Last weekend, I spent 3 days and 2 nights in the Amazon jungle, 200 yards from the Amazon river. It was one of the amazing weekends of my life.
The weekend started early, at 3:30 in the morning to be exact, when our taxi took us to the airport. After realizing we had miscalculated our departure time, and waiting a few hours to board our plane, we arrived in Iquitos at 7 in the morning. What a change from cold and overcast Lima. Iquitos was hot, and very very very humid.
Our lodge for the weekend
It was obvious that almost the entire plane had been filled with tourists. Our lodge, Cumaceba lodge, picked us up from the small airfield and transported us to the dock, where we boarded a speedboat that took us over an hour down the Amazon to our lodge. While leaving the river in which Iquitos lies, you could see a distinct change in the color of the water. Where the running water of the Amazon ran against the more stagnant waters of the river, you could tell that the river was black, while the Amazon was brown. Francisco, our tour guide, told us that Iquitos' water was so polluted from its inhabitants that it was unswimmable and undrinkable, although the population does both.
Dock--saying goodbye to Iquitos and off to the selva
Flying along the Amazon in our speedboat was amazing. It was hard to tell if the river was meandering or not, it seemed we were always going in a straight line. Once we got to the lodge, the first thing we saw were monkeys!! They were hanging out high in the trees that surround our lodge. A long raised and roofed walkway led up to the main hut, and along the way, we encountered a fruit bat and numerous tarantulas hanging out on the inner part of the thatched roof.
Welcome to Cumaceba Lodge
Then, to my surprise, we came across 4 of the cutest littlest puppies ever! I had so much fun playing with them all weekend. They are all girls and just over 2 months old. Side note* did you know that sometimes mama dogs eat too much food just to throw it up so their puppies can eat it?? How gross. Even though they looked so precious eating it lol.
One the way back to the lodge, we stopped for a short time to try and sight the pink dolphins that live in the Amazon. After a little luck, went to some calmer water and all jumped into the river! So refreshing! It was crazy, swimming in the Amazon River. Anyone knows, I’m not the best swimmer, so it had extra meaning to me!
The lagoon in the daylight
What wonderful sleep one gets in the Amazon. Its not too cold, but not to hot to agitate. The sounds of the running water, blowing breeze, and frog symphony can lure anyone into sweet soft sleep. Not that I ever did before, but I'll definitely think twice before I make fun of someone using those "sounds of the rainforest" sleep CDs.
The next morning, right after sunrise, we found ourselves back on the lagoon birdwatching. I got a pretty good look at the Hoatzin--a very unique bird of the amazon. Its so different from other birds, it has its own family and suborder in the scientific order of classifying species. According to google, and I quote (lol) " The Hoatzin is arguably the most enigmatic living bird in regard to its phylogenetic relationships. No satisfying evolutionary hypothesis has been proposed..." It also has claws under its wings to climb trees and emits a very foul smell, giving them their nickname, the stinkbird.
The Hoatzin
After lunch, we went on a 1 1/2 walk through the forest to meet the Yagua tribe. I still am not sure how to feel about this. While I was very interested in meeting an indigenous tribe, especially after my Amazonian Ethnography class, this was definitely not how I had imagined it going.
As soon as we got to the tribe's central hut (where they receive guests) they showed us three traditional dances. I only participated in one, and only because a woman came over and grabbed my hand to dance. She did not look or smile at me and when the dance was over, she dropped my hand and walked away. From that point, i just felt like some sort of intruder. They must think we are rich fat english speaking tourists, wanting to impose in their lives and marvel at the way they live. I was very uncomfortable.
Dancing
Our tour guide had suggested that we bring some snacks for the kids. All I had was two packages of crackers and some cereal in a ziplock bag. As soon as I opened the crackers, the children, men and women were all surrounding me, putting their hands in my face, demanding part of a cracker. The same for the cereal and also for the ziplock bag I had brought it in. Of course I gave it to them, without thinking twice. And wished I would have brought a lot more baggies for them.
