To the jungles of Peru...jaguars and piranhas and anacondas, OH MY!

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So we sadly said goodbye to Home Sweet Home and the beautiful city of Cusco. Our luggage was a little heavier after all our shopping, and Rachel and Delia also had ornate walking sticks that helped them through the Inca Trail. Mine (Ana's) reeked of vomit and Chas and I were too cheap to buy a prettily designed one (thank goodness Chas says) so I decided to leave it behind.

A brief stopover in Lima with the wonderful Pedro and Emma to repack all the stuff we left there before heading to Cusco (a deeply horrible process that Chas and I put off until we came back from the jungle) ended back at Lima airport via taxi. It has always been a really cosy ride when we've caught taxis together! As James is the tallest it was decided he should take the front seat (damn you Darwin!). That leaves Chas, Rach, Delia and I to get to know each other very well in the back of very small cars. I would imagine it's a funny sight watching us try to get in and out, 'Hang on, just need to get this leg from behind your ear. Your turn!'

Huelgas

y motocarros en las Amazonas
I was very happy to board the plane to Pucallpa for many reasons. Firstly I had not seen my family for 4 years (bar seeing my aunt and grandmother at our wedding) and I was so excited! And we had a new member as my cousin, Maribel, had a baby (Adara Isabella) in November 2006 whom I could not wait to meet. I was honoured to be asked to supply her middle name.

Secondly, we almost missed our plane to Cusco last time we were in Lima airport. We rocked up to the check-in desk an hour (instead of 2 hrs incidentally) before the flight, waiting to hand over our luggage and be on our way. We were kindly informed that there were no seats left on the plane. He went away for a long time to discuss the issue with middle management and then returned to say that he had bumped someone less lucky than us off and we could all go. We then sprinted through departure tax, security checks and the length of the terminal to get on board. Once on board with boarding passes you would assume normalcy would reassert itself but not where Chas and I are involved: several people had boarding passes printed with the same number on it! So I had a panic when I thought James was taken off the plane because I couldn't see him. Oh the joy of flying in South America (boy do we have a story to tell you about our flight from Chile, but that is for a later blog).

Thirdly, there had been talks of a regional strike or huelga and when they strike in Peru they go for the real deal. No one is allowed to do anything remotely commericial, including driving ambulances. The entire province shut down, no one had access to food for ten days! If the strike had started, we could well have not even flown to Pucallpa as air traffic controllers would be on strike too. We arrived in Pucallpa admidst much commotion and excitement. There was a welcoming crowd blowing whistles, beating drums and waving balloons. Unsurprisingly, it was not for us. The regional president (akin to state premier) was on our flight and returning after some successful negotiations with the national government that (thankfully for us) staved off the strike.

We celebrated our arrival with our first autorickshaw ride, or motocarros as they are called in Peru. Long term followers of this blog will remember how much we enjoyed these in India. They are motocycles with a seat for two people (or three or four or eight depending on how you squeeze) and they are delightfully open. You drive along experiencing everything, in shade and with a cool breeze. We rode along, looking at the lush jungle plants in amongst mud houses on dirt roads. We had arrived in the jungle and it was glorious.

But deeper my friends, we must go deeper!

We spent the next three days and two nights exploring the jungle by boat and on foot. I was very unsure as to whether to do the trip. Unlike the Inca Trail which was completely organised by a tour group, I had no idea what this trip was going to be like. Carmela and Genaro, my aunt and uncle, had told us is that we were going to sleep out in the jungle and hike through virgin rainforest. But there would be no tents! No showers! No nothing other than lush Amazon and gazillions of zancudos, aka the dreaded mosquito! But I didn't want to come all the way to the jungle and not see as much of it as we could. Thankfully Carmela and Genaro were joining us which made us feel better but my cousin Flavio said he would not go unless dragged by wild horses. So it was with a little trepidation that we set off.

It was fantastic. The best bit was travelling on the trusty wooden boat, Giselita. There was a gentle breeze to cool you off, we had a deck of cards and there was plenty of time to catch up on some zzz's. In fact, it took us 11 hours to finally reach our first camping spot and, after all that sitting, our bums were very square. While puttering along on the boat we got to just relax and watch the passing rainforest. It is truly amazing how much life there is in the jungle. Obviously the varied tropical plants, up to their canopies in water as it was rainy season and the river had raised several metres. The difference between wet and dry seasons is incredible; whole villages disappear and get abandoned. The indigenous river people are very nomadic as a result and sowing and harvesting crops at the right time is vital.

