Jungle towns

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Sephaua, at last a town with a hostel including a comfy bed and running water! We were living the dream overlooking a beautifal park where we had the choice of a variety of cheap but tasty restaurants and even managed to wash our damp filthy clothes. After being befriended my a few local drunks whose only intentions were to get beer bought for them we decided to seek refuge in our hostel, and enhance our card playing skills!

It was all well and good being off the tourist trail, but we wanted to do a bit of trekking etc in the jungle, but we couldn't seem to find any way to do it. We liked the place, but as we'd been without cashpoints for over a week, we had to move on to Atalaya before we got stuck!

This time there were more regular boats - one every morning, so it was easier to sort out. At first we even had bench seats, but that didn't last long, as the seats had to make way for what looked like tonnes of grain, rice, bananas, and even a few bags of parrots and chickens - kept separately of course. It turned out that the rice sacks were comfier than they looked, so we had a nice trip.

Atalaya was a bit bigger than our previous stops, but still we didn't see any other tourists. We did see a cashpoint though which was good news. Another double room with ensuite and cable tv for 5 quid, which was pretty nice. In hope of jungle tours, we went off in search of a woman who apparently used to work for the well hidden local tourist board, and even though she was out of town, it turned out her neighbor was a bit of a jungle man himself, so we were booked up to head upriver a bit to see a little village and some waterfalls.

Sadly, on the jungle day Sarah was not feeling well and didn't come, which might have been for the best - it was the toughest most dangerous thing I've ever done! It was a wet day, and after picking up our rice and chicken wrapped in leaves, and 1 1/2 hours in another little boat we pulled up at a muddy bank and started off into the jungle. First came Ryan and Kees's favourite moment of the day, when we had to walk over a log ( that was far from straight) over a stream about 15ft wide. I lost my footing and landed ass first on the log before going backwards and headfirst into the water below. Apparently it was hilarious, but I took a while to see the funny side.

As it turned out getting wet wasn't a problem - important stuff was in a dry bag, and we were going to be getting wet all day! It turned out that our guide Manuel, was born in this little village, and we were the first foreigners that had seen it. After picking up some of Manuel's mates and their children we headed off hiking. Soon though, we were in the river again! These guys were pretty crazy, walking down the river, which was really fast flowing in places, and filled with rapids and various sized waterfalls from 2ft to 25ft high. So so dangerous, you kept feeling like you were going lose your footing with big rocky rapids waiting for you if you slip. There wasn't much health and safety about, but if the little kids could manage it, then so could we, and we all survived! The only shame was that we didn't get many photos as it was pretty damp and we didn't want to ruin the cameras. Ryan got some pictures of the scary bits, so you'll have to take my word for that!

A day or two later Sarah felt better and we headed off to the mountains again, leaving the jungle behind. Good times had by all though!

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Photos

All the gear, but no idea
Do you think he's ever seen a gringo before?