That's right. I did it. I survived three days in the Amazon Rainforest. That's three days of no connection to the outside world, no (minimal) electricity, and no shortage of dull moments. I think I can officially chalk this up as the best trip I've taken so far in Peru, and I still can't believe it was real. I'll start with day one.
Day Zero
Okay I lied. I'll start with day zero because before we got to the Amazon, I had hurdle after hurdle to jump over. This is Wednesday: Day Zero.
The day began with me packing and getting mentally prepared for our trip. During this process, I had my first setback. I was minding my own business, doing my dishes from breakfast, when I turned around and accidentally stepped on my host family's dog. I think I scared him more than anything, but he didn't appreciate it and instantly attacked my left foot. I panicked and shook him off of me (he has a death grip with those jaws) and looked down to see my entire foot covered in blood. My host family was gone, so I called for my neighbor backups (Abby) to bring me first aid supplies and cleaned the blood from the kitchen, which now looked like a murder scene. I can honestly say it was one of the scariest moments of my life, and I'm extra careful around Peluchin now.
After that, I hobbled my way to class, and we left for the airport from campus. Traffic that night was GOD AWFUL and it took us a little over 2 hours to get there. By the time we got to the airport, our flight was about to start boarding and we still hadn't checked in. Once a few of us checked in, we went to McDonald's to get food for everyone who hadn't eaten with about 10 minutes to spare before the boarding gates were set to close. I will never forget the image of Claire and I trying to make our flight; her sprinting through the airport with a bag of 6 cheeseburgers and my injured-self hobble-running behind her trying to keep up. We made it through security, only to find out our flight, in typical Peruvian fashion, was running behind. Of course.
By the time we made it to Iquitos, the town we were staying in that night, it was almost midnight. We showed up to our hostel and did a small reenactment of the Christmas story when the owner told us there was no more room at the inn (hostel). Fortunately, we didn't have to sleep in a stable and they found us a new hostel for the night although at that point, I wouldn't have even cared if I slept in a stable.
Day One
Day one began with us getting on a boat and heading out on the Amazon River with our tour guide, Yaku. Apparently Yaku is quite famous in these parts, and has been featured in shows about the Amazon on National Geographic, the Travel Channel, and soon-to-be the Discovery Channel. Along the way to our campsite, we stopped at a small conservatory where we got our first glimpse at the Amazonian wildlife. Hands down the coolest part were the endangered paiche fish our tour guide showed us. They looked like koi fish, only about 100x the size. I had
never seen a fish that big and was told that if someone small enough fell in the water, the fish would eat them. Our tour guide's advice: don't drop your baby in the pond. Duly noted.
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| This photo speaks to me. |
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| Paiche fish, can reach up to 10 ft. in length. |
We then got back on the boat and arrived at our campsite for lunch. Our accommodations for the next two nights were small huts built around the kitchen and hammock building. I actually felt like I was back at 4-H camp. After lunch, we made our way to our first stop, Monkey Island. As our boat pulled to shore, a monkey instantly jumped onto the boat and I knew immediately this was my happy place. Once we were on land, monkeys surrounded us and demanded our attention. It was the coolest thing because they weren't shy at all, they jumped right on us and wanted to play. While on the island, I also got to hold an anaconda that our tour guide caught out of a waterhole, a toucan, sloth, and parrot. I was smitten.
Eventually our tour guide peeled us away from the island, and off we went again on the boat, this time to watch the pink dolphins. If you've been keeping up with my blog (thanks, guys) you know my love for dolphins. Getting to see these fresh water PINK dolphins was like a dream come true. More to come on that later. We ended the evening with a nighttime hike through the jungle, which was better than I could've expected. We saw multiple tree frogs, spiders, rats, butterflies, and plants that you really only can experience in the rainforest. By the time we got back, we only had an hour and a half to eat supper and shower before the 3 hours of electricity we got a day shut off at 9 PM. This made for early bedtimes, but I wasn't complaining. Exploring the jungle is exhausting work.
Day Two
Day two began at 6 AM when we left in the boat to go fishing for piranhas. I love to fish, so I was particularly excited about this venture. Turns out I was one of only two people in our entire group who didn't catch a fish, and I was pretty disappointed. This semester it's become pretty apparent that Danielle and I are the two in the group with the worst luck, so naturally we were the only two who didn't catch a fish. It was all too fitting, but I still had a great time and thankfully the girls let me try the piranha they caught that day at breakfast, even though I obviously didn't earn it. Sorry about that.