Our first stop was Genaro's new chacra or orchard to harvest some corn for lunch. They will be now planting a highly water resistant plant called kamu kamu, which is a fruit that is highly sought after in Japan. Then it was a few hours before we stopped for a lovely lunch break under some trees. Whilst lunch was underway, our captain Jose strung up hammocks and then disappeared into the jungle. He returned later carrying a thick curved branch that he called una de gato or cat's nail. He sliced off one end, held it up and then drank the very liquid sap that poured out. He explained that it was a great water source when you have no access to water (unlikely in this season). This was our first survival lesson. I was certainly hoping there would be no practical test at the end!

Then it was on to the river Ucayali, one of three major rivers that flow out of the Andes and then feed into the mighty Amazon river. It was here that we saw bufeos or river dolphins. These are always a joy to watch but some have the added excitement of being pink! They are freshwater, salmon coloured dolphins! There must have been a party going because there were lots of these beautiful animals playing in the water.

After that it was several hours of drifting along stunning rainforest, playing spot the exotic animals. We managed to see sloths, ant eaters, river dolphins, iguanas, huge vulture like birds gracing the skies, camungos (birds) and every kind of insect known to man. It was almost dark when Jose selected where we were going to camp, under the overhanging branches (which he later told us were actually the roots) of a large tree. And it was as we stepped off the boat that the mosquitos began their feasting! They came by the million, insect repellant was useless against the hordes of these buzzing, itchy nightmares. Whilst we were slapping ourselves, Jose and Genaro cleared a site with machetes with alacrity. We could not help as there were only two machetes but we would have probably lopped each other's feet off and really, we could only watch two masters at work.

Once the area was cleared, Jose chopped down a tall, thin branch and made a roof with a large plastic tarp. For a moment I thought we would be simply sleeping on the forest floor but then out came another sheet of plastic for the floor and then mattreses and mosquito nets, much to our relief. Phew! Did not want to do it that tough. Unfortunately sunset is the worst time for mozzies; they are everywhere and if you sought refuge under your net it was unbearably hot. So kind of like out of the frying pan into the fire.
Whilst out there in the jungle, going to the toilet became a bit of an adventure. The challenge was to do your business without getting bitten on your bum by mozzies. Chas was so inspired he wrote a poem about it:

Commotion shortly ensued
When,
While relieving himself of certain hydraulic pressures,
The zancudos in their droves they dove
For the only unrepellant piece of flesh exposed.

We sung ourselves to sleep that night (much to the amusement of the four Peruvians with us no doubt) and I personally had a really good night's sleep. It was wonderful to stir briefl in the middle of the night and hear the sound of the rain on the plastic, feel the temperature dorp and roll over under the sheet. Aaahhh...

Tavanas, the real kings

of the jungle
We woke the next morning to the sound of enormous birds called camungos. These have been hunted a lot as they are big, not very quick and tend to annouce themselves. Delia described their boisterous calls as a cross between a goose and a cow I believe. Chas thought it sounded like a trumpet drowning. This day was the best day: we started with a bit of walk from the campsite with Jose trying to give us the amazon experience. He went ahead with machete and we trailed behind. As it was rainy season we could not go far without getting waterlogged so it was back to the boat so seek higher ground.

On this boat ride, Chas became acquainted with the evil tavanas, a nastyflying bug that hurts when they withdraw after having sucked your blood. Chas described them as Satan's welcoming party. Chas decided that he was more comfortable on the boat in shorts, t-shirt and no boots. (Chas would like to say at this point that despite being plagued by the most evil insect on this Earth, he was more comfortable in the heat than the others clad from top to bottom). The tavanas were thrilled to have such skin exposed. Most did not survive and Chas was quite lethal in slapping himself (self-dubbed the Goebbels of Tavanas).

