In the Jungle, a world apart

I have been putting off this blog for a couple of reasons. The first of which being so much time has passed it now seems like a chore and two, not quite sure how to describe the whole experience. But here it goes...

We decided we wanted to do a long trek into the Amazon, not some 3 day jaunt at a lodge. After deciding that 20 days was a little too much we settle on 10 days. We left from Rurrenabaque heading up the Rio Beni and into Madidi National Park, one of the most biodiverse regions on earth. A quick stop by a sugarcane plantation and our 3 hour boat ride up river was complete. The sugarcane plantation was a little hokey but we did get to press our own sugarcane juice. Super sweet but refreshing with a squeeze of lime.

The first night, unfortunately, was spent at the lodge. We were supposed to leave first thing the next morning for

another 3hr boat trip up river, but seems there was a gas shortage so we didn´t leave until after lunch. I should have appreciated the good food more while we were there, but Todd and I were both very ready to get into the thick of the jungle.

Day 2 the gas arrived with the afternoon boat and we were out. Another boat trip up the river and we were at camp sight one. We arrived at camp and immediately felt a little lost. The sun was blazing, our guide had disappeared, we were in the middle of the jungle, so we decided to go swimming in the chocolate colored Rio Tuiche. Only to find our clothes covered in huge ants when we emerged from the water.

Ok, we were in the jungle, there will be bugs, but was I ready for the size and quantity ahead of us? Not sure. Now, we opted out of using a tent. Instead, we went with the recommended tarp and mosquito netting. Much cooler for those steamy nights in the jungle, but a little rough on the nerves the first night.

Day 3, we emerged from our mosquito net surprisingly refreshed. A hardy breakfast of fried eggs, cold coffee, and mini pancake/funnel cake-esque things awaited us on this first full day in the jungle. Our guide Reinaldo was again missing in action, but shortly immerged carrying a huge catfish. We waited for Santos to fry up the fish and then we were off. Our first full day in the selva (jungle). We loaded our packs and off we went. Ronaldo had no map, no compass, but two machetes. We followed with blind faith. That may have been a mistake because we managed to get lost. We apparently came to a place much further down river then he anticipated, which is where we ended up camping. At least it had river access.

Now, hiking in the jungle is much different then most hiking I have done. I consider myself to be in shape, but this was hard. I like to blame the extra heat on my overalls but in reality, it was just damn hot and sticky. The bugs weren´t so bad, but we were doing a lot of bushwacking. I kept getting distracted by all the huge vines and ferns, excessively huge trees, and mushrooms.

I felt like I had shrunk; a mini person in a land of the huge. We also didn´t eat lunch until 3pm that day because they only brought food that needed to be cooked. Oh well, Todd and I immediately stripped down and went for a swim. Camping next to a river has its privledges. We played some cards and relaxed before our first night hike. And we dined on a lovely meal of rice and beef. We both nonchalently picked out the 4 day old meat and made a mental note to mention the fact that gringos don´t eat 4 day old meat to the travel agent. And yes, it tasted 4 days old.

Yes, a night hike! I was excited but nervous. I mean, all the good stuff comes out at night. So we suited up, long pants, long sleeve shirt, hat, headlamp, check. It was excellent! We would walk and then stop and turn off our lamps, wait, lights on, check for animals, and so on. Once my nerves calmed down it was amazing to experience the life of the jungle under the cover of total darkness. We saw a tapir, which our guide described as the donkey of the jungle, a tree frog,

lots of HUGE spiders and their webs, heard bats rush past our ears, along with a moth that sounded like an airplane about to land. On our way back to camp, something decided to fly into my shirt and bite me. I was feeling great about our night hike, but after seeing tons of spiders, ants, and tons of random flying bugs, I freaked. I threw my headlamp at Todd, franticly ripped off my shirt and proceeded to let silent tears stream down my face. Todd assured me the bug was nowhere to be seen, so I put my shirt back on, sucked up the pain, and headed back to camp. Well, that day we had had a little battle with cutter ants. They cut leaves and anything else they can find in D-shapes and carry them back to their home. And it hurts a nice dull pain when they test your skin for acceptability.

Upon arrival to our camp, me still shaking from my bite, we find our mosquito net and the tarp pretty much infiltrated by cutter ants. I tried not to freak, but I freaked. I walked away, now fully crying at hyperventilating speed, and tried to accept the situation. The situation being that we would be sharing our bed with biting ants. We killed as many as possible and tried to build barriers so the ants couldn´t get in. Todd did his best to calm me down by telling me a bed time story, but the whole while we were both getting biten. I finally fell asleep, I have no idea how, and hoped for the best. Only to be awoken by more pricks on my hand. I turn on the headlamp to discover that the cutter ants have created swiss cheese of our mosquito net and there were hundreds inside our home. More tears, lots of "I hate you ants," as we did our best to squash them. Being careful to use a sock or shoe so we didn´t get bitten. Now, totally past the calm and collected point, we rotated in the netting, curled up together in Todd¨s sleeping bag and prayed for an early rise of the sun.

