Monday, March 25, 2013

LA SELVA--THE AMAZON !!








We finally made it to the jungle. I was extremely nervous to get off of the plane because the whole time on it I was thinking about how I did not have the yellow fever shot! Eventually I got over that because we were at THE JUNGLE. WHen we arrived we could feel how hot and muggy it was from all of the rain. We got escorted to our bus and met our fearless leader--ASHUCO. He spoke to us in spanglish for awhile and then just how ever he felt like it which was nice! We had to go on the Amazon River in order to get to our lodge. On the way we saw so many markets of people chopping off fish heads and cleaning/skinning them with their hands. The smell was just awful but we passed the area and walked to the river. When we passed on a man made bridge ( literally pieces of wood pilled on the water for walk way) I saw my first glimpse of the jungle. It was on a mans back and was the smallest, furriest orange monkey I have ever seen. I was in love. When we got to our boat, it was made out of dried out palm leaves and with our suitcases pilled in and our flashlights boughten we headed down the amazon. It was such a huge area and the water was a bright brown. On our way to the lodge we saw little bird houses inside of a wall along the river. Traveled some more down the river and then took a little stop at a place in the jungle. We saw evil alligators, adorable parrots/other tropical birds, fish as big as me with bright neon orange scales, bats, huge lily-pads, and much more! We got to hold some birds and watch a parrot fly down and drink a cup of sprit. It was so funny and he just tipped it back into his mouth. We then got to feed some piranhas. They were very vicious and very ugly things. After this stop we went back on the boat and traveled to our lodge. THe lodge was hidden within the jungle, and we took a turn on the boat and entered a path between the trees. When we arrived we were shown around the area. 


It had a huge dining/meeting room, a hammock room (which grew to be our best friend), and then our 4 bedroom with bunk-beds! All which had lovely mosquito netting. After we all got situated we had lunch. The one thing I don't think I could ever get used to is the food of the jungle. I think I survived on bananas and coffee. We had catfish with the skin and head just hanging out still, rice, palm leaves ( white with a taste of lime) and bananas. After lunch I felt a little sick and we had some time before we went on our walk through the jungle. We all got lathered up with bug spray and sunscreen. I wore long socks, leggings, and a long sleeve shirt. It was very hot outside but it was EXTREMELY worth it. We started our walk and went through amazing trails with vines hanging everywhere, HUGE leaves and trees, huge beetles, exotic frogs, and even a tarantula. To get to the spider they make big holes in the ground. Ashuco went with his machete and  chopped away at lots of things to show us including the home of this spider. When he got it out, it climbed all over him and on his head. I hate spiders but I let it crawl on me. When it did it had pokey feet and it tickled a bit. After, we crossed some puddles of water and saw more cool things and kept dodging the muddy ground. When we returned we spent some more time in the hammock and later we had dinner. Again it was rice, bananas, chicken, and some vegetables. I was not feeling well from the last meal so I filled myself up with coffee and snacks that I brought from home. Our night walk was an adventure and was extremely terrifying as well.


