Week 7 - The Jungle Part II
Trip Start
Jul 28, 2004
1
10
26
Trip End
Dec 17, 2004
Leticia, Colombia
Friday, October 1, 2004
So, we arrived in Tabatinga, Brazil around 4 p.m. Once we had climbed the huge, steep stone staircase from the docks (in the wet season, I assume the docks are closer in height and distance to the street - most of the docks we saw are mobile in one way or another to deal with the dramatic change in water depth and river width), we looked around cluelessly, as I'm sure countless tourists do. Not surprisingly, someone then asked us if we needed a taxi. We said 'no, obrigado' as we have become accustomed to saying, regardless of the question. Then, someone (possibly the same someone?) asked what we were looking for. Darned if we knew... Customs seemed like the logical first choice since we wanted to head to Leticia, Columbia. And, that is when we started our adventure with Joel, the inquiring someone.
Joel waved down a ¨combi¨, a local minibus that serves as a city bus, we piled in with all of our stuff, squeezing next to the curious locals, and headed to the customs office where we received our Brazil exit stamps. He then took us to Leticia and directly to the hotel that we had hoped to stay in. After we'd signed in and left our bags at ¨Hotel El Divino Niño¨ (owned by someone we met on the riverboat), Joel negotiated with three motorbike drivers (this is how most people take a taxi in Leticia) to take us round-trip to the airport to get our Columbia entry stamps. I was quite surprised to find myself riding on the back of a ¨moto¨ and was pleased to discover that they did not go terribly fast. I wasn't entirely sure about moto etiquette, guessing that it was not appropriate to wrap my arms around the driver's waist as tight as I could. (Yes, wimpy, I admit it.) I looked around at the many other moto passengers and discovered that they weren't holding onto anything. They had their hands peacefully resting on their legs, in pockets, or holding packages.
Some comments about motos in Leticia - they are pervasive, making up the majority of the traffic in town. There are no roads to Leticia or Tabatinga, so a moto or a bike is the most affordable, efficient way to get around within and between the towns. There were a few car taxis that were pretty dilapidated. I grew to appreciate the motos because they are small and somehow created an environment that offered greater respect for bicyclists. There were many more people on bikes (without helmets, of course) than we´ve seen anywhere else and when pedestrians crossed the street, bikes were much more visible since most of the traffic was two-wheeled. Most of the drivers of the motos were pretty cautious - I´m guessing because nobody is wearing helmets even a small accident can be quite painful or deadly. The motos often beeped to let you or other motos know they were coming. You can imagine the cacophony of motors and beeps.
The most remarkable aspect of the motos was who rode on them. Everyone - with business suits, running errands, carrying a house door (literally), parents with kids and so on. We saw numerous families - like, both parents and at least two kids on one motorbike. We saw several infants pass in the arms of a second passenger, occasionally with a toddler standing on a platform between the legs of the driver. Coming from the seatbelt and baby seat scenario at home, this seemed quite risqué, scary and fascinating! Traveling often highlights that which we might have assumed important and others in the world may not even consider.
We easily survived our moto adventure, received our entry stamps without problems, and headed to Joel's "office" which was a poolside patio table at a fancy hotel in Leticia. There, Joel, who we have now learned is tour operator, told us about the options for us to explore the jungle. We were so grateful that he had managed to get us to the exit and entry stamps and our hotel within an hour and a half of our arrival in the area, that we were happy to hear what he wanted to tell us. He told us the standard tour option (visit Monkey Island where most of the remaining monkeys are tame, see the hugest lilies in the world, visit a nearby native village where they see thousands of tourists a week, go to a national park, walk a little and return just like everyone else) or an alternative option, hike in the jungle with him and a local guide, spend a night in the jungle on hammocks, watch birds, stay at a camp the next night, see dolphins, watch birds, and return. Guess which we picked? We gave him some money and he told us to meet him at the hotel at 8:30 the next morning.
We left his hotel and had dinner. And, of course, at this point we started to think, "what the heck are we thinking?" We know nothing about this guy - he picked us up at the docks, exactly what every guide book says to be wary of! We checked our guidebooks and yes, the hotel we met at was listed as one of the tour operators in the area - some small relief. But, do we know that he´s actually affiliated with the hotel, since we met on the patio it was hard to be sure... He did help us get the stamps and hotel, etc. and surely the hotel wouldn´t let a bad guy use their property, right? As we say often on this trip, "we´ll soon find out."
To add to the excitement, I was immediately very ill after our dinner at which Andre had cleverly avoided the juice with ice in it - I couldn't resist, because it was maracuya (passion fruit) and I was thirsty. Needless to say, I was in bed by 8 p.m. wondering if we would be going on the jungle trip anyway. Amazing recovery (thanks lucky stars and grapefruit seed extract, the miracle cure) and we were off to the jungle in the morning.
