Amazonian Adventure - Yurimaguas, Pacasamayo, Tarapoto

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Hola...

Well good news, I was finally able to claw my way out of the Amazon Basin, 2 hours up into the foothills of Peru´s Northern Highlands in the city of Taropoto. I definitely got my fill of the jungle... whether it was swimming in a tributary of the amazon with pink dolphins, playing soccer with native children in an isolated village of 200, salsa dancing with a prostitute in a bar during a torrential downpour, waking up to find a disturbingly large spider laying dead on my mosquito net, or seeing mosquitos bite through 98% deet repellent. Alas, luxury (it´s relative) will ensue. Oh, how I have missed regular showers, fresh meals besides rice with river rish, and efficient transportation. The main form of transportation in the Amazon is boats, which are painfully slow (days at a time) and consistently late by hours. It was wearing on my patience. But the time I spent in the jungle was surreal. It is refreshing to see that there is still a place in the world that is entirely inpenetrable by people. You don´t have to go far into the jungle to feel completely isolated and vulnerable.

The jungle trip I went on was really expensive/overpriced, but the experience I had was priceless. It was overwhelming to actually set foot in a place that I had dreamed of all my life. I started my jungle adventure at 7 in the morning on Saturday, ready to lose myself in the jungle for the next three days. I had to pack a smaller bag... toothbrush repellent, sunscreen, extra boxers, and a longsleeve shirt was all I took. The guide came to pick me up at my hostal, and took me to the port where we were to catch the boat off into the jungle. To my horror, I found myself (once again) boarding La Lancha Eduardo, on the second floor... not even the top deck (and I paid quite a bit for the treck... i know they could easily afford the upper deck)!!! The boat left 2 hours late, which was disappointing, but not surprising. My guide was kind enough to wake me from my nap to eat lunch on the boat, which I gracefully avoided! After 5 hours in the large boat, we boarded a smalled boat that was tied to the lancha that would be capable of reaching the beach without being grounded. Eduardo didn´t even stop as we took off from the side of it. We stopped about 15 feet from shore, where I was instructed to take off my shoes, roll up my pants, and wade to shore. The beach we landed on was huge, and there was no village in sight. We had to walk about 20 minutes on a trail which cut through dense vegetation... barefoot. I was nervous, but the ground was really soft without any thorns or bugs. We crosses a small footbridge into the village of Pacasamayo. I was in awe. In a small clearing, there were about 6 wood houses with thatched roofs made of palm fronds, surrounded by cattle and bulls grazing lazily, with chickens and roosters clawing hungrily at the ground.

I was brought to the porch of my host family where I was able to put my stuff down (this would be my room). My guide (Blas) then disappeared inside his house, and I was left outside with about 10 ragged children, all silently staring up at me. Apparently this tour agency is very new, and I was one of the first gringos to visit the village. Naturally, the inner child inside came out, and I decided to play some games with them. We started with a game where I threw up a trashbag and they had to fight to catch it (they were very entertained by my height), which turned into a game of volleyball, and then barefoot soccer. The kids (8 at the oldest) were really good at soccer, and wore me out quickly. They had a pasture cleared for soccer by the grazing cattle, so everyone had to be careful to avoid the patties. I can´t tell who had more fun, me or the children. We had a blast, and I was constantly laughing in between my pants.

After the game ended, my guide came out and we headed back down to the river to bath. It was a little eerie at first, venturing out into the murkey water. We had to splash a lot to scare away the fish that had stingers. It was really cool to be splashing around, watching the pink river dolphines surface around us while the sun set across the beach behind the trees. I will remember that for the rest of my life.

We then trotted back in the dark, swatting the swarms of mosquitos, as my repellent had been washed off. We feasted on huge fried pirana for dinner and coffee with milk and loads of sugar. After dinner, we rested in hammocks while the food settled. We then set off on a night hike through the jungle. It was really interesting, and saw all the nasty creatures of the night. Creepily large spiders, rats, getting mobbed by giant moths, seeing several different types of frogs, etc. The most intriguing aspects was the opaque darkness when we turned off the flashlights in the shelter of all the trees and listen to the humming of frogs and insects, with the warning calls of monkeys off in the distance. The persistent mosquitos were able to find every place on my body that lacked repellent, but I was hardly concerned while taking in the ambiance.

We returned to the village and Blas and I set up my mosquito net and hammock. It is similar to a giant screen tent surrounding my hammock. I slept well that night, with a full belly, lulled to sleep by the symphony of noctournal animals. Only to be woken at first light by rooster crows!

The rest of the trip was great. We walked about an hour bag to a huge lake hidden in the forest. We saw monkeys, fished for piranahs, rested on ancient trees(800 years old), spotted the local tree sloth (her name is sophia, with her baby rene... she didn´t move), butterflies, tons of different birds. The monkeys were really fast, and blas offered to shoot one so I could get a picture. I politely declined. He also spoke of the crocs in the lake that can grow up to 10 meters... 3x the size of the small canoe that we paddled around in. Thge meal portions were HUGE. With constant refills. I had their version of spaghetti, noodles with tomatoe sauce and fried eggs on top. The people in the village were amazingly kind. They were all so happy, despite the disturbing amt of poverty that they live in. After 2 nights, I was sad to leave. I found the jungle to be interesting, though I was only exploring for a few hours out of 3 days... but the experiences with the people was def the highlight.

Anyways, I headed back on an even smaller boat at 11 on Monday morning. It would take 7 hours, as it had a smaller motor and had to go upstream to get back to Yurimaguas. The boat was about an hour and a half late, and was painfully slow. I got to Yurimaguas at 6, ate a quite dinner of the dish with rice and chicken in a banana leaf, and took off in a car headed to Tarapoto. There were not buses running, because the 28 and 29 of July is a holiday (Independence day). It was extremely efficient, took only 2 hours up into the foothills (but expensive... $16... but a bus would have taken 6 hours. It was nice to be in a car, because for the past week I have only ridden in mototaxis and boats. The road between Yurimaguas and Tarapoto was terrifying at times. The side dropped off in a steep cliff, and much of the road was underconstruction (dirt road) from mudslides. I was happy it was dark. The driver had no regard to safety, as he would skid around corners and fly through stopsigns. But we made it here safely around 10pm last night.

I woke up this morning and got reservations for the bus to Piura at 1:30 pm. 18 hours! Unfortunately, I cannot find a novel in english for the life of me.... and sedatives are prescription only. I am screwed! Anyways, from Piura, it should be about 6 -10 hours into ecuador. Will post pictures soon!

ADIOS!

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