Where do I begin?
First of all, I was way excited that they played “Gags” on the LAN Peru flight. We always flew LAN we went to Piura, and without fail, they play this show, which is a mix between Candid Camera and Punk’d, except it’s Canadian, which it makes it even more incredible. So funny. The Peruvians looooove it, as do I. Our last LAN flight was from Lima to Cusco, and I was too sick to notice Gags, so this was a pleasant surprise.
When we stepped off the plane, my exact thoughts were, ‘This is going to be hell.’ The heat was overwhelming, and it wasn’t just the heat, but the humidity. We were waiting for our bags and I was basically hating my life. I didn’t voice my discontent, but everyone still noticed. About six people asked me that day if I was OK, if I was upset, etc. It must have been written on my face. We met our guides and we rode a bus to the their office in Puerto Maldonado where we left most of our luggage. We then took the bus to the Tambopata River where our boat was waiting for us. A three-hour boat ride ensued. They gave us lunch, which was rice with mushrooms and egg wrapped in a leaf. I was comforted at this point because they had already given us a snack on the bus, and anyone who feeds us twice within two hours is OK in my book.
Mmmm... leaf lunch.
Courtney, Kim, and Chinh taking in all of the surrounding nature and wildlife.
Rollin, rollin on the river
Pretending to like the jungle
At first, I considered the jungle like Martin Nature Park on steroids. I mean it’s pretty similar at first: muddy river, turtles, bugs, uncomfortably hot, but my opinion soon changed.
We saw so much wildlife just on the boat ride to Refugio Amazonas. We saw a turtles, a caiman, birds, monkeys, and capybaras (largest rodent in the world – what a claim to fame). Kathryn insisted on putting her hand outside of the boat so the water would splash it. I got mad at her in typical mom fashion (if I don’t take care of her, who will?) and she claimed the sprinklets of water were microscopic. To which I replied, “How big do you think parasites are? Microscopic.” She stopped soon after.
We had to stop at a checkpoint on the river and we got our passport stamped for entering a protected area. The stamp is really cool with a huge jaguar on it. Kathryn insisted I ask the man what kind of animal it is, I was embarrassed, but she persisted, so I went for it. He responded “jaguar” but he said in such a fantastic accent with so much gusto, that it was hilarious. For the rest of the trip the whole group pronounced jaguar in Spanish – “haaaguarrrr.”
Once the boat stopped, we had about a fifteen-minute walk through the rainforest to the lodge. This was our first time really trekking through the jungle. If it wasn’t Martin Nature Park on steroids, then what was it? And that’s when it hit me, I was in my very own episode of LOST. And this is the moment where I started to enjoy myself. Sure, my skin doesn’t glisten quite as beautifully as Kate’s, and there is definitely no Jack Shepherd to be found, but a girl can dream.
LOST, however, does not mention the copious amounts of bugs in the jungle. Surprisingly, I didn’t see one mosquito during my time in the jungle, but there were insects everywhere. I would hear constant buzzing in my ears. I’ve discovered that ignorance is bliss when it comes to bugs. After dinner, we headed back to the river to go looking for caimans. This is when I saw the biggest spider of my life – even on TV. It was easily bigger than my hand. Jane told me not to look. I wish I hadn’t, but I couldn’t resist. I’ve never seen anything like it.
We saw maybe four or five baby caimans, but I was really concerned that the big mama was going to come out and attack us. No one else seemed that worried. I’m very much on edge here, but it seems like everyone else underestimates the threats of the jungle.
That night we tried our shower for the first time. Very difficult considering there’s no electricity. So when the sun goes down, so do we. I showered by candlelight. Que romantica. You would think a cold shower would be welcome when it is so hot (and I mean soooo hot – even at night), but not really. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a cold shower. I then started what would be my nightly routine: brush teeth, take out contacts, spray myself with bug spray, spray my bed with bug spray, bug check on my mosquito net, blow out candle, sleep. You might think, that’s a lot of bug spray, well you would be right. I’m convinced that if malaria doesn’t kill me, deet will.
My living situation.
Just kidding - it's more like this. Three walls, one side open to the outside. We rocked paper scissored to see who would have the bed closest to the outside - guess who lost.
The lodge - or as I like to call it, Ewok Village
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