As we headed to meet Joel, we were stopped by a stranger in the street and advised that Joel was in the grocery store across the street. (Needless to say, there are not many tourists in Leticia.) We stopped in and he told us he was doing some shopping for our trip and he´d meet us at the hotel in a few minutes. Andre had the impression that he was disorganized, not a quality we seek out in a jungle guide, but I was relieved he hadn´t taken off with our cash. We headed to the docks mid-morning and then after some unexplained hanging around and eating papaya, we were introduced to Pedro who owned the boat and would escort us to our destination. Pedro had a tiny monkey that fit inside his palm that spent most of his time clinging to the back of Pedro´s neck. Apparently, this is the smallest monkey in the world, a Pygmy Marmoset. Needless to say, Very Cute. We were also introduced to chuchahuasi, a drink made from the local sugar-cane rum, honey and 20 different types of bark. It was quite tasty, though we thought it might be a little early to start drinking.
We piled in a narrow wooden boat with an outboard engine - much like the boats we had seen from the riverboat. Our first stop was a typical tourist stop, a park that was nicely set up with a garden of native medicinal plants. Joel named each of the plants and told us of their uses. He also showed us a bush that he called lipstick plant after smearing the "lipstick" all over our faces (ha ha). We then went for a short walk to a small river where there were Victoria Regia lilies, the largest lily pads in the world. They were huge, like maybe five feet in diameter and the setting was beautiful. We walked along the river and Joel pointed out the bromeliads and epiphytes covering the branches of the trees, he named some nearby birds, and we actually saw those little Pygmy Marmosets in a tree acting like monkeys, not pets. At the end of the path, there was patient Pedro with our boat. We hopped in and headed for Santa Rosa, Peru.
The stop in Santa Rosa was to develop a strategy for our departure from the triple frontier - it is from here that you can catch a boat to Iquitos, Peru, our next stop. Joel ordered a couple of beers, which I started to think might be lunch, while we talked to the ticket seller. We decided we´d probably leave on the following Wednesday and, after the ticket seller provided us with another local drink made (I think) from fermented huito (more about that later) that I thought tasted kind of like dirty cough syrup, we left. On our next boat ride, Joel provided us little styrofoam lunch boxes that contained chicken and rice and fried plantains for lunch.
We went up the main river, then turned into a much smaller tributary. There were a few houses along the tributary. We stopped at one where Joel got out saying he had to say hi to his brother-in-law. When he returned, a couple of small boys jumped into the front of our boat for a ride. We kept going up-river until we got to the last house. This was our guides´ house, we were encouraged to get out, bring our cameras and candy for the kids. We hadn´t really packed candy for the kids, but of course, we had the remains of a dark chocolate bar with us (who would travel without chocolate?). There were two girls and two boys, plus the two boys who came upriver with us. We weren´t keen on taking pictures of the house since it is personal space, but we took a picture of the pet monkey. It was fascinating to see the inside of the house, because it looked like many of the houses we saw from the river boat.
A family, two parents and we think 6 children, live in this two-room house on stilts. The first room had nothing but a few educational posters hanging on the wall and a couple of articles of clothing hanging from the ceiling rafters. There was not one piece of furniture. The second room had one hammock in a corner, an open fire pit in another corner, and a sink with some shelves and some pots and pans in the third corner. They had a small porch-like extension from this room in the back that had something that might serve as a wood-fired oven. This is where the monkey was tied. They had some chickens and dogs wandering around below and a parrot and a cat wandering around in the house. They had no electricity, no running water, and no bathroom as far as I could tell. The kids were all wearing modern well-worn holey clothes and according to Joel, there is no school. He told us that when the girls here get their first period, they are married to a neighborhood boy.
Joel paid the kids to get some huito from a nearby tree. He then proceded to cut the orange-sized green fruit open, slosh it around with a small stick and apply the pulpy liquid to our arms in some kind of invisible design. Later, the design became visible in dark bluish-black lines. I had a sun on my upper arm and an insect on my wrist, André had a very manly tattoo band with a sunrise above it on his upper arm.
While we were hanging around their house, the parents, who it turned out would be our guides, were getting organized. We planned this tour last night, so they could not have been notified of our plans until our arrival at their house (oh yeah, no phone either). Unfortunately, I did not catch their names so I`ll call them the Mom Guide and the Dad Guide. The Mom Guide packed some pots, food and clothes into a duffle bag and sharpened their machetes on a rock under their house while the Dad Guide put his small engine on a smaller boat than Pedro´s and got out his shotgun and ammunition (!). We moved our provisions from Pedro´s boat to our guides` boat and Pedro and the two kids that rode up with us, headed back downstream. Pedro had specific instructions to meet us in the morning. The Dad Guide put a very small boat on top of our boat and we all clambered aboard including two of the boys with their slingshots. As we continued up-river, the boys in front shot dried mud balls at birds along the sides of the river. They didn´t hit anything, but their aim was remarkably good. A very cool bird that we saw a lot of here was the Amazon Kingfisher, a small green kingfisher. We also saw lots of kiskadees.