Kids getting their sugar high
Then they got out the blow gun and everyone got a turn to try on the headdress and blow the blow gun. Meanwhile, everyone stood next to the products, that they would sell to us (bracelets, necklaces, maskes, bags, etc.) I learned in my Ethnography class that many indigenous tribes depend on the money they make from tourism to better their lives and be able to by modern products that would better their lives in the jungle. So i was fine with buying their products, even though I wasn't too interested in them. I felt that they could use the money. I got a few maskes for the men in my life and a bag. The entire time we had been browsing their work, the people would come up to you, saying prices for their products (it was the only castellano they could speak) and I always felt bad telling them no thank you. One women had continually asked for my digital watch in exchange for a necklace. I refused. But after a while and right when we were about to leave, she asked again and I thought, "What kind of horrible person would I be if I didn't give this woman my watch." So I traded it for a necklace. The same deal people were trading floss, crackers, and plastic bags for necklaces-where i had been giving mine away. Its ok, I felt like I had done a good thing. Either she was thinking, "I'm so glad this nice lady traded her watch for my necklace" or "HA, i just ripped that naive tourist off!" Either way, I'll never know.
Blow Gun
The whole experience: marching into their camp, watching as the women quickly covered themselves up, the three rushed native dances, the blow gun session, and the bartering and haggling. The icing on the cake, as we left their area, we saw more Yagua women and children, dressed in modern clothing, wearing shirts and pants and shoes, waving us goodbye. Their fellow tribesmen had just been putting on an act for us. I would have much preferred seeing them in their natural setting, maybe seeing how they hunt or gather food, prepare the food or how they sleep. I didn't need to see the stereotypical and apparently dead traditions that the "rich tourist" expects to see when visiting a tribe. I wanted to see it like it is.
After that experience, we took a boat back to the lodge. This night, Serena and I had an appointment with a local Chaman, to participate in the traditional and spiritual ritual of Ayahuasca. For this, we weren't allowed to eat dinner. Instead, we relaxed and reflected for about 3 hours in our lovely hammocks. The Ayahuasca ceremony was nothing short of life changing. I truly will return from my Peruvian experience a changed person, more open, more at ease with myself and more confident in who I am and what I want from myself in this life.
Peaceful evening
Sadly, Sunday brought the last few hours of our time in the Amazon jungle. After a breakfast of eggs and toast, we headed out on a canoe to fish for pirhanas. The group was considerably smaller, as some had chosen to venture to monkey island instead.
Soledad y Carlos--our new friends fishing
Fishing is gross. The way they come flopping out of the water, when some of them would flop off the line and underneath the grates of the boat, and the way their gills would stretch so wide gasping for the water they would not find. Everytime someone caught a fish on their line, (our poles were sticks with strings attached) the fish on the line would swing around the small area of the boat until the winning fisherman was able to grab hold of the line and eventually the fish. Everytime some caught a fish on their line, I would jump up to avoid being near it. It was sad. But eventually I got over it for the most part. I even caught a few fish. My first one was very small, and died before we could get it off the line to set it free. My second one was a pretty good sized piranha (which we were able to eat later) and the third was a too small piranha, which we set free.
Circle of life, right??
Fishing was fun and riding back to the lodge in our small boat was nice as well. There was no top and the boat was almost level to the water. I was able to dangle my feet over the edge and take in my last views of the amazon.
After lunch we headed back to Iquitos. We had a few hours in the city proper before we had to head to the airport to return to Sweet Home Lima. Serena and I visited a few artesian shops, shared some food, and had popsicles and juice from local amazonian fruits.
Yummy juice
Our wait in the super humid, hot and sticky airport was horrible. But not as horrible as our 1 1/2 flight back to Lima, in which we traveled through a storm and hit some of the scariest turbulence I've ever experienced.
Back to Lima finally. Unpacked. Showered. Counted my bites--118 but I'm sure there is more.
The Amazon was amazing. I'm so lucky to have been able to travel so extensively in Peru. And now my time left here is closing in rapidly. I have one more trip planned before i head back to the States: 4 cities in 7 or so days. One last hoorah in Peru!!
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