 We saw jumping banana spiders that were the size of dinner plates, snakes that were hanging in the trees, little rat looking animals, more ugly spiders, huge moths the size of my hands, big ants, and again a lot of interesting plants. Once we found the snake we headed back because we had an early morning. We woke up at 7-am and took breakfast. BREAD!!! Stuffed myself with that and jam in hope of not being terribly hungry for lunch. It was raining and our guide wanted to see if it would stop so after breakfast we all took nice siestas in the hammock room for an hour and a half. The rain was still going when we got ready to leave but it was not as strong. We were on our way to monkey island! My favorite place of the whole trip. When we were on our way we saw a huge iguana hanging on the tree; it blended in really well. Once we pulled up to monkey island we heard monkey noises and all got really excited. They were coming from the yard but we could not figure out from where because we didn't see any monkeys yet? Finally there on a tree was a tropical green bird that was pretending to be a monkey. It was very entertaining. When we went into the hut monkeys started running out from the jungle into the yard and into the little hut. Some of them were walking upright and it was kind of intimidating. They jumped on you and played with your hair, bracelets, water-bottles, hats, literally everything. They especially liked hair we found out when they jumped on our heads and tried to wrap themselves in our long hair. It was hilarious! There was many tropical birds all around and even a toucan! He was hopping around on the porch and we got to feed the birds and monkeys bananas. The same bird that was acting like a monkey at the beginning also talked. It kept saying, "hola hola hola". I was in love with it. Here our tour guide also spotted a sloth on the tree and another man pulled him down for us. He was like a statue, a warm/long clawed, smiley faced statue. He was so adorable and we all got to take pictures of him. After we saw the sloth we got to see a big anaconda that they let slither around on the ground. I put it around my neck and took pictures with it. It was so cool and weird to touch. The head was in one of my hands and his tail in the other. After the snake there was a baby crocodile. We held him and he had really creepy eyes. The monkeys didn't like him and the guide kept sticking his tail to the monkeys hands and they would run away. After monkey island we traveled back to the lodge and changed into our swimsuits. Some of us wanted to swim in the river and we got the chance to that afternoon! We were scared and eventually just jumped right in. It was not very cold and after we got over the fact that we were swimming in the amazon with pirañas, dolphins, snakes, and other unknown creatures, it was really fun. We got to see pink dolphins that were swimming around us and jumping around. They were plump and short little things. Once we got back in the boat we went looking and seeing more grey and pink dolphins, turkey vultures, and white big cranes. We headed back to shower and change and have dinner. We couldn't go on our night walk because of all the rain and it was too muddy so we hung out the rest of the night. We started early again the next morning to go piraña fishing! It was a really cool place where we decided to go and it was in-between trees and bushes and it was a little nerve-racking because we took a different boat. This boat was literally 2 inches from the water and having the boat fill and sink. When we started seeing snakes in all of the trees and around us I was a little freaked out. While we were going to our spot to fish we saw a huge anaconda slithering on top of the water in front of us, it was terrifying and really cool all at the same time! We saw another big iguana and another yellow and black snakes in the trees above us. Our fishing was hard because the piranas tore off the raw chicken so fast that we barely got a chance to pull them in! It was fun anyway to feel how strong and crazy they were and Haley did end up catching a small catfish! After we headed home for lunch. We ate quick so that some of us that were heading home could go and see the amazon tribe! We walked through the jungle for about 15 minutes to this tribe. It was crazy to see that people still live in there! We got greeted and sat down right when we arrived. They didn't speak a language that I could even relate it to but to me it sounded like a gibberish. They used a plant to paint lines on our faces like they do and them explained their way of life. They didn't wear much clothes and they had many little children. We actually  got to shoot their blow guns that they use to kill their food. We got to shoot it at 2 coins that were placed farther away. I was the only one to hit the target! It was exciting and we got to wear their tribal hat while doing it. After we danced and they pulled us all out eventually to dance with them. In the end we bought some of their handmade items and little trinkets. On our way down we had to hurry to the boat and get ready for what ended up being a 3 hour boat ride to the floating markets. We slept and played cards until we arrived. The markets were all literally just floating on top of the water and it was very weird to see them and to see animals just hanging out on them. When we got to the shore we got out and our taxis were waiting for us. We were ready to get out of the jungle. Once we arrived at the airport our plane was taking forever! Finally an hour later we got to board. After 3o minutes of waiting in the plane we heard an announcement that we had to get off and have another plane take us. When we were leaving the plane we saw that a whole window from the front pilots window was broken and completely off...No wonder we couldn't fly?? We got back in the airport only to find out that our flight had been canceled. Tired, hungry, sweaty, full of bug-spray, we were all not very happy. Sitting in the airport trying to figure out when we could go home was another story. At 11:30-ish we got a new plane, BUT it wasn't going to fly out until 2:00 the next day. QUE LASTIMA...They gave us a hotel with breakfast in the morning and sent us on our way. Our little taxi buggy was a blur for me and to top it off when we arrived, Luke's backpack was stolen. WE COULD NOT WIN. Our hotel had air-conditioning which was the only great thing because in our room we had no towels to shower with, and our shower head drained like a sink faucet. Also our luggage reeked from the jungle which did not help...yikes. Finally it was to the point were we were starving and so we decided to venture out in this unknown area at 12:00am to find something to eat. I lost my appetite and when we finally found a place we went in and 3 of us just ordered a plate of french fries to cure ourselves. We finally got to bed at 3:00am and left the next morning to get to the airport on time. We finally made it home that next day and it was just a terrible struggle. BESIDES that whole extra day of messiness, the jungle was by far my favorite trip so far. Enjoyed a lot of interesting things and got the chance to experience some of the most amazing things. I can say i went to the amazon Y LO AMO!! :) 

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