We passed three or four boats coming downstream with a supply of wood and/or fish. Two of the people who passed were sons of our guides. When the first passed, we traded the small boat we were carrying for his slightly larger boat. The Mom Guide also took some of his fish. Apparently, the boys with us would take our boat back tonight and the Mom and Dad would use the littler boat (which now could actually hold two people) to return tomorrow. When the second son passed, the parents made one of the boys go home with him. When we got to the point where the river was no longer navigable, we got out. The son took the large boat and the guides hid the smaller boat. It was late afternoon by this time, around 4. Now, we would start our walk into the jungle which seemed a little crazy to me. We all picked up our bags and headed, well, into the jungle. There was no obvious trail. We followed the Dad Guide who hacked away at the jungle creating a path for us. Joel followed him, then me, André and the Mom Guide followed behind with her duffle bag and the shot gun. In her other hand, she used her machete to mark the trees as we passed, because they would need to follow the same path back to their boat the next day.
On several occasions the guides stopped and looked around for some clues and a couple of times we had to double back to locate the right direction. We were scrambling over fallen trees, crossing fallen-tree bridges over streams using long sticks for support, and walking through areas that were covered with six or more inches of water. Fortunately, Joel had provided us with fabulous rubber boots for this adventure. We arrived successfully at "camp" around 5:30 p.m. just before dark. The mosquitoes had come out in full force while we were walking, but our movement had kept them somewhat at bay. Now that we had stopped, we were swarmed! We coated ourselves several times with the catnip oil spray we had purchased in Burlington before departure and survived the ordeal with only a couple of bites each and of course, the elevated heart rate that comes from having hundreds of mosquitoes buzzing around you.
We hung our hammocks from a couple of nearby trees which included a very un-pc dousing of the trees with insecticide to keep the ants and other creepy crawlies from joining us in our beds at night. Joel provided the absolutely necessary mosquito nets and the Mom Guide made a fire and started cooking the fish. Joel made us ham and cheese sandwiches, too. The fish was cooked until it was black and crispy on the outside and was eaten by peeling away the crunchy skin and eating the white and quite tasty insides. We went to bed early. I found the jungle surprisingly quiet at night and the mosquito nets did an excellent job of keeping the bugs away.
The next morning, we woke to the sound of Howler Monkeys in the distance and birds all over the forest canopy. When we rose, the Mom Guide had rekindled the fire and was in the process of making fishing poles. The Dad Guide had gone off with his gun, apparently in pursuit of the Howlers. I was quite relieved when he returned without a dead bloody monkey. Andre and I watched a bunch of Capuchin (I think) Monkeys jumping about and eating in a nearby tree as Joel made us tuna sandwiches and coffee for breakfast (yum!). The Mom Guide returned with a fistful of little fish which she carefully wrapped in a huge leaf and cooked over the fire. She and the Dad Guide ate them when he returned.
Around 8 a.m., after the mosquitoes subsided, we headed out for our morning walk. We continued along as we had the night before marching to the sound of machetes slashing trees in front and behind us. We could tell there was a lot of bird life around because of the sounds, but due to the density of the jungle we saw nothing. We stopped at one point and the guide sliced off a piece of a limb about 4 inches in diameter. The wood was called something like Water Wood (Palo de Agua). When Joel tilted it at an angle, pure water poured into Andre´s mouth (he had been instructed to open it). We were told that the water was filtered by the tree and that when locals suffered from dysentery, it was used as a cure.
We tromped along listening to the sounds and seeing lots of huge trees, leaves, vines and rubber trees which are easily identified by the markings along the trunk where they have been tapped. After about an hour and a half, we came to a clear trail. Our Mom and Dad Guides then decided that Joel could find the rest of the way himself and took our leave. I was a little sad to see them go as they had been fascinating and comforting company and was only a little concerned about Joel´s jungle navigation. The trail, however, was clear and we made our way with no troubles. We heard Pedro, our faithful boat driver calling to us from a tributary. We found him and left our stuff in the boat and headed out for a walk with only our binoculars and the bird book. Since it was well past 10 at that point, there wasn´t much activity. We walked for about an hour and then met up with Pedro in a different place.
We then went to a typical riverside stilt-house on a tributary of the Rio Javari. We climbed up the ladder and discovered a main room with a small bedroom and a kitchen. Off the back of the kitchen was a porch area (like our guides house) with a fire pit. The most amusing and remarkable feature of this house was that, extending from the "porch", was a 30 foot, three plank-wide walkway to an outhouse (also on stilts). See photo. The interesting, if not disgusting, feature of the outhouse was that the waste deposited there simply fell to the ground (like most outhouses, right?), however, the ground below in the wet season is covered by the high water of river. The house next door had exactly the same set up. For the first time, I started thinking about all of those stilt houses we saw along the river and waste treatment. Not a pretty thought.
We hung our hammocks in the main room, then headed off to go swimming which we were happy to do after two days of humid hiking in the buggy jungle. Pedro took us to a beach area along the Rio Javari, we saw dolphins on the way, and swam happily in the warm water. The tributary that we were now on was "black" water meaning there were considerably less mosquitoes. We went back to the camp to eat a delicious lunch of chicken and rice and Inka Cola (Peru´s yellow bubblegum flavored caffeinated soda, Peru´s Coke).
