All alone in the rainforest

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Well, not quite. I am sure there were a LOT of other animals with us, but we were luckily the only guests at our lodge, which meant we had a private guide, driver, bartender, chef and one hell of a good time. The result of this alone time is that we got to really know everyone who worked at the lodge and got to do exactly what we wanted to do and see exactly what we wanted to see. I got to help one of the guys learn English from a grammer and in the process learned just how much Spanish I "forgot".

Let me start by saying, I thought I would be bored, I mean how many days can one look at wildlife and live in a room without anything but a bed and a light? Well, apparently six days wasn't enough! I loved it!

The jungle is at times a dark seemingly inpenetrable place, where animals hide to escape predators. In reality, it is teaming with life, if one knows where to look. It is in a constant cycle life, death, destruction and rebirth. It is a place which plants and animals have adapted to protect themselves and most all vegetation is either spiny, poisioness or noxious. It is a place where pirranah lurk under the surface and caymens guard the shore, where huge hawks fly overhead and you had better keep your head up or you might walk into a sunbathing snake hanging from a tree but don't forget to look down or you might step on a tarantula. It is a place where the local people fish and farm for survival and the cost of a "new" shirt is measured in chickens as opposed to Sol's. A chicken for a shirt or a pair of ubiquitous rubber boots. It is a place where the only education provided in six subjects, one being Catholicism is only provided to sixth grade. It is a place where you can live in a village of 100 and meet your next wife at a village picnic after a few beers, ask her to move in and bam, new wife, new village! It is a place you can be pregnant at 14. And it is a place that the government of Peru has seemingly forgot about a whole minority population. It is a place where local villagers wave to you as you ride a dug out canoe down the Amazon even though they don't know you (no, it's not Mayberry South America!). It is a place where because you are alone, you expect quiet, yet the screaming of monkey's and the croaking of frogs keeps you awake at night pondering how alone you really are. It is a place that quite simply, is like no other on Earth.

Feeling the need to do something to help out, Eric and I contributed notebooks to the kids. It's the least that can be done and something that frankly should be taken care of by the government. It is ironic in that the government will promote tourism of the rainforest but yet forget about the inhabitants who act as it's caretakers. If their children were better educated, it might open up possibilities that haven't even been thought up today. Yet, what can we expect with a sixth grade education? Surely Peru won't be in the forefront of a global economy. And the sad thing is that it doesn't seem to be changing anytime soon.

Now onto my fun stuff...

I have challenged myself on this trip to push myself a little. To that end, we find Eric and Lisa floating down the Amazon fishing for pirranah for dinner. Before you ask, yes, I did eat a small piece (very small). Before I did and in the midst of much complaining and whining, I asked what it tasted like, Eric, was nice enough to tell me like the bait we fed it. Well, it didn't. It really was mild and didn't remotely taste like fish at all. Not that I would really know, having sworn off fish at nine years old! But then again, it isn't like I am going into Basha's and buying pirranah, so what the heck! I guess the other episodes or interest all took place during our nocturnal adventures (I know what you are thinking...NATURE WALKS, get your mind out of wherever it was going). Anyway, I am terrified of tarantulas and seemed to find them at every corner so, why not hold one? Why not make friends with another reptile, a baby caymen, we caught off the side of the boat?

Now, while it is a rainforest, it is the dry season but you can still see the floodlines on the folliage. Keep in mind Phoenix gets about 7 inches of rain a year. I could swear we were getting that during one storm. Every day, we have various boat trips to see things ranging from the pink dolphins to the worlds largest water lillies. We also have hikes, which require something akin to irrigation boots. Well, needless to say, it rained and it's a little muddy. I am carrying my day pack and my big camera, which is a whole other story. I am hugely unhappy with my new lens. It is slightly slower to focus than Nikkor lens' and as a result it is nearly impossible to get any fast moving animals flying (like birds AKA, most of the wildlife you can see). Anyway, we find Eric and Lisa, naturalist and boatdriver our in the jungle going for an afternoon walk looking for pygmy marmosets. Well, it is wet and muddy and guess what happens if you don't go fast? You sink! So I am up to the top of my boots struggling to get out, laughing at the hilarity of the fact that I am about to fall on my behind and ruin my obscenly expensive new camera, I can't seem to use. If it had not been for the naturalist, I'd be there still stuck in the mud!

Now as far as our lodge went, it was amazing! The only drawback was the lack of any hot water and I do mean any! It is quite invigorating to shower in ice cold water at the crack of dawn. But, despite that, I'd go back in a heartbeat and so would high maintenance husband! The lodge is affiliated with Cornell University and actively is involved in trying to maintain their area of the forest, so they take in and raise animals that they find in markets and left as babies when villagers kill the parents for food. So there is Gregory, the peccary (think pig-like thing...really cute) and a few Macaws as well as the most adorable baby monkey ever. It is nice to see that there was action behind the sentiments commonly heard about protecting the forest. That in itself was more refreshing than the morning cold shower!

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Photos

Yarapa River
Our lodge was located on a small tributary of the amazon

Me and Monkers
One of the many lodge rescues

Did something just land on my head
One of the many nocternal creatures we encountered

Fishy Fishy Fishy
It would probably be easier to catch them with my fingers

I thought they were kissing fish
What not to do with your pirannah

Smile you are on candid camera
Defiinitely not a kissing fish.....oops

Not so vicious now are you?
Kinda tastes like chicken......the universal meat

Comments

[katie]

Details
That sounds awesome. What was the name/location of the lodge where you stayed?

[Paula Morgan]

Thank you!
Thank you for sharing your experiences on the net! You don't know how much this helps when your child comes home from school with homework to describe their experience of walking through the rainforest when you and they have never been! Thanks Again! Paula x