Another early morning. Now that makes three sunrises. What is it with this place? Normally, I wouldn’t mind because you think it would be cooler in the early morning – wrong. It is ridiculously hot 24/7. Imagine sweating constantly – literally every single minute – whether trekking through the jungle (obvs), riding on the boat, eating, talking, sitting, laying in bed, sleeping. There is a constant layer of sweat present at all times. All of my clothes are damp, even the ones I haven’t worn yet, because it’s so humid.
But enough complaining (I think that might be the primary purpose of this blogito – whining). We walked to the clay lick (clay lick, not salt lick) that birds frequent because they are not discriminatory in their eating habits (just like me), and so they eat poisonous things too and the clay neutralizes the poison, or coats their stomach, or maybe they just like the taste – I have no idea.
We saw lots of parrot and some macaws. The hardest thing about being in the jungle is being quiet so you don’t scare the animals. It reminds me of when Ford would take me fishing and I was so bored because him and Clint wouldn’t let me talk. The guides give us a lot of, “cállate” and even some “shut ups.” We tried to explain to Oscar, our guide, about all of the great bird watching in Oklahoma. Hello? Can you say scissor-tailed flycatcher? He wasn’t impressed. I also explained to Oscar that he really needs to watch LOST. He seemed interested. It’s hard to tell though. Any joke I make to the guides is met with a blank stare. I then follow with “chiste!” Still nothing. I’ll have to work on my Spanglish comedy.
Hanay = professional bird watcher and wildlife enthusiast
Kristina is eyeing an abeja that was a little too close for comfort
After lunch we played Peru vs. USA volleyball. I say we, but I prefer to watch other people embarrass themselves rather than participate myself.
Andy = MVP
In the afternoon we went to a mammal clay lick. The only animal was saw was the bat inhabiting the structure we were sitting in. Kristina and I played tic tac toe and Pictionary with the guides using sticks to draw in the dirt.
Tuesday night was easily the most exciting/terrifying night in the jungle. As I was finishing my shower by candlelight, I spotted something on the wall. At first I thought it was a leaf. And then I saw it was in the shape of a frog and it looked like a decoration or something. I thought, “hmm… funny I don’t remember that being there before.” AND THEN IT MOVED. Oh, I uttered some serious profanity, which is great because we don’t have ceilings or complete walls for that matter, so everyone heard me. Revae came to my rescue, but instead of rescuing me, she just took pictures. Not helpful. She said I should put it outside or just leave it be. I said, “hell no.” This is beyond my capabilities and I am getting reinforcements. So I went to the main building and asked Oscar and Ruly, our guides, for their help. They found my sense of urgency very comical. Oscar picked him (maybe her?) up and let him go outside. Outside is now a relative term because we basically live outside. Ryan was like, “I’m curious to see your reaction if you encountered something actually dangerous, like a tarantula or anaconda.” He doesn’t know me at all. I said, “It would be exactly the same. Scream and run like hell. You can’t go wrong.”
That night I had one more thing to add to my nightly routine: frog check. Uggh. My roommates, Courtney and Ashley, wanted to stay up later than I did, but I was too scared to go to bed alone, especially after the frog incident. Kathryn, like a great friend, kept me company for a few minutes until I was able to get in bed.
I woke an hour or so later to Courtney’s, “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god.” She was in the bathroom and A FROG HAD JUMPED ON HER LEG! And I thought I had it bad before. I have never seen anyone scramble into bed so fast. It was like an Olympic dive under the mosquito net into her bed. Oh, Curney – what a character.
No comments:
Post a Comment