We spent the afternoon Piranha fishing. Joel had a couple of sticks with string and a hook. He showed us how to lower the hook with raw meat into the water and then pull it just so when we felt a tug. Not being a fish-eater, fishing is not a sport I really appreciate; however, I did find the Piranhas fascinating. Often, they were fast enough to pull the meat off the hook before the pole was lifted. If, however, they were in mid-bite when the pole was lifted, they hung onto the meat with clenched jaws. André got really good at catching them, I caught one long enough to see that it was still attached to the string and then lowered my pole back into the water to make sure he got away. I immediately gave away my pole after that...
We spent the evening back at the camp - another quiet night without electricity and early to bed. Unfortunately, Joel stayed awake drinking in the kitchen with some of the guys from the area and when he finally came to sleep in the same room with us, he was very restless, turning his flashlight on and off which was quite annoying in such close quarters.
We all rose very early again and set out for a bird-watching walk before breakfast. Since I was annoyed with Joel for keeping us awake during the night, I was especially unpleasant when he offered me some chuchuhausi at 6 a.m. We had a lovely walk and saw some cool birds, some we were able to identify, some we weren´t. Again, at some point, I will post a list when I get a chance. The birding highlight was definitely the Hoatzins which are big, clumsy birds. Joel managed to get several of them to fly to the top of a nearby bushy tree by making some weird noises. If you´re curious about them, here´s a web-site with some information and a picture. http://www.rainforestconservation.org/data_sheets/birds/hoatzin.html
Patient Pedro was waiting for us when we finished. He is a fisherman and had put some nets in a lake nearby. After we got in his boat, we went to check his nets. He had caught a few fish, but not much considering he had put in maybe 100 feet of net. There was one fish that had been eaten, all but it´s spine and head, by a piranha while it was trapped in the net. That was quite a sight! There were also a couple of piranhas in the net which had to be handled with the utmost of care, because they continue to gnash their powerful little jaws long after they are removed from the water.
We went back to the camp, had a big huge omelette breakfast and packed up our stuff. We checked Pedro´s nets and pulled them up on the way out. Pretty much the same situation as before. We had a three hour ride back to Leticia which I spent perusing Joel´s precious bird book (in English) to try to identify as many birds as I could that I had seen that morning and also in the weeks before.
I was very thankful we had the opportunity to spend time in the jungle and was super happy that Joel was true to his word and wasn´t a thief or generally a bad guy. By the time we arrived back in Leticia, though, we were ready to be independent agents again. Joel invited us to for lunch the next day at Pedro´s house, but we regretfully declined and told him that we wanted to leave a day earlier than we´d originally planned. We reclaimed our stuff at the hotel and headed out without anyone managing us for the first time in 3 days, which was a relief. It wasn´t as easy as we´d hoped, though.
We successfully walked to the airport to get our Columbia exit stamps, I got only mildly ill from the second meal we ate in Leticia, and we arranged a taxi to take us to Leticia. Once there, however, we discovered that the hotel we´d planned on staying in was full and so was the next we tried. At the second hotel, we met Ronal who is a young Peruvian student working at his aunt´s hotel, so that he can continue college. He ushered us to another hotel that had a room, then the bank and the place to buy the tickets for the boat in the morning. Unfortunately, the boat was full, so we had to go to another place to buy tickets for the following day (Wednesday, September 15th). At that place, we met an American guy who showed us some great slides of the Marubo people.
We shared a beer and pizza with Ronal and he told us that we should move to his aunt´s hotel the next day. It was nicer than the hotel we had and closer to where the boat departed the next morning. So, the next day, we switched hotels and spent the day "running errands" - when traveling this means, showering, doing laundry, going to the internet, grocery shopping, eating etc. We ran into our riverboat friend, Jim from England, at the internet place so we had dinner with him. We went to bed fairly early in our new, lovely hotel, because we had to be at the docks by 4:30 a.m. to catch the taxi boat to Santa Rosa to catch the "fast" boat to Iquitos, Peru. Ronal got up when we left and walked us to the docks and put us on the taxi boat. We were very well taken care of in the Triple Frontier!
The "fast" boat is much faster than the river boat (which takes 3 days and 2 nights to get to Iquitos), however it was an 11 hour ride which can be long when you are stuck in a seat somewhat like a bus without much opportunity to move around. We definitely missed the deck of our riverboat. We made it to Iquitos by 5 p.m. and were greeted by a mob of taxi drivers. In the mob, someone asked if I was a friend of Ronal´s. As he had said he would, Ronal had contacted his friend Jimmy in Iquitos. Jimmy, his wife, Leissy, and their one and a half year old, Shania, had waited for an hour and a half for our boat to come in! They walked with us to the center of town and then tolerated a fairly tiresome hotel search - we were being picky because we knew we would be spending several nights. We went out for a delicious rotisserie chicken meal, a Peruvian specialty apparently, with our new friends.
