Friday, Sept. 19th, 2003 - 2:17 p.m.
Before going out I put fresh bandages with anti-bacterial cream on my legs. Then we congregated as a group and walked 2 blocks to the river's edge. Along the way we met our guide, Ervin, who only spoke a ittle English. I quickly learned that I was to be the group interpreter since the Israelis didn't know much Spanish & the only other people in our group were from Germany & Bolivia and only know a little English. (Ureka and Renee, respectively)
We got on another motorized canoe and started heading up the Tuichi river, soon leaving the town of Rurrenebaque and entering the "campo", the countryside. It was a very hot day. I put on sunscren but was too careful around my bandaged wounds & didn't cover the skin surrounding the bandages on my shins (Hence, by the time we arrived at camp I discovered I had bad sunburns outlining where the bandages were!)
We rode in the canoe for several uncomfortable hours. At one point Oshra turned to me and asked "Where is the guitar?" referring to Amir and his guitar playing that helped to pass the time.
We passed through some high rocky hills and green countryside, but it was hot and boring in the canoe and we had no shade. After while Ervin asked me to translate and tell the others that soon we would need to remove our shoes and get out of the boat to help push the canoe through a very shallow rocky area of the river. I wondered how my bandaged legs would hold up but the others insisted I should stay in the boat.
But before that happenedthe canoe motor died and we drifted over to the rocky shore and waited. Soon we found out that the motor was having problems and another passing boat was sent off back to town to get a different canoe for us. Ervin said we'd take the boat to shore and go walk to some nearby shade, it was so hot and there was no wind. It had to be at least 30 degrees.
We were gathering our things when another motoroized canoe showed up. We knew it would be hours before a new boat from Rurre would arrive for us and soon we were happily transfering our stuff into this new boat. Not long after we were continuing on our way.
Sometimes we would reach some rapids where the water was shallow and the boat would scrape the rocks below. Ervin would take a long bamboo pole at the bow and help push the boat against the strong rapids. At one point my heart was in my throat when we hit some rocks and the boat listed dangerously to one side. I was afraid we'd get capsized. Fortunately we weren't, but were stalled once again by the canoe motor. We again came to the rocky shore, in the shadow of some strong rapids. We sat helplessly as the sun beat down on us. Finally we tried fighting the rapids again, and this time were successful.
Soon we arrived to our destination and came to shore where we were met by a waiting team to return to Rurre. They told us there were a lot of mosquitos, which was true, we could see a lot of lttle insects flying around us at the rivers edge. The shore was pure gooey mud, a rich caramelo brown color that we carefully manuvered around while unloading our gear off the boat.
They also had us carry some gear and food while we hiked to our nearby camp. I grabbed a mattress roll and attached it to my bag. poor Oshra had taken one of the food coolers which turned out to be very heavy. I followed behind her as she struggled to walk with the cooler. It was also very hot. I tried to help her, each of us taking one side, but the path wasn't wide enough for us to walk side by side and she soon took back the cooler to carry herself. Oshra told me she was starting to regret signing up for the 3 day jungle tour and I was starting to agree.
Finally we came to a clearing, a dry river bed and small stream. We saw the path make a sharp inclne on the other side and Oshra gave up, putting the cooler down on the rocks. After a few minutes Ervin and Nati (another Israli from the Pampas trip) passed us to return to the river where the water jugs sat waiting. Ervin told us we could have the other guide, Chino, come back for the cooler.
Relieved we continued to hike for only a few minutes before we arrived at camp. There were a few simple sheltered shacks with sides covered with thick nets to keep out insects and a few structures with only a roof, two had bunks and one was the kitchen. We sat on the bunks to rst in te shard from the unforgiving son. Chino, the second guide, an older man with a funny sense of humor was talking to the group. I translated a little. Efrat and Inbar, two Israeli girls, had only 2 days in the jungle and Chino was their guide.
Soon after our rest, Imke helped me put some bandages on my legs (after Emma took a photo of them for me) and we got our bunks put inside one of the shacks and settled in, including putting mosquito nets up around our beds. Then we went on a hike into the jungle with Ervin (except Efrat, Inbar & Oshra who stayed with Chino and went on their own hike later).
It was so hot and humid in the jungle with very little, if any breeze, we were all constantly sweating. We hiked into the bush, stopping on occasion where Ervin would tell us about a certain tree & its properties. It was amazing how many trees had medicinal purposes and such variety too, from treating headaches, stomach aches, ulcers, arthritis, rhumetism as well as natural forms of birth control and viagra! One tree, called onya de gato (cat's nails) actually contains water. Ervin found this tree, chopped off a segment with his machette and held it at an angle so we could drink the water that came dripping from the inner bark. It was refreshing in the heat and humidity.
