The jungle is massive
Trip Start
Jul 13, 2010
1
39
60
Trip End
Apr 08, 2011
Rurrenbaque, Bolivia
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Still not completely satisfied with the jungle experiences we had had, Phil still wanted to go trekking into the Amazon jungle and literally be in the thick of things. So straight from our Pamaps trip, along with Kate and Tess we had met, we set off for two days into the jungle. The jungle tour most agencies offered seemed very tame and pretty boring to be honest so we went with an agency that took us deep into the jungle and even let us build our own camp for the night. Perfect.
The first morning took us about two hours down the river in another canoe where we would trek for about half an hour to our base camp. When we arrived we were welcomingly ignored by a group that was on their last day. Very rude. Once they left we were told that they had apparently had a miserable time and that one six foot Israeli cried and left after one day because he had swallowed loads of mosquitoes! No wonder there first and last words to us were good luck as they merrily left the camp. At this point was when we decided that it may be best to set up camp here, just on the perimeter to the intense jungle as the mossy’s were pretty desperate for blood further in.
As our lunch was being prepared we went for a walk to a nearby community of two families. Here Phil ate a fish eye. Lovely. We also visited the school that our agency sponsors, it was currently closed due to holidays but it was very interesting to see, so very basic but needed. After food we set off on our first trek into the jungle. We learnt and saw so much. People believe that every tree, plant, flower and insect are there for a reason and we soon began to see why. We saw trees that are used for communication, trees used for medication, we found a tree that when cut open pure water could be drunk from it. We ate loads of different types of fruit, we even ate termites! They are good for healing mosquito’s bites and as prevention, Sarah chomped down on quite a few! We made a swing from the vines which Sarah proceeded on breaking on her turn (too many termites) and walked across logs over caiman infested waters. The highlight of that first trek though was when we found a tarantula. Naughtily our guide picked it up and we each had a turn at holding it on our arms. This was quite a momentous achievement for Phil who’s biggest fear is spiders, let alone massive furry killer ones. Well done Phil.
We headed back to camp to build it. This excited Phil immensely and he took great pride in macheting the wood to the correct size and creating a home for the girls to sleep in...man skills. After the camp was made we set off again for another trek but this time it would end in it being dark. We didn’t get to see much this time as the guide was on the animal hunt, hoping we would be able to see wildlife as darkness was setting in. Even though it was an unsuccessful mission it still was very interesting to hear the jungle come alive at night and we did get to see spiders and many very large unidentifiable insects. After the trek our guide who is in the running to be the next shaman of his family performed a Quechua ritual that was to bring us good luck in our camp and to give thanks to Paccha Mama (their god). It was fascinating.
The next morning after a very bad sleep for Sarah, who was awoken to the sounds of crashing and the noise of some very large animal eating our food. Her first thought was puma or jaguar and then after a couple hours of frozen panicking she soon realised it was a pig. In her defence it was a very big angry pig. After breakfast we then went for our last trek into the jungle. This wasn’t as good as the rest as we were all very tired and it was just another animal quest. We did though see lion monkeys which was new for us, so it kind of made the three hour trek worth it.
After lunch we took the boat back to Rurranebaque, all feeling exhausted, bitten and very thirsty (there had only been four bottles of water provided for the two days so we had been drinking river water). We all really enjoyed the jungle experience especially as it had let us do so much more than the other jungle trips on offer.