I didn´t know what to expect from Peru and I found Iquitos to be a lovely surprise. The only ways to get to Iquitos is by boat or by airplane, there are no roads. The city, however, is quite modern but quaint and the streets are jammed with vehicles called "moto-carros" which are three wheeled motorbikes that pull a covered bench for passengers and a platform on the back for luggage - think horse-drawn carriage without the horse. The Plaza de Armas (main square) features an "iron house" designed by the Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame. We spent a fairly relaxed couple of days in Iquitos. Jimmy joined us each day to help us buy our airline tickets or take us to the market. One day we went with the whole family to the zoo which has all kinds of cool rain forest animals, including several different types of otters, cats (jaguars, pumas, etc.), monkeys and birds. It also has a murky lake-side beach where I swam in the almost hot water.
We went to a huge market that filled several street blocks. The market had everything from fresh fruit, meat, chicken and fish (sweltering in the jungle heat) to soaps, detergents, hair combs and clips, shoes, clothes, and an entire block dedicated to medicinal or chaman (shaman) products. This block had booth after booth filled with barks, roots, tonics, vines, leaves and powders of native plants that had medicinal, curative, or hallucinogenic qualities. Incidentally, while we were visiting the cathedral a "chaman" handed me his business card which I found very amusing for a variety of reasons. Apparently, quite a few tourists do the shaman thing for "cleansing" which includes taking some delightful elixir which induces excessive vomiting, hallucinations, and a wonderful feeling of fabulous healthiness afterward. We didn´t go there.
We left Iquitos for Lima early on Saturday, September 18th. After sweltering in Iquitos, we were ready to head to cooler climes. To be continued...
*** Version d´Andre ***
Voilà, on arrivent sur le quai de Tabatinga, un petit village assis sur trois frontières; la brésilienne, la péruvienne et la colombienne. Comme à l´habitude il y a une fourmillière de chauffeurs de taxi, de tour operators, d´aubergistes en recherche de touristes pour peupler leur place. Poliment on leur dit à tous non merci et tranquillement on avance à travers la foule. Tout d´un coup, il y a quelqu´un qui arrive et nous demande s´il peut nous aider dans un anglais quasi-impeccable. On lui dit que l´on a seulement besoin de savoir où est la station d´autobus. Il nous demande où on veut aller et on lui dit que l´on doit aller à l´immigration brésilienne pour avoir notre timbre de sortie. (Voyez-vous on doit sortir du Brésil, entrer en Colombie, partir dans la jungle et ensuite sortir de la Colombie pour entrer au Pérou, le tout en quatre jours, un peu fou notre affaire.)
Avant de continuer petit intermède pour vous décrire notre individu. Vous vous rappellez Danny De Vito dans A la poursuite du diamant vert (Romancing the Stone); film d´action se passant en Colombie? En bien ce gars avait un peu le même style rondouillet et ratoureur, sagace et agaçant, expert et amateur en même temps. On se sentaient en confiance et en même temps on avaient toujours un doute... fin de l´intermède.
Notre gars, Joël, nous montre où prendre l´autobus et marche avec nous. Il nous demande ce que nous pensons faire en Colombie on lui explique un peu notre plan; on veut partir sans guide pour une réserve écologique où il y a plusieurs sentiers et où l´on peut avoir un feeling de la jungle le tout avec une place pour dormir et la bouffe disponible si on le désire. Il dit qu´il comprend et qu´il peut nous aider. GOOD! On verra bien! L´autobus arrive, on monte et Joël se joint à nous. On se pose pas trop de question mais ce que l´on ne sait pas encore c´est que nous avons été PRIS EN CHARGE. Dans l´heure qui suivra nous aurons obtenue notre timbre de sortie, un hôtel pour dormir (on a quand même sélectionné notre propre hôtel - on le voyait quand même venir un peu notre bonhomme), notre timbre d´entrée en Colombie, ce timbre a nécessité une randonnée en moto jusqu´à l´aéroport locale assis à l´arrière sans casque. Petite randonnée qui a un peu travaillée notre sentiment d´insécurité. (note: Leticia est en plein milieu de l´amazone et il y a une tonne de motos mais presque pas d´automobiles et définitivement pas de casques. On a vue des familles de quatre personnes sur des moto d´à peine 125cc avec bébé naissant dans les bras.)
