When planning my first backpacking trip through Brazil, the Amazon was a must and one of my big goals for the trip: to fish for piranhas in the jungle.
I was in a small fishing village near the former rubber metropolis of Manaus. The great thing about traveling alone is that sooner or later you feel a strong urge to meet other people, even if it's just for an evening. This happened with a family of five in a small restaurant where an evening turned into a whole day, including a boat tour, a day trip, and a barbecue – albeit without any fishing experience. The next evening, in the very restaurant that had already provided me with this first encounter, I got into conversation again, this time with the burning question of how and where the best place to fish was. Wilson, my conversation partner, told me that he owned a self-built houseboat and invited me to come aboard his boat the next day, then we could get the fishing sorted. I have to honestly admit that when I received this offer and until the next day, I was unsure how safe the whole undertaking was for a 20-year-old, as Wilson, with his 2m long shaggy hair and threadbare clothes, didn't look particularly trustworthy at first glance.
I finally accepted the invitation out of curiosity and a sense of adventure, but I was careful, leaving my camera at home. At the agreed time, Wilson picked me up in the village, and we ran a few errands: fishing line, hooks, and a box of spaghetti. His houseboat was a huge wooden barge that he had built entirely by himself.
So we sailed downstream, almost colliding with floating branches and trunks from the woods, and as we maneuvered around them, laughing (admittedly with a touch of hysteria and fear), I knew: the right decision, this is going to be a very good day!
We dropped anchor and Wilson explained to me how to fish for piranhas using just a line and a hook. We used stale bread as bait. After a few attempts, it finally worked – while Wilson was preparing spaghetti, I had my first piranha on the line. The three fish in total landed in the pan and we enjoyed them with pasta, oil and salt. The icing on the cake was when Wilson jumped into the water after dinner and asked me to do the same – into the river where we had been fishing for piranhas less than half an hour earlier. After a brief hesitation, I jumped in too – took a few excited tugs and was immediately back on board. I will never forget that day. Wilson, who I had only just met, made all my wishes come true without expecting anything in return – he even helped me buy a hammock and hang it up the following day.
