Saturday, Sept. 20, 2003 - 12:19 p.m.
The Bolivian jungle is really amazing. According to the Lonely Planet guidebook it "...contains one of South America's most intact eco-systems...the parks populated bits along the Rio Tuichi have been designated a UNESCO biosphere reserve, which allows indigenous people to continue with their traditional practices, hunting, fishing and utilizing other forest resources...Researchers believe this stellar park hosts more than one thousand species of birds, more than 10% of all known species in the world..." It has also "...recently been targeted for oil exploration. Logging activity...is a major threat" and "There is also a dam project...which would flood vast tracts of rainforest, destroy settlements and obliterate native flora and fauna."
That morning Emma and Imke talked to Chino about maybe going on the 20 day trek with the American boys. Of course he said it was possible. You could tell the girls were seriously considering it. They talked to each other about it, thinking if they do it, they should return to Rurre today to get supplies and prepare, since it started on Monday. Then I was feeling disappointed. One of the reasons I decided to do the 3 day trek was to hang out with the, now they were thinking of leaving one day early. Sometimes they asked me to translat for them when they talked to Chino. "Maybe we should ask our translator to help us?" Imke would ask Emma in front of me when they had a new question or wanted to clarify something. Their 20 day trek would be exploring a part of the jungle that other tourists don't see as well as visit isolated communities of native people. The farther they went into the jungle, the more native the people wre and the farthest most isolated community didn't wear any westernized clothing at all. It seemed that Imke and Emma were really going to do it. The Israelis and I couldn't believe it.
After breakfast, before our hike, somehow Chino found out that the American guys had decided not to go after all. Chino's disappointment was very apparent in his voice and body language. Emma and Imke asked if they could still go, just the two of them. Chino's reply was affirmative. The girls spirits were high when they told them, with confidence, that they wanted to go. Chino was pleased as well. They also told him they wanted to return to Rurre today so they would have an extra day to get ready. I was sad they were leaving early, but also excited for them. I knew I couldn't stand 20 days in the hot, humid jungle, sweating like a pig all the time, dealing with the dirt & sweat & insects, constantly coping with putting in the contacts & not getting mosquito repellant in my eyes as well! Plus if I did the trek I would have less time in Argentina and Chile.
That AM we went on a hike. I had asked Emma to carry my bug repellent in her bag for me. We saw more plants and trees with medicinal uses. At one point Ervin cut the leaf of a plant and let us smell the stem. Emma and Imke and I tried to place the familiar smell. I first thought "Pepto Bismol" and then a minute later said "peppermint". Emma and Imke couldn't agree and then Ervin told us it was mint. A little later Ervin chopped another leaf and we discovered it made a nice fan.
We returned to camp to have lunch and then Emma & Imke quickly packed up their stuff to return with Efrat, Eadit and Chino back to Rurrenabaque. Emma asked me to e-mail her family and boyfriend for her when I got back to La Paz, since the internet connection was down in Rurre. No problema, I said. We took a group photo and said our goodbyes. Then they were gone.
After that the rest of us went swimming in the river. The river water was cold and relaxing, a welcome relief, the first real relief from the heat & humidity. There were a lot of gus too, little annoying things flying around the riverside, biting whatever exposed flesh they could land on. Oshra had a bar of soap and we took turns clensing ourselves. I also tried to do a little laundry since I had no clean underwear left, but the rich muddy waters actually made it more dirty.
We returned to camp and packed up our stuff to go hike to our second camp. Hot, dirty and sweaty, we were soon trekking thru the forest. We were told the hike would be about 2 hours to the next camp. Carrying all our gear, I was soon tired out. We trudged along, mostly quiet, listening to all the jungle noises, mainly of birds calling. One sounded like a long whistle a guy might give a good looking girl walking by.
Not long after we heard a strange loud animal noise. Ervin stoped us and looked around. I thought maybe it was pigs fighting...it was very gutteral and the sound filled the forest. Ervin motioned for us to leave our bags there on the trail and follow him. He took his machette and we left the path, trapsing thru the jungle. "Que es este?" (What is this?) I asked Renee. He told me it was monkeys. We followed silently single file as the noises became louder and louder. Climbing over & under brush, logs, trees and dried river beds, we walked for about 20 minutes and the noises suddenly stopped. We halted in our tracks and our guide pointed up in the trees. About 50 ft above us we saw movement in the branches high above. Brown Howler monkeys waltzed from tree branch to tree branch until they were gone. I was surprised the monkeys weren't bigger than the size of medium sized dogs.
We returned to our bags and kept trekking. It felt like forever until we arrived at our second camp. It was very basic, just a simple wooden frame made from surrounding tree branches that we covered with a large plastic tarp. There was also another group at the camp with another shelter already set up. They were a group of about 5 Israelis who were doing a 5 day trek of the jungle. They told us they had all found tics at the campsite! After we put down our bags, I then looked for my insect repellent only to discover I had forgotten to get it back from Emma that morning during our first hike! Fortunately it turned out that I had another container of insect repellent, this stuff was 100% DEET. After taking out my contacts I put this strong stuff on (strong enough to melt plastic) and it burned my skin, making it feel like I was sitting next to a hot fire.
We set up camp, had a tarp on the ground and a tarp draped over the branches. We tied our mosquito nets to the branches, unrolled our mattress rolls and sleeping bags on top.
Then we all had dinner. The Israelis all jabbering away in Hebrew. I chatted with Ureka a little in Spanish. Then Ervin asked if anyone wanted to go on a night hike. Nati, Ureka and I were the only takers. Ervin led us into the jungle, we hiked in silence, listening to all the insects chirping & whirling & clicking. I watched the fireflies dance amongst the trees and foilage. We didn't hike far before we came to a swamp that Ervin said animals like to visit. We sat down next to the stagnant water on a nearby log and turned off our flashlights. Ervin said if we were patient maybe we would see an animal. So we sat in the dark for a long time, listening and waiting.
I thought about a lot of things while we sat there waiting silently. A couple of times Ervin would suddenly turn on his flashlight and shine it around the swamp looking for animals. Unfortunately we didn't see any animals during this time. But while we were sitting there and I had time to think I had the sudden realization that I had no idea what was going on in the outside world.