That day's task was to survive a hike through proper rainforest, only possible with our expert machete artist and leader Jose. The walk was tough; the heat was very oppressive and the zancudos were there in record numbers, fascinated by the white meals on legs. Jose walked aroung in a wifebeater stating that the zancudos knew him well and so did not go to him. Boy were they getting to know us well. Poor Rachel was their worst victim, going for her like bees to honey. Jose's talks about the jungle legends were fascinating (stories about girl-eating mosquito men and their son the werewolf were harder to follow than Fear and Loating in Las Vegas) and his knowledge of local medicines was impressive. It made you realise what modern medicine might miss out on if the rainforest continues to be destroyed; there were local cures to everything from malaria to intestinal parasites. Chas was the only one who understood Jose's very local Spanish dialect which made the heat and mossies very hard to bear for long.

Thankfully the next stop was swimming in the Amazon river. James enjoyed the water so much that he ate his lunch over the edge of the boat whilst still lurking in water. We only managed to get him out as we were setting off. It was only days later than Genaro let us know that sting rays lived in the mud we were splashing around in. He figured it was better if we were not scared and would deal with a sting only if it happened.

Our last campsite was heaven. Once again under some trees but for some reason there were no zancudos. We could not believe our luck and began to really appreciate the beauty, life and tranquility around us. Delia and I sat on the boat for ages and were not very successful. The only thing I caught was a branch which was so skinny I decided to release it back into the wild.

At night Jose took us back up stream to go searching for crocodiles. We had to drift along with the current not making noise that would scare them away. We had to wait a long time as the moon was full and the crocs were very timid and would dive if they saw our boat. The night sky remained crystal clear and bright. Jose did his best but sadly we only heard the famous crocs instead of seeing one. Jose tried calling them by emitting a low, loud, throaty sound and one responded to his call but did not come out to meet us.

The only excitement of the morning was waking up inside our tent (Chas and I set it up so that Carmela and Genaro would not have to sleep on the boat) and seeing an enormous spider on our tent door. Chas was immensely embarrassed by me calling for help and Carmela flicked it away without much fear. The spider looked very similar to a huntsman but did not crawl but moved by springing from spot to spot, front legs raised rather like a kangaroo.

Carmela had caught a large catfish that night while we were croc hunting and we were treated to fresh fish for breakfast! Genaro tried to claim it as his own but we all knew the truth. Then it was back on the boat for the return journey. We stopped at San Francisco which is a lakeside settlement for the indigenous Shipibo tribe. It began about 50 years ago and in the four years since Chas and I last visited it now has schools and electricity. It was good to see the tribes keeping together to preserve their culture and forward their prospects although Jose noted that now you rarely see people in their traditional dress having swapped for the cheap and available jeans and t-shirts.

Dinner back home was a relief. We had survived sleeping in the Amazon rainforest under a tarp. Genaro told us about all the things that could have attacked us on our trip with relish; apart from the sting rays there were anacondas, piranhas, poisonous snakes, wild jungle pigs, vampire bats (my Dad got bitten by one when working on another river) lots of nasty bugs and that wonderful little fish that can swim up a stream of urine and lodge itself in your urethra. They can only be removed surgically due to a cunning barb on their tail!

On the second day I was bitten by a rather large ant that really hurt! Genaro told me not to worry as the pain would only last minutes, which it did. He explained how there are other ants that bite and the pain can last for 24 hours. I was telling my dad about this over the phone, and he told me he'd been bitten before by one of these, whilst he was working in the jungle further north of Pucallpa. He said it hurt so much that he got my mum to inject a local anaesthetic into the site.

One last nasty story, I was chatting to am American guy on the bus to the Colca Canyon who had been volunteering in Ecuador for about six months, and he got bitten by some insect that then laid its eggs in the wound. He ended up in hospital as they tried to remove the little colony. He's okay now though!

But it was time to meet the family and prepare for Christmas and New Years, which are celebrated very differently in Peru. We had survived!

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Photos

A transport of delight
And yes it is better than a double decker bus Flanders and Swann

Chas learning how to harvest corn
Oh dear - Chas with a razor sharp machete!

An ant eater
Couldn't imagine that position being very comfy! But good for sun bathing I guess!

Campsite on day two and three
Heavenly

Ana and Delia fishing
Needless to say they did not catch anything but they look cute trying

Chas and James make full use out of the hammocks
Zancudos or no zancudos

Here little piggy
Delia was a big fan of the piggies! Thought they were very cute!

Comments

[Sof]

bum bum bum bum bum
hehehe... picturing ana with a square bum.... :)