The sun finally rose and Todd and I were right behind. In the light we could see the trail of ant death leading to our netting. Overwhelming. But it was a new day, so we had some coffee and geared up for day 4.

Day 4, I was tired. I felt stupid for reacting to the cutter ants in such a pathetic manner, but at the same time was happy I managed to ward off a full fledged panic attack. I am not as bug friendly as I used to be. After breakfast, we packed up and headed further up river to our next camp sight. Seeing as it was the dry season, the expected watering hole was all dried up. So we found another spot about 20min away and called it home for the night. It was a lovely spot in what looked like a potential swamp, but it did have a decent sized stagnant watering hole.

At this point, Todd and I had exhausted most card games so we decided to make a fire. Reinaldo went out to clear a trail for another night hike and Santos cleared a spot for us to sleep. The fire was awesome. Not only did it take a sufficient amount of time, but it smoked out a lot of the bugs and dried our clothes. Which were perpetually damp in the jungle.

That night we enjoyed rice and a canned Bolivian spam equivalent. Yes, it was as tasty as you are imagining and it was washed down by a beautifully sweet, unidentifiable pink juice made from untreated water. I couldn´t resist.

Before our night hike we all sat around the fire, drinking hot cocoa, and chatting. Luckily, my spanish is much improved and although Reinaldo took it upon himself to purposefully confuse me, I hung in there with great understanding. It was nice to feel so much more relaxed in the surroundings.

We had a fairly uneventful night hike. That night, we rested much better. No cutter ants and a nice breeze. The jungle was starting to grow on me.

Day 5 was supposed to be our long day so we powered up on some great pancakes and hot cocoa. We were in for about 7 hrs of hiking up and over the mountains. No problem when your guide doesn´t get lost. The hike itself was so pretty. Butterflies everywhere, tons of mushrooms, massive ferns, and trees so tall you couldn´t see their tops through the canopy.

You can´t actually see much through the canopy, every now and then a tree will be down allowing the suns rays in. The hike was hard and again hot. My depth perseption is a tad off these days but I felt almost drunk trying to manuever through the super thick foliage: tripping and stumbling about, getting caught on every vine and branch. But in the end we made it to our campsite on the beach. Again not where we were supposed to camp but now it was time to build a raft and float down river.

Todd and I stripped down and relaxed in 5 inches of the most beautiful muddy water we had ever seen. Our clothes were drench from the hike and we wanted nothing more then to feel nice and cool. We did have to throw rocks into the shallow water first to scare off the mantarays. Weird to think of mantarays in the Amazon but I threw my rocks in anyway not wanting to test my luck. Another lovely meal of rice and canned vienna sausages and we were off to bed. I was exhausted after the days hike. Reinaldo pulled a nice little prank on us, calling some tapirs near our mosquito net. He was turning out to be an interesting guide.

Day 6 we woke up under the super hot sun. 7am and already sweating but we still managed to enjoy some coffee and more fried pancake things.

I was pumped, today we were building our raft. Reinaldo had located the wood the day before so now all we had to do was cut it into size for our balsa raft. This was easier said then done. Dead logs float better then the live ones so we started there. Taking turns hacking away at the logs, we slowly made progress. A saw would have been easier, but not as rustic and indigenous as a dull machete, so we accepted the authentic experience and wacked the wood the best we could until we had six logs.

For all the trees, once cut into the proper length, we had to debark them. This was hard work. We took a break and moved 4 of the logs to the assembly site, aka the side of the river, and then took a much needed dip in the river. This time we did manage to find a spot that was about a foot deep.

We let Reinaldo and Santos finish the last two logs and tie up the logs with jungle vines. We wouldn´t have been much help in that department. So, in the mean time, Todd and I made it personal mission to boil 3 full water bottles of river water. It was beautiful and brown with thick sediment in the bottom when we finished but at least it was purified. After that we relaxed and read under the protection of the mosquito net. At this point, sleeping under the mosquito net was no longer wearing on my nerves, it was actually quit pleasant.

Day 7, down the river we went. When we were cutting the logs they seemed huge. But when I looked at our bolsa raft, it seemed super small for 4 people and all of our gear.

At this point though, I was no longer worried about things getting wet because everything was damp and dirty. We loaded up and our maiden voyage begain. The Rio Tuiche is very shallow and has a lot of mini rapids. These were fun in our little raft. And we were completely drenched by the time we reached our destination an hour later.

