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Published: March 20th 2009
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I can try to describe, in words and photographs, just how vast, deep, green, mysterious, and alive the Amazon Rainforest is, but I doubt that I will do it justice. You really do have to be there, standing in the dense jungle, the heat heavy and the alien noises of a thousand different species surrounding you, to appreciate how awe (and fear) inspiring this part of the world actually is. But, as this is a blog, I will endeavour to create an accurate picture for you, of the many colourful sights, sounds and smells of the Amazon Rainforest.
We arrived into the tiny airport of Puerto Maldonado and were immediately hit by thick, humid heat; it was like walking through a steam room, and it would continue to be like that, except for the few hours of torrential rain we would get each day. From there, we drove to Tambopata River, where we transferred to boat and travelled upstream to our jungle lodge. The river snakes its way through the rainforest, each bank thick with foliage, and the water is full of life, from the turtles basking on rocks to the crocodiles who only surface enough for you to see
their eyes. We docked an hour and a half later, and walked ten minutes through the jungle, to the lodge. It is definitely the most unique place either of us has stayed in; it´s completely open, with no doors or windows, so your room looks straight out into the jungle. In the daylight, it had an air of romanticism about it, with the candles, hammocks and mosquito nets over the beds. Even as evening drew in, it was beautiful; there was a storm and the lightning lit up the entire sky for hours. But at night, the lodge transformed into my worst nightmare. Cockroaches and beetles emerged from their hiding places to scuttle across the floor, bats flew in and out of the room freely, and all through the night you could hear twigs snapping and leaves rustling right outside. The noise of the cicadas was incessant, constant backing music for the many varied and foreign sounds of the jungle, reminding us just how many different creatures were out there, and perfectly able to just waltz in. There was chirping, cawing, flapping, crying, hissing, and it never stopped. At one point during the night, somebody started screaming and then stamping
loudly on the floor. We did not ask them what they had found in their room; we didn´t want to know. The problem was that there was no electricity, so if you felt something crawling on you, you couldn´t simply flip a switch and everything becomes illuminated. You have to light a candle, or wind up the torch, and often you wouldn´t like what you saw. I lay beneath the mosquito net, clutching the torch and imagining my bed surrounded by bugs and snakes; needless to say, I didn´t sleep well.
But when the sun rises, the jungle charms and coaxes you into forgetting why you were ever scared. Cockroaches are replaced by colourful lizards. Bats go into hiding, surrendering the branches to the cheerful and perpetually tuneful parrots and parakeets. What was sinister and dangerous at night became exotic and adventurous come morning. But even in the daylight you have to be careful. After our traumatic experience with those deer in Nara - I see them whenever I close my eyes - we have learnt to be wary of any so-called "cute" animals. This is why I wasn´t surprised when we saw some monkeys in a tree and
one of them positioned itself very carefully above us, so that when it emptied its bladder, we were in the line of fire. Thankfully, it was off course by a few centimetres, so we remained urine-free, but do you see what I mean? All animals hate us! Well, two can play at the game; next time I see a McDonalds, I´m going in!
On our first day, we trekked into the jungle to reach the canopy tower; a 120ft tower of scaffolding that reaches above the tree level. We clambered up, butterflies following us the whole way, and when we reached the top, the view was breathtaking. We could see the river in the distance, and we watched monkeys playing in the trees below, and parrots flying by; it really was wonderful. The tower shook in the wind though, so we didn´t stay up for too long. The following day, the winds were so strong that a tree fell into the lodge; I´m glad that we weren´t in the tower for that!
Other than general hiking through the jungle, and lying in the hammocks reading, we went to visit an ox-bow lake. We just floated along on a
boat, very early in the morning, watching out for wildlife in the reeds. We saw hundreds of different birds, flashes of colour darting out of the grass and disappearing into the trees, and the water was full of piranhas - we kept our hands well out of the water. I also went to some botanical gardens, where the community´s shaman grows and mixes medicinal plants. There was one plant that I chewed the stem of and it instantly numbed my entire mouth; it worked better than any local anaesthetic back home. So some of the medicines and mixtures seem to work, but I´m a little dubious about his bottle of "love potion".
Our last night there, we did something very very foolish. We agreed to go on a night hike with our guide and a group of other people. I can´t stress enough how incredibly dark the jungle is at night, nor how full of wildlife it is. Everywhere you turn, there is some creature hiding in the undergrowth or camouflaged against a tree trunk. I admit that I was terrified the whole time, as we stumbled our way through the trees, looking at all the creatures that the
guide pointed out. I could handle the cluster of furry caterpillars. I could handle the giant stick insect. I could handle the rodent the size of Prince. I could handle the huge cobweb absolutely covered with spiders. I could even handle the scorpion that sat perched on a branch, waiting patiently for somebody foolish enough to walk to close by. But when the guide led us wading through muddy water in search of snakes, I had to put my foot down. I have seen enough films to know that actively seeking out anacondas and vipers in the middle of the jungle (and at night!!) causes nothing but trouble, so I refused to go any further. I´m a wimp, I know, but at least I´m a wimp who is still alive!
I know that I´m making the rainforest out to be absolutely terrifying, and it is, but it really was amazing. I have never been somewhere where every second you are seeing something you have never seen before. It´s a world miles apart from anywhere else, in more ways than one, and I appreciated every second of it, even the parts when I was genuinely fearing for my life. I
am so happy that we went, but at the same time, I am so happy that we´re back and safe, in a world with electricity and flushing toilets. We have a couple of days in Lima, where we can recover, get some sleep for the first time in quite a few days and then it is "Goodbye Peru" and off to the land of the free!
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Deborah
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I am NEVER going there!
I'm amazed you managed to enjoy it! I'm very glad you did, but I would just have freaked completely. How on earth did you cope? Well done!