After the anaconda hunt, we had a couple of hours for lunch and getting cleaned up before a nice afternoon of fishing, which would have been beautifully relaxing if we weren't fishing for piranhas!

We headed downstream for an hour or so to a nice gentle bend on the river — our guide's secret fishing spot. 🎣

We were all given handlines and raw beef for bait with lots of blood for attracting the piranhas. I noticed the hooks were all fastened with a generous length of metal wire to keep sharp little teeth away from the bait, but we still managed to lose a hook or two.

Piranha fishing is perfect for kids because as soon as the bait's in the river you're getting bites. The only trick is to yank at the right time to seal the catch and not have the hook stripped in seconds.

Mateo was the first to catch one — a very nice sized red-bellied piranha. He went on to catch about 5 more of various species including small catfish. The rest of us caught one or two also and with the guide included we had a nice haul for dinner and they tasted amazing. 🍤