After fishing, we went to a small village to eat breakfast and meet a few of the Amazon natives. On the way there, we (our tour guide) spotted a tarantula on a plant next to the boat and next thing I knew, the thing was on the boat and being passed around like a bottle of Crown (that's a song lyric, Mom). I have nothing against spiders per say, but the feeling of it crawling across my hands knowing that it was wild was a little spooky. As if that wasn't wild enough for one day, a little further down the river we spotted a huge snake in a tree and our boat driver Rene started climbing the tree in pursuit of him for us to hold! Like seriously, these people have no fears. No cares. Nothing. The snake was having none of that, though, and slithered (I seriously hate that word) away before he could be caught. I wasn't that sad, honestly. Snakes are completely unnecessary in my book. Anyway, we finally reached the village after quite an exciting stretch of jungle. When we pulled up, the children casually brought us their "pets" to hold, which just so happened to be a sloth and caiman (crocodile). Here's the thing about sloths: they're freakin' cute. When we held her, she would snuggle into us and seemed completely content with everything. Life goals. The caiman was a wild card and after my animal bite earlier in the week, I wasn't messing around too much with any animals with the ability to puncture my skin. Trust issues, ya know.
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| Caiman alligator |
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| I tried. |
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| Red-bellied piranha. |
The rest of the day was spent going on another trip to Monkey Island (we were big fans) and then swimming in the Amazon River. While we were swimming, we saw another pink dolphin and I just couldn't get over the fact that I was swimming in the same vicinity as a dolphin. My life is so cool sometimes.
Before bed we took a quick nighttime canoe ride through the jungle. During this trip, a cute little tree frog made our acquaintance and hung out with us throughout the whole ride. When I got back to our hut for the night, I hung up my poncho and lo and behold, there was the tree frog in our hut on my poncho! Just call me ~animal whisperer.~
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So I got my first visitors in Peru! My cousins Max and Zach sent their friends "Flat Stanley(s)" to Peru
to go on an Amazonian adventure with me! Follow along to see how it went.... |
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Monkey is immediately intrigued by new visitor on the island. Ran over to check things out.
Noticeably more aggressive than the parrot. |
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Feeling a little overwhelmed at this point. Not sure I can handle Flat Stanley and a monkey.
Babysitting skills have become rusty. |
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Monkey #1 told his friends I was weak. When in doubt, throw in Max's
Flat Stanley and hope for the best. |
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The monkeys have completely taken over the operation at this point. Flat Stanley #2
suffers a severed limb. Mission is aborted.
Monkeys: 1
Flat Stanley(s): 0 |
Day Three
Day three approached all too quickly, although at this point I was pretty much over getting eaten alive by mosquitos. We started our final day at 4:30 AM to go in the boat to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see the sun, so we basically just watched the sky lighten. It wasn't a completely wasted trip, though, because I loved how calm and peaceful nature was at this hour of the day. We then returned to camp and slept until breakfast, which was easy because it was pouring rain and I fell back asleep instantly. After breakfast, we trekked out into the rain and made our way to another Amazon village. Here we saw the Amazon people dressed in the costumes that is traditional of their tribe and watched them perform a few songs. The people grabbed us to dance with them during the songs, and it was such a cool and different experience than the others I've had in Peru. We then had the chance to use the blow dart that the tribe used for hunting small animals. I'm not trying to brag, but I had the most accurate shot of the group and hit the man on the totem pole square in the nose (even though my dart didn't stick). I deserved that win since I didn't get to catch a piranha the day before. After that, we made our way back to camp, packed our bags, said our goodbyes, and headed back to Iquitos for the evening before our 5 AM flight back to Lima.
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| Live action shot. |
As my time winds down in Peru (only 10 days! How is that possible?!) I'm amazed at how much I've learned and experienced in just four short months. It's a little surreal to think back to my first night arriving in the airport in Lima with my heart in my chest, so nervous I could barely speak. Now I'm hopping on planes and buses and taxis like it's no one's business every weekend to whatever place my heart desires. I've grown so much over the past few months, and I can't believe this experience is quickly coming to an end. This week I'll be traveling to Arequipa and Puno to explore Lake Titicaca and Colca Canyon and then, yes! I'm USA bound! Bittersweet doesn't even begin to describe my emotions, but I'm so excited for the next chapter in my life to begin. In the words of one of my all-time favorite bands, Jack's Mannequin: "I've got my things, I'm good to go // You met me at the terminal. Just one more plane ride and it's done."
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| Loungin' rainforest style |