This camp was luxury. Someone lady had gone through the process of acquiring papers and built half finish huts for a lodge. We had a platform and a proper thatched roof. Once we arrived, Todd and I set up a clothesline and attempted to dry our clothes. But we were quickly stiffled by a huge thunderstorm.

It was a comforting feeling to know we were 2ft up from the soggy ground and under a proper roof, because it was a super strong rain. We passed the time playing cards until Todd came up with an ingenious plan, collect rain water. We quickly dumped our merky brown water out and started collected water off the roof of the hut. We figured it had been raining long enough to wash out any super icky bugs. The water was beautiful and semi clear and it tasted so delicious. Proud of our work and with the rain letting up we attempted to make a fire, but not just any fire, Todd wanted a monster, raging fire.

We used an existing fire pit and got to work, searching for anything dry, building the perfect teepee shape so that the wood would dry out once we got the thing lit, etc.

It worked, we made a beautiful fire. Most of the credit should go to Todd, he was a bit more passionant then I. We enjoyed the fire, again, attempted to dry some clothes, and passed the time. Once the rain let up we went on an afternoon hike. Always, so much to look at: tucans, pavos (turkeys), tons of chonchos (wild pigs) that make a grunting sound under their breath, snakes, etc. I was beginning to get comfortable just wandering through the jungle.

That night we dined on rice before our night hike. We were informed by Santos that there was no more sugar, however, so the cocoa we had after was a little bitter. We were a little bitter that they had used all the sugar in juices that we never got to drink, but hey, you got to look beyond the small things, like sugar. For the night hike, we were instructed to wear shorts and sandles instead of pants because everything would be super wet. Not totally comfortable with the idea, but once I realized that Reinaldo wasn´t even wearing shoes I relaxed. We were lucky enough to see a member of the ocelot family. It looked like a little house cat, but I am sure it was capable of killing more then mice.

Day 8, After a wonderful nights sleep, we woke to the pitter patter of more rain. We quickly confirmed with Reinaldo that our morning hike would be postponed. So we leisurely sipped on coffee, which we finally realized was not instant rather regular coffee we were just adding hot water to. This explained the nondissolving factor. Anyway, we read some more, played more cards, attempted another fire, and of course, enjoyed each others company. We had two nights at this campsite, so we were in no hurry to do anything.

We did have a super eventful hike where we saw a wild deer as it dashed out of sight, a dead choncho along with more live ones, coatis (kind of like a fox or raccoon)

who were very docile and let us observe them for a good long time. This was in addition to the tons of monkeys we had already seen; spider, howler, capuchin, and one that they called 4 eyes. Plus all the crazy insects.

Day 9, we were off on our raft on a 2hr voyage down river. At this point I was feeling torn about the jungle. As awesome as all the plants and animals and fungi were, I was a little ready to be back in civilization. We had great weather for the float, just the right amount of sun. Some good rapids, a near tip, but a safe arrival at our last campsite.

We were now in a much lower part of Madidi so we walked up the well groomed path to a bird viewing area.

There we saw beautiful macaws and green finches duck in and out of their homes, wacos or holes in the side of a sheer cliff. The macaws are monogomas so they would fly in pairs across the sky.

The last morning we woke up at 4:30 in hopes of catching the sunrise from a meridor or view point. The was just on top of the cliff where we saw the birds the previous day. It was technically an off limits area because a young Israeli had fallen to his death from the same spot, but our guide said no one would be up that early to see us, so why not. You do have to love some of the things you can get away with in these less developed countries. A nice morning hike led us to a wonderful view. The sky was bright yellow and orange on one side with a thick conflicting fog and the green of the foliage on the other. At that moment, I was happy at a peace. I took a seat and watched the jungle wake up. Watched the birds stretch their wings for the first mornings flight, I even accepted the ant that insisted on crawling all over me. This was the end of a great trip. We sat for roughly an hour and enjoyed the scenery.

Seeing as we had run out of food, we were in no rush to make it back to camp for a hot breakfast.

So we meandered our way down, loaded up the bolsa raft and calmly drifted back to the jungle lodge. The day was still quiet and peaceful and the river and its banks seemed to glow with a charm and color I hadn´t fully appreciated before.

We made it back to the lodge. A tad sleepy but waiting with eager patience for a proper breakfast. Constant feedings of rice and more rice had taken there toll on us and Todd and I were ravenous. I did however discover that in a pinch, rice and warmed evaporated milk and probably a lot of sugar, are not half bad. We dined on eggs, fruit, pancakes, coffee, and juice and eagerly began replaying the last 10 days over to each other.