For hours the Potato cruised silently down the Rio
Yacumo deep into the Amazon Basin, following the lead of a pod of pink
dolphins. The river's banks were lined with wildlife: alligator,
mosquitoes, tortuga, giant capybara, mosquitoes and numerous large birds
of prey. The hot and humid temperature quickly drained Spud of his
energy and he decided to seek refuge in the cooler waters of the river.
As soon as the tuber hit the water he was mobbed by a school of hungry
piranha eager for his sweet skin. After barely fighting off a frenzied
attack (and losing an arm and his nose in the process), he managed to
struggle back into the safety of the boat.
Soon
after he replaced his missing appendages with some spares, he decided
to take revenge on the carnivorous fish.
Baiting a hook with part of his severed nose, the potato tossed the line into the water where he was nearly made the day's entree. It didn't take long before he snared one of the toothy piranha and scooped it from it's safe haven in the water. Spud would be able to exact the ultimate revenge tonight by dining on filet-o'-fish.
The
next days found Spud exploring deep into the jungle seeing even more wildlife:
howler monkeys, mosquitoes, cranes, birds of paradise, mosquitoes ...
everywhere he looked, there were more to be found. One escaped him
- the largest constricting snake in the world: the Anaconda! Having
been told that the Anaconda like the swampy area of the Pampas, he ventured
out early one morning to hike across the steamy grassland under the blaring
hot sun. Even after traipsing through eye-high swamp for 4 hours, there
were none to be found. On the verge of giving up and calling it a day,
the black serpent slithered up out of the swamp behind him and grabbed
the unsuspecting side dish in it's jaws. It's body quickly coiled
itself completely around the tuber rendering him helpless and gasping
for air.
Fortunately
for Spud, a Bolivian native was in the area hunting alligator and heard
the commotion. He quickly pounced on the snake and wrestled it off the
potato moments before the serpent's final crushing squeeze. Traumatized,
but alive, Spud had stared death straight in the face and noted that 'it
had remarkably bad breath'.