, you know, who was I not to jump in the water. But we still carried out a bit more caution by putting the dogs in the house and sticking to dry land when there was a gator lurking about. Not really the same in The Pampas. Even the most timid of people in our crew was frolicking about in the water with a nice 5-6 foot gator glaring on from the bank. I have to admit, it does make you a little nervous when you see that menacing head disappear and the beast could be anywhere. But like my beloved mother, Chalo and Juan Carlos our guides through the area seemed to think everything was perfectly ok - 'no, es ok, tranquillo amigos', so ya know, when in Rome thou shall swim with aligators and paranas(I still don't know what that means).
It literally went from everyone being star struck by that first gator siting to not even thinking twice about antanganizingly taunting the camp mascota, Fredrico - former star of the 90s comedy classic, 'Happy Gilmore'. Fredrico has found solace here in the Amazon as he playfully threatens to bite off the hands of tourists, munches on parana remains, and winks his lone eye at the gringas passing through.
The really freaky side of the gators comes out at night, flashing a light along the shore to have 10 demonic red dots respond to the intrusion. But even the night time red eye intimidation technique didn't stop the lone ozzy in our group from grabbing a baby gator on shore to parade it around the boat - of course the beers probably had something to do with that.
Other than the abundance of gators The Pampas region of the Amazon is an especially fertile expanse for an array of wildlife. There are turtles, Rodents of Unusual Size, Pink River Dolphins, Paranas, various monkeys, uncountable species of birds, anacondas, cobras, and supposidly some jaguars sneaking about. Ah, the Amazon, a truely unforgettable experience: the wildlife, the landscape, the lifestyle, and the miserable effects on your bowels.