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Published: July 14th 2007
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Ok, day 14 at last. Not that day 16 isn´t just a few hours away...
Woke up pretty early today, 7:15, to shower and get some breakfast. We had a brief group meeting to discuss the "behavior problem" from the previous night, and the possibility of leaving the lodge a day early. Fortunately the majority of the group decided to stick it out for another day. Like I said, reminded me of camp so I was enjoying the wilderness. Well, for the most part anyway. (Some of the group didn´t like the whole "roughing it" concept)
Remember how I mentioned that having high socks would have been beneficial for the weekend in the jungle? Well, it turns out that when I woke up on Saturday, I had a mild rash/irritation on my lower left leg. I didn´t think too much of it and got ready to go on the Zip-Line canopy expedition. I did get some cloth to wrap around my left leg and stuffed my feet and jeans into the boots once again.
Our group consisted of Vinny, Fiore, Jenna, Tabitha, both Erins and myself, and of course our tour guides. We spent about two hours
at the canopy, and let me just say that it took a good five minutes for me to be mentally prepared each time I had to leave one of the platforms to head to the next. Check out the following link for more specifics on the Canopy exploration that we did.
Zip-line Canopy Exploration Did I mention that we were 100ft in the air??
The walk back after the canopy trip was a bit painful for me as my leg was starting to hurt. When we arrived back at the lodge I pulled off my boots and took a look at my leg. Words can´t even describe... apparently I got some sort of parasite or fungus from the boot the day before, and my leg was/is covered with red rashy bumps and ulcers. Looks like pimples (ewwwwwww, sooo gross! It is so gross that I am giving you the option to view the picture, which doesn´t really show the true ickiness of it. There is a gallery attached to my travelblog, and the picture will be available there. Kind of like a train wreck, Natalie and Vinny have said- it´s so disturbing yet they can´t look away!)
Not to worry,
I did visit the pharmacy today and got some topical ointment to apply 3x daily. It might not go away for quite a few days though, so wish me luck!
Back at the lodge, Gerlo applied some "Dragon's Blood" to my leg, which made it look like I was bleeding. There is a picture of that too... Dragon´s Blood is just a salve made from tree resin found in the Amazon. It serves many medicinal purposes... see link Dragonsblood
The afternoon was spent at a local pueblo (Buena Vista) which we had to take a motorboat to. Beautiful ride and the pueblo was really cool. The children are adorable (as they are everywhere we have been). Because the residents of the pueblos get together for soccer tournaments during the year, each pueblo is required to have a soccer field! I liked that part.
We saw another shaman at this pueblo, and originally thought I might want him to take a look at the rash on my leg. But as we walked through the village and he coughed and spit, and snot-rocketed the entire time, I decided against it. Got a littla nauseated there, I won´t lie.
The children gathered in their schoolhouse to sing for us, and then we took them to the local "bodega" to buy some cookies and candies. Then they brought out their jewelry to sell us, and when we regretfully said thank you, but no thank you (ok, ok, I bought a bracelet) they placed the jewelry on us anyway and said "es un regalo," or "it´s a gift." A gift which they expected some payment for in return...
Back to lodge to get ready for dinner where we heard the guides playing some music on their instruments. Dinner was wonderful, of course, and followed by a cake that was presented to our group as a thank you for coming. We sang Happy Birthday to Rudy though, since it was his birthday.
After dinner we took a moonlit boatride out on the Amazon to look for the "caiman," a South American crocodile. Gerlo jumped right into the water to retrieve one and brought it back onto the boat. I even held it! But guess what? My camera battery died, (AGAIN) and I do not have the pictures to post on this blog entry. I will try and get the ones
Natalie took with her camera and add them at a later date.
The night sky was amazing- any star gazers out there would have loved this excursion.
I took a benadryl and went to sleep when we got back. Well, tried to anyway, the damn frog outside my room wouldn't shut up!
Sunday´s entry will come with Monday's... we need to leave for the airport at 6am tomorrow, so I need to catch some zzzzzzzz´s
Alyssa
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mamacita
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your leg
Hi! I hope the medicine is helping your leg. I am not sure I want to see pictures of your leg with the "dragon blood." Are you having grubs for lunch or anaconda? Yummy! I don't care if they do taste like coconut, they are still larva! Ewwww. Well, looking forward to your next entry and I guess it will be from Chiclayo. Curious to hear how it differs from Iquitos, and Lima. Poverty everywhere in Peru, for sure. But, you can't wipe the smiles off those kids faces! So sweet. Love, mama'