Ceci étant dit, on est quand même un peu inquiet de la vitesse à laquelle tout va et on veut surtout pas devenir l´une de c´est histoire de touristes stupides que l´on lit dans les journeaux. Jennifer et moi on se regarde, on se parle et on décide que temps et aussi longtemps qu´il va travailler dans NOTRE direction on va rester pour la ride, il nous a après tout beaucoup aidé. Dans une seule heure on a fait ce que l´on pensait nous prendrait une bonne demie-journée. Au retour de l´aéroport Joël nous demande de le suivre dans son bureau. Il va nous expliquer ce qu´il peut faire pour nous et cela sera à nous de décider. OK! ca semble clean. On le suit et on entre dans l´un des grand hôtels de Leticia - grand pour Léticia - on se sent un peu plus en terrain sûr. Il nous explique ce qu´il peut faire pour nous aider à nous rendre dans la réserve écologique et ensuite il nous propose une alternative; une randonnée de trois jours dans la jungle. Nous traverserons un territoire entre deux rivières où il y a presque personnes, nous visiterons un village indigène, (ça on s´en fout un peu parce que de deux choses l´une, ou bien le village nous attends et donc c´est un show un peu arrangé et donc ça ne nous intéresse pas ou bien le village ne nous attend pas et on considèrent que dans ces cas là on devraient les laisser tranquilles) et nous ferons beaucoup de birding. Randonnée incluant trois guides plus un bateau avec pilote plus la bouffe. C´est une randonnée vraiment sortie des sentiers battus. C´est en plein territoire péruvien et c´est une randonnée que lui a très envie de faire. Comme je lui explique que nous n´avons pas encore remplis les formulaires d´entrée pour le Pérou il nous dis pas de problème, tout est OK! Ah bon! De plus il nous dit que l´on partiraient demain matin vers 9:00 AM. Jen et moi le remercions et lui demandons de nous donner une heure pour y penser. Nous allons manger et nous en providons pour lire nos guides et on se rencontre que notre bonhomme semble travailler pour une agence réputée. Le prix est un peu haut pour notre budget et on décide de négocier, au pis aller nous irons dans la réserve écologique.
On retourne à l´hôtel, on le voit travailler avec un gros groupe de touriste colombien. Ok ca l´air vraiment correct. Il nous voit, nous fait signe et vient nous rejoindre quelques minutes plus tard. La négociation a pris cinq minutes et nous nous entendons sur un prix, on faient un dépot et Joël nous demande d´être prêt vers 8:30 le lendemain matin.
Le lendemain matin nous préparons nos backpacks incluant bottes à jambe et nous allons le rejoindre. Nous partirons finalement vers 9:30 - 10:00 dans un taxi cahin-caha (le taxi pas nous), nos baluchons attachés sur le toi nous nous rendons au port de Tabatinga. Là nous rencontrons le pilote de notre bateau, Pedro, et première surprise on nous offre un verre de chucharasi, un mélange de cachaca (eau de vie produit avec la canne à sucre très forte et très bon dans un capirinha, vraiment très, très bon) et d´une vingtaine de types d´écorce différentes. On se fait expliquer que c´est très bon pour éloigner les moustiques et que ca aide à renforcir la masculinité (un autre qui me travaille sur ma masculinité). Ah bon, mon premier réflexe est de me dire que 10:30 le matin est un peu tôt pour boire. Mais bon après plusieurs tentatives de mes "guides" je prend un premier verre. C´est effectivement très bon. On m´en offre vite un second que je bois aussi mais au troisième je dis non merci ca ira comme ça. Quand même ça frappe assez fort comme stuff. Lorsque que l´on se prépare pour partir nous demandons à propos des deux autres guides qui vont se joindre à nous et on nous expliquent que l´on va les ramasser plus tard. Ah bon, gros doutes qui se glissent dans ma tête - dans quel galère nous nous sommes embarqués. Je n´ai pas du tout envie d`aller dans la jungle sans guides experts. La crème sur le gateau est que nous réalisons que Joël aime beaucoup trop la chucharasi.
On part et le début de notre expédition est merveilleux, on a une grande pirogue pour Pedro, Joël, Jen et moi. On remontera une partie de l´amazone, visitera un endroit ou l´on fait pousser des arbres et plantes natives de la région, aurons une lunch qui est quand même "ben correct". Il reste qu´il se fait tard et que selon l´horaire nous devrions déjà être en train de marcher dans la jungle en direction de notre premier bivouac et que l´on a toujours pas nos deux autres guides. Anyway, we´ll see!.
Vers le milieu de l´après-midi nous sommes en train de remonter l´un des bras de l´Amazone. C´est très beaux, on voit beaucoup d´oiseaux et après une demie-heure nous arrivons chez nos deux guides. Là on réalise que nos deux guides seront le chef d´une petite communauté indigène et sa femme. Notre première rencontre est avec leur 5 ou 6 enfants. On se trouve à visiter leur maison où ils vivent très simplement. Une batterie de cuisine, quelques vêtements, un hamac, pas de table ou de chaises. Ca te fait réaliser qu´on en garde des trucs qui dans le fond n´ajoutent pas grand choses à nos vies. On réalise aussi que nos guides n´ont aucune idée qu´ils vont nous guider, ils n´ont pas le téléphone et ne nous attendaient aucunement. Joël entre en négotiation avec eux et à peu près d´une demie-heure plus tard la femme sort et commence à rafiner l´aiguisage des machettes, le chef prépare un autre bateau (on doit prendre un bateau plus petit) et prépare sa carabine... carabine? C`est vite dit! Elle devait être neuve lorsque mon grand-père avait 5 ans. Il est maintenant près de 3:00, donc 3 heures en retard pour marcher et il est hors de question de marcher dans le noir. (On est loin de l´efficacité brésilienne). Ca nous prendra près de 45 minutes à remonter le courant plus haut. On commencent à marcher vers 4:00 PM. Tout de suite on se rend compte qu`on est effectivement sortie des sentiers battues. Le Chef se découpe deux lanières d`écorce pour ce faire une ceinture et ainsi transporter un fardeaux (bouffe, etc..) et tire du sol deux racines pour se faire une corde et attacher ledit fardeaux. Ensuite il part en avant découpant le sentier au fur et à mesure. Sa conjointe est à l`arrière à fermer la marche. Elle traine la carabine ainsi que deux chaudrons de cuisine avec des poissons pour diner. Nous on est dans le milieu. C`est assez sombre parce que voyez vous dans la jungle il n`y a pas beaucoup de lumière qui se rend jusqu`au sol. Nous marchons environs une heure, une heure et demie. On suent beaucoup, le Chef perdra la trail une couple de fois parce que la dernière fois qu`ils ont passés par là est en décembre 2003 et que ca pousse vite en maudit dans la jungle. Il reste qu`avec l`aide de la Cheffe il retrouve le sentier. Tous les deux sont des virtuoses de la machette, le Chef decoupant, la Cheffe finissant et marquant le sentier. Je suis très heureux qu`ils soient avec nous tu les sens très connectés l`un à l`autre et avec leur environment. Nous apprendrons plus tard que l`on suit l`un des vieux sentiers pour la collection du latex utilisés au siècle dernier.
On arrêtera vers 17:00-17:30 pour préparer le camp. Nous devrions être plus avancés mais la nuit tombe rapidement, j`aide à installer les hamacs et à inonder d`une solution de pétrole les points de contact aux arbres - parait que ca garde les mauvaises bibites au loin (je suis pas trop sur de l`impact environmental alors vous m`excuserez). Nos guides préparent la bouffe et installent des moustiquaires autour de nos hamacs. Après un diner rapide je me met au hamac - les moustiques sont sortis et sont affamés. Durant toute la nuit j`entend les moustiques qui tourbillent autout de moi et qui s`acharnent à trouver un point d`entrée. Je me sens comme une pièce de viande dans un étal de boucher. Heureusement la moustiquaire tient le coup.
Je me reveille vers 6:00 du matin au son des oiseaux (et des moustiques). C`est quand même pas mal cool notre affaire. La Cheffe est déjà occupé à pêcher pour le déjeuner et le Chef lui est partie à la chasse au singe (Howler monkee, actuellement une espèce protêgée). Je dois avouer qu`intérieurement j`ai souhaité qu`il n`attrape rien ce qui est effectivement arrivé.
Nous partons vers 7:30 et faisons bon chemin et au bout de 45 minutes arrivons à notre destination originale (après de multiples traversées de ruisseaux sur des arbres pourrissant). Nous continuons ainsi pendant une autre heure et vers 9:00 Joël nous annonce qu`à partir de maintenant nous n`avons plus besoin de nos guides et que lui fera bien l`affaire. PARDON? Tout d`un coup je me sens tout petit et lui demande sincèrement s`il est vraiment prêt à faire le reste du chemin lui même. Il nous répond que oui pas de problème. Je regarde nos deux guides et ils semblent me dire que c`est correct (mais c`est peut-être dien un effect de mon imagination). Il reste que discrètement je sors mon canif, fait mes marques et essaie de faire très attention à mon environment. Malgré mes doutes Joël nous mènera à bon port. Il échappera son fardeau quelque fois, perdra le sentier quelque fois, le retrouvera toute les fois, empruntera mon canif (il n`a pas apporter le sien) une ou deux fois. Après une trentaine de minutes le sentier est beaucoup plus marqué et plus facile à suivre. Nous rejoindrons Pedro notre conducteur de bateau vers les 10:00 am. Il nous attend avec un plein bidon de chucharasi. (Mais il peuvent boire beaucoup ces chers colombiens) On dépose nos sac à dos et nous partons pour une grande marche dans la jungle, marchant tranquillement et identifiant des oiseaux.
Nous nous rendons ensuite dans une maison sur pilotis où nous passerons notre prochaine nuit, prendrons une bonne plonge dans l`amazone, laverons notre linge, installerons nos hamacs, relaxerons un peu, dinerons, pêcherons des piranhas, souperons, le tout avec notre guide Joël buvant toujours (et moi presque pas) et commençant à faire vraiment des farces de plus en plus déplacés. Vers les 5 heures il me demande des sous pour acheter plus de cachaca. Après bien des hésitations j`accepte (et me donne des coups de pieds pour avoir accepté) mais lorsqu`il revient et me demande encore de boire je me choque prend le plein verre qu`il me tend ouvre la porte et le jète. Et là je dis dans mon portuguais/espagnol des moins élégants que s`il veut boire c`est son affaire mais que moi je ne boit plus.
Ca semblera calmer un peu tout le monde et nous nous couchons tôt après souper. Notre chèr Joël passera une partie de la nuit à se promener, à vérifier les moustiquaires et à allumer sa lampe de poche au grand désespoir de Jen qui se choquera et lui dira d`aller de coucher. Le reste de la nuit se passera sans problème mais Jen et moi avons décider que l`on en avait plein notre casque de notre bonhomme et que nous étions près à retourner à Leticia.
Le dernier jour nous ferons quand même une merveilleuse marche dans la jungle, aiderons Pedro à ramasser ses filets de pêches (Un piranha peut manger un poissons pris dans un filet en quelques minutes laissant seulement la tête, la colonne et la queue intéressant et écoeurant en même temps). A chaque fois que l`on ramassent un piranha on doit le tuer à grand coup de bar de métal pour éviter qu`il mange les autres poissons que nous avons capturé. Laissez moi vous dire que c`est dur à tuer un piranha.
Nous ferons la randonnée de retour en quelques heures et débarquerons à Leticia, ferons nos adieux à Pedro, dirons au revoir à Joël, ramasserons nos affaires et nous nous debrouillerons seul. On s`occupera nous même de nos formalités de douanes en Colombie, prendrons un taxi pour Tabatinga et nous ne reverrons pas Joël pour le reste de notre séjour dans la région. De cette expédition nous retenons deux choses, la première c`est qu`avec un guide tu peut sortir des sentiers battus. La deuxième c`est que si t`as pas l`intention de sortir des sentiers battus t`as pas besoin de guide, même dans la jungle.
Nous partirons deux jours plus tard en bateau rapide pour Iquitos au Pérou, après avoir rencontrer un charmant jeune homme péruvien Ronal, qui nous aidera à booker notre passage. Nous souperons aussi avec Jim de l`Angleterre (connaissance de notre randonnée de bateau dans l`Amazone). Finalement, je mangerai une spécialité locale un arroz chifa (ce qu`au Québec on appelle un chicken fried rice, eh oui!).
La randonnée Tabatinga-Iquitos se fera sans problème. Nous partons vers 4:00 du matin de Tabatinga et nous nous rendons sur l`ile de Santa Rosa au Pérou. Il n`y a pas d`électricité sur l`ile et c`est difficile de se rendre au contrôle douanier. Plus tard dans la journée nous subirrons un contrôle beaucoup plus formel où tous les passeports seront pris et examinés avant qu`ils ne nous soient remis.
Iquitos est une ville particulière, 400,000 personnes vivant au milieu de l`amazone avec aucune route pour l`extérieur. Une tonne de moto-taxi-avec-un-petit-pousse-pousse. Cute mais bruyant. Ronal avait communiqué avec un de ses amis à Iquitos, Jimmy qui nous attendra au quai avec sa femme et leur petite fille. Notre bateau a une heure de retard et nous sommes donc surpris de rencontrer Jimmy. A vrai dire c`est Jimmy qui nous as reconnue - nous sommes après tout les deux seuls gringos du bateaux. Jimmy a étudié l`anglais et est traducteur pour une compagnie médicale.
Ils nous aident à nous trouver une place. Petit hôtel avec AC et télévision que nous aurons pour près de la moitié du prix. Nous en profitons pour prendre une vraie douche chaude.
Nous passerons beaucoup de temps avec lui et sa famille au cours des trois journées suivantes. Nous visiterons le plus gros marché a aire ouverte que j`aie vue de ma vie, des rues et des rues. Il se vend de tout. Une chose que je n`ai pas encore précisé c`est que dans les marchés en Amérique du Sud ça marche de façon assez particulière. Si tu vends des souliers tu t`installes avec tous les autres vendeurs de souliers l`un à coté de l`autre. Alors dans un marché tous les vendeur de viandes sont ensembles, tous les vendeurs de poissons ensembles, odeur intense merci. Puis t`as les vendeurs de grain, vendeurs de plantes médecinales, de légumes, etc...
Nous visiterons aussi Belen, un village très pauvres (l`un des plus pauvres du Pérou). Ce qui est intéressant c`est que c`est un village flottant, par contre avec le niveau de l`Amazone il n`y avait rien sur quoi flotter. Il y avait donc des maisons sur pilotis et des maisons tous simplement assises sur la boue dur, attendant la prochaine saison des pluies. Nous visiterons aussi le zoo local, irons à la plage, rencontrerons Crazy Mike un british qui vit à Iquitos depuis plus de 20 ans et rentrerons aussi un Texan qui fut directeur touristique pour Iquitos et qui maintenant opère un restaurant pour les touristes. Bonhomme particulier qui semblent connaitre tous les gens et les recoins de cette ville.
Nous avions aussi décidé que nous prendrions l`avion pour Lima et c`est donc un samedi matin ensoleillé que nous partirons pour des cieux plus froid.
Gros becs
André
P.S. Si vous avez envie de m`écrire n`hésitez pas ca me fera plaisir de vous lire. Et un gros merci à ceux qui m`écrivent et me tiennent au courant de se qui se passe dans leur coin de pays.