Ervin always led the way, sometimes chopping any branches or debris with his machette that covered the path. We also saw a tree that had big tall skinny roots, the tree was hugs, with a circumfrence of about 20 feet, it was at least 70 years old.
Later we also came across a swing that was made from some hanging branches of another tall tree (so tall you couldn't see the top of it through the forest canopy). A stick was tied perpendicular to it to make the seat. We took turns swinging like Tarzan, it was fun.
I found it a challenge to be the interpreter, it was difficult at times. The Israeli's didn't know much Spanish at all. Emma & Imke knew some. I found it interesting that out of the whole group I had the best Spanish. I can't wait to tell my Spanish teacher Marcello back in Cuenca. He'll be proud I think. Also Ervin couldn't go anywhere without a big wad of coca in his left cheek, so at times he was difficult to understand anyway. Sometimes I wouldn't know a word and if Ureka or Renee knew it they would say in English. Otherwise they'd say it in German and Imke would translate it into English. Imke's parents are from Germany and she speaks German too, something I didn't know until Imke and Ureka met.
Sometimes while hiking along Ervin would shhh us, we'd stop talking and freeze while he looked up in the trees or out across the foilage, looking for whatever animal he'd heard. At one point some people saw a wild pig, but I missed it. It was interesting to listen to the jungle sounds, the strange bird calls, the insects. I saw some beautiful butterflies, even the Blue Morpho and its cousins. Just like the butterflies at the butterfly house back at the Science Center! I was thrilled to finally see a Blue Morpho in the wild. The undersides of the wings are a rich brown with many eyespots. The top of the wings is the most brilliant blue nature ever made. Ervin tried to catch one, but it got away.
As we continued to hike it started to get darker and darker. Soon we had to use our flashlights on the path. There were many tree roots, branches and underbrush that could trip you if you couldn't see or weren't paying attention. I suspect the original itinerary would have been to go on a short hike, have dinner and then go on a night hike. But because we were delayed from the canoe motors having problems they took the two hikes and made it one long one. We hiked for about 4 hours!
After it was dark the fireflies came out and I was torn between watching them in awe and having to keep walking. These fireflies were different than the other ones I'd seen. Their lights are green or orange, they flew lazily around and I even noticed that the insects could change color! Ervin stopped the group and caught one for us. It was like a skiny coffee cream color beetle with two of these glowing spots on its back. It also snapped like a cricket or one of those wind up toys. We all had a chance to hold it before we released it back to swimming around the humid jungle air.
Later as we were walking along, mostly in silence in the hopes of seeing animals w suddenly heard a noise to our immediate left. The noise was sort of a like a loud "huff". We all stopped in our tracks and shone our flashlights in that direction. But...nothing. No noise or movement followed. After a minute of being like silent statues, all of us thinking "What was that?" Ervin told us it was a young jaguar. Now, I know there are pumas in this jungle & that its really rare to see them. I have to say that I'm skeptical if it really was a puma (would it have been so daft to let us get so close, as if it couldn't have heard 8 people trapsing thru the jungle?). On the other hand, if it wasn't a puma, then what was it? I guess I'll never know for sure.
By the time we returned to camp I was beat and my shins were aching. Partly because I'd occasionally bumped them on tree trunks and underbrush, partly because they were still open wounds. We had dinner in our little tent. Then Chino came in and looked up over the doorway of the structure, reached up and picked up something. He brought it over and we saw in our candlelight that it was a terranchula that slowly walked up his bare arm. "Say hello to Juanita!" He said in Spanish. he said we could hold her if we wanted, but only if we didn't have insect repellant on because it was poison to the spider. Well, no one took him up on the offer. He explained that Juanita lived above the doorway as a guardian as he put her back in her home.
That afternoon we learned that Chino was soon going to take 4 American guys on a 20 day trek into the jungle. Imke and Emma were impressed. Later that night before going to sleep they started saying things like "Can you imagine going on a 20 day trek into the jungle? Wouldn't that be wild?" You could almost hear the ticking thoughts going on in their minds. By the time we were starting to drift off to sleep inside our mosquito net bunks they had decided to inquire Chino the next day about possibly joining the American boys on the trek. Everyone else (including me) thought